Contemplative practices, such as meditation and yoga, are increasingly popular among the general public and as topics of research. Beneficial effects associated with these practices have been found on physical health, mental health and cognitive performance. This theoretical review aims to show that various contemplative activities have in common that breathing is regulated or attentively guided. This respiratory discipline in turn may explain the physical and mental benefits of these practises through changes in autonomic balance. This review proposes a neurophysiological model that explains how these specific respiration styles could operate, by tonically stimulating the vagal nerve (respiratory vagal nerve stimulation rVNS).