☁️🍄 Issue No. 009: Breath Works

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Today, we’re diving into one of my personal favorites: the breath. And—why not—before we dive in, let’s take a deep breath together. One big inhale… then sigh it out.

BREATH WORKS

An ancient practice, breathwork has been used for thousands of years across cultures. From yoga in India to qigong in China, breath has long been leveraged for well-being. 

Now, it’s going digital and mainstream. 

• Othership, a social bathhouse and app offering guided breathwork and hot/cold therapies, raised $8M this January and is adding 20 locations in the next five years. 

• In early 2023, WHOOP announced that it’s partnering with Dr. Andrew Huberman to quantify the effects of breathwork courses on its platform. 

• Open, a breathwork and meditation mindfulness app, closed a $9M Series A in late 2021 with backing from Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and DoorDash’s Tony Xu.

• This past year, Breathonics raised a pre-Series A while Breathwrk raised an undisclosed seed.

Meanwhile, wellness giants like Headspace, Calm, and Oura are increasingly packaging breath into their products. Going corporate, offerings like Core by Hyperice, Breathpod, and Breathwork Detox promise employee clarity and creativity. 

IN AND OUT

Rewinding a tad, it wasn’t until the 1970s that breathwork really made its mark in the Western world. New techniques, like Stanislav/Christina Grof’s Holotropic Breathwork and Leonard Orr’s Rebirthing Breathwork ushered the practice into the zeitgeist. 

These approaches can create powerful altered states of consciousness that evoke emotional healing, not unlike those of psychedelics.

In fact, students in psychedelic therapist training programs even use Holotropic breathwork in the absence of drugs. And researchers at Johns Hopkins are investigating its potential to help veterans with PTSD. 

Elsewhere, more and more therapists are using breath in tandem with somatic psychotherapies, helping patients ground into their bodies as they work with challenging emotions. 

THE NEXT HEADSPACE?

Americans are more stressed out than ever, and the last several years has seen a surge of interest around mindfulness — a bevy of apps have ballooned the meditation industry to $1B. 

But the initial hype around meditation is plateauing, and there are some barriers. It can be a difficult practice for beginners to pick up — especially when learning purely from digital guides. What’s more, many of its benefits are subtle and can take decades, if not a lifetime, to uncover. 

On the other hand, breathwork’s effects can be near-immediate and clearly palpable, triggering the body’s relaxation response. Nervous system specialist Jonny Miller explained: 

“[Bottom-up interventions that]...leverage our physiology by consciously shifting our respiratory or visual systems…are 4x more effective [than top-down interventions like tactical mindfulness]  at…shifting our state.” 

And a flurry of new studies are touting its potential:

• Stanford researchers found breathwork to be more effective than meditation for improving mood and autonomic physiology. 

• A meta-analysis of trials from breathwork researcher Guy Fincham drew links between the practice and lower levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.

• An evidence-based review of breathwork interventions found significant improvements in symptoms for patients with anxiety disorders. 

TAKEAWAY

As with any emerging trend, questions remain. While promising, studies are early and limited. And more intense practices like Holotropic aren’t for everyone — those with a history of cardiovascular disease, for example, run the risk of adverse effects.

Then there’s the prevailing criticism around Western/secular forces co-opting Eastern/spiritual practices and watering them down. Thing is, these very “watered-down” approaches often serve as gateways for deeper growth — trailheads which people may not otherwise have encountered.

Zooming out, whether meditation or breathwork, it’s hard to build moats around these practices — to keep people paying for what they can do for free, on their own, at any time. It’s why companies like Headspace and Calm have pushed deeper into healthcare to maintain momentum. 

That doesn’t mean breathwork won’t make its mark. Rather, those that can craft rich, meaningful experiences that can’t be easily replicated will prevail.

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QUICK HITS

• PAC it up. Psychedelic Medicine PAC launches in Washington. 

• More setbacks. Field Trip Health sees CEO step down, seeks buyer.

• Counting sheep. Mental health issues are keeping people up at night.

• Goals. Ted Lasso takes White House podium to promote mental health care. 

• Bills. 22 out of 50 US states have some form of psychedelic reform legislation. 

• New findings. Researchers publish insights on DMT’s impact on the brain.

• Brain tech. GrayMatters secures FDA approval for neuromodulation device. 

• Trending. Mental health is the fastest-growing marketplace for startups. 

NEWS & TRENDS

1) The tripless trip debate

Can (or should) you take the magic out of the mushroom and still reap the mental health benefits? This week resurfaced one of psychedelics’ most heated debates with the emergence of an intiguing case study. During an ongoing psilocybin trial, an individual took trazodone (an antidepressant which suppressed the psychedelic trip) but still experienced a major antidepressant effect — lasting six months.

Currently, companies like Delix Therapeutics and BetterLife Pharma are designing nonhallucinogenic psychedelics to do just that — provide the therapeutic benefits without the roller coaster. Tripless trips may increase access to people who aren’t ready to dive into the deep end, but it doesn’t sit well with those who believe in the healing power of the experience itself. → Read more

2) Schools v. tech giants

School districts are suing social media companies for their role in the youth mental health crisis. In January, Seattle Public Schools took action, asserting that the crisis was “no accident,” a result of intentional design to hook and attract youth. Later on in February, districts in Florida and New Jersey followed suit, filing similar claims against tech giants.

Now, even more districts are joining in. California’s San Mateo County Board alleged that tech giants “knowingly created” the crisis, while Bucks County in Pennsylvania accused companies of “exchanging our children’s mental well-being for billions of dollars in ad revenue.” But is it social media or just the phones themselves that are the problem? The debate rages on. → Read more

DEALS & DEBUTS

🤸 Bend Health, a digital mental health care provider for kids and teens, added an undisclosed sum to its Series A, emerging from stealth with $32M in funding. It also announced partnerships with health insurers Sauk Prairie Healthcare and Allegro Pediatrics to increase access to its services.→ source, source

🍭 Mindset Health, a digital hypnotherapy startup, closed A$17.8M ($12M) in a Series A round led by King River Capital. The platform helps people with chronic conditions manage their health via evidence-based hypnotherapy solutions.→ source

💭 ThoughtFull, a Singapore-based mental health company, closed a $4M pre-Series A in a round led by Sheares Healthcare Group. The startup plans to scale its business across Asia and deepen its product offerings, from personalized content to progress-tracking.→ source

⚽ FIFAe, FIFA’s esports branch, is teaming up with meditation app Calm. The partnership will give national team players access to Calm premium subscriptions.→ source

⚙️ Lucy Scientific Discovery, a psychedelics manufacturing company, is acquiring assets from life science company Wesana Health, teaming up with consulting firm Pramantha Group. It’s also working with cannabis company High Times to launch a new line of psychoactive adaptogens.  → source, source, source

🌈 United Health Foundation, the philanthropic arm of UnitedHealth Group, awarded a $2M grant to Rainbow Health, a nonprofit serving the LGBTQ+ community. The three-year commitment aims to support the well-being of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC youth.→ source

🧩 Therapy IQ, a management software for therapists, secured an undisclosed amount of funding. The platform plans to expand its reach to more mental health providers.→ source

🐨 Incannex Healthcare, an biopharma company, is launching several new psychedelic therapy clinics in Australia via a new subsidiary venture. The company plans on starting with ketamine-based offerings, then moving into psilocybin pending regulatory approval.→ source

💊 Irwin Naturals, a nutraceuticals company, completed its acquisition of Ketamine Media, a growth and marketing agency for ketamine providers. → source // Read more: Issue 001: Down the K-Hole 

🧠 SonderMind, a digital mental health care provider, is acquiring virtual mental health platform Mindstrong’s technology and select technology team members. → source

💌 Maya Cares, a mental health chatbot designed for POC women, launched this week. The Australia-based platform aims to help women who have experienced racism and collects data to inform policy-making.→ source

🔬 Enveric Biosciences, a mental health biotech company, established an Australia-based subsidiary to advance its psilocin program. The company will initiate its first human clinical trial targeting anxiety disorders in Q4 2023.→ source

WHAT I’M READING

• The rise of the therapist influencer. Therapists are increasingly joining TikTok and posting advice online… but what happens when they start going viral off of client-inspired information? → WIRED

• The liberal-conservative well-being gap. Across a number of factors, liberals tend to be more unhappy than conservatives are — and the delta has increased since 2011. A deep dive into well-being and ideology. → American Affairs

And, fin. Appreciate you as always for coming along. 

As you may have noticed, there has been a lot of tumult these past few weeks in this realm, from bankruptcies to clinic closures. It’s never fun to see those play out, but I’m optimistic about the companies that do survive this shakeout.

And I’m excited to see where things go next. We’ll do our best to keep you up to date and informed, and thank you for staying curious and interested in this space — it’s needed.  

Have a great week ahead!

-Mel

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