Why We Use Mouth Breathing in Revelation Breathwork®
The Truth, the Science, and the Emotional Power Behind It
There’s a lot of information out there saying:
“Nose breathing is good.”
“Mouth breathing is bad.”
And honestly? In everyday life, that’s mostly true.
Chronic, all-day mouth breathing can affect sleep, jaw structure, airway development, posture, and your overall stress baseline.
Nose breathing is ideal for:
daily stress regulation
exercise
nitric oxide production
long-term health
But that is not the same thing as the intentional mouth breathing used in Revelation Breathwork®.
And this is where most people get confused.
They hear that breathwork is done through the mouth - especially a practice designed for healing, release, and emotional processing - and they ask:
“Why mouth breathing? Isn’t that bad?”
This is a great question, and the answer is simple:
We don’t use mouth breathing as a lifestyle.
We use it as a therapeutic tool.
Just like:
an ice bath would be harmful all day, but powerful for 3 minutes
high–intensity exercise would destroy you all day, but transforms you in intervals
anesthesia would be dangerous daily, but lifesaving in surgery
Mouth breathing has a specific purpose, a specific effect, and a specific context.
And that purpose makes it one of the most effective ways to soften the thinking mind, activate the emotional brain, and open the body to healing.
Below is the clear, science-backed explanation of what actually happens.
1. Mouth Breathing Changes Your Chemistry
When you breathe deeply through the mouth, you blow off more CO₂ than usual.
This temporarily causes:
lower CO₂
higher blood pH (respiratory alkalosis)
hemoglobin holding oxygen more tightly (Bohr Effect)
This is why people feel:
tingling
buzzing
light-headedness
emotion rising
energy moving
These sensations are not random.
They’re the direct result of this chemistry shift, and they help loosen the grip of the overthinking mind.
2. Mouth Breathing Sends More Oxygen-Rich Blood to the Prefrontal Cortex
(Sano et al., 2013)
A near-infrared spectroscopy study found:
Mouth breathing increases oxyhemoglobin (oxygen-rich blood) arriving at the prefrontal cortex (PFC).
But here’s the important nuance:
More blood arrives
Less oxygen is released into tissue because of the Bohr Effect
Sympathetic activation reduces cognitive control
So even though more oxygen-rich blood is flowing, the PFC does not get “louder.” It becomes less dominant, which helps people access emotion instead of analysis.
This is the perfect state for emotional processing.
3. Mouth Breathing Activates the Limbic System — the Emotional Brain
As the thinking mind softens, the emotional brain comes online.
This includes:
Amygdala – emotional intensity, fear release, stored emotion
Hippocampus – memory, identity, meaning
Hypothalamus – stress response, autonomic shifts
Research shows respiration-related CO₂ changes, sympathetic activation, and breath-driven oscillations are closely tied to limbic activation.
This is why people:
remember things they forgot
access emotions they suppressed
feel childhood material
cry
laugh
release
It is not random. It’s neurophysiology.
4. Interoception Gets Louder (This Is Where Somatic Healing Happens)
Breathwork heightens the brain-body communication channel called interoception:
feeling your heartbeat
feeling emotion in the body
sensing pressure, heat, movement
becoming aware of internal sensations
When these signals get louder:
emotion becomes easier to access
memories surface more vividly
numbness breaks open
the body tells its story
This is essential for somatic processing.
5. Music Takes Over as the Emotional Guide
One of the most powerful combinations in Revelation Breathwork® is:
Mouth breathing (state shift) + Music (emotional meaning + safety).
Music activates:
limbic centers
reward pathways
autobiographical memory
emotional sequencing
So when the breath lowers defenses and opens the emotional body…the music supports (and even enhances) the journey.
People often say:
“That song blew me wide open.”
or
“That one lyric was exactly what I needed to hear.”
It’s because the breath prepared the nervous system for that depth.
6. Putting It All Together: Why This Works
Mouth breathing helps people:
get out of their head
get into their body
activate emotional circuits
retrieve memories
heighten sensation
break through avoidance
release suppressed emotion
soften their defenses
feel safe enough to let go and feel
This is why, in Revelation Breathwork®, we use mouth breathing with clear intention:
Not for everyday life.
Not as a baseline.
But as a precise, powerful, short-term therapeutic state that opens the door to healing.
7. So… Why Mouth Breathing?
Because:
It quiets the mind.
It awakens the emotional body. And it opens the doorway to healing.
That’s the simplest, clearest answer.
In Conclusion
At the end of the day, Revelation Breathwork® isn’t about doing the breath “right.” It’s about creating the conditions for the heart to open, for you to feel what you haven’t been feeling, and for the parts of us we’ve carried for years to finally breathe again.
Written by Jason Amoroso, Founder of Revelation Breathwork®
References
Corfield, D. R., Fink, G. R., Ramsay, S. C., Murphy, K., Harty, H. R., Watson, J. D., Adams, L., Frackowiak, R. S., & Guz, A. (1995). Evidence for limbic system activation during CO₂-stimulated breathing. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 7(3), 345–351. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.1995.7.3.345
Krohn, F., Wagner, P. F., Aarts, L., Liu, Y., & Yackle, K. (2023). The integrated brain network that controls respiration. eLife, 12, e83654. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.83654
Sano, M., Tamura, T., Miyata, S., Yasuma, F., & Oku, Y. (2013). Increased oxygen load in the prefrontal cortex from mouth breathing: A near-infrared spectroscopy study. Journal of Physiological Anthropology, 32(9). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4047298/
Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B., & Gemignani, A. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353/full
Brændholt, M., Rattay, T. W., & Khalsa, S. S. (2023). Breathing in waves: Understanding respiratory-brain interactions. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105365
