17 Benefits of Breathwork That Can Transform Your Life
By Kia Agerhem – Breathwork guide, nervous system mentor & transformational coach based in Stockholm
Inhale. Exhale. It sounds so simple.
And yet, within the breath lies a hidden key- to your energy, your emotions, your healing, your life.
Breathwork is more than just deep breathing.
It’s a way to meet yourself beneath the surface, beyond the patterns.
It’s where science meets intuition - regulating your nervous system, softening trauma, opening clarity, and allowing energy to move.
Whether you’re new to breathwork or deep in your practice, these 17 powerful benefits show why the breath is one of the most transformational tools we have - for the body, the mind, the heart, and the soul.
Why Breath work?
1. Increases Energy + Oxygenation
Oxygen is the fuel your body runs on. When you breathe more fully and consciously, you improve oxygen delivery to your cells, helping the body function more efficiently.
Breathwork supports blood oxygenation and cellular vitality—boosting energy levels, brain function, and immunity. A consistent practice can enhance stamina, reduce fatigue, and help you feel more alive—even on low-sleep or high-stress days.
22. Boosts Immunity + Detoxification
Over 70% of your body’s detox happens through the breath.
Deep breathing activates the lymphatic system, supports circulation, and helps the body eliminate waste more efficiently.
Breathwork improves oxygen flow, which enhances nutrient absorption, balances the pH level in the blood, and supports the immune system. It's one of the most natural ways to boost your inner healing capacity.
3. Relieves Stress, Tension + Cortisol Overload
Your breath reflects your inner world. When you’re tense or anxious, your breathing becomes shallow or even held.
Breathwork interrupts that stress response. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system (rest-and-digest), lowers cortisol levels, and creates a felt sense of calm and groundedness. When practiced regularly, it can help prevent burnout, restore balance, and regulate your inner rhythms.
4. Calms Anxiety + Supports Emotional Regulation
An anxious mind often comes with a short, shallow breath.
A regulated breath teaches the body a new rhythm—steady, slow, safe.
Breathwork helps shift you out of sympathetic overdrive (fight/flight) into a more coherent, calm state. Over time, this rewires how you respond to stress and supports emotional regulation—even in moments that used to feel overwhelming.
5. Supports Nervous System Regulation
The breath is the only function in the body that is both automatic and consciously controllable—which makes it your most direct access point to the autonomic nervous system.
With practice you learn how to switch between sympathetic (activation) and parasympathetic (restoration) states— building resilience, body awareness, and emotional flexibility.
It’s nervous system hygiene, from the inside out. It’s not about one being better than the other, but about learning to move with more awareness and regulation
6. Releases Stuck Emotions + Old Patterns
Unprocessed emotions are stored in the body as tension, pain, or holding. Breathwork gives those emotions a pathway to move.
By bypassing the thinking mind, the breath helps release frozen energy—grief, fear, anger, heartbreak—and creates space for something new. It’s not about fixing or forcing. It’s about feeling what’s there and letting it move through.
7. Helps Heal Trauma Stored in the Body
Your body remembers what your mind forgets.
Up to 95% of brain activity happens beyond conscious awareness—including trauma responses, limiting beliefs, and protective patterns held in the nervous system. Breathwork allows you to access and integrate what's been stored—without needing to relive the story.
By creating a safe space within, breathwork helps you move through emotional imprints and trauma at a pace your body can hold.
8. Improves Sleep + Eases Insomnia
If your mind races at night, your nervous system may still be in high alert.
Breathwork helps shift your body into parasympathetic dominance, reducing cortisol, slowing the heart rate, and calming the mind. It also supports melatonin production—making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep.
A short breath practice before bed can become a simple ritual to restore your nights.
9. Enhances Focus, Clarity + Creativity
Breathwork improves oxygenation and circulation to the brain, which supports clarity and cognitive function.
Certain techniques help shift your brainwaves from beta (active thinking) into alpha or theta states—where intuition, insight, and creative flow live. This opens new possibilities for how you think, create, and solve.
10. Improves Digestion + Gut Health
When the body is stuck in fight-or-flight, digestion slows.
When you breathe deeply, you send a signal: it’s safe to rest and digest.
Breathwork increases vagal tone, improves blood flow to digestive organs, reduces inflammation, and supports the gut-brain connection. Over time, this can help reduce symptoms like bloating, constipation, and gut tension often linked to stress.
11. Releases Physical Tension + Pain
Chronic pain often comes with guarded breathing and physical bracing.
Breathwork supports pain relief by increasing endorphins (feel-good hormones), alkalizing the body, and relaxing muscles—especially the diaphragm, which affects the entire core. It also reduces cortisol, which plays a role in inflammation and pain sensitivity.
12. Supports Addiction Recovery + Craving Regulation
Breathwork offers an empowering alternative to self-soothing behaviors.
By helping the body release discomfort safely, breath becomes a tool for emotional regulation, rather than escape.
It creates space between impulse and reaction. Over time, this can help shift addictive patterns, reduce cravings, and strengthen self-trust.
13. Deepens Self-Love + Inner Connection
Many people feel disconnected from themselves—trapped in thought loops, inner criticism, or striving.
Breathwork interrupts that noise. It softens the inner critic (via a process called transient hypofrontality), bringing you into a more embodied, compassionate, and present state. Many describe the feeling after breathwork as “coming home to myself.”
When the mind quiets, the heart can open.
Breathing and journeying with Kia Agerhem is a safe and transformative experience for your emotional, physical, spiritual and mental body
14. Promotes Joy, Presence + Emotional Resilience
Breathwork helps regulate emotions in real-time—moving you from contraction to expansion.
Through breath, you can access deep presence, emotional release, and even states of joy or bliss. It also increases endorphins, creating a sense of lightness and empowerment. When you shift your breath, you shift your emotional state..
15. Optimizes Holistic Health (Body, Mind, Spirit)
Your breath impacts every system in the body: cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, endocrine, immune, and emotional.
That’s why breathwork is a cornerstone of holistic health. It works across physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions—enhancing vitality, integration, and harmony. It reminds you that everything is connected.
16. Alters Brainwaves + Expands Consciousness
Breathwork doesn’t just calm the nervous system—it can expand your awareness.
Studies show breathwork shifts your brainwaves:
From beta (thinking/stress)
Into alpha (calm flow)
Or even theta (deep insight, dream-like states)
These shifts are associated with reduced anxiety, improved mood, and creative insight. This is why many describe breathwork as both grounding and expansive.
17. Can Create Altered States + Spiritual Connection
Some forms of breathwork (like conscious connected breathing) can open profound inner journeys.
Without substances. Just breath.
In these states, people report deep connection, insight, surrender, or even feelings of oneness. The breath becomes a bridge—to intuition, to the subconscious, to the soul. These experiences can be powerful catalysts for growth and healing, especially when grounded in integration afterward.
Breathwork in Stockholm & Online
Whether you're navigating anxiety, burnout, or a longing to reconnect with yourself—breathwork offers a way through. Kia Agerhem offers trauma-informed, intuitive sessions in Stockholm and online. Rooted in nervous system awareness, emotional healing, and deep presence.
✨ Ready to experience it for yourself?
👉 Explore upcoming sessions or get in touch to begin your journey.
Let your breath take you where your mind can’t go.
Breathwork in Stockholm & Online with Kia
Kia guides people out of their heads and back into the wisdom of their body.
Through breathwork, we meet the stuckness, the noise, the emotions—and begin to shift what words alone can’t reach.
Breathwork can unlock your energy, rewire patterns, and remember who you are—beneath the pressure, the overthinking, and the weight of doing it all alone. Because truthfully - it’s your journey, but you are not alone.
✨ Want to explore breathwork?
Kia offer sessions in Stockholm or online.
👉 Explore sessions here or get in touch
Frequently Asked Questions About Breathing and Breath work
What’s the difference between breathwork and just breathing deeply?
Breathing deeply is a good start, but breathwork is intentional. It’s the conscious use of the breath to shift your state—mentally, emotionally, physically, or spiritually. Breathwork can activate, soothe, or clear stuck energy depending on the method used. It’s not just how you breathe, but why and when.
Can breathwork really reduce stress or anxiety?
Yes—when you learn to regulate your breath, you influence your nervous system directly. Many people live in chronic fight-or-flight, or a chronic collapse. Breathwork helps the body return to safety, shifting out of stress chemistry and into calm. This is why it’s often used for anxiety, burnout, or overwhelm.
Do I need to breathe through my nose all the time?
Nose breathing is ideal for everyday life—it filters, warms, and humidifies air, and supports nitric oxide production. But in breathwork, mouth breathing may be used temporarily to activate energy or access emotional release. The key is context and intention.
Can breathwork help with trauma or emotional release?
Yes. Emotions are stored in the body—not just the mind. Breathwork bypasses the thinking brain and invites what’s been held to safely surface and release. It's a body-based practice that allows you to meet and move what talk therapy might not fully reach.
Is breathwork safe for everyone?
Most people can benefit from breathwork, but certain techniques may not be suitable if you’re pregnant (not dangerous - let me know and I will guide and hold you so it is beneficial for you) , have cardiovascular issues, or specific mental health conditions. Always check with a facilitator and listen to your body. Breathwork can be powerful—start gently and modifications are very easily adapted.
How often should I practice breathing?
Even a few minutes a day can create change. Think of it like training a muscle—the more regularly you practice, the easier it gets to access calm, clarity, or energy. It doesn’t need to be long or intense to be effective.
Can kids do breathwork?
Yes—but keep it playful and simple. Children naturally know how to breathe fully (until stress or culture shifts their pattern). Teaching them to stay connected to their breath can be a beautiful tool for emotional regulation, focus, and sleep. A transformational breathwork session with Kia is not for kids, email for 1:1 with kids or for sporting teams etc
Does breathwork replace therapy or medication?
Breathwork is a powerful complement to other healing methods—not a replacement. It can enhance your emotional awareness, support nervous system regulation, and deepen your healing journey. But always work alongside your healthcare provider if you’re in treatment.
Breathwork - let the breath lead the way where our mind can’t always go. Kia offers Breathwork in Stockholm or Online, in group or private.
