5 Benefits of Breathwork, and How to Establish a Practice to Benefit Your Mind and Body

Certified breathwork coach and author Francesca Sipma shares her expertise.

Francesca Sipma / Courtesy of Elijah Hernandez

Kickstart your New Year alongside SI Swimsuit with 31 Days of Wellness! This January, SI Swimsuit will unlock exclusive offerings with SI Swimsuit models, wellness experts, fitness gurus and others, who will guide you through 31 days of rejuvenating workouts, recipes, self-care rituals and more.

As we move further into the new year, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by a busy schedule or current events and allow your resolutions to fall by the wayside. However, when life gets stressful, that’s when we need our healthy routines more than ever.

One well-being practice that is particularly beneficial to prioritizing your mind-body connection is breathwork. Just like meditation, it’s important to establish a consistent practice to reap the benefits, and breathwork can help with everything from your focus to emotional intelligence.

We recently chatted with Francesca Sipma, founder of HypnoBreathwork® and author of “Unblock Your Purpose: Breathwork, Intuition and Flow State” to learn exactly how and why to incorporate the practice in the year ahead.

What is breathwork?

“Breathwork is the ultimate tool for self-awareness, emotional regulation and dissolving triggers—it makes you a better human,” Sipma explains. “It strengthens your ability to stay present, grounded and achieve mental peace. This powerful and accessible practice shifts your brain into an optimized state, allowing for sharper decisions, creative problem-solving and a state of energized calm.”

Francesca Sipma leads a breathwork class / Courtesy of Dusty Kessler

How to practice breathwork

Start slow and short

“Soft inhale into your belly, inhale into your chest, exhale,” Sipma instructs. “Take your inhales through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Keep it simple and gentle.”

Begin with three to five minutes of breathwork in order to ease into the practice and slow down your thoughts, she says. While the ideal time is 20 minutes a day, work your way up to this goal. Sipma says even five to 10 minutes daily will help to create positive shifts in your life.

Set the vibe and an intention

Sipma recommends playing binaural beats or relaxing music to activate different areas of your brain, and she suggests beginners wear a blindfold in order to “tune out distractions and go inward.”

Lastly, whether it’s clarity, presence, love or a particular goal, focus your mind on a single task or feeling during your practice, Sipma says.

5 benefits of breathwork

In addition to connecting you to your intuition and helping you step into your purpose, breathwork has a number of benefits for your well-being, such as:

Reduces stress and anxiety

“Science shows breathwork actively dials down your cortisol levels and kicks in your parasympathetic nervous system,” Sipma explains.

Improves emotional regulation

“By helping release tension and manage reactions, breathwork enables you to respond to challenges with greater composure and clarity,” she notes.

Activates flow state

A breathwork practice helps to “[balance] oxygen and carbon dioxide, [which] stimulates key brain regions, enhancing focus, mental clarity new creative connections,” Sipma adds.

Enhances performance and recovery

“Consistent breathwork practice improves heart rate variability (HRV), reduces inflammatory markers and strengthens immune response,” she says, noting that breathwork is a particularly helpful tool for athletes and those in high-performing industries, like business leaders.

Improves sleep

We could all stand to get more rest in 2025, and Sipma says that “deep breathing techniques have been proven to improve the quality of better sleep and rest cycles, critical for recovery and peak readiness.”

Stay tuned to SI Swimsuit’s 31 Days of Wellness to continue to learn how to take charge in the year ahead!

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