Niraj Naik’s story is a powerful example of how breath, mind, and lifestyle can work together to support healing from chronic illness.
Niraj Naik’s Healing Journey
As a young pharmacist, Niraj Naik was diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune condition that left him housebound, bleeding frequently, and facing the prospect of colon removal or experimental drugs. Feeling desperate and disillusioned with conventional options, he turned toward the yogic and Ayurvedic traditions he had grown up around, guided by a family friend and spiritual teacher. She challenged him to see his illness as a potential gift and invited him to explore pranayama, Ayurveda, and yoga not just as ideas, but as a daily healing path.
Through months of committed practice, he combined breathing techniques, mantras, visualization, heat exposure, and lifestyle changes, and gradually returned to full health. This transformation became the seed of SOMA Breath, a school dedicated to making these ancient methods accessible and grounded in modern scientific understanding.
Core Breathwork Techniques
Niraj explains that the breath is a direct doorway into the autonomic nervous system, which regulates immune function, digestion, mood, and sleep.
Extended exhalation
When you breathe in, you gently activate the sympathetic nervous system; when you breathe out, you activate the parasympathetic “rest and digest” response. By making your exhale longer than your inhale, you bias the body toward relaxation, safety, and recovery. This simple shift became one of the first practices that calmed his system enough to allow healing to begin.
The 0.5 ratio
Niraj highlights a “magic ratio” where the exhalation is about double the length of the inhalation (for example, inhale 4 seconds, exhale 8 seconds). This rhythm optimizes how oxygen is delivered and used by the cells and has been shown in scientific studies to support nervous system balance and mood. In SOMA Breath, this 0.5 ratio is a foundational pattern for many guided sessions.
Nasal breathing
He insists that breathing through the nose is non‑negotiable for healthful practice. Nasal breathing naturally slows the breath, filters and conditions the air, and increases nitric oxide production, a gas that dilates blood vessels and improves circulation. Over time, this helps correct the “over‑breathing” that is common under chronic stress.
Breath retention (kumbhaka) and intermittent hypoxia
After mastering basic patterns, Niraj delved deeper into breath retention, learning traditional kumbhaka techniques from his swami and Indian yoga doctors, and exploring methods with Wim Hof. Holding the breath beyond the usual comfort zone, in specific ways, temporarily lowers oxygen levels and creates a state known as intermittent hypoxia. This controlled “positive stress” triggers adaptive responses: hormone cascades, better oxygen efficiency, blood vessel dilation, and internal repair mechanisms that can support healing.
Mind-Body Reprogramming
Breathwork was never just mechanical for Niraj; it was intimately linked with beliefs, emotions, and subconscious patterns.
Mantras and affirmations
While practicing extended exhalations, he repeated phrases such as “I am whole, perfect, strong, loving, harmonious, and happy.” These mantras, synchronized with the breath, were used to gradually overwrite fear and hopelessness and install a new identity of health and resilience.
Visualization
He regularly imagined a strong, healthy digestive system and colon while breathing rhythmically. Inspired partly by the book “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind,” he treated these internal images and words as instructions to his body’s “operating system.”
In his view, the subconscious mind is the interface through which breath, thought, and physiology meet, and consistent practice can shift how the body organizes itself over time.
Ayurveda, Energy, and Disease
From the Ayurvedic perspective that Niraj studied, disease is understood as an energetic disturbance rather than just a local physical problem.
Doshas and imbalance
Each person is seen as a unique mix of vata, pitta, and kapha energies. When lifestyle, environment, and unprocessed emotions push these energies out of balance, the body’s healing intelligence becomes confused. In autoimmune conditions like his, the immune system begins to attack the body’s own cells, reflecting a breakdown in cellular communication.
Breath, mitochondria, and oxidative stress
On the scientific side, he describes how oxygen enters the mitochondria, where it combines with fuel to create ATP, the energy that powers every cell. Chronic stress and over‑breathing disturb the balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide, leading to inefficient energy production and oxidative stress, like a fire burning too hot and out of control. In his model, Pranayama restores a more efficient, balanced “inner fire” so that cells can communicate and function harmoniously again.
A Simple Practice You Can Try
Niraj offers breathing exercises as an entry point into this work.
- Sit upright with your spine straight and shoulders relaxed.
- Inhale gently through your nose for 4 seconds.
- Exhale through your mouth for 8 seconds, using pursed lips or adding a soft tone like “om” if you wish.
- Continue this 4-8 rhythm for several minutes, maintaining smooth, comfortable breathing.
As you practice, you can silently repeat a supportive phrase and visualize a part of your body functioning in a healthy, harmonious way. Over time, this simple combination of rhythm, attention, and intention can create a deeper sense of calm and inner stability.
For those who feel called to explore further, Niraj has developed SOMA Breath as a structured system that blends these ancient pranayama methods with music, modern science, and guided journeys for both individual practice and group experiences.
Sources:
Here are several science-backed sources that support the key claims in the article:
Extended Exhalation and Parasympathetic Activation
1. Prolonged Expiratory Breathing Study (2018)
A study published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology found that prolonged expiratory breathing significantly activated parasympathetic nervous function, while rapid breathing suppressed it. The researchers confirmed that extending exhalation promotes parasympathetic dominance and relaxation.
Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6037091/
2. Slow Breathing and Heart Rate Variability (2018)
Research in Medicine journal demonstrated that slow breathing at 8 breaths per minute increased high-frequency (HF) power and baroreflex sensitivity in both hypertensive patients and healthy controls, shifting the sympatho-vagal balance toward vagal (parasympathetic) activities. This supports the therapeutic use of slow breathing for stress reduction.
Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6392805/
3. Breathing Practices for Stress and Anxiety (2023)
A comprehensive review in Brain Sciences examined peer-reviewed literature on voluntary regulated breathing practices and confirmed their effectiveness for stress and anxiety reduction.
Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10741869/
Nasal Breathing and Nitric Oxide
4. Nasal Nitric Oxide Production (2008)
A study in the American Journal of Physiology found that nasal nitric oxide output is approximately three-fold greater during inhalation (503 nL/min) compared to exhalation (162 nL/min). The research supports the role of nasal NO in conditioning air temperature and humidity.
Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2967207/
5. Nitric Oxide and Pulmonary Function (1996)
Research published in The Lancet showed that nitric oxide produced in the paranasal sinuses is continuously excreted into nasal airways and reaches the lungs during inspiration, where it modulates pulmonary function through vasodilation.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8971255/
Intermittent Hypoxia and Breath Retention
6. Unexpected Benefits of Intermittent Hypoxia (2013)
A landmark review in Physiology journal documented that even modest, low-dose intermittent hypoxia protocols improve motor function and increase CNS expression of multiple growth/trophic factors, including BDNF, VEGF, and erythropoietin. The researchers noted that these benefits occur without detectable pathologies like hippocampal cell death or systemic hypertension.
Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4073945/
Alternative source: https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/physiol.00012.2013
7. Breath-Hold Training and Oxidative Stress (2003)
A study in Journal of Applied Physiology found that a 3-month breath-hold training program significantly lengthened static apnea duration, accentuated bradycardia, and suppressed post-apnea oxidative stress in triathletes.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12871674/
8. Apnea-Induced Hypoxia and Cardiovascular Mechanisms (2021)
Research in Frontiers in Physiology examined elite freedivers and found that breath-holding induced adaptive cardiovascular mechanisms and was associated with increased heat shock proteins (HSPs) and maintained normal heart function despite low oxygen saturation.
Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8458773/
Pranayama and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
9. Pranayama for Digestive Disorders
Multiple studies have shown that consistent pranayama practice can help manage chronic digestive disorders like IBS and IBD. One study found that a combination of breathing, movement, and meditation was associated with significant mental and physical improvements in IBD patients, with inflammatory markers showing improvements after 26 weeks of practice. Another study demonstrated that yogic treatment consisting of asanas and pranayama increased parasympathetic activity in the digestive tract and decreased stress in IBS patients after two months.
These peer-reviewed scientific studies provide robust support for the breathwork principles and healing mechanisms described in Niraj Naik’s approach.