Safety

What is 9D breathwork, and is it safe?

By GyroscopeUpdated November 15, 20267 sources

9D breathwork is a branded, recorded session of connected breathing done with headphones on and eyes closed, over a soundtrack the company says has nine layers of audio. As of November 2026, PubMed listed no study of it. Treat it like a fast breathing session. Lie down, stay away from water, and skip it if you’re pregnant or have heart problems.

The name sounds like a new kind of breathing. The company’s own story calls the breathing ancient, and what’s new is the packaging, which stacks binaural beats, special frequencies and hypnotic coaching on top. Its page says people may cry, laugh or feel waves of energy, and that makes it feel like something more than breathing.

What the nine layers are

The company lists them as multi-dimensional sound, binaural brain entrainment, solfeggio frequencies, isochronic brainwave tones, 432 Hz tuning, somatic breathwork, subliminal hypnotic therapy, guided coaching and sound effects. Its free online session runs 23 minutes. The breathing itself is described as rhythmic, “conscious connected breathing”, and the company’s founder is Brian Kelly.

It’s a bit like a spin class with a light show. The lights change the experience, but your legs are doing the same work they’d do in a dark room. Here the breathing is the work, and the sound is the show.

Is it tested?

On November 14, 2026, a PubMed search for “9D breathwork” returned no results. None of the nine sound layers has been tested as part of this format. The closest evidence is for breathwork in general. Pooled trials found small drops in stress and anxiety, and the effect showed up for slow breathing, while the two fast breathing trials didn’t show one.

The safety part

The company’s own page says people may feel tingling or temperature shifts during a session. Tingling is the classic sign of breathing off too much carbon dioxide. The Merck Manual lists pins and needles, lightheadedness, cramps and fainting as what comes with it. That’s the same physiology as Wim Hof rounds, and the same rules apply.

• Lie down. Never standing, in water or in a car.
• No water. The Wim Hof method’s safety page says never to do its exercises before or during diving, swimming or a bath. The same logic holds here.
• Check your health first. The 9D site itself tells people with heart problems, severe PTSD or a pregnancy to see their doctor before taking part. We’d add epilepsy, since fast breathing is used to bring on seizure activity during an EEG.

More on what happens in your body during a session is in what happens in a fast breathing session, and on tingling in why do my hands tingle when I breathe fast.

Holotropic breathwork and rebirthing are the older forms of connected breathing, each with its own mini guide.