The Little Book of Breathing: Simple practices for connecting with your breath (The Gaia Little Books Series)

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Chew food thoroughly - it is not just for getting nutrients from it, but also for developing your oral cavity (which is important for breathing); In a single breath, more molecules of air will pass through your nose than all the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches - trillions and trillions of them. These little bits of air come from a few feet or several yards away. As they make their way toward you, they’ll twist and spool like the stars in a van Gogh sky, and they’ll keep twisting and spooling and scrolling as they pass into you, traveling at a clip of about five miles per hour.” He then gushes about Swami Rama, ignoring that good skepticism has shown with other yogis, they’ve never been able to actually stop their heart for more than a second or two; rather, they’ve used body control to muffle their heartbeat and other things. …. And ignoring that outside of that, he behaved like many another modern Indian guru, complete to the point of losing a sexual assault lawsuit. This book perfectly straddles the line between being simple enough for non-scientists like myself to understand and benefit from it while being comprehensive enough to answer nearly every possible question you could have about the breath. This book explores breathing within yoga philosophy. Pranayama is often utilized within yoga, sequencing breathing with movement, but it is also its own practice. Iyengar explains why this is and why it is such an important and vital part of your yoga practice. The Breathing Book: Good Health and Vitality Through Essential Breath Work by Donna Farhi

In the past few years, there have been several potentially life-changing books, from Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep and Shane O'Mara's In Praise of Walking, to Norman Doidge's The Brain's Way of Healing. Breath deserves a place alongside such volumes. Read it, and I guarantee you will want to change the way you breathe' - Evening Standard James Nestor has done a lot of practicing. For this book, he offered himself up for most every modern-day doctor, guru, and holy man alive -- all folks building on ancient knowledge and, in many cases, finding modern clues as to why the breathing techniques work. This, then, is the story of his journey. The book examines the history, science, and culture of breathing and its impacts on human health. It investigates the history of how humans shifted from the natural state of nasal breathing to chronic mouth breathing. Nestor explores research that argues that this shift (due to the increased consumption of processed foods) has led to a rise in snoring, sleep apnea, asthma, autoimmune disease, and allergies. It includes Nestor's first-person experiences with breathing. He also worked with scientists at Stanford University whose research suggests that returning to a state of nasal breathing will improve an individual's health. [1] [2] [3] Nestor wrote the book after ten years of researching the subject. [4] Publication and promotion [ edit ]You can think about breathing as being in a boat, right? So you can take a bunch of very short, stilted strokes and you're going to get to where you want to go. It's going to take a while, but you'll get there. Or you can take a few very fluid and long strokes and get there so much more efficiently. ... You want to make it very easy for your body to get air, especially if this is an act that we're doing 25,000 times a day. So, by just extending those inhales and exhales, by moving that diaphragm up and down a little more, you can have a profound effect on your blood pressure, on your mental state. The main moral of the story is, mouth breathers look stupid for a reason. If possible, only breathe through your nose. If you enjoy learning about the human body, inner balance, or longevity, this is an easy book to recommend. In addition to the exercises, the book also provides useful tips on building an altar, using scent, visualisations, and grounding, as well as somatic writing prompts to help support your practice. Patterson begins by explaining what breathwork is and why it can be used to heal the body and mind, then goes on to discuss what happens in the physical, energetic, and emotional body during practice. Pure oxygen tents will not “cleanse” you; better breathing technique is what you need to get healthier. Always breathe through your nose, never through your mouth, even when you're exercising, and especially when you're sleeping. Breathing through your mouth can cause dental problems, jaw and facial issues and even erectile dysfunction. This has been known and practiced for centuries.

That then said? There’s little controlled evidence for benefits of alternate nostril breathing, and very little for one nostril controlling one nervous system, and the other the other. Most studies that DO claim benefits are of yogic-influenced alt-med research. You may be new to breathwork, a seasoned practitioner, or just curious on how breathwork can benefit you. In any case, this article will point to informative books on breathwork to give you groundbreaking context, knowledge, and perspective.This alternative self help therapy doesn't have any side effects, and the benefits are easier sleep, less asthma symptoms, and less breathing problems. It doesn't have any side effects. I love how the author brings up intriguing questions that had not previously occurred to you, such as why humans are the only mammal out of 5,400 different species to regularly have overbites, underbites and snaggled teeth. This is one of the best books on breathwork and a definitive guide to breathwork practices. Neese offers instructions on what breathwork is and gives historical tradition information about each exercise she recommends. She gives research supported benefits of breathwork and explains how the breath is connected to our emotions and resilience. This is a perfect book for the beginning practitioner. The Science of Breathing by Swami Vivekananda

If you want to reduce stress and anxiety, detox your body, balance your health, and be more productive, Dan Brulé is the world's best breath-master. Though I believe there is really good information to help people to better health, the author sometimes supports his ideas with information he got from I-don't-know-where. Example: in 30+ years as a Tibetan Buddhist studying with authentic teachers (not reading new-age or yoga studio versions of Tibetan Buddhism) I've never heard or been taught about repeating om mani padme hum one syllable/second. Where in the world did he get the that idea? I'd love to know. The author spent a decade traveling all around the world learning about various modern and historical teachings about breathing. In addition to thoroughly researching the topic, he participates in several scientific studies as well. Everything that was revealed was interesting and encourages you to research further on your own.

Nestor, James (May 21, 2020). "The Healing Power of Proper Breathing". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved June 3, 2020. Breathing Room: A 28-Day Devotional for Women The top 10 books on breathing and the role it can play in your life And, despite all of the observed benefits and ten years of extensive research, Nestor doesn't forget to mention that breathing isn't a panacea. I appreciated that part as well. Breath slower, and with fewer breaths per minute. (My Fitbit tells me I average 12 BPM, but Nestor and his team think 5-6 would be better for most of us). (Makes sense to me; I’m calmer when this happens, and it happens during meditation, for sure) The guy establishes credibility, actually, by not being a scientist, but by being less than healthy, and doing what some of us do, exploring how to get healthier. And he hits on breathing as the one central (and free!) thing we can do to improve our health. He’s had pneumonia a couple years in a row, diminishing his lung capacity, has asthma, has sleep apnea, he’s anxious, a mess. And decides to change his life but trying various breath-based strategies, and researching. The executive summary:

Some of the people who were listening to James in 2003 didn't know what breath-work was. In the past, when he talked about breath work, 95% of people raised their hands when asked what it was. Most people say that they learned about breath work by taking a yoga class, but not everyone agrees. a b Kean, Sam (May 31, 2020). " 'Breath' Review: Eager Breather". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved February 15, 2021. We are told to think of a windmill and how it uses the wind to make energy. Our chakras are energy points or windmills that produce the energy we need to live. There is a good chance you do breath work if you do yoga. Vital systems in the body depend on thisprana that we allow, or that we don't even know about. Prana gives our lungs a lot of oxygen through the breath. A strong immune system and a peaceful mind are two things that happen when our bodies get what they need. Memory is better, as well as one's general sense of well-being. People who do pranayam, which are breathing exercises, are able to calm their minds and make space for their bodies to heal. Homo Arcticus Method: How Power Breathing Technique, Extreme Cold Therapy and Strong Commitment Can Make You Strong, Healthy, Happy and Change Your Life Forever (Personal Growth Book) by Lee StrongIt seems to have lots of interesting insights, but they’re largely anecdotal. It does have lots of problems. These are mostly at the end, but there’s a few early on, and more pile up in the middle of the book even before Nestor goes New Agey. The breath is the link between what is seen and what isn't. It has been a part of my own healing process to study the breath and make it a part of every day life. I train myself to control the breath through intentional practice.