Jack Feldman is a distinguished professor of neurobiology at University of California Los Angeles and David Geffen School of Medicine Chair in Neuroscience. He is a pioneer in the field of respiration by discovering the areas of the brain where inhalations and exhalations are initiated. He is also a co-author of a paper published in March 2022, in the Annual Review of Neuroscience titled Breathing Rhythm and Pattern and Their Influence on Emotion.

According to Feldman, when we experience something, we see, hear and smell it simultaneously via different paths (eyes, ears, nose)  into the brain but we perceive it as one object, which is a process called binding. The rhythm of our breath, which we can control, is playing a role of binding, as well as in many other processes going on in our brains. By modulating our breath, we can modify these processes, changing our mood and behavior. 

“By disrupting the circuit, what happens is you feel calmer, you feel better,” Feldman says. “If you’re clinically depressed, changing your breathing pattern might help relieve your depression. If you’re clinically anxious, it might help relieve your anxiety. Not only acutely, but if you do it successfully over multiple days and weeks, it can actually begin to change that circuit for long term relief.”

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