The first modern Breathwork technique was developed in California during the 1970's by Leonard Orr (Orr & Ray, 1983). Orr had no background in psychology but did have a passion for self-improvement methods and aspirations of being a guru (Orr & Ray,1983). Through experimenting in his bath with deep rhythmic breathing he learnt while in India, Orr found he had what seemed like memories of his own birth, which left him feeling as if some sort of healing had taken place. Orr taught the technique to others who found they had similar experiences. Based on this the breathing technique was first named Rebirthing (Orr & Ray, 1983).
These early experimenters had little idea about how or why the breathing technique worked. Experimentation with cathartic and dramatic experiential approaches to therapy was the norm in 1970's California. For most people, however, deep breathing while submerged in warm water was not the most appealing way to do some personal healing. Fortunately, rhythmic breathing still seemed to produce beneficial effects while simply relaxing in a lying down position, and this quickly became normal practice.
In the early 1980's some refinements to the technique were made (Leonard & Laut, 1983; Leonard, 1983) which moved it more toward a gentler, more meditative process that emphasized integration. Leonard and Laut (1983) provided the first guidelines which could be used by practitioners.
While Breathwork has been popular in the USA and elsewhere as a personal growth technique, in Europe it has gained some recognition as a form of psychotherapy. The first controled research was conducted in Europe in 1995 when French psychotherapy researchers (Sudres, et al. 1995) conducted a trial to see if a series of 10 standardised Breathwork sessions was an effective treatment for depression. Their findings suggested Breathwork led to significant improvements in depression and anxiety symptoms. These improvements were maintained at follow-up.
More recently, Integrative Breathwork Therapy (IBT) has been developed by Lloyd Lalande as a research supported, standardised approach. IBT is being evaluated as a therapy approach for people with a diagnosis of an anxiety or depressive disorder by Lloyd at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) School of Psychology & Counselling. This research is being supervised by Dr Matthew Bambling from the School of Medicine, Queensland University, and Professor Robert King from the University of Queensland.
The development of Integrative Breathwork Therapy is receiving strong support from the breathwork community and represents the most significant change in the field of breathwork since its inception. Integrative Breathwork Therapy provides a standardize model that can be used as a foundation for research, clinical practice, and training. IBT brings the transformational power of breathwork into mainstream mental health. Already, Master of Psychology (Clinical) students at the Australian Catholic University are using IBT as a therapy option in their internships, and demand for training is increasing. Master of Psychology and Master of Counselling students from both the Queensland University of Technology and Australian Catholic University are currently receiving training in IBT.