Recent studies continue to show the benefits of focused breathing and meditation for physical and spiritual health. In Dr. Herbert Benson’s 1975 book The Relaxation Response, he stated that breathing “may be used as a new approach to aid in the treatment and perhaps prevention of diseases such as hypertension.”
One of the most recent studies was conducted by Dr. Vernon A. Barnes, a physiologist at the Medical College of Georgia. It showed that teenagers at risk for having high blood pressure were able to lower their daytime blood pressures. This was done by simply practicing 15 minutes of transcendental meditation (focused and concentrated breathing) twice daily, over a period of four months.