Breathing awareness involves a number of separate brain regions. It is hypothesized that the mental exercise of producing an image with each breath can involve the brain more fully with producing images than would the production of an equivalent number of images which aren’t coupled to one’s breaths. It is similarly hypothesized that the mental exercise of producing a word or group of words with each breath, with the goal of creating a purposeful narrative, can involve the brain more fully with word-thought production than would the production of an equivalent number of words intended to create a purposeful narrative which aren’t coupled to one’s breaths. 

Dan Gollub has a master's degree in psychology and has worked as a psychologist. He has published research speculating about the mind's functioning, including an original approach of his to interpreting dreams. His basic concept about dreams is that they follow an unvarying emotional pattern. The beginning of every dream depicts what the inner self loves, the early-middle section shows what is desired, the late-middle section is what is undesirable, and the ending is what is hated. Some dreams seem to have happy endings, but that seemingly-positive sentiment is opposite to the dreamer's true emotional reality and accordingly the inner self is lamenting the inappropriateness of that sentiment. As an example, a morbidly obese person might laugh at the end of a dream about being so overweight.