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The Healing Power of the Breath: Simple Techniques to Reduce Stress and Anxiety, Enhance Concentration, and Balance Your Emotions

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A drug-free, side effect-free solution to common stress and mood problems—developed by two physicians
 
The audio exercises included with this book can be accessed online at www.shambhala.com/healingpowerofthebr.... Access instructions are also provided within the book.

Millions of Americans suffer from mood problems and stress-related issues like anxiety, depression, insomnia, and PTSD. Far too many of them are taking medications that have troublesome side effects, withdrawal symptoms, and disappointing success rates.
 
In The Healing Power of the Breath , Dr. Richard P. Brown and Dr. Patricia L. Gerbarg provide a different way to treat breathing. Drawn from yoga, Buddhist meditation, the Chinese practice of qigong, and other sources, their science-backed methods activate communication pathways between the mind and body to positively impact the brain and calm the stress response. Their anecdotes and easy-to-follow exercises will show you how to apply breathing techniques to help
 
· Anxiety and depression
· Trauma-related emotions and behaviors
· Post-traumatic stress disorder
· Insomnia
· Addiction-related behaviors
 
Complete with an audio download, this book gives you the coping tools you need to lead a calmer, more stress - free life.

176 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 2012

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Richard P. Brown

13 books5 followers

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5 stars
108 (32%)
4 stars
131 (39%)
3 stars
70 (21%)
2 stars
15 (4%)
1 star
4 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
Profile Image for Rose.
1,955 reviews1,070 followers
June 25, 2016
Quick review for a quick read. To make a few notes on my reading on "The Healing Power of the Breath", I'll admit that I didn't have access to any of the supplemental materials that were noted to be included with this text. Considering that the text hinges so much on the audio CD and supplemental material, it's difficult to grade the helpfulness of this text without it. In searching for supplemental material on meditation, health/wellness, and breathing techniques to supplement my own practices - I came across this text on NetGalley.

It's a useful text that expounds upon different techniques/approaches to breathing and how it ties into overall health and the mechanics of disease processes and body mechanics. It also (briefly) expound upon different populations that use breathing exercises. In addition, it addresses specific needs in terms of breathing exercises for various populations, such as those who suffer from anxiety and depression. The instructions are clear cut, and line up in such a way that you can follow along with the CD as it instructs, but I found the text by itself to be dry and tedious to move through for an introductory text. There were so many times when it would explain that it "would explain" certain techniques for breathing and I kept thinking "Why not explain it while you're on the subject instead of deferring it?" Also, there were very obvious anedotes to common problems with respect to meditation distractions here. Of course someone would know that their pet would be distracting in times of meditation; I wasn't turned off by the suggestion of taking one's pet to another room in that situation (because it's helpful advice), but rather the instruction in that case among others seemed to talk down to the reader in spells and state common sense practices. I think it could've streamlined the information much better and gotten to the heart of the chapter content much quicker than it did.

I'm not going to say that this book isn't useful (because I found certain expansions to be enlightening), but considering the book doesn't stand well on its own for content and that it doesn't streamline the information as much as it could've, I think this wouldn't be a good singular resource for meditation/breathing practices. It, to me, left much more to be desired for presentation and intrigue on the subject matter.

Overall score: 2/5 stars.

Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher Shambhala Publications.
Profile Image for Reading Cat .
378 reviews17 followers
June 18, 2023
If you're a fan of James Nestor's Breath book (and if not, it's probably because you haven't read it yet so you should maybe fix that!) this is a really helpful adjunct. The critiques made of Nestor's book is that he isn't an expert and he cherrypicks some studies. Well, this book, written by a husband and wife team of actual MDs, bring some expertise.

The breathing practices they teach here are pretty basic, so if you already have some knowledge of breathwork you won't learn too much here in that respect. What you will learn is a bit more of the science behind it, and the applications of it.

It's true, toward the end they get a little sluffy--telling you this amazing story of a marriage changed by breathwork practices--and kind of admit they can't prove it has anything to do with the breathwork seminar but...not really trying too hard to convince you of that objection. By that late in the book, you're apparently pretty much sold anyway, right? It seemed like an interesting story, plausible, but more like it was there to pad what is honestly not that long a book with extra pages. Which is not great, but it's not as bad as a lot of big New Age books where the pileon of almost miraculous success stories (cancer cured by chanting, etc) are really just manipulation techniques to prime your mind to believe.

This didn't seem like it was in that vein, but it did seem like...yeah let's not overpromise. I know it's not sexy to basically say, hey, try these breathing practices because they can help your mood, your overall health and mental focus, but honestly...who doesn't want at least one of those three?
Profile Image for Lisa Orbé-Austin.
Author 6 books16 followers
October 8, 2019
Some very powerful and effective techniques that can be utilized to reduce anxiety and regulate other emotions.
Profile Image for Maria.
39 reviews
July 28, 2019
Nice introductory book about breathing practice and benefits of regular practice. Useful examples for those just starting to explore practice and very accessible and clear guidance for practice.
Profile Image for Faith Tydings.
779 reviews8 followers
August 5, 2018
I didn't love the book as much as the accompanying CD - that was great!
Profile Image for Birrell Walsh.
Author 15 books6 followers
November 1, 2019
My doctor prescribed breathing practices. I found this book and now I have given him a copy.

This is one of those cross-cultural books that work. Two western MD's have worked with breathing techniques for years. They have simple, usable methods one can understand from the text. They have borrowed the methods in some cases from Asia, and they give credit. They have used English names (like "Resistance breath") rather than Sanskirt ("Ujjayi breath"), but the Asian names are available through notes.

They include a CD of guided breathing practices. They also have some information about published studies on the benefit of the techniques.
Profile Image for Ayşegül Sezen.
22 reviews3 followers
July 7, 2022
Anksiyete ataklarında nefese başvurup faydasını gördükten sonra bilimsel olarak belli başlı nefes tekniklerinin toplandığı bir kitap okumak farz olmuştu. İnternet üzerinden ulaşabileceğiniz nefes teknikleri, yazılı olarak elinizde bulundurmak isterseniz alabilirsiniz. Bir Zeynep Aksoy tavsiyesi, YouTube kanalında uygulamalarına ulaşabilirsiniz ek olarak.
1 review
August 4, 2018
This thoughtfully written book and the enclosed CD that includes examples of different breathing techniques is excellent. I recommend this to anyone wishing to improve their sleep or to simply feel more calm. It's a great value with the CD.
Profile Image for Aslı Can.
752 reviews271 followers
Read
December 24, 2021
Güzel, açıklayıcı bir kitap. Binlerce yıldır uygulanan nefes egzersizlerinin faydalarını, bilimsel verilerle anlatıyor. Baktığında, anlattığı nefes egzersizlerini internette de kolaylıkla bulabilirsiniz ama derli toplu ve güvenilir bir kaynak olarak el altında bulundurulabilir.
June 19, 2019
Useful techniques for anxiety/stress. I practice the total breath technique and it has made a lot of difference to me
83 reviews5 followers
Read
October 1, 2019
Didn't finish, I was looking more for the reasons why meditation is good , not for breathing exercises. So, it's not the authors fault. Left off on chapter 4.
Profile Image for Peggy.
245 reviews5 followers
October 3, 2022
Very well explained method to calm yourself, even through the worst times.
Profile Image for Lola Dova.
36 reviews
August 31, 2023
I found the book very interesting and useful. I enjoyed practicing the the breathing exercises and already help me regulates myself and my anxiety.
16 reviews1 follower
February 26, 2017
Wonderful. Exceedingly practical and simple, and for the most part, it steers clear of often accompanying New Age spirituality that turns off so many Westerners.

As a Christian, I intend to do some extra study into their emphasis on qigong before I attempt to integrate that element, but it is only one element in addition to their core "Total Breath" practice.

As an agoraphobe, just integrating their slower breathing techniques informally throughout the day has brought great relief from anxiety, and I look forward to a more formal practice and increased relief.

I am deeply grateful for this book and the authors.
Profile Image for Rand.
481 reviews114 followers
Read
October 27, 2014
Well written with good detail. Enjoyed the bit about knowledge of breathwork being passed on to members of the Russian Special Forces by way of medieval monks practicing the Jesus Prayer.

Have not listened to the CD though there is some audio on this website run by associates of the authors.

The long and short of it all is that practicing a slow breathing technique of five to six breaths in one minute (if you have trouble keeping count, just slowly expand your lungs to full capacity then hold a few moments before exhaling fully. pause before repeating the process) will suitably vary your heart rate value (HRV) in such a way as to re-invigorate your cardiovascular system and induce holistic healing, beginning at a cellular level. There's more to it than that, of course.

Just breathe.
Profile Image for Maya Yashodhara.
4 reviews2 followers
September 11, 2017
The 20 minutes a day breath practice have changed my life. I recommend this to everyone. If you want to know how to heal yourself and learn how humans are meant to breathe read this book and use the audio guides.
Profile Image for AnandaTashie.
272 reviews11 followers
November 22, 2013
The authors explore coherent breathing (5 breaths per minute to "induce a state of mental calm coupled with alert awareness"), resistance breathing (which "slightly increases pressure in the lungs, which heightens stimulation of the parasympathetic system, the soothing, recharging part of the nervous system"), breath moving, and total breath, plus some add-ons like body scanning and 4-4-6-2 breath counting.

To give this book credit, the breathing exercises shared really are powerful. They're mostly ones I've already implemented into my life so they weren't completely new to me, but nevertheless, they make it worth a look at the book. However, I found the writing to be a little dry, the organization to be a little iffy, and the testimonial stories to be a little fluff.

Profile Image for Joey.
192 reviews8 followers
July 28, 2015
The author offers a powerful, free and easily accessible solution - breath to relieve stress, stay calm and fight trauma and so on. It is an introductory book that provides guidelines on several breathing techniques that are deemed most useful and accessible to beginners. One is introduced to yoga and qigong breathing techniques too though no further deeper knowledge was drilled.
251 reviews4 followers
August 31, 2013
This book was terrible- like so dry and boring- one star. HOWEVER, the CD has pretty much changed my life- it calms me so much, I use it with counselling clients regularly, and pretty much all the tracks rock, especially coherent breathing. Highly recommend the CD- 5 stars. But skip the book
Profile Image for Khoa.
258 reviews1 follower
December 23, 2012
Great book, the exercises are great. I just don't like the examples in the middle. More reasoning could've been better.
Profile Image for J Crossley.
1,719 reviews15 followers
November 20, 2017
This books says that by deep breathing we can eliminate many health issues.
Profile Image for Elizabeth (Betty).
44 reviews3 followers
October 26, 2016
Very interesting ideas for dealing with stress, sleep, improve brain function through breath.

I will start using some of the techniques in this book.

Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews

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