Mindfulness is awareness without judgment. Breathwork is conscious respiratory control. They're distinct practices that powerfully complement each other. Breathing exercises create the physiological conditions (calm, focused, present) that make mindfulness accessible. Mindfulness creates the psychological conditions (non-reactive awareness) that make breathing exercises more effective. Together, they're greater than the sum of their parts.
The integration: start with 5 minutes of structured coherence breathing (inhale 5, exhale 5). This calms the nervous system and focuses attention — the physiological prerequisites for mindful awareness. Then release the structured breathing and simply observe natural breathing for 5 minutes: notice the inhale, the exhale, the pause, the temperature of the air, the movement of the belly. When the mind wanders, return attention to the breath without frustration. This is mindfulness of breathing — the most practiced meditation technique in the world.
The progression over time: beginners need the structure of breathwork to settle the mind enough for mindfulness. Intermediate practitioners can move more quickly from structured to unstructured breathing. Advanced practitioners find that mindful awareness spontaneously arises during breathwork, and breathwork spontaneously regulates during mindfulness. The distinction between the practices dissolves as skill increases, revealing what contemplative traditions have always known: the breath and awareness are two expressions of the same underlying attention.