Although it might be done for pure marketing purposes in this case, I think sometimes calling something differently can help losing some "spiritual baggage", and open the topic up to people that would otherwise not engage with it.

Also, "slow breathing" is very descriptive, just reading it I know what to do (even if I might not know how slow), whereas if I wanted to meditate I would have to read up first what I'm supposed to do and which of the many different practices I want to try out.

It's not just slow breathing. It's in one nostril, pump stomach muscles, out the other, pump stomach, repeat. There are YouTube videos demonstrating it.

I haven't read the whole article, but in the beginning the author describes his first sessions as nothing more complicated than breathing slowly.

"The voice instructed us to inhale slowly through our noses, then to exhale slowly. To focus on our breath. [...] The next day I felt even better. As advertised, there was a feeling of calm and quiet that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. I"

So does one need the more advanced techniques or do you get like 80% there by just explicitly taking some time out of your day to slow down?

Probably because this is basically an ad for the author's new book (mentioned at the bottom of the article).

Mindfull breathing is not meditation it is just one and the most common of the techniques of meditation.

That's like saying Golden Retrievers aren't dogs, they're just one of the more common breeds of dog.

It's more like saying "javascript isn't a website, it's just o common tool for making websites".

Meditation doesn't depend on mindful breathing, even though it's often used. It's possible to meditate without mindfulness on the breath, and it's possible to breathe mindfully without meditating.

No, I don’t think so. Watching the breath is one method - particularly for beginner meditators - but far from being the only one. The breath is a handy “always on” tool for helping to remind a meditator about the rhythms of the body, but as you sit longer, the less (in my experience, anyway) the breath has to do with the actual meditative experience.

No,

In India, Breathing exercises are called as Pranayama. Meditation is called as Dhyana.

It's is a eight step process for spirituality called Ashtanga yoga.

In this,

Pranayama is 4th step.

Dhyana is 7th step.

Refer Patanjali Yoga Sutras for clarification.

To generate more clicks

All new "thought leaders" just repackage old Buddhist / Stoicism concepts.

Go on Joe Rogan, sell your book of old ideas with new marketing, cash in. Your average millennial would never buy a "self help" book, but Tim Ferriss or Ryan Holiday? Absolutely.