This study compares three types of daily 5-min breathwork exercises (cyclic sighing, box breathing, and cyclic hyperventilation with retention) with 5 minutes of mindfulness meditation over a 1-month period. The results showed that the exhale-focused cyclic sighing showed the most significant mode of improvement and reduction in physiological arousal and anxiety.Continue Reading

This study aims to investigate whether breathing techniques, namely Holotropic Breathwork, can aid in the development of self-awareness. To do this, they used both a quasi-experiment design and multiple case studies. The 20 participants participated in 4 Holotropic Breathwork sessions separated by 12-weeks over the course of the experimental portion.  The findings demonstrated that novices...Continue Reading

This paper is a meta-analysis of 12 randomized controlled trials, a total of 785 adult subjects. The effects analysis across all participants yielded a significant small-to-medium mean effect size. This means that individuals practicing breathwork experienced lower levels of stress than those of the control conditions. Furthermore, the self-reported anxiety and depression of the experimental...Continue Reading

This article gives a comprehensive overview of the benefits of setting goals. It outlines why it is important and beneficial, as well as showing ways it is beneficial in areas such as personal performance, motivation, learning, mental health care, and business.Continue Reading

This study investigates the relationship between mindfulness, well-being, and personal goal-setting. The study involved 114 university students who completed questionnaires assessing mindfulness, well-being, and the reasons behind their personal goal pursuits (extrinsic, introjected, identified, or intrinsic). The results indicate that mindfulness was associated with more autonomously motivated setting goals. This autonomous goal setting, in turn,...Continue Reading

This paper used brief psychological intervention to develop goal-setting and planning (GAP) skills in order to see if it would increase psychological well-being in a non-clinical sample. The intervention was tested in two separate studies: one involving group sessions and the other involving individual completion of the program. Both groups showed significant improvements in subjective...Continue Reading

This study conducted a randomized clinical trial involving 1,337 participants to assess the impact of a gratitude intervention on well-being and mental health. Participants were divided into three groups: gratitude, hassles, and neutral events. The gratitude group practiced daily gratitude listing for 14 days. Results showed that the gratitude intervention increased positive affect, happiness, and...Continue Reading

This paper defines Positive psychology as  “the study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions.” the movement has rapidly expanded in the past 20 years as researchers noticed how much more resources are used to study disorders and dysfunction. Positive psychology doesn’t encourage ignoring...Continue Reading

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the unique effects of goal setting on behavior change, as well as to identify the circumstances and individuals for whom goal setting is most effective. The analysis showed a small but positive effect of goal setting on behavior change. Further insight gathered from moderator’s response revealed that...Continue Reading

Paper discussing habit formation and its integration into Evidence-Based Psychological Treatments (EBPTs), as well as clinical takeaways. Core takeaways from the paper center around the claim that the integration of EBPTs with habit formation leads to better outcomes. The focus here is on understanding habits as independent of goals, cued by specific contexts, learned via...Continue Reading