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 with deep rhythmic breathing while submerged in warm water, 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 the breathing technique was just as effective while simply relaxing in a lying down position, and this quickly became normal practice.
In the early 1980's 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 clearly written 'manual' which could be used as a guide to clinical practice.
While Breathwork has been popular in the USA and elsewhere as a personal growth technique, in Europe it has become popular 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 Breathwork was an effective treatment for depression. Their findings suggested Breathwork led to significant improvements in depression and anxiety symptoms after a series of 10 Breathwork sessions. These improvements were maintained at follow-up.
Currently, Breathwork is the subject of psychotherapy research being conducted by Lloyd at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) School of Psychology & Counselling, which is being supervised by Dr Matthew Bambling (QUT) and Associate Professor Robert King from the University of Queensland (UQ).