No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly.
There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.
Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe.
Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is.
Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.
Yoga Adjustments is a comprehensive guide to the art and science of yoga adjustments. Stephens covers everything from the philosophy of adjustments to the practicalities of giving and receiving them. He also provides detailed instructions on how to make specific adjustments for a wide range of poses and students.
Yoga Sequencing is a book about how to design and teach yoga classes that are both effective and enjoyable for students. Stephens covers a wide range of topics, including the different types of yoga sequences, how to choose and sequence poses for different groups of students, and how to create a balanced and transformative class experience.
Overall, I highly recommend both of these books to yoga teachers and students alike. They are both well-written, informative, and practical. I have already learned a lot from them, and I am confident that they will continue to be valuable resources for me in the years to come.
A friend recommended a book that I read and found even more information about how to breathe properly. I began, even as I read to practice the strategies as written.
I began to notice things like my "whistling" was actually a form of mouth breathing. I intentionally began to follow the breathing strategies every time I noticed that I was inhaling through my mouth. Even as I walk, I follow this strategy. As I drive --- I follow the breathing strategy. Every time I catch myself mouth breathing I consciously follow the strategies.
What I notice is that I sleep deeper. I no longer wake up in the middle of the night to drink water. I feel more at peace and moments of anxiety have decreased.
I recommend this book. Especially to those folks who snore, have sleep apnea, breathing disorders or athletes wanting to improve their performance.
Author offers many breathing techniques, and each of us tried 'a few', and agree, a worthwhile read as offers something for everyone.
It was revelation to me that I am such a shallow breather. I tried several techniques, and YES, it makes a difference - who knew? Try it for yourself
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There’s a lot of information to take in, like names, techniques, places, people, and so on. He tells his own story in a very an interesting way, overall, if you like ancient techniques and sports.
I WOULD LIKE HIM TO TALK MORE SBOUT SINGERS.
He digs into how so many people have become mouth-breathers and the harm that causes us. Nestor also takes us through extraordinary human accomplishments like Greek free divers and the lung capacity of athletes around the world. He shares his own quest of what happens when you mouth-breathe exclusively for a week, and his story at how minutely changing the shape of his face through a mouth device helped him improve his breathing. Finally, Nestor shares tips, tricks, and techniques to improve your breathing so that you can improve your life. After reading this book, I began using the Wim Hof Method (video link) to improve my breathing and after a week, I began feeling positive effects.
Breathing regulates stress, digestion, and sleep, to name a few. Imagine if you can improve your performance in the gym, at home, walking the dog, whatever, just through a few short exercises to improve your breathing. Since most of us are breathing improperly, imagine how many other functions within our body aren’t performing at their peak.
This book is definitely worth a read to learn about this amazing science and to improve your overall health.
This book takes my mindfulness and gives it rules I can work with and abide by to improve my breathing and increase bodily energy.
I recommend it for anyone and everyone. The first chapter alone will change your life!
You use this technique in all varies of life
I've been breathing through the nose even during exercise and have been trying to exhale fully. I do find myself with more energy and wakefulness during the day. A part of me is still skeptical and in disbelief - "it can't be that simple!" but so far it seems to be so.
I am going through asthma episodes and all its predictable and uncertain stages of this illness, yet I got this book recommended by someone who read it and had good experience with it. Little I knew, also about three other other people were and have already read it.
It is about breathing. It is about doing it right. It is, in my opinion, about doing it the way each individual needs to do it. It is not a medical, scientific advisory book, since the author states it clearly, but it is permeated with all his research and experience first hand about the art and history of breathing well.
I truly recommend this book. I hope many people get to read it and get the benefit that I have had already, with half way through the book. I have not even finished it as I write this review.
I've got the paper back version, type can be small but it is a great print. Just read it.
I don’t even practice the techniques in a disciplined daily manner, just whenever I think about it. This book made me more aware of my breathing so that now I keep my mouth shut unless necessary to open for obvious reasons, I inhale and exhale more deeply, and I use the sleep inducing breathing. I haven’t had my lung capacity measured recently, but I can tell you from walking around in this body that it increased dramatically, and to pre-asthma levels.
Even if you finish this book with just an awareness of your breathing and all that that entails, I believe it will be worth the price.
This book to me really helped me understand my own ailments that I have had in my life (such as my asthma I had when I was a child.) And it also explained one of the reasons why me and my two brothers were doomed with getting braces, and the unfortunate fallout of what can come after having these procedures done to our mouths. The stories of tribes and ancient groups that practiced the correct methods of breathing and chewing and eating certain foods are methods Nestor really sheds much light on, and we can truly learn from these methods.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who may have had these same issues as well in their own life, and also wants to understand more effective ways to bolster your own health.
For such a deeply researched book, the narrative felt intimate. The author draws you in with his own experience attempting to find breath mastery. Yes -- yes -- there's such a thing. It's importance has perhaps never been more urgent than now in our mostly sedentary Western world.
The way the author weaves his own explorations into the fascinating history of breath experimentation and ritual will leave you . . . not quite breathless ; -) . . . but certainly mentally winded. I couldn't put Breath down. It became one of those books you squirrel away little pockets of time throughout your day in order to read more.
Captivating stories abound: From an intrepid early 20th-century American woman hiking alone in the Himalayas taught sacred breathing techniques by Buddhist monks, that save her life in the high-altitude snow drifts, to the simple method Native Americans used to teach their young how to breathe properly, leading to perfect teeth and more substantial jaw lines, this book amazes with every turn of the page.
Highly recommend!
For years Biotene was the only toothpaste I could use without irritation. About a year ago even Biotene bothered my mouth and I brushed just with water. After just a few months of taping at night, the inside of my mouth was healthy again and I can now use any toothpaste without a problem. I suspect my throat and lungs have benefited too. Make it really easy and get the two inch tape on the dispenser. 3m Micropore Surgical Tape 2" x 10 Yards with Dispenser (Pack of 2) Having that dispenser makes it so convenient! I don't go anywhere without it. Thank you, Nestor.
He does an interesting and informative job of explaining the current state of breath science and knowledge. He starts at the beginning of time with the prehistoric hunter gathers. He subjects himself to testing at Stanford and more. He travels to civil war battlefields, the underground tunnels of Paris and South America chasing clues to investigate what happened to him when he consciously experimented with his breath.
It’s an excellent read, well researched and can be life changing.
And because breathing is considered so "natural" that most of us don't ever really think about it, James Nestor takes us on a voyage of discovery, in itself "out there" to the point of making us squirm in discomfort, as a way to wake us up to the importance of understanding why we breathe the way we do.
It turns out, that just as there are many types of food, not all healthy, there are many different ways of breathing, also not healthy. Oh yes, you might stay alive, but you might get sick and James Nestor says why.
It turns out, most people don't breathe well, or even in a healthy manner. Why?
Well, read BREATH. I guarantee you'll enjoy it and by the time you finish, find the fastest, simplest, most efficient way to feel and be healthier. I also read The Oxygen Advantage by McEwon (which I also highly recommend and which James Nestor mentions in BREATH), so many of the details Nestor explains I was already aware of, yet it brings many other facets to the "story of breathing" that makes it worthwhile to ... well, yes, read both books. They will certainly have a longer lasting effect on your life, in a positive way, than spending your money on a nice bottle of wine :-)
family, friends and clients.
Literally a life changing book. My wife and I have only thus far applied 2-3 techniques described in this book (and we're even getting the kids involved!), and we're already seeing results, such as better sleep: both sleeping longer, AND if we sleep shorter its more quality sleep, so we're not groggy (you philosophers should love that paradox!); more hunger control, better digestion, more energy throughout the day (with ready to go 2-5 minute breathing exercises to "pick you up" throughout the day if needed!), more focus, et al.
What's amazing about this book is that it doesn't make any claims or promises (then throw a "not all results typical" disclaimer like the charlatans mentioned above). It lays out the stories of several cases, then simply ties the methods of breathing to those cases. There is some description of the methods in the telling of the stpories, but then in an amazing index at the back of the book, Nestor explains in detail how to practice these techniques and methods, and also offers websites and such for further exploration.This book has it all, from Prana to Buteyko to Wim Hof. I will be henceforth buying and reading James Nestor's other book on deep sea divers.
From seasoned yoga pros to beginners of the breath journey, this book will have something for you. Happy breathing!
Plus, the book is really just a lot of fun to read. It's a worthy worthy follow up to Nestor's last book, DEEP, and this one just gets deeper and wierder and even more full of adventure. My favorite part is the chapter about how the human skull has changed over the last couple hundred years because of changes in how we breath. It could have been really boring -- but Nestor doesn't just write about it, he actually goes to Paris, crawls into a sewer, and breaks into the secret catacombs below the city to actually hold a hundreds of year old skull Hamlet-style. ("Alas poor Yorik..." &c. ) You actually see the skull and how they change! Unforgettable stuff. IMHO The book is a must read and must buy...