The Breathing Book: Good Health and Vitality Through Essential Breath Work Paperback – November 15, 1996

I guess I bought this book a few years ago, when I was dealing with some insomnia, and developing a meditation practice. I don't do much in the way of yoga, but am an avid swimmer, and stretch each day. Recently I noticed the need to combine my stretching and my breathing, using my breath to find the stretch. After more searching to find a book in that vein, I came back to the Breathing Book. This has it all: understanding your breath, using it to stretch, to grow, to meditate. I can't imagine how much work went into making this book just right. It's wonderful, nuanced, appropriate, accessible, complete. It has just the right amount of pranayama, just enough to start meditating (though I use a different method), just enough to find a good stretch, to find your "history" in your body and release it. It's good for beginners as well as more advanced students. I've read many books on the subjects of meditation and breathing. This is the go to if you want to start a practice on the breathing side. And, btw, yes, meditation and breathing practices are effective in treating insomnia and anxiety.

Plenty tools to work with to help me in various ways! Excited to learn more on this subject and use these tools/exercises regularly.

Clear & to the Point, helpful

Sitting and breathing well is the weakest part of my yoga practice. This book has been quite helpful. Her style is good. Now to make myself finish the second half. It does take some time to work through it correctly so I keep putting it off even though I know it's a real benefit. Typical.

This book really helped me deal with some of the dysfunctional ways in which I breathe. Often, when I have been in the middle of a yoga class, I have found myself all tangled up in the breathing: when the instructor says to breathe in, I am halfway into an outbreath. I tense up trying to do the pose, so I breathe high up in my chest and fail to bring enough breath into my body to maintain the position. Like many women, I don't always breathe into the sides of my abdomen. The author gives experiments that help the reader diagnose where the problems are. Then there are excellent exercises to open up where one needs to or to strengthen an area that is weak. I intend to keep it close to my side as a tool and reference for both hatha and meditation practice.

I have over the last 45 years had to deal with chronic migraine headaches. Over the last 20 years or so I have practiced asanas and breathing associated with yoga. Have read more literature on the subjects than I care to mention. I read non-fiction in the same way as I read newspapers, fleetingly. This work is probably the most interesting, informative and helpful that I have found and have read every single word, cover to cover, twice over. I recommend this book to everyone, not only to those who endure certain conditions but even those that feel they don't require it. The importance of breath and the correct way to breathe is better expressed than anything I have come across!

Breathing and having a flex able spine is the key to good health and dealing with the ageing process. I have found that flexing the spine and breathing as mentioned on pages 110 & 111 along with standing on a whole body vibration platform for 10 minutes has helped me at age 77 to take a Kenneth Copper fitness test at my Golds gym and subtract 25 years from my age and score in the top 10% using the age 52, this one Technique alone has a lot to do with my fitness and well being.

This book is very easy to read - has lots of pictures and diagrams with great explanations. I have a lot of tension in my shoulders - the left side in particular - and when I feel the burn of tension, I know I'm not breathing properly. It helps SO MUCH! I can get the pain to go away almost instantly when I realize how I am breathing. I constantly check in with myself now. It definitely helps me feel more grounded and just plain better in general. And I'm not even through the entire book yet - I can't wait to see how much it helps in other areas - such as with my horses!