Researchers at the Breathwork Lab within Brighton and Sussex Medical School’s Department of Clinical Neuroscience have published the first controlled study comparing breathwork-induced altered states of consciousness against an active comparator. The trial, known as the airways to alteration (A2A) study, appeared in Frontiers in Psychology in June 2026 and was preregistered on ClinicalTrials.gov ahead of data collection.

Conscious connected breathing was tested against a body scan meditation

Twenty-four healthy adults with prior breathwork experience were randomly assigned to a single session of conscious connected breathing, a form of high ventilation breathwork built on continuous circular breathing without pauses, or a guided body scan meditation, both delivered supine and accompanied by music. Participants completed altered-state questionnaires immediately after their session and a follow-up assessment about a week later.

Breathwork produced larger psychedelic-like effects across several validated measures

The breathwork group scored significantly higher than the meditation group on total mystical experience, oneness, positive mood and ineffability, with large effect sizes that the authors note fall within the range reported in studies of moderate-to-high doses of psilocybin. On the Five Dimensions of Altered States of Consciousness Scale, breathwork participants also reported significantly greater oceanic boundlessness and visionary restructuralisation. Emotional breakthrough scores were substantially higher too, consistent with the cathartic quality often described around intensive breathing practices; several participants’ own accounts mentioned strong emotional release and visual phenomena during their sessions. No adverse events were reported in either group.

Gains in insight and sleep persisted a week later

At follow-up, the breathwork group reported significantly greater psychological insight and self-reported behavioral change than the meditation group. A notable interaction also emerged for sleep-related impairment, which dropped markedly after breathwork while remaining stable after meditation, correlating with how intense the mystical experience had been. Stress, anxiety, depression and general wellbeing improved in both groups over the week, with no significant difference between them. The authors are candid that this is a proof-of-concept study rather than a confirmatory one: twelve participants per group, an open-label design, and a breathwork session that included more explicit priming than the meditation session are all noted as limits on how far the findings travel. Even so, the trial adds real experimental weight to a growing body of work on breathwork’s capacity to produce profound, psychedelic-like states through nothing more than the breath itself, and points toward larger confirmatory trials as a logical next step.