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

Product Information

Why it made our list: Just as the title implies, this book wastes no time getting to the meat of how you can use the breath to alter your physiology. It contains dozens of patterns, exercises, and techniques to help you deliver the exact effect you’re looking for. 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. 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.

a b Kean, Sam (May 31, 2020). " 'Breath' Review: Eager Breather". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved February 15, 2021. 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.

The book was also perceived as being unexpectedly resonant due to its publication occurring amid the COVID-19 pandemic. [18] [19] See also [ edit ] Breath was published by Riverhead Books on May 26, 2020. [5] Nestor promoted the book with appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience [6] and CBS This Morning. [7] PS: This book makes a great gift for just about anyone. 2. The Power of Breathwork by Jennifer Patterson Nestor explains that Native American Indians had perfect teeth and very minimal respiratory problems, a fact which he attributes to a cultural practice of breathing through their noses. The "science" that this is based on, is the writings of a painter in 1830. Nestor chooses not to consider the effects that air pollution, physical activity, genetics, population density, etc I recently received a great question from someone on the One Deep Breath App that I wanted to write about:

Another thing that is really fascinating is that erectile tissue will pulse on its own. So it will close one nostril and allow breath in through the other nostril, then that other nostril will close and allow breath in. Our bodies do this on their own. ... Rapid breathing is generally harmful, but done with conscious control it can be beneficial. (I don’t know about these last two, really)What he's discussing here isn't new, but it feels new, perhaps because of the chronic disconnect between the mind and body that seems to haunt modern humanity. And it's not like I haven't experimented with breathwork before. I've even done Grof's Holotropic Breathwork, many years ago (which I'd actually forgotten about entirely, until I encountered it in this book -- that's how little impact it had on me). But like I said above, right book, right time.

How to breathe properly will improve your physical health as well as your mental health. This book has a lot of pictures and illustrations. Holding your breath periodically can actually help you expand lung capacity (see above, re: CO2, though I am less convinced about this one so far) (and do this breath holding while sitting or lying down) The key body part to weight loss (and sexual health, posture, bone density, heart health) is the lung (like most health and self help books, this book seems to claim the cure for all ills with this single thing, which undermines his point, in my opinion--He does in the end say correct breathing won’t cure all ills, but this isn’t the general impression throughout; he generally overpromises) (so if he gains credibility through his desire to heal himself, he begins to lose credibility for me in trying every extreme [?] breathing idea he can find). James Nestor takes a deep dive into the fascinating and surprisingly mysterious world of breathing. "How mysterious could it be, Heidi?" I hear you ask. It's something everyone does without thinking literally a few times every minute every day of their lives.You can try it for yourself and start to see positive changes in your mental and physical health by practicing 15-20 minutes a day for a week or two. While it’s sometimes challenging to describe how to perform exercises without audio or visual guidance, Jesse is second-to-none in his ability to guide the reader through these techniques. Nestor also suggests that modern humans are breathing too much and that what our bodies "require to function properly" is "more carbon dioxide". Nestor bases this off experiments conducted decades ago whereby dogs we strapped down to tables, intubated, and physically forced to breathe at a higher rate with bellows until they died. This is the "new science" that Nestor bases his recommendations on. Nestor also seems to neglect to mention that raised blood carbon dioxide levels are a sign of chronic respiratory disease, seen in COPD, OSA, OHS, etc. 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.

The work includes modern consciousness research, psychology, Eastern spiritual practice, and mystical traditions from all over the world. I do as instructed, and listen as the rushing wind that was pouring through my lungs suddenly stops and is replaced by pure silence, the kind of jarring quietude a skydiver feels the moment a parachute opens. But this stillness is coming from inside."

Wellness

Do more with less effort by improving your body's use of oxygen. This will make you healthier, better at sports, and more efficient at work. How you breathe is one of the most important but undervalued parts of your body. James Nestor has done plenty of research on the subject of breathing, he has even taken part in tests himself and discovered the effects of breathing with and without obstructions. Sports athletes have been training with his exercises, and they did better than ever before. Will you try his breathing method after reading ‘The New Science of a Lost Art’? A Practical Guide to Breathwork: A Remedy for the Modern Human Condition Well this book was very enlightening, I had no idea correct breathing has such an importance on your overall health and can prevent diseases and conditions. 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.