Breath-work and Meditation: Outlining the Differences

Meditation and breath-work are common practices used to gain inner peace, reduce stress, and have prolonged benefits on both physical and mental health. They both have tremendous benefits, but how do they differ, and should we choose one over the other? 

Meditation plays a significant role in our bodies’ overall physical, mental, and emotional state. It’s been practiced for decades by numerous cultures in various capacities. Meditation is about seeking silence, a way to shut off the outside world and become completely focused. Meditation can be done with soft music, or it can be guided, and while breathing plays a role in meditation, you’re just observing it and taking breaths rather than the main focus of the exercise. 

Breath-work refers to breathing techniques and exercises to control your breathing. It directs your breathing in a specific way. A certified breath coach typically guides breath-work as they help you focus and change your breathing with a particular outcome. Like meditation, breath-work also improves spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health. Breath-work involves deeper breathing, shallow breathing, fast breathing, or slow breathing. There are a wide variety of techniques that you can use during a breath-work exercise—the impact of breath-work trickles into all different areas of your mental, physical, and emotional health. 

Meditation and breath-work offer overlapping benefits, and choosing one over the other is a personal preference. I like to view breath-work and meditation as complementary, as they both add enormous benefits to my everyday life. However, one method may serve you better at different times. While meditation requires more focus and concentration, many people find that breath-work comes with fewer barriers and can be completed quicker than meditation. Both methods offer immense benefits to clarity, mindset, focus, and mood.