Holotropic Breathwork Music set analysis

The Music for Breathwork catalogue showcases music that can be used for a Holotropic Breathwork session.
Music in a Holotropic Breathwork session follows an arc that covers three essential stages.

* Please note: The chart above is based upon an actual Holotropic Breathwork playlist but does not account for the way the set is mixed. In some cases a piece of music maybe edited so as to avoid clashing with the purpose of it's position in a set and these edits are not represented above.

Anatomy of a Holotropic Breathwork Music set

The chart above shows how a Holotropic Breathwork set may change over time.
It includes data points such as:

  • Valence: higher numbers mean generally happier while lower numbers mean sadder. The valence of a piece will normally be average in the first hour, become low in the second, becomehigh during the breakthrough and become average again in the third hour.
  • Danceability: Pieces are generally more danceable in the first hour, a little bit in the second hour and occasionally in the breakthrough.
  • Energy: The energy of a piece will generally be sustained from the start until the breakthrough where it will start to soften.
  • Intensity Is a combination of three of these factors and may dip and fall throughout the set but will generally soften towards the end.

First Hour

The first stage of the Holotropic Breathwork set includes music that is generally percussive, rhythmic and entrancing.
The first stage of the set is designed to help move our focus from the outside world into the inner. The opening pieces of a set often have a quality considered to be invitational and have a sense of a "call to adventure".

View music from the First hour

Second Hour

The second stage of the breathwork set moves into more emotional and heart opening pieces. There can often be large pieces representing existential struggle, war and drama.

The end of the second hour culminates in what known as the breakthrough stage. This stage is typified by very moving and emotional music which is designed to open the breathers heart, followed by pieces that have the sense that "we have arrived" and that there is no more work to be done.

The music used in this stage of the set tends to have fewer drum beats but may still be rhythmic.

View music from the Second hour

Third Hour

The last stage of the breathwork set is typified by the use of quiet meditative music. Music used in this section has a more devotional / prayerful nature, encouraging the participant to start the transition back into a more grounded wakeful state.

Music used in the third hour tends to involve no or very minimal emotional work.

View music from Third hour

Breathwork 2.5 hour

The music used in the chart above can be seen in the list below.

  1. 00:00:00

    Joi
    Spiral Spirit
    Tumbara

    Duration: 08:10
    Tempo: 102.192 bpm
    Happiness: 0.408
    Danceability: 0.5
    Energy: 0.391

  2. 00:08:10

    Mi Viaje a Traves De Peru Radio Edit
    Didgeridoo Trance Dance 4
    603BC

    Duration: 05:15
    Tempo: 124.996 bpm
    Happiness: 0.16
    Danceability: 0.58
    Energy: 0.561

  3. 00:13:25

    Tanokumbia
    Tanokumbia
    The Halluci Nation / El Dusty / Black Bear

    Duration: 03:22
    Tempo: 107.995 bpm
    Happiness: 0.473
    Danceability: 0.802
    Energy: 0.912

  4. 00:16:47

    Beautiful Way
    21st Century
    Northern Wind

    Duration: 02:55
    Tempo: 158.798 bpm
    Happiness: 0.739
    Danceability: 0.525
    Energy: 0.316

  5. 00:19:43

    Spirits of the Roadman
    Shamanic Trace Dance
    Byron Metcalf

    Duration: 09:08
    Tempo: 110.004 bpm
    Happiness: 0.116
    Danceability: 0.695
    Energy: 0.914

  6. 00:28:51

    Techno Hybridis
    Flowers to the Moon
    Phoenix Percussion Project / Jatinder Thakur I Anrdré Varkoniy I Otto Trapp I Benno Sterzer I Madou Kone I Gerhard Kero

    Duration: 07:39
    Tempo: 131.08 bpm
    Happiness: 0.445
    Danceability: 0.46
    Energy: 0.636

  7. 00:36:31

    Three Sisters
    Shadowbox
    Beats Antique / Tatyana Kalmykova

    Duration: 03:59
    Tempo: 148.106 bpm
    Happiness: 0.265
    Danceability: 0.629
    Energy: 0.683

  8. 00:40:30

    Soul of Mestengo
    They Were Here
    Byron Metcalf / Jennifer Grais

    Duration: 07:49
    Tempo: 199.98 bpm
    Happiness: 0.48
    Danceability: 0.495
    Energy: 0.59

  9. 00:48:20

    Alit guoldu - Blue Drift
    Wimme
    Wimme

    Duration: 04:17
    Tempo: 132.316 bpm
    Happiness: 0.138
    Danceability: 0.41
    Energy: 0.252

  10. 00:52:37

    Panoramic
    The Waiting Room
    Lusine

    Duration: 05:17
    Tempo: 99.998 bpm
    Happiness: 0.16
    Danceability: 0.586
    Energy: 0.883

  11. 00:57:55

    Golden Times 1
    Spells
    Ben Lukas Boysen

    Duration: 08:37
    Tempo: 120.003 bpm
    Happiness: 0.0492
    Danceability: 0.51
    Energy: 0.222

  12. 01:06:32

    Fly, Fly My Sadness
    Fly, Fly My Sadness
    Bulgarian Voices Angelite / Huun-Huur-Tu

    Duration: 07:46
    Tempo: 82.346 bpm
    Happiness: 0.0384
    Danceability: 0.0814
    Energy: 0.384

  13. 01:14:19

    Karasu
    Swift & Raven
    Francesca Mountfort

    Duration: 04:55
    Tempo: 76.589 bpm
    Happiness: 0.0504
    Danceability: 0.0744
    Energy: 0.107

  14. 01:19:15

    Light
    The Thin Red Line
    Gavin Greenaway

    Duration: 07:19
    Tempo: 90.263 bpm
    Happiness: 0.0389
    Danceability: 0.104
    Energy: 0.123

  15. 01:26:34

    Journey to the Line
    The Thin Red Line
    Gavin Greenaway

    Duration: 09:21
    Tempo: 119.958 bpm
    Happiness: 0.0342
    Danceability: 0.191
    Energy: 0.0923

  16. 01:35:56

    November
    Voyager - Essential Max Richter
    Max Richter / Mari Samuelsen / Konzerthausorchester Berlin / Jonathan Stockhammer

    Duration: 06:07
    Tempo: 120.176 bpm
    Happiness: 0.138
    Danceability: 0.45
    Energy: 0.442

  17. 01:42:03

    The Host of Seraphim - Remastered
    The Serpent's Egg (Remastered)
    Dead Can Dance

    Duration: 06:18
    Tempo: 168.753 bpm
    Happiness: 0.0309
    Danceability: 0.0853
    Energy: 0.293

  18. 01:48:22

    Gravity
    Gravity (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
    Steven Price

    Duration: 04:35
    Tempo: 92.671 bpm
    Happiness: 0.0579
    Danceability: 0.117
    Energy: 0.256

  19. 01:52:57

    II. Warmth
    Quartets: Two
    Peter Gregson / Warren Zielinski / Magdalena Filipczak / Laurie Anderson / Ashok Klouda

    Duration: 04:22
    Tempo: 170.475 bpm
    Happiness: 0.0289
    Danceability: 0.0866
    Energy: 0.323

  20. 01:57:19

    Dvergmál (with Steindór Andersen, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir)
    Odin's Raven Magic (with Steindór Andersen, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir)
    Sigur Rós / Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson / Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir / Steindór Andersen

    Duration: 07:37
    Tempo: 130.608 bpm
    Happiness: 0.56
    Danceability: 0.452
    Energy: 0.507

  21. 02:04:57

    Rails
    Backward Music, Vol. 1
    Bing & Ruth

    Duration: 07:57
    Tempo: 154.084 bpm
    Happiness: 0.258
    Danceability: 0.485
    Energy: 0.379

  22. 02:12:54

    Zero
    some kind of peace
    Ólafur Arnalds

    Duration: 04:26
    Tempo: 109.94 bpm
    Happiness: 0.0392
    Danceability: 0.238
    Energy: 0.0292

  23. 02:17:21

    Deep In The Glowing Heart
    Music For Psychedelic Therapy
    Jon Hopkins

    Duration: 08:51
    Tempo: 114.978 bpm
    Happiness: 0.0363
    Danceability: 0.168
    Energy: 0.326

  24. 02:26:13

    Arriving
    Music For Psychedelic Therapy
    Jon Hopkins / 7RAYS

    Duration: 04:35
    Tempo: 64.938 bpm
    Happiness: 0.632
    Danceability: 0.0582
    Energy: 0.124

  25. 02:30:49

    Tayos Caves, Ecuador i
    Music For Psychedelic Therapy
    Jon Hopkins

    Duration: 06:15
    Tempo: 92.296 bpm
    Happiness: 0.0368
    Danceability: 0.104
    Energy: 0.196

  26. 02:37:04

    Devi Prayer
    108 Sacred Names of Mother Divine
    Craig Pruess & Ananda

    Duration: 21:21
    Tempo: 85.444 bpm
    Happiness: 0.0402
    Danceability: 0.114
    Energy: 0.0751

  27. 02:58:26

    A Calling Home
    A Calling Home
    Ann McDonald

    Duration: 09:07
    Tempo: 68.558 bpm
    Happiness: 0.108
    Danceability: 0.119
    Energy: 0.00716