Neural Correlates of Non-ordinary States of Consciousness in Pranayama Practitioners: The Role of Slow Nasal Breathing

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Citation

Zaccaro A, Piarulli A, Melosini L, Menicucci D, Gemignani A. Neural Correlates of Non-ordinary States of Consciousness in Pranayama Practitioners: The Role of Slow Nasal Breathing. Front Syst Neurosci. 2022 Mar 21;16:803904. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2022.803904. PMID: 35387390; PMCID: PMC8977447.

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Note: You can share anything you want from these 411s—the more sharing the better. But this is my attempt to condense the findings into a bite-sized wisdom nugget:

A 2022 study found that slow nasal breathing has significantly different effects on the brain than slow mouth breathing, resulting in less physical and psychological tension, less anxiety, more joy, and a relaxed yet fully aware altered state of consciousness. Nasal stimulation should be considered alongside vagal stimulation as a primary mechanism behind the benefits of slow breathing.

4 Fundamentals

 

1. Essential Background Material

 

  • Slow breathing is the cornerstone of many contemplative and ancient breathing practices, such as meditation and pranayama.

  • Modern research repeatedly shows that slow breathing improves psychological outcomes (like lowering stress and increasing relaxation) and physiological outcomes (like better blood pressure and heart rate variability).

  • Most research assumes that these benefits result from increased vagal activity (increased activity of the parasympathetic nervous system).  

  • Although this mechanism is essential, the authors hypothesized that the nose plays a critical role in slow breathing’s benefits because it organizes oscillations across broad brain regions, especially in emotional areas.

  • Moreover, they had recently discovered that simply stimulating the nose with odorless puffs of air at a slow pace can induce non-ordinary states of consciousness comparable to those reached by meditators.

  • Thus, it appears that two primary factors are at play during slow breathing: vagal activity (bottom-up) and nasal stimulation (top-down).  This study aimed to disentangle these two pathways by comparing slow nasal breathing (which provides both vagal and nasal activation) to slow mouth breathing (which only provides vagal activation).

 

 

2. What Did this Research Do?

 

The researchers recruited twelve participants with extensive meditation experience (the average lifetime hours of formal practice was 1,688).

 

The participants performed 15 minutes of box breathing using a 6:6:6:6 count (6 seconds for each breathing phase), coming out to 2.5 breaths a minute.  The practice was performed while lying down comfortably.

 

For one session, they performed slow nasal breathing (SNB); for the second session (occurring one week later), they performed slow mouth breathing (SMB).  The SNB and SMB sessions were randomized among participants.

 

In an exceptional display of insight, the researchers recognized that mouth breathing is unnatural for experienced meditators.  So, they had them train in SMB for 30 minutes a day for one week before the experiment to get them comfortable with the practice 👏

 

They measured breathing and heart rate variability (HRV) throughout the experiment.  They measured brain activity via an EEG for 5 minutes just before and for 5 minutes immediately after the breathing practice. 

 

Lastly, they gave the participants two questionnaires for assessing non-ordinary states of consciousness and stress and anxiety before and after the breathing session:

 

1.     Phenomenology of consciousness inventory (PCI)

2.     State-trait anxiety inventory Y short form (STAI-6)

 

 

3. What Were the Major Findings?

 

  • They found that SNB and SMB activated the parasympathetic nervous system to the same extent (as measured by HRV).  HRV was slightly higher during nasal breathing, but it did not reach statistical significance.

  • Both SNB and SMB increased power at slower brain wave frequencies, but the enhancement was greater in SNB, and it occurred in different brain regions.

  • There was heightened connectivity at slow and fast brain wave frequencies during SNB versus SMB.

  • There was an increased coupling between slower brain waves (theta) and faster brain waves (high-beta) after SNB compared to SMB.

  • The post-SNB state was accompanied by higher positive emotions, especially joy, compared to baseline and post-SMB.

  • After SNB, participants felt they were in an altered state of consciousness more than with SMB: they reported higher scores of “altered awareness” and “altered experience.”

  • They experienced lower physical and psychological tension after SNB than SMB, but the differences did not reach statistical significance.

  • They also showed significantly lower anxiety levels after SNB compared to SMB.

 

 

4. Why Do These Results Matter?

 

This is the first study (to my knowledge) to separate the effects of vagal vs. nasal stimulation during slow breathing by comparing slow nasal breathing to slow mouth breathing.

 

Critically, they found that both practices activated the parasympathetic nervous system to the same extent.  Thus, if vagal nerve stimulation was the primary mechanism, these practices should have shown similar outcomes.  But they didn’t…

 

They showed that nasal breathing had significantly different effects on brain waves and brain wave connectivity throughout the brain.  Most importantly, participants felt less physical and psychological tension, less anxiety, more joy, and a greater perception of being in an altered state of consciousness during SNB than SMB.

 

Notably, questionnaires revealed that the altered states of consciousness did not reduce their rational thinking or will.  This indicated that SNB put them into (as the researchers put it) “a deeply relaxed but fully aware non-ordinary state of consciousness comparable to meditation.”  This was not achieved with slow mouth breathing.

 

 

 

1 Big Takeaway

 

Slow nasal breathing has significantly different effects on the brain than slow mouth breathing, which results in less physical and psychological tension, less anxiety, more joy, and a relaxed yet fully aware altered state of consciousness.  Nasal stimulation should be considered alongside vagal stimulation as a primary mechanism behind the benefits of slow breathing.

 

 

 

1 Practical Application

 

You probably don’t need to hear this by now, but make sure you’re using your nose while performing slow breathing to get the maximum benefits for your body, brain, and mental and emotional health.

 

And if you’re up for it, try out the super slow pace used in this study (2.5 breaths a minute) and see if it leaves you in a relaxed yet alert altered state of consciousness.