If you’re wondering what excessive yawning means in breathwork, you’re not alone—and it’s not a sign of tiredness or that you’re doing the technique incorrectly. Yawning in connected breathwork is often a powerful sign that energy is moving, tension is releasing, and your nervous system is recalibrating itself. Rather than a sign of laziness or fatigue, it’s a deeply intelligent physiological and energetic response. The science behind it may surprise you—and we invite you to release any self-judgment and embrace the yawn as an important part of the process.
7 Reasons You May Yawn a Lot in Breathwork
1. Yawns as a Reset — Brain Cooling & State Shift
Though often misunderstood, yawning is believed to serve a thermoregulatory role—helping cool the brain by drawing in cooler air, increasing blood flow, and calming overheated neural circuits¹. This natural reset supports transitions in attention, emotional states, and overall arousal levels.
2. Yawns as Energetic Release in Breathwork
Yawning frequently arises at moments when emotional energy begins to move. Many practitioners and facilitators view it as a sign of relaxation, letting go, or even crossing a threshold into an altered state. One breathworker described it as a “tasty threshold” into deeper healing²—an embodied signal that something unseen is shifting.
Because breathwork guides participants into altered states of consciousness, yawning can signal the nervous system is shifting—marking mental release, physiological balance, or readiness for deeper inner work. Energetically, yawns may also coincide with the unwinding of old holding patterns or the softening of internal resistance. As tension unravels, yawning may emerge as the body’s spontaneous way of releasing what no longer needs to be held.
3. Excessive Yawning as a Means of Nervous System Regulation
From a physiological standpoint, yawning and sighing function as natural regulatory mechanisms that help maintain homeostasis. They help improve oxygen and carbon dioxide balance, and reduce stress responses. During breathwork, these reflexes often arise as the body self-soothes and recalibrates.
During breathwork, these reflexes often emerge as the body self-soothes, recalibrates, and seeks a more stable and sustainable rhythm amid changing physiological states. Because connected breathwork intentionally activates the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) nervous system, yawning can act as an intrinsic “brake” to modulate arousal. It signals the body’s innate intelligence at work—managing nervous system intensity, preventing overwhelm, and helping maintain the practitioner within their window of tolerance for safe and effective healing.
4. Excessive Yawning in Plant Medicine & Psychedelic Settings
Yawning also plays a significant role in plant medicine and other psychedelic healing experiences. In many traditions, it’s considered a form of purging—alongside more visible expressions like vomiting, crying, or shaking—as the body clears both physical and energetic stagnation⁴.
In psilocybin and other psychedelic journeys, yawning may be triggered by shifts in serotonin, dopamine, or other neurotransmitters⁵. Rather than being a side effect, these yawns often signal neurochemical and energetic reorganization. Just as in breathwork, yawns can point to the depth and potency of the healing process.
6. Yawns as Energetic Signposts
When we stop seeing yawns as interruptions and instead recognize them as energetic signals, we develop a deeper, more intuitive connection with our bodies. In this light, yawning may indicate that your body is engaged in profound somatic processing—releasing stress and integrating past experiences at a cellular level. It can signal a transition from one internal state to another, the exhalation of stored tension and emotional charge, and a deeper descent into the healing process.
7. The Adaptive Intelligence of Yawning
Yawning is adaptogenic—it meets the body where it is. It can energize and activate or calm and settle, depending on what’s needed in the moment. This dual nature makes it a powerful tool for balance and self-regulation during deep healing sessions.
Even more intriguing is how a yawn activates parts of the brain responsible for empathy, bonding, creativity, and play. It’s not just a bodily reflex—it’s a full-brain event. To date, neuroscientists haven’t found any other action that affects so many brain systems simultaneously. In his article Yawning in American Scientist, Robert Provine highlights just how involved this simple act really is:
“When yawning, you also stretch your facial muscles, tilt your head back, narrow or close your eyes, tear, salivate, open the eustachian tubes of your middle ear and perform many other, yet unspecified, cardiovascular, neuromuscular and respiratory acts…”
This physiological complexity may explain why yawning feels so powerful during breathwork. It’s like hitting a neural and energetic master reset—preparing body and mind for healing, expansion, and integration.
Final Thoughts on What Excessive Yawning Means in Breathwork
So, what does excessive yawning mean in breathwork when it starts to feel constant or overwhelming? While occasional yawns are common, continuous yawning often reflects:
- Autonomic nervous system arousal as the body moves through intense emotional or energetic material⁶
- Active processing or release, where yawning becomes a pressure valve for discharging stored tension and metabolizing survival energy from trauma
- Shifts in neurotransmitter activity, particularly involving serotonin, dopamine, and endogenous opioids⁷. These changes enhance emotional regulation, support integration, and promote calm.
Yawning during connected breathwork or other healing practices that access non-ordinary states of consciousness is not a mistake—nor is it a sign that something is wrong. Instead, it reflects the body’s innate intelligence and signals that deep healing is in progress. Whether it’s calming a stressed nervous system, releasing stored emotional energy, or aiding integration, yawns offer a powerful glimpse into your body’s healing language. I invite you to surrender to them and simply trust that your body’s innate intelligence is provind you exactly what you need!
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Endnotes for “What Does Excessive Yawning Mean in Breathwork?”
- University of Vienna. “Yawning to Cool the Brain.” medienportal.univie.ac.at
- Em Uprichard. “Yawning in Breathwork.” medium.com
- The Breathable Body. “Sighing & Yawning: What’s Happening?” thebreathablebody.com
- Labate & Cavnar (2019). “Purging and the Body in the Therapeutic Use of Ayahuasca.” researchgate.net
- MamaDose. “Why Does Psilocybin Make You Yawn?” mamadose.com; see also: “Yawning as a Dopaminergic and Serotonergic Response,” mdpi.com
- Cleveland Clinic. “Why Do We Yawn?” my.clevelandclinic.org
- “Yawning and Neurotransmitter Activity.” pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; mdpi.com
