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Breath of Life: Finding Long-Term Recovery with Breathwork and Stepwork
Born into a turbulent and dysfunctional family—and surrounded by adults who were regularly using marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, heroin and crystal meth—Nick Terry TNT bounced around the Pacific Northwest throughout the 1980s, going to 13 different schools before being expelled in 10th grade.
By his teens, Nick entered a life of addiction and crime and was desperate to escape before ending up dead or in prison. To avoid pending legal charges, Nick fled to Hawaii where he became a father—but his unchecked drug use continued to eat away at his life and family. After multiple attempts at sobriety through traditional treatment and 12-Step recovery, Nick found success through full surrender and commitment to the process—but after four years of sobriety, he hit a wall. A breakthrough came when he discovered breathwork, which he came to believe is the missing piece of the recovery puzzle.
In Breath of Finding Long-Term Recovery with Breathwork and Stepwork, Nick shares how he transformed from wayward addict to breathwork and recovery life coach, and offers his holistic, much-needed perspective on how others can do the same.
In homage to the Big Book of AA, Breath of Life is divided into sections
• Nick's harrowing, decades-long battle with addiction and what turned it around
• 8 spiritual principles of lasting recovery blending holistic teachings and traditional stepwork
• A beginner's approach to breathwork and morning routines (used by Nick himself)
• Firsthand stories from recovering addicts who have benefitted from Nick's approach
• A breathwork appendix with conscious breathing, cyclical sighing and Breath of Life exercises (and more)
In the end, Breath of Life draws on 12-Step teachings, ancient spiritual wisdom, modern science and Nick's raw life experience to forge an effective and holistic new recovery path. The result is a genre-defying, holistic recovery handbook that synthesizes all existing paradigms, all while adding a much needed breath of fresh air.
By his teens, Nick entered a life of addiction and crime and was desperate to escape before ending up dead or in prison. To avoid pending legal charges, Nick fled to Hawaii where he became a father—but his unchecked drug use continued to eat away at his life and family. After multiple attempts at sobriety through traditional treatment and 12-Step recovery, Nick found success through full surrender and commitment to the process—but after four years of sobriety, he hit a wall. A breakthrough came when he discovered breathwork, which he came to believe is the missing piece of the recovery puzzle.
In Breath of Finding Long-Term Recovery with Breathwork and Stepwork, Nick shares how he transformed from wayward addict to breathwork and recovery life coach, and offers his holistic, much-needed perspective on how others can do the same.
In homage to the Big Book of AA, Breath of Life is divided into sections
• Nick's harrowing, decades-long battle with addiction and what turned it around
• 8 spiritual principles of lasting recovery blending holistic teachings and traditional stepwork
• A beginner's approach to breathwork and morning routines (used by Nick himself)
• Firsthand stories from recovering addicts who have benefitted from Nick's approach
• A breathwork appendix with conscious breathing, cyclical sighing and Breath of Life exercises (and more)
In the end, Breath of Life draws on 12-Step teachings, ancient spiritual wisdom, modern science and Nick's raw life experience to forge an effective and holistic new recovery path. The result is a genre-defying, holistic recovery handbook that synthesizes all existing paradigms, all while adding a much needed breath of fresh air.
214 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 21, 2023
6 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 4, 2023
While I have never struggled with any type of addiction, I throughly enjoyed this book simply as a human being but also as a school counselor. I started reading this book as part of a book club with Claire Thomas and wasn’t sure what I would be reading about initially. I am so glad I decided to though because this is an amazing personal account about addiction, adverse life experiences, perseverance, and breath work. I love how Nick not only tells you his life story in a real and authentic way but also tells you how he incorporated these practices into his life. He does not sugarcoat things and is brutally honest about the hard work he had to put in and continues to put in to be where he is today.
I do think it’s important to note that there were points in this book where I had to put it down to process some of my own feelings that were brought to the surface from having a loved one in my life that was an addict. I realized there were some painful experiences I had had with this person that I had no fully processed and many memories began to arise reading this book. As a counselor I am familiar with the 4-7-8 breathing method which Nick discusses in this book and actually found myself doing it at times where I had intense emotions arise. With that being said, this book can be an amazing resource for anyone who struggles with mental health or works with people who do, not just those in recovery.
One of my favorite things about this book is the breathwork appendix and the beginners breathwork routine. It’s not often you read a book about someone’s story where they also help give you some of the tools in a practical way so that you can apply them to your own life.
Overall, I highly recommend this book and I’m excited to not only work on my own breathwork practice but also support my kids with learning these techniques as well!
I do think it’s important to note that there were points in this book where I had to put it down to process some of my own feelings that were brought to the surface from having a loved one in my life that was an addict. I realized there were some painful experiences I had had with this person that I had no fully processed and many memories began to arise reading this book. As a counselor I am familiar with the 4-7-8 breathing method which Nick discusses in this book and actually found myself doing it at times where I had intense emotions arise. With that being said, this book can be an amazing resource for anyone who struggles with mental health or works with people who do, not just those in recovery.
One of my favorite things about this book is the breathwork appendix and the beginners breathwork routine. It’s not often you read a book about someone’s story where they also help give you some of the tools in a practical way so that you can apply them to your own life.
Overall, I highly recommend this book and I’m excited to not only work on my own breathwork practice but also support my kids with learning these techniques as well!
Displaying 1 of 1 review