Sleep has never come easily to me. I’ve had on-and-off insomnia for as long as I can remember, and while some of it is likely my biological clock (both my mother and I are natural night owls), I take longer to wind down than a lot of other people I know. That’s why, to get a good night’s sleep, I need a bedtime ritual to bring myself into the right physiological place for rest.
Tools like breathwork, a series of exercises that help you focus on your breathing or use your breath to get in touch with your body, are ideal for bedtime rituals because they calm the nervous system, clear the mind, and create a habit of relaxation before bed. So I figured I’d look for an app that could help me learn more about breathwork and that’s how I found Breathwrk.
This award-winning app aims to teach you hundreds of breathing techniques to help you sleep, learn meditation and mindfulness, improve your athletic performance, and even reduce your addiction cravings. All of this appealed to me for a lot of reasons. For example, I forget to inhale deeply (or at all) when I’m stressed, so I figured meditation and mindfulness might help me with this. I also wanted something to force me to be consistent, to make me slow down and breathe even when I don’t want to, such as when I am in a panicked moment or when my mind is whirling before bed.
Thankfully, the Breathwrk app did just that: It helped me to create a bedtime breathwork practice, and even better, it nudged me into using breathwork throughout the day so that by the time bedtime rolled around, I wasn’t attempting to force my nervous system to slow down in an instant. I’m also a better breather overall and I’ve cultivated a deeper awareness of how my breath is affected by my psychological and physical states.
How I Signed Up for Breathwrk
Signing up for Breathwrk is super easy. You start by choosing which version you want (free or premium) and creating an account. Once you’ve downloaded the app, you can try any exercise or class you want right away.
Like many wellness apps, Breathwrk offers a few pricing options:
- A free version, which includes over 50 classes and exercises and free 7-day challenges
- A premium version, which costs $12 per month or $69 if you pay for the whole year upfront (which breaks down to roughly $5.75 a month)
While the free version may be sufficient for some, the premium version is what makes the app really stand out from the competition because you get unlimited access to over 100 exercises and classes to address everything from stress to athletic performance, as well as tracking of your personal stats to keep you motivated.
A Note on Breakthwrk’s Price
I admit I was a little taken aback by the price because it is a little steep compared to some other notable breathing apps, like One Deep Breath (which only costs $7.99 per month). However, Breathwrk offers a wider variety of techniques for a wider range of issues than its competitors.
For example, One Deep Breath focuses only on stress and sleep, while Breathwrk offers exercises and classes for work performance, athletic performance, preparing for labor, reducing nausea, and a wide variety of other goals in addition to stress and sleep help, meaning you’ll get much more use out of Breathwrk.
Plus, not all of its competitors are cheaper. For example, The Tapping Solution, another wellness app, costs $11.99 per month, and Calm—an app that also offers sleep and meditation exercises—costs $14.99 per month.
One good thing I discovered in my research, though, is that Breakthwrk is willing to work with you if you feel you could benefit from the Breathwrk app but it’s truly out of your reach financially. You can email the company and see if you’re eligible for its Breathwrk Grant Program, which gives out a free subscription for every one purchased.
You’re also eligible for a discount if you’re a teacher, student, veteran, or first responder, or are in the military.
How Breathwrk Works
Breathwrk offers two main options to learn breathwork techniques.
- Exercises generally take one to two minutes to do and lead you in one prescriptive breathing format for an intended goal, like muscle relaxation.
- Classes run anywhere from three to 15 minutes, are led by a teacher (pre-recorded) and often include multiple exercises as well as education. Like exercises, classes focus on one intended goal, though it’s often broader.
For both, breathing techniques are broken down into five categories:
- Calming
- Nighttime
- Energizing
- Perform
- Health
Each category is then further broken down into subcategories like “Exercises for Stress, Anxiety, and Depression” and “Exercises for Waking Up.”
I was delighted to see how specific some of the exercises were, and for issues I’d never thought to use breathwork for before, like athletic performance and pain relief.
I could scroll through them and simply click on an exercise or a class to start.
With exercises, I had to choose an accompanying animated visual (I preferred a monkey) that expanded and contracted as I inhaled and exhaled and was accompanied by buzzing, so I could practice with my eyes closed.
Classes are more in-depth than exercises: They’re longer and feature a pre-recorded voice of a teacher addressing specific concerns, such as “SOS Breathing” for calming down when you’re in a particularly anxious state.
How It Helped Me Sleep Better
To find both exercises and classes for sleep, I went to the “Nighttime” tab under the “Discover” section.
This section was made for night owls and consisted of exercises like “Muscle Relaxer,” which involved taking a short inhale and making a humming sound as an exhale, and “Back to Sleep,” which consisted of a medium-length inhale, hold, exhale, hold pattern. Each exercise tackled relaxation and sleep preparation from a different angle, and while I couldn’t always tell a huge difference in how they made me feel, they all relaxed me.
I appreciated that I had the freedom to take any class or do any exercise whenever I wanted, without having to plan or create a schedule for it.
For example, if I woke up in the middle of the night, I could do the “Fall Back Asleep” exercise, and if I wanted to do five exercises in a row before bed, I could.
But I could also create something more structured by setting up a schedule. I could pick specific exercises to do every night at a certain time and would get automated alerts to prompt me. I found that staggering exercises and classes helped me get in the habit of being proactive about winding down and made my bedtime exercises more effective.
In general, I tended to prefer the classes. I found them to be the most effective when I was tossing and turning because—let’s face it—it takes more than a minute to calm a wide-awake mind that’s gotten used to years of insomnia.
So I found that six or seven minutes of breathing (or sometimes longer) with the guidance of a soothing, comforting voice worked wonders for me. Just hearing someone’s voice and getting their instruction took me out of my head.
For example, I really loved the “Sleep Support” class by Melissa Shah, a yoga therapist and breathwork instructor. Over the course of seven minutes, we tried a pranayama (yogic breathwork) technique called Anuloma Ujjay, which consists of eight rounds of inhales through both nostrils and exhales through alternating nostrils. Within a couple of minutes, I found my restless mind hypnotized by the alternating breaths, and surprisingly, this was enough to slow down any spiraling thoughts that might have kept me up that night.
Not every class blew me away, though. For example, I didn’t care for “Fall Asleep Fast,” with Terrell Carter. His voice sounded both robotic and theatrical at the same time, which distracted me from the breathing technique, but that doesn’t mean his voice and technique wouldn’t strike the perfect chord with someone else.
Exercises came in handy for creating a before-bedtime habit that didn’t feel like a chore on my to-do list.
It’s hard to argue with one or two minutes of breathing before bed, and often, once I’d gotten started I’d move on to other exercises and classes.
For example, I really appreciated the “Exercises to Unwind in the Evening” subsection in the Nighttime category. The techniques helped me gradually relax my nervous system, rather than attempting to suddenly hit the “off” button in the minutes before sleep. By starting early in the evening, I worried less about going to sleep, which is ironically one of my major contributors to insomnia.
How It Taught Me Mindfulness
One class that stood out to me—especially when I was feeling anxious—was the “SOS Breathing” I mentioned above.
I actually turned to this class when I was feeling frazzled from an overly scheduled day, my shoulders tense and my diaphragm tight and contracted, making my breathing shallow.
I felt comforted and empathized with right away: The teacher talked about how hard it can be to slow down the breath, then guided me to look away from my phone screen and let my gaze soften, explaining that when we lock our eyes on a screen, it keeps the nervous system activated. He then led me through about three minutes of breathing techniques. I walked away significantly more relaxed and peaceful, plus I’d learned something new about the nervous system. I consider that a win.
I also loved that Breathwrk offers tests for “Max Exhale” and “Breath Hold,” since my goal was to improve my breathing overall, not just during exercises. Knowing that my lung capacity was expanding from just a minute or two of breathing a day was motivating and reminded me that I was benefitting outside of when I was actively using the app. It was cool to see all of the options for breathwork to help users focus, wake up, or lift their mood.
That said, the energizing and mood-boosting classes weren’t my favorite. Most involved rapid breathing, and while those did deliver results as promised, I sometimes felt like I was hyperventilating, which actually created anxiety. Of course, that was my own physiological reaction and personal preference and I think those exercises could easily benefit other people.
Building Routines
One thing I liked a lot about Breathwrk is that it helps you build new routines. To do that, it offers a few options to help build a sleep-supportive breathwork habit:
- Seven-Day Challenges
- Curated Sleep Habits
For the seven-day challenge, I got a prompt to do one sleep exercise or class (which are curated for you) per day and got to see my progress. While I typically avoid any sort of app challenge because of the time commitment, most of the exercises here were less than five minutes, so I really had no excuse to avoid them. The challenge helped me build the breathwork habit, and it was nice to try a variety of techniques.
The curated Sleep Habits option, meanwhile, I found to be very helpful. I was given a set of three exercises to do over the course of the evening, starting right after work with the “Deep Relaxation” exercise, followed by “Unwind” late in the evening and “Sleep” just before bed.
As I progressed through the night, I found that these simple exercises, which took a total of a mere four minutes out of my day, subtly slowed down my thoughts and relaxed my body enough to make bedtime easier.
I also liked the curated “Daily Detox” habit, which includes three exercises starting at 7:30 p.m. and ending at 10 p.m. (you can edit the time once you’ve chosen the habit) that are designed to work synergistically. I found this invaluable for two reasons: In just a few minutes spread out over a few hours, I was able to slowly unwind from my day; and each exercise had a cumulative effect, with each one getting easier as I relaxed more deeply.
I will say that, while I often included another separate class or exercise before bed, the Habits exercises did make it easier to go into relaxation mode in any other additional classes, which made them more effective at helping me sleep soundly. Plus, seeing how they progressively relaxed me was a reminder that winding down the nervous system takes time. Understanding this principle has helped me develop habits like having a cut-off time for screen use and taking herbal supplements earlier in the evening.
Pros and Cons
Breathwrk helped me relax mentally, emotionally, and physically before bed, which made it easier to fall asleep, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some downsides. Here are my pros and cons.
- Has exercises and classes in a variety of lengths and that address a range of issues
- You’re in control of which classes or exercises you do
- Draws from diverse techniques, not just pranayama (yogic breathwork)
- Classes feature teachers with soothing voices to calm your mind
- Variety of class lengths, from 60 seconds to 15 minutes
- Short exercises make building a breathwork habit easy
- Habits option helps you unwind starting hours before bed
- Gamifies your experience with streaks and levels
- Has teachers from diverse backgrounds
- Not every teacher’s style and voice resonated
- Many exercises and classes feel similar
- More expensive than other competing apps
- Energizing classes made me feel anxious
Final Thoughts
Overall, I felt that Breathwrk delivered on its promises to help me calm down, improve my breathing, learn more mindfulness techniques, and fall asleep more quickly.
While I haven’t tried every technique available in the app’s large library, I know that if I have a sugar craving, am prepping for my next 5K, feel anxious, or experience nausea, I can turn to Breathwrk and find relief in as little as a minute.
It’s incredibly practical and accessible, and I wasn’t expecting so many options and techniques.
Classes were 15 minutes at the most, and some were as short as a minute. I was grateful for the shorter length of most of the exercises and even the classes. One reason I’ve put off using breathwork in the past was the time commitment, so I appreciated that Breathwrk delivers results in a few minutes and makes it easy to establish a habit. And once I’d accomplished one short exercise, I was typically pumped to do more. I also loved the variety of techniques and approaches to supporting sleep, from targeting muscle relaxation to staggering exercises so they build on each other over time.
There was clearly a lot of thought put into this app: It tackles insomnia from multiple angles (relief from overthinking, relaxing the muscles, disconnecting from a tough work day) and offers solutions from multiple angles, such as slowly unwinding through staggered exercises and sticking to the breathwork habit for seven days in a row.
As someone who has tried a variety of breathwork techniques (including yogic, somatic, diaphragmatic, and neo-shamanic) for almost two decades, it was very apparent to me that the classes this app offered were high quality.
The teachers did a great job of soothing and guiding as well as sharing information that users can use without the app. That combination of technique and information is powerful.
For example, learning how to breathe into the diaphragm properly and getting several minutes of practice in before bed is knowledge I can take with me and apply anytime I notice shallow breathing.
Of course, the Breathwrk app didn’t magically cure my insomnia or my anxiety, but it was surprisingly effective at helping me get into a more relaxed state before bed and fall asleep with less time spent tossing and turning. I would recommend the app for anyone who struggles with sleep issues and the contributing factors (like stress) that may be causing it.