Breathwrk Review: Can An App Teach You To Breathe Well?

breathwrk app review

Everything featured on The Nessie is independently selected and rigorously tested. We may receive a small commission on purchases made from some of our links. Also, The Nessie is part of the Ness Card ecosystem. Since you’re here, you’d probably be into it.

For most of us, breathing is a passive activity. For all the ins and outs it requires—about 22,000 per day icon-trusted-source Canadian Lung Association “Breathing” View Source , to be precise—it doesn’t require much thought. But if you want to achieve feelings of calm and keep your body healthy, you might consider training yourself in breathwork. Your doctor or therapist may also recommend focusing on breathwork if you’re dealing with high blood pressure, anxiety, or stress.

While you can enroll in online or in-person courses with breathwork teachers, another popular option is emerging: breathing apps. We tested a bunch, and our favorite was Breathwrk. This app provided a polished experience, left us feeling calmer, and made it so we didn’t just breathe on default—we breathed well.

What Is Breathwork?

woman using breathwrk app outside
Breathwork isn’t as simple as just breathing in and out. | Brock Dupont

Breathwork is a process that involves manipulating your breath to achieve a specific goal or feeling, like increased calm or focus. When people talk about “learning breathwork,” they are typically referring to learning how to adjust their breath so it takes a horizontal form in the chest (called diaphragmatic or belly breathing) rather than a vertical form, which is more shallow and delivers less air to the lungs. Typically, these lessons happen under the oversight of a teacher with a 200-hour registered yoga teacher training or Global Breathwork Alliance certification. (And, yes, you can also learn breathwork through an app!)

Focusing on breath may impact health by reducing stress icon-trusted-source Harvard Health “Breathing to reduce stress” View Source and increasing levels of calm. It may also treat common chronic conditions like high blood pressure icon-trusted-source Nature “Breathing-control lowers blood pressure” View Source . Many clinical mental health therapists teach breathwork as a tool to reduce the sympathetic nervous system icon-trusted-source Journal of Mental Health Counseling “A Practitioner's Guide to Breathwork in Clinical Mental Health Counseling” View Source response(also known as the fight or flight response). Certain exercises, like square breathing, may help regulate levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body, which can get disrupted during moments of anxiety. And some research icon-trusted-source AKJournals “ An experience with Holotropic Breathwork is associated with improvement in non-judgement and satisfaction with life while reducing symptoms of stress in a Czech-speaking population” View Source shows that breathwork can help people feel more satisfied with their lives, too.

An important thing to know about breathwork is that it is not the same thing as meditation. Meditation is often centered on mindfulness. It involves sitting in a quiet, comfortable place and bringing awareness to certain thoughts and ideas. Breathwork is more active and is often intended to bring about a specific goal, like reduced anxiety. That said, both can be used—often to great effect!—at the same time.

What Is the Breathwrk App?

woman looking at breathwrk app home screen
Breathwrk has exercises for every part of the day. | Brock DuPont

Breathwrk is an app that focuses on—you guessed it—teaching you how to breathe more effectively, often with a specific goal in mind. The app offers a huge library of 75+ breathing exercises that you can choose from, with most ranging from 2 to 3 minutes long. It also has a section of more than 25 educational “courses” (10 to 15 minutes long) and tools (or quick exercises with visualization components) to help you achieve a certain mental state (like “calm,” “endurance,” or “focus”). Some exercises can help you stay calm during the day, while others focus on specific activities like falling asleep. Each course is led by a certified teacher.

How Much Does the Breathwrk App Cost?

Breathwrk offers a free plan, which allows you to take a few classes in those aforementioned “calm,” “endurance,” or “focus” categories. This is a great way to get a sense of the app, but if you want access to its entire suite of exercises, you’ll need to enroll in Breathwrk Pro. This is $7.99 a month or $38.99 a year.

How To Get Breathwrk Pro for Free

Not ready to shell out money for Breathwrk Pro? You might not have to. The app offers a Breathwrk Grants program, which provides need-based Breathwrk Pro subscriptions to “those who qualify.” If you don’t qualify for a grant, you can try a 7-day free trial of its premium version. This is a good way to dip your toe in the app instead of diving in right away.

How Does the Breathwrk App Work?

woman taking recharge guided meditation on breathwrk app
Breathwrk shows you exactly how to breathe. | Brock DuPont

When you log into the Breathwrk app, you’ll see a library of options like exercises, courses, and quick tools. Choose the one that most appeals to you based on your goal in that moment, then set aside about five minutes to listen. Each exercise is accompanied by a visualization meant to evoke the sensation of air coming in and out of the lungs. You can choose whether you want it to look like a circle or a line.

As you move through the exercise, focus on the visualization offered on screen. Lining your breath up with the animation is a good way to regulate your breath. We suggest choosing some of the educational courses first, so you can learn about breath basics like how to engage diaphragmatic breathing, why breathwork matters, and how to improve your lung capacity, endurance, and focus. If you’re competitive, you can sign up for one of Breathwrk’s “challenges” to remind you to do a bit of breathwork each day, eventually developing a habit.

What We Like About Breathwrk

Compared to the other breathing apps we tried, Breathwrk is the best designed, most user-friendly option. The interface is intuitive to navigate, beautifully laid out, and reflects the environment of calm and focus that most users will be trying to cultivate. We never had to pause lessons to look up what “pranayama” meant—teachers explained it when needed.  It was also easy to find everything we needed in the app right away.

Breathwrk automatically creates a “schedule” of exercises for you to start—one for the morning, one before bed, and one educational component. This appears when you log in. The “discover” tab at the bottom of the page allows you to search for anything.

We also appreciated the variety of exercises available. Compared to the other apps we tried—including popular meditation apps Calm and Headspace—Breathwrk offered dozens more interesting, well-designed, breathwork-only sessions. (Calm and Headspace, perhaps understandably, focus more on just meditation.) And each option comes with three or four different visualizations to choose from, plus options for the length of the session, external audio, and vibrations that softly remind you to take another breath at the bottom of each exhale.

Overall, this app stands well on its own or in tandem with an in-person breathwork class to strengthen your mind and body. Even after using it for just a week, our testers found themselves using some of the box-breathing techniques they’d learned from the app during moments of stress, or before bed to quiet the mind.

What We Don’t Like About Breathwrk

We didn’t have many complaints! Unlike some of the other options on the market, Breathwrk offers only breathing-related exercises. It does not dabble in meditation or mindfulness, which is a bit of a bummer if you want to utilize breathwork in guided meditation. (In that case, we recommend Calm or Headspace.) But if you’re here to improve your breath, Breathwrk is all you need.

Should You Try Breathwrk?

woman looking at breathwork 101 guide on breathwrk app
Breathwrk has you covered on the basics. | Brock DuPont

If you’re looking to get into breathwork—or the idea of utilizing your breath to bring about a sense of calm appeals to you—the answer is clear: Yes! We think Breathwrk is an incredible vehicle for habit-building around breathwork. It’s designed well, easy to use, and is relatively inexpensive at $7.99 a month. Based on our experience, this educational and expert-led breathing app might just give you the tools you need to stay healthy and calm.

Sources

  1. We take about 22,000 breaths per day: “Breathing,” Canadian Lung Association.
  2. Breathwork may reduce stress: “Breath control helps quell errant stress response,” Harvard Health (June 2020).
  3. Breathwork may help reduce high blood pressure: “Breathing-control lowers blood pressure,” Nature (April 2001).
  4. Using breathwork to minimize sympathetic nervous system response: “A practitioner’s guide to breathwork in clinical mental health counseling,” Journal of Mental Health Counseling (January 2020).
  5. Some people experience better life satisfaction from breathwork: “An experience with Holotropic Breathwork is associated with improvement in non-judgement and satisfaction with life while reducing symptoms of stress in a Czech-speaking population,” AKJournals (December 2021).

Exploring the health and wellness world is better with a friend.

Wellness recommendations you’ll want—delivered to your inbox twice a week. Subscribe to our (free) newsletter and join our growing community!

 

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
In this article
Articles you might like

Want more?

Subscribe to Nessie Sightings. Wellness recommendations you’ll want—delivered to your inbox twice a week. Subscribe to our (free) newsletter and join our growing community!

The emails are free, the finds are priceless.

A dose of wellness for your inbox

Select

Ness will process your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.

“This card is such an exciting addition to my wallet and it’s perfect for someone who values health and wellness but hasn’t found a credit card that rewards me for that. I love getting rewarded for wellness practices like sleeping, meditating, and moving my body—plus extra points on purchases at my favorite places like Whole Foods, ClassPass and sweetgreen. The app is easy to use and the card is designed for your definition of health and wellness, which I love. It’s flexible!”

Kira's Favorite Healthy Merchants

“It’s no secret that wellness is such an important part of my everyday life. I spend a lot of money to help fuel my love of running, recovery, nutrition and mindfulness, so the fact that I can now earn rewards for every dollar I spend with the Ness Card is amazing. My health always comes first, and the Ness Card makes that easy to do. It’s a win-win for everyone!”

Andi's Favorite Healthy Merchants

“As a new mum, wellness and self-care is a priority for me—so I can, in turn, be able to take care of my baby. I love the incentives that Ness offers for making healthier choices. And to be rewarded along the way for those purchases is such a plus!

Oh, and getting 5x point rewards on my Erewhon $20+ smoothie makes it a little more justifiable.”

Amrit's Favorite Healthy Merchants

“I made a promise to myself to find my joy again in 2023. For the past few years, I haven’t been taking care of myself mentally and physically because I’ve just been on the go and focusing on the future instead of being present. I realized that part of the reason I wasn’t happy was because I wasn’t taking care of myself. So, now with the Ness Card—which literally rewards you for staying on top of your wellness journey—I’ve easily been able to focus on my mental and physical journey. Using the card is now a part of my weekly routine, whether I’m buying groceries, going to therapy, spending a day at the spa, or treating myself to a delicious yummy meal.”

Candace's Favorite Healthy Merchants

“I love life with the Ness Card! The team behind the scenes work really hard to make it valuable and to create a sense of community, which you feel in every newsletter and hand-crafted partnership. The card itself encourages me to be even more curious about where I’m spending my money. It definitely incentivizes me to spend ‘healthier’, which is really unique. On top of that, getting points for taking more steps? There is seriously nothing like it.

David's Favorite Healthy Merchants

“My favorite thing about the Ness Card is that it rewards you for your healthy habits, and not all of them require spending. Yes, you can earn 5x points when you spend at any of their approved health and wellness merchants (think Erewhon and many of your other favorites) but you also earn points for being active daily! So now your sanity walks are literally paying off :) As someone who not only works in wellness but lives and breathes it, essentially most of my expenses live in that realm and with the Ness Card I can now be rewarded nicely for those purchases.”

Kirsty's Favorite Healthy Merchants

“I love that I have rewards to look forward to when I focus on my health and wellness. As a mom of two and full time photographer/creator, it’s hard to find time to prioritize my health and—as my body ages—I want to make sure that I’m treating it to all the TLC it needs (and deserves)! The Ness Card reminds me to take care of my mental, physical, and emotional health on the daily.”

Valerie's Favorite Healthy Merchants

“It’s refreshing to have a card app that is so easy to use. I can track my spending and rewards at the click of a button. I love getting a notification when I get extra points for getting a full night sleep or getting my steps in, though of course those are optional. I work a lot, and I feel like I get extra rewarded for taking the time to take care of myself – whether it’s therapy or simply cooking at home instead of dining out. The points accumulate really quickly, and I’ve already gotten a $1,000 credit at Erewhon in my first four months. I also go visit family in Europe a lot, and no one takes my card there, so it’s so convenient to be able to use my Ness Card without ever paying a fee.”

Mélanie's Favorite Healthy Merchants

“As someone who spends the majority of her money on wellness, the Ness Card is perfect for me! I love earning 5x points on purchases at healthy businesses that I was already making, anyways. The Ness Card also motivates me to get enough sleep, practice mindfulness and other healthy habits. The app is really user-friendly and I love watching my points add up. I am excited to redeem them for wellness-related items!”

Lauren's Favorite Healthy Merchants

“The Ness Card motivates me to keep up my healthy habits, and has helped me discover new brands and products that are in alignment with my goals. I’m not spending any more with my Ness Card, but the money I am spending on health and wellness is actually earning me rewards, benefits, and even cash back. And because Ness’s definition of a ‘healthy merchant’ is so generous, I’m able to recognize all of the small ways I practice self-care throughout the week. From buying fresh veggies to going to therapy to taking my supplements, the Ness Card is there to cheer me on: ‘Keep being healthy, girl. You deserve 5x points for that.'”

Melissa's Favorite Healthy Merchants

“The Ness Card rewards me when I spend money on health and wellness. Especially because so much of my wellness routine is spent being active, gardening, making food with my husband, getting a massage, or having some me time, it is nice to be rewarded for that with points that are with brands I shop at all the time anyway. It allows my wellness choices to work harder which I love.”

Research Based

This article was rigorously researched and fact checked. We use peer-reviewed journals and reputable medical sources (think: CDC, WHO, NIH, and the like) to back up every claim we make, and also reach out to experts in the field to ensure we’re covering things the right way. We apply these principles to everything we cover—including brands we partner with—and we’ll always disclose sponsorships, ads, and any kind of financial relationship with anything featured on The Nessie. You deserve the best, most straightforward information on health and wellness, and we think this is the right way to do it. You can read more about our testing and review process here.

If something doesn’t seem quite right, let us know at [email protected].