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Breathwork is formally linked to five traditions in this atlas: Buddhism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Hinduism, Sufism and Taoism, each carrying its own distinct note. They do not agree on what to do with the breath once it is being watched.

Directing It, Watching It, Coordinating It With Words

Yogic pranayama is the developed directive system: nadi shodhana alternating the nostrils, ujjayi with a constricted throat, kumbhaka retaining the breath, classically taught only after posture and before concentration, and traditionally taught in person because the texts themselves warn that it goes wrong. Daoist practice more often uses the breath as an object of attention than as something to be forced, and the Buddhist anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing, watches the breath without altering it at all, the opposite ambition to pranayama's deliberate control. Sufi and Orthodox Christian prayer both take a third route again, coordinating a spoken formula with the breathing itself, neither directing the breath's mechanics nor merely observing them but pairing breath to words.

Where To Read More

• BreathworkMeditative PracticesBreathwork, the practice this page differentiates across five traditions
• BuddhismDharmic (Nontheistic)Buddhism: anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing, watches the breath without altering it
• Eastern OrthodoxyChristianityEastern Orthodoxy: prayer coordinates a spoken formula with the breathing
• HinduismDharmic (Polytheistic)Hinduism: yogic pranayama, the developed directive system
• SufismIslamSufism: prayer coordinates a spoken formula with the breathing
• TaoismChinese (Philosophical-Religious)Taoism: the breath is used as an object of attention rather than something to be forced