In mindfulness meditation, personal awareness may be focused on either the flow of the breath or enhancing a positive emotion. These are obviously very different techniques, but are they that different in their results? This was explored in one study comparing the effects of breath awareness and emotion-focused meditation on the processing of negative and positive emotional stimuli. Two test subject groups using either breathing or emotion-focused meditation compared their emotional experience with that of a control group. The control group’s negative responses increased over time, but not the test group. Test subjects in the emotion-focused meditation group also had less negative emotional responses compared to controls. Both mindfulness meditation focused on breath or on positive emotions can improve a meditator’s response to negative feelings (Beblo et al., 2018).
Yes, but how is this possible? That is, what are the underlying neural mechanisms that support this experience?
Of all the systems of the body, only the respiratory system is under both unconscious and conscious control. The ancient yogis discovered this and developed several different breathing techniques for differing emotional effects. The main one was ____ or alternate nostril breathing which allegedly balances the cerebral hemispheres and calms the nervous system. Now, thousands of years later, we have empirically confirmed that the main effects of slow breathing affect both the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and central nervous system (CNS) as well as the state-of-mind. Slow breathing techniques increase heart rate variability and respiratory sinus arrhythmia simultaneously with modifying CNS activity. EEG studies show an increase in alpha and a decrease in theta brain wave patterns; both are associated with relaxation and deep sleep. At present, the only fMRI study performed thus far shows increased activity in different cortical areas (e.g., prefrontal, motor, and parietal cortices) and subcortical areas (e.g., pons, thalamus, sub-parabrachial nucleus, periaqueductal gray, and hypothalamus). Subjective reports from meditators regarding changes in their psychological states indicate increased comfort, relaxation, pleasantness, vigor and alertness, and reduced symptoms of arousal, anxiety, depression, anger, and confusion (Doll et al., 2016; Zaccaro et al., 2018).
It was further found that breathing meditation increases the emotional connections between right amygdala and left prefrontal and cingulate areas. This means that synchronized connections occur between amygdala and prefrontal areas for emotional processing increases with conscious breathing (Doll et al., 2025).
Closing Thoughts
These are pretty remarkable findings and provide more evidence for how meditation affects brain structure and functioning. For more on that in general, see my blog-lecture series on the mental and physical effects of meditation. More so, these research results point to initiating mindful breathing techniques in cases of emotional distress such as found in anger issues, depression, and PTSD. The breath continues to reveal itself to be a really marvelous tool. But the ancients know that already, I’m pretty sure.
Paul Shane, Ph.D., LMT
Director, Academic Content
References
Beblo, T., Pelster, S., Schilling, C., Kleinke, K., Iffland, B., Driessen, M., & Fernando, S. (2018). Breath versus emotions: The impact of different foci of attention during mindfulness meditation on the experience of negative and positive emotions. Behavior Therapy 49(5), p. 702-714.
Doll, A., Hözel, B., Bratec, S., Boucard, C., Xie, X., Wohlschläger, A., & Sorg, C. (2016). Mindful attention to breath regulates emotions via increased amygdala-prefrontal cortex connectivity. NeuroImage 134, p. 305-313.
Fincham, G., Strauss, C., Montero-Marin, J., & Cavanagh, K. (2023). Effects of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials. Nature: Scientific Reports 13, 432, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-2724.
Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B., & Gemignari, A. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 12, article 353, doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353.