Can a Breathing Technique Help Teenage Girls Feel Less Alone?
A teenager can be surrounded by friends, conversations and constant messages, and still feel profoundly alone. Now, a study of 174 adolescent girls suggests that something as simple as changing the way they breathe may help some of those who feel most disconnected find their way back to a sense of connection.
Adolescence is a particularly vulnerable period, with academic pressure, changing friendships, peer expectations and, often, reduced emotional support from family. Research suggests that loneliness can intensify during these years, particularly among girls. A 2023 World Health Organization study of approximately 280,000 adolescents across Central Asia, Europe and Canada found that more than one in four 15-year-old girls reported frequent loneliness, compared with 13% of boys.
The vulnerability is even greater among adolescents who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including abuse, neglect, bullying, family dysfunction, bereavement or prolonged conflict at home.
Importantly, loneliness is not simply about being alone. A teenager can have friends and still feel deeply disconnected. As the global spiritual master and humanitarian, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar puts it, “Loneliness is not the absence of people; it is the absence of felt presence.” This sense of disconnection has been linked to anxiety, depression, substance abuse and difficulties in academic functioning.
It was against this backdrop that researchers at UCLA explored whether a structured intervention combining social-emotional learning with breathwork could help adolescent girls build greater emotional resilience and social connection.
The study involved 174 girls aged 14 to 18 from two high schools in Southern California. One group participated in the SKY Schools programme, based on Art of Living’s SKY Breath (Sudarshan Kriya Yoga), while the other continued with regular physical education classes. Over four weeks, the intervention combined breathwork with social-emotional learning, group activities, physical activity and yoga-based practices. The girls then continued daily breathwork for another eight weeks, making the programme 12 weeks long.
The findings were particularly notable among girls who had experienced greater adversity. After eight weeks, their social connectedness scores improved by approximately 8% from baseline. “What’s striking is that the girls who needed help the most benefited the most,” said Dara Ghahremani, research professor at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and the study’s senior author.
The findings point to the possibility that sustained breathwork, alongside social-emotional learning, could offer an additional tool for vulnerable adolescents struggling with disconnection.
Gurudev offers another way of looking at loneliness. “When you have the feeling of being completely disconnected, then don't struggle to get connected. Rest.” For him, the breath is central to this process: “The breath is the link between the body and the mind.” When anxiety or overwhelm changes the breath, consciously working with it can help influence how the mind and body experience stress.
For young people, this makes breathwork more than a wellness practice; it can become a practical way of learning to regulate emotions and meet difficult moments with greater resilience.
Neha Singh, a senior clinical psychologist from Mumbai, says her clinical experience has also shown the potential of meditation and Sudarshan Kriya in supporting emotional regulation and wellbeing. She recalls one particularly difficult case: “A teenage patient had experienced multiple adverse events within two years, including the loss of a loved one. She appeared to benefit considerably from the SKY Breathing technique, which supported her in processing her grief and emotional healing.”
For adolescents who may have everything around them and yet feel disconnected within, the answer may not always be about finding more people. Sometimes, it may begin with finding a steadier way to be with oneself.
