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Breathe: The Simple, Revolutionary 14-day Programme to Improve Your Mental and Physical Health
Insomnia? Gone. Anxiety? Gone. All without medication. Unpleasant side effects from blood pressure pills? Gone. A cheap and effective way to combat cardiovascular disease, immune dysfunction, obesity, and GI disorders? Yes. Sounds too good to be true? Believe it.
Contemporary science confirms what generations of healers have observed through centuries of practice: Breath awareness can turn on the body’s natural abilities to prevent and cure illness. The mental and physical stresses of modern life, such as anxiety, frustration, sexual dysfunction, insomnia, high blood pressure, digestive woes, and immune dysfunction can all be addressed through conscious control of your breath. In addition, it can increase energy, accelerate healing, improve cognitive skills, and enhance mental balance.
Yet most of us stopped breathing in the anatomically “right” way, the way to take advantage of these benefits, when we were four or five years old. We now mostly breathe in a way that is anatomically incongruous and makes for more illness. Dr. Vranich shows readers how to turn back the tide of stress and illness, and improve the overall quality of their life through a daily breathing workout. In a fascinating, straightforward, jargon-free exploration of how our bodies were meant to breathe, Dr. Belisa Vranich delves into the ins and outs of proper breathing. By combining both anatomy and fitness with psychology and mindfulness, Dr. Vranich gives readers a way of solving health problems at the crux and healing themselves from the inside out. BREATHE is an easy-to-follow guide to breathing exercises that will increase energy, help lose weight, and make readers feel calmer and happier.
Contemporary science confirms what generations of healers have observed through centuries of practice: Breath awareness can turn on the body’s natural abilities to prevent and cure illness. The mental and physical stresses of modern life, such as anxiety, frustration, sexual dysfunction, insomnia, high blood pressure, digestive woes, and immune dysfunction can all be addressed through conscious control of your breath. In addition, it can increase energy, accelerate healing, improve cognitive skills, and enhance mental balance.
Yet most of us stopped breathing in the anatomically “right” way, the way to take advantage of these benefits, when we were four or five years old. We now mostly breathe in a way that is anatomically incongruous and makes for more illness. Dr. Vranich shows readers how to turn back the tide of stress and illness, and improve the overall quality of their life through a daily breathing workout. In a fascinating, straightforward, jargon-free exploration of how our bodies were meant to breathe, Dr. Belisa Vranich delves into the ins and outs of proper breathing. By combining both anatomy and fitness with psychology and mindfulness, Dr. Vranich gives readers a way of solving health problems at the crux and healing themselves from the inside out. BREATHE is an easy-to-follow guide to breathing exercises that will increase energy, help lose weight, and make readers feel calmer and happier.
240 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2016
339 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
December 27, 2016
This is a short book with lots of resources--including many step-by-step breathing exercises that honest-to-God make a difference. Vranich's goal is to help readers relearn how to breathe "by moving the breathing back down to the lower part of your body, where it belongs." She argues that the best breathing happens from the chest down, but most people breathe shallow breaths that fill only the top of their lungs.
The book helps you fix that. Vranich lays out a "14-day program," which is really just a handful of breathing exercises repeated for 14 days. Each daily breathing routine takes less than 10 minutes to complete. I felt overwhelmed at first by how many exercises are in here, so, eventually, I decided to pick four inhale exercises to work on and ignore the others (for now).
The Rock n Roll exercise, in particular, has changed the way I breathe, big time. In that exercise you inhale through your mouth while expanding your belly as you lean forward, and then exhale while leaning back like you are slumping on a couch. You do that about 20 times. I find this exercise absolutely freeing, truthfully. I finally realized that my breathing has been shallow because--here the embarrassing truth comes--I've been sucking in my stomach to appear skinnier. And I've been doing that my whole life, which kind of makes me sad for myself. But now I stick my belly out when I breathe in, and I genuinely feel better. I feel more relaxed. It's amazing.
In addition to the breathing exercises, Vranich also talks about the harmful effects of shallow breathing, the benefits of good breathing, the importance of good posture, and the necessity of sleep. (I loved when she said that you have to give your body several moments of calm throughout the day if you want to be able to sleep at night--otherwise, your mind will just run, run, run as soon as you put your head on your pillow. I guess that's probably an obvious point to some, but that was eye-opening for me.) There is also a comprehensive glossary of terms in the back of the book.
Overall, this was a quick and helpful read that gave me fast results. Apparently, breathing is important. You heard it here first.
See more of my reviews at www.BugBugBooks.com.
The book helps you fix that. Vranich lays out a "14-day program," which is really just a handful of breathing exercises repeated for 14 days. Each daily breathing routine takes less than 10 minutes to complete. I felt overwhelmed at first by how many exercises are in here, so, eventually, I decided to pick four inhale exercises to work on and ignore the others (for now).
The Rock n Roll exercise, in particular, has changed the way I breathe, big time. In that exercise you inhale through your mouth while expanding your belly as you lean forward, and then exhale while leaning back like you are slumping on a couch. You do that about 20 times. I find this exercise absolutely freeing, truthfully. I finally realized that my breathing has been shallow because--here the embarrassing truth comes--I've been sucking in my stomach to appear skinnier. And I've been doing that my whole life, which kind of makes me sad for myself. But now I stick my belly out when I breathe in, and I genuinely feel better. I feel more relaxed. It's amazing.
In addition to the breathing exercises, Vranich also talks about the harmful effects of shallow breathing, the benefits of good breathing, the importance of good posture, and the necessity of sleep. (I loved when she said that you have to give your body several moments of calm throughout the day if you want to be able to sleep at night--otherwise, your mind will just run, run, run as soon as you put your head on your pillow. I guess that's probably an obvious point to some, but that was eye-opening for me.) There is also a comprehensive glossary of terms in the back of the book.
Overall, this was a quick and helpful read that gave me fast results. Apparently, breathing is important. You heard it here first.
See more of my reviews at www.BugBugBooks.com.
December 21, 2016
"What if I said I had a medicine that would keep you calm but alert? That would relax and energize you? That would help you recover, boost your immune system, lower the oxidative stress that causes aging, power you up, and fuel every cell in your body, from your frazzled brain to your taxed muscles?"
Some pretty powerful words and all you have to do is breathe right. To say the least, I was intrigued. I remember being told a long time ago that to get enough oxygen to your brain, you needed to breathe deeply. So when I saw this book, I had to get it. I'm curious what I could possibly do for my health just by breathing differently. I just finished this book so I can't say that this will change my life, but I liked what I read and I'm going to give it a try.
ARC provided by NetGalley
Some pretty powerful words and all you have to do is breathe right. To say the least, I was intrigued. I remember being told a long time ago that to get enough oxygen to your brain, you needed to breathe deeply. So when I saw this book, I had to get it. I'm curious what I could possibly do for my health just by breathing differently. I just finished this book so I can't say that this will change my life, but I liked what I read and I'm going to give it a try.
ARC provided by NetGalley
January 6, 2017
First let me say I'm absolutely honoured to be able to read and provide an honest review for this book. I am a yoga teacher, fitness instructor, personal trainer and physiotherapy/occupational therapy assistant. As part of my experience in working as a pysiotherapy assistant I've worked with a number of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder. I'm also a Mom of children with autism and very high anxiety and work with my children and others with anxiety with breath work. I've used breath work to help my children find sleep at night in what I consider a somewhat unique method. I have a fairly good knowledge of breath work already and I crave to know more, so a huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press and Belisa Vranich for this wonderful opportunity.
And learn, I did ! Even with a good solid base of knowledge in this area, I managed to learn plenty. I loved that the author has included examples of clients and that she wrote the book much like a workbook - a 14 day program
Everybody has a different way of explaining the same thing - and the listeners have a different way of understanding. The verbal cueing in this book is very different from the verbal cueing I might give - so handy for professionals to discuss and throw around ideas, because not every client is going to understand the same way, so we have different sets of cues we may need to pull out from time to time. Another way this book is also helpful not only to the intended audience, but also other professionals in the field, or in the healthcare field who might find breath work beneficial for their patients/clients. (I will say I, personally, didn't connect easily with the cueing, but this is not at all a critique, as I hope you understand given my previous statements)
The exercises were very helpful - I spent some time with them - more than the 14 days, actually, so I do apologize that my review was a longer time coming than expected.
I have a couple critiques -
the first was actually a bit of an eye opener for me too. I often unwittingly use a technique in talking with groups/classes that the author also uses in the writing, and that is to say something along the lines of "many of you probably think this, but actually it's that" - I didn't realize how condescending that felt until I was on the other side - and I did feel this book talked down to the reader a fair bit - not intentionally at all.
the second is that there is quite a bit of repetition, and to the contrary, I think some information that could have been given or expanded upon.
Both the first and the second point I bring up under critiques made it difficult to wade through the preamble before getting to the more meatier part of the book which I enjoyed much better.
I think breath work is something more people need to become familiar with, to understand what improved breathing can do for them - a book like this, a program like this, is needed.
And learn, I did ! Even with a good solid base of knowledge in this area, I managed to learn plenty. I loved that the author has included examples of clients and that she wrote the book much like a workbook - a 14 day program
Everybody has a different way of explaining the same thing - and the listeners have a different way of understanding. The verbal cueing in this book is very different from the verbal cueing I might give - so handy for professionals to discuss and throw around ideas, because not every client is going to understand the same way, so we have different sets of cues we may need to pull out from time to time. Another way this book is also helpful not only to the intended audience, but also other professionals in the field, or in the healthcare field who might find breath work beneficial for their patients/clients. (I will say I, personally, didn't connect easily with the cueing, but this is not at all a critique, as I hope you understand given my previous statements)
The exercises were very helpful - I spent some time with them - more than the 14 days, actually, so I do apologize that my review was a longer time coming than expected.
I have a couple critiques -
the first was actually a bit of an eye opener for me too. I often unwittingly use a technique in talking with groups/classes that the author also uses in the writing, and that is to say something along the lines of "many of you probably think this, but actually it's that" - I didn't realize how condescending that felt until I was on the other side - and I did feel this book talked down to the reader a fair bit - not intentionally at all.
the second is that there is quite a bit of repetition, and to the contrary, I think some information that could have been given or expanded upon.
Both the first and the second point I bring up under critiques made it difficult to wade through the preamble before getting to the more meatier part of the book which I enjoyed much better.
I think breath work is something more people need to become familiar with, to understand what improved breathing can do for them - a book like this, a program like this, is needed.
November 22, 2016
Everyone should read this book! It explains how our breathing changes throughout our lives due to stress, trauma and anxiety and how we start to hold our bellies tight and breathe up in our chest area. That type of breathing doesn’t allow your body enough oxygen and can lead to many different types of health problems, including heart problems, insomnia, anxiety, high blood pressure, obesity, GI tract difficulties and even memory problems. This is a 14-day program that will re-teach your body to breathe as you did when you were a child, using the diaphragm instead of chest muscles.
I’ve become more aware of my breathing since starting up yoga practice once again a few months ago. I found this book to be so helpful in re-training my body to breathe the way I should be breathing. I’ve only be using the book a few days and already feel the expansion in my ribs and lungs. The muscles in my back are a bit sore due to the increased use of those particular muscles that haven’t been used in many years due to the short, shallow, upper body breaths I’ve been taking.
The book includes simple, quick exercises that you can use to strengthen those muscles used in breathing to give you increase your lung capacity. I thought the beginning of the book read like an infomercial and was a bit repetitive. But stick with it as when the author gets to the exercises, they are excellent. Quite a few of them I’ve been using in my yoga practice so were familiar to me. There’s also an excellent section for athletes. The book is very easy to read and understand.
I’ve always been an admirer of Dr. Andrew Weil and there’s a quote by him included in the book that I’d like to share. “If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn to breathe correctly.”
Here’s to better breathing for all! Highly recommended book.
This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
I’ve become more aware of my breathing since starting up yoga practice once again a few months ago. I found this book to be so helpful in re-training my body to breathe the way I should be breathing. I’ve only be using the book a few days and already feel the expansion in my ribs and lungs. The muscles in my back are a bit sore due to the increased use of those particular muscles that haven’t been used in many years due to the short, shallow, upper body breaths I’ve been taking.
The book includes simple, quick exercises that you can use to strengthen those muscles used in breathing to give you increase your lung capacity. I thought the beginning of the book read like an infomercial and was a bit repetitive. But stick with it as when the author gets to the exercises, they are excellent. Quite a few of them I’ve been using in my yoga practice so were familiar to me. There’s also an excellent section for athletes. The book is very easy to read and understand.
I’ve always been an admirer of Dr. Andrew Weil and there’s a quote by him included in the book that I’d like to share. “If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn to breathe correctly.”
Here’s to better breathing for all! Highly recommended book.
This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
September 29, 2017
If you can get the book for free from the library or a friend, please do. I'm sorry I bought it. Yes, the information is good, but it is nothing new. The Posture Restoration Institute has better information, with videos. Quite a few of the illustrations in the book do not match the descriptions associated with them. There are several drawings that don't even have directions/comments, leaving one to wonder what they are for.
October 16, 2021
The exercises are good. The text, as so often today, is full of repetition, padding, and hype.
August 26, 2023
In “Breathe: The Simple, Revolutionary 14-Day Program To Improve Your Mental And Physical Health”, Dr. Belisa Vranich amiably solved misconceptions. This current 2016 publication is reassuring in 2023, that its application and practices still hold.
The first message Belisa urged is that most people breathe incorrectly with our chest and shoulders, only using the top of our lungs. We need to breathe from the densest part of our lungs at our centre of gravity: with our diaphragms. We should balloon our stomachs out with full inhalations and squeeze our stomachs to force out exhalations. Most people breathe shallowly, rapidly, and do not exhale much. We must empty fully to bring enough fresh air to our lungs.
I learned that our diaphragms inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide, massage our digestive and other organs. Also, we need to nourish our blood supply with oxygen, for it to be sufficiently enriched to nourish our organs and lubricate our joints. Stretching, especially our ribs and sides and breathing low and long; cures illnesses, tension, and pain.
Please absorb these highlights! Breathing well is more powerful than having healthy, developed lungs. What good are they, if we only used them a little at the top?
We think of exercise for circulating oxygen into our blood but could be breathing shallowly.
Of five star importance, I give this book three. Belisa did not organize the urgent, basic instructions together nor immediately. They were interspersed with biology and a repetitive belief that we went awry after self-consciously tightening our stomachs. I have never done that.
She offered a formula for monitoring our vital lung capacity for two weeks. I can feel the benefit of breathing in and out lower and fully, without complex exercises. I sense that other teachers might be better at simplifying the essentials.
The first message Belisa urged is that most people breathe incorrectly with our chest and shoulders, only using the top of our lungs. We need to breathe from the densest part of our lungs at our centre of gravity: with our diaphragms. We should balloon our stomachs out with full inhalations and squeeze our stomachs to force out exhalations. Most people breathe shallowly, rapidly, and do not exhale much. We must empty fully to bring enough fresh air to our lungs.
I learned that our diaphragms inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide, massage our digestive and other organs. Also, we need to nourish our blood supply with oxygen, for it to be sufficiently enriched to nourish our organs and lubricate our joints. Stretching, especially our ribs and sides and breathing low and long; cures illnesses, tension, and pain.
Please absorb these highlights! Breathing well is more powerful than having healthy, developed lungs. What good are they, if we only used them a little at the top?
We think of exercise for circulating oxygen into our blood but could be breathing shallowly.
Of five star importance, I give this book three. Belisa did not organize the urgent, basic instructions together nor immediately. They were interspersed with biology and a repetitive belief that we went awry after self-consciously tightening our stomachs. I have never done that.
She offered a formula for monitoring our vital lung capacity for two weeks. I can feel the benefit of breathing in and out lower and fully, without complex exercises. I sense that other teachers might be better at simplifying the essentials.
December 13, 2016
Read this review and more on my blog.
I received a free copy of Breathe for my honest opinion.
What is something that humans cannot live without. Most people would automatically say food and water, but even more important than those is air. It is often overlooked as we take it for granted, we have no lack of oxygen whereas food and water supplies vary over time. You can live for a few days or even weeks without food or water (although it is not recommended), but how long can you live without air?
Is it possible to breathe wrong? Yes! I have been breathing wrong for such a long time and I knew it, but I never knew (or really wanted) to change it. I am what is called a paradoxical breather, so when I breath in, I tighten my stomach and when I breath out it relaxes; this is the complete opposite of how our body is designed to function!
Having only tried these techniques for a few days, I am already noticing a difference not just in my breathing, but how generally I am feeling. I am more relaxed and focused while still enjoying the full on life that I live. Being a sportsperson, these breathing techniques will only help me get a competitive edge over everyone else and help me be at my most efficient.
I would totally recommend Breathe to anyone regardless of how they think that they breathe. Like your muscles, it is something that needs to be continually worked on to be efficient.
I received a free copy of Breathe for my honest opinion.
What is something that humans cannot live without. Most people would automatically say food and water, but even more important than those is air. It is often overlooked as we take it for granted, we have no lack of oxygen whereas food and water supplies vary over time. You can live for a few days or even weeks without food or water (although it is not recommended), but how long can you live without air?
Is it possible to breathe wrong? Yes! I have been breathing wrong for such a long time and I knew it, but I never knew (or really wanted) to change it. I am what is called a paradoxical breather, so when I breath in, I tighten my stomach and when I breath out it relaxes; this is the complete opposite of how our body is designed to function!
Having only tried these techniques for a few days, I am already noticing a difference not just in my breathing, but how generally I am feeling. I am more relaxed and focused while still enjoying the full on life that I live. Being a sportsperson, these breathing techniques will only help me get a competitive edge over everyone else and help me be at my most efficient.
I would totally recommend Breathe to anyone regardless of how they think that they breathe. Like your muscles, it is something that needs to be continually worked on to be efficient.
Read
December 28, 2018Breathing is good.
October 12, 2022
The knowledge and exercises in this book are amazing and life changing!
I really liked the way the author explains the science in this book. Not too difficult. But bit treating you as a child either.
My only gripe with this book is it's structure. It puts anecdotes on weird spots and has these framed messages right in between a piece of text that really break up the information in an annoying way.
I really liked the way the author explains the science in this book. Not too difficult. But bit treating you as a child either.
My only gripe with this book is it's structure. It puts anecdotes on weird spots and has these framed messages right in between a piece of text that really break up the information in an annoying way.
March 7, 2017
Phenomenal guide to something we could all do better. Will update this review as I put it into practice.
March 10, 2017
It's basically a yoga book.
December 7, 2020
Good book, can recommend to everyone. Personally I think it's good to be more aware of your breathing. There's a lot of explaining of what it means to have good and bad breathing and what areas of your life it affects, sometimes can be repetitive.
One thing that would've made things easier is to have a clear plan of attack for breathing exercises in a single chapter, if it's too much could've been just an index or something similar. I felt like this information is scattered all around, so you have to keep track of what you need to do instead of fully focusing on what you're reading.
One thing that would've made things easier is to have a clear plan of attack for breathing exercises in a single chapter, if it's too much could've been just an index or something similar. I felt like this information is scattered all around, so you have to keep track of what you need to do instead of fully focusing on what you're reading.
April 7, 2024
Junk pop science. You cannot solve insomnia, high blood pressure, "immune dysfunction", GI issues, various mental illnesses (she makes a lot of claims here) by doing breathing exercises over 2 weeks. Yes, I have this book - my well-meaning wife got it for me. It's really too bad that there are so many books like this out there like this with magical health claims and little skepticism - FYI none of the claims in here are supported by scientific research. Not much different from Kevin Trudeau in this regard.
April 24, 2020
Everyone should read this book
February 15, 2017
I was curious about this book that promised so much, and it would not cost me a penny to try since I already had everything I needed to get started. The author states that in 2 weeks, I’d notice a difference. My biggest hang-up was finding the time to add breathing exercises to an already busy day; however, there was that tempting promise that it would improve my life, and after all, the reps in the beginning were only supposed to take 3 to 10 minutes. So I committed to doing the two weeks. My biggest problems are: trouble sleeping, anxiety, lack of energy and I’m a bit overweight.
At this point I am at the one week mark. I can honestly say that my sleep has improved somewhat, and I am happy about that. I am finding doing one set of breathing exercises before I go to be bed to be a very relaxing ritual. I do the other set in the morning, because I couldn’t find another time to consistently do them, and that seems to be working out ok. At first, it really isn’t my preferred time because I usually hop out of bed the minute the alarm goes off and head for coffee. After a week, I’m beginning to think this might be a calmer way to start my day, and I’m glad I’m starting my day more relaxed.
The book continues with other exercises. Some of them are ones I am familiar with from the Yoga classes I went to in the past. The exercises promise things like better flexibility and posture. I haven’t tried them all yet—I’m still working on the beginning poses, but there is a lot of variety. I am feeling that this definitely worth working on.
At this point I am at the one week mark. I can honestly say that my sleep has improved somewhat, and I am happy about that. I am finding doing one set of breathing exercises before I go to be bed to be a very relaxing ritual. I do the other set in the morning, because I couldn’t find another time to consistently do them, and that seems to be working out ok. At first, it really isn’t my preferred time because I usually hop out of bed the minute the alarm goes off and head for coffee. After a week, I’m beginning to think this might be a calmer way to start my day, and I’m glad I’m starting my day more relaxed.
The book continues with other exercises. Some of them are ones I am familiar with from the Yoga classes I went to in the past. The exercises promise things like better flexibility and posture. I haven’t tried them all yet—I’m still working on the beginning poses, but there is a lot of variety. I am feeling that this definitely worth working on.
November 28, 2016
"Breathe" explains a series of breathing exercises that will help people breathe correctly and more efficiently. The author explained why people start to breath in a "wrong" way and all of the benefits to re-learning how to do it correctly. I know I breathe too shallowly and was having some trouble with stress and insomnia, so I thought I'd give it a try.
She explained some simple exercises that help you to teach your body to breathe in the correct way. She provided several different exercises to teach the same thing so if one didn't make sense, another one would. There were diagrams to illustrate the exercises. You don't need any special equipment, and the daily exercises don't take long to do. She also provided some more advanced exercises to help you to develop your lungs for deeper breathing and even provided exercises to help improve serious athletes.
I found the exercise instructions easy to follow and have been doing the more basic exercises daily for two weeks now. The breathing exercises have helped me feel healthier and more relaxed, and my sleep has improved during this time. I also appreciated the information on how posture affects my ability to relax. Overall, I'd recommend this book.
I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
She explained some simple exercises that help you to teach your body to breathe in the correct way. She provided several different exercises to teach the same thing so if one didn't make sense, another one would. There were diagrams to illustrate the exercises. You don't need any special equipment, and the daily exercises don't take long to do. She also provided some more advanced exercises to help you to develop your lungs for deeper breathing and even provided exercises to help improve serious athletes.
I found the exercise instructions easy to follow and have been doing the more basic exercises daily for two weeks now. The breathing exercises have helped me feel healthier and more relaxed, and my sleep has improved during this time. I also appreciated the information on how posture affects my ability to relax. Overall, I'd recommend this book.
I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
August 27, 2023
Modern version of Oxycise! with its grandiose claims without any scientific evidence supporting them.
Breathe through your nose until diaphragmatic breathing becomes your new autonomic breath pattern.
Do deep breathing "exercises" a couple times a day for two weeks.
That's basically it.
Breathe through your nose until diaphragmatic breathing becomes your new autonomic breath pattern.
Do deep breathing "exercises" a couple times a day for two weeks.
That's basically it.
February 6, 2017
For the yogi, it might be review.
January 5, 2026
I am a pulmonary physician (lung doctor) by trade. Admittedly I spend most of my time dealing with respiratory *disease* rather than respiratory *health*.
I read this book with interest because there is clearly a lot of work being done in the “breathing industry.”
There are a lot of interesting things in this book and books like it. I actually found the exercises quite helpful. I have also been dabbling in Win Hof breathing. Clearly something is going on, but I’m not sure if the physiologic explanations in this book are accurate.
The author puts a lot of stock in oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. Obviously, this is important from a physiological standpoint. But I doubt the exercises and habits advocated here make a huge difference in the actual levels of oxygen or carbon dioxide in the blood bloodstream. The oxygen is much more dependent on the hemoglobin levels than the oxygen saturation (which gets a lot of attention in this book).
Carbon dioxide would probably be even harder to make sustained changes of with habit breathing. Carbon dioxide will go down if you hyperventilate and go up if you hypoventilate. Both are very difficult to do in a deliberate, sustained manner. I suspect the reason that some breath work causes sensations of lightheadedness is from a rise in pH associated with a decrease in carbon dioxide. This is not sustainable.
But clearly there are beneficial effects. I don’t think these practices would have so many adherents if that were not the case. I feel like I’ve benefited from some of these practices myself. I suspect it’s happening through changes in intrathoracic pressure affecting cardiac output and strain. There is probably some sort of feedback loop that affects cortisol as well. I think there’s a lot of room for work in these areas and I look forward to more of it coming out. 
I read this book with interest because there is clearly a lot of work being done in the “breathing industry.”
There are a lot of interesting things in this book and books like it. I actually found the exercises quite helpful. I have also been dabbling in Win Hof breathing. Clearly something is going on, but I’m not sure if the physiologic explanations in this book are accurate.
The author puts a lot of stock in oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. Obviously, this is important from a physiological standpoint. But I doubt the exercises and habits advocated here make a huge difference in the actual levels of oxygen or carbon dioxide in the blood bloodstream. The oxygen is much more dependent on the hemoglobin levels than the oxygen saturation (which gets a lot of attention in this book).
Carbon dioxide would probably be even harder to make sustained changes of with habit breathing. Carbon dioxide will go down if you hyperventilate and go up if you hypoventilate. Both are very difficult to do in a deliberate, sustained manner. I suspect the reason that some breath work causes sensations of lightheadedness is from a rise in pH associated with a decrease in carbon dioxide. This is not sustainable.
But clearly there are beneficial effects. I don’t think these practices would have so many adherents if that were not the case. I feel like I’ve benefited from some of these practices myself. I suspect it’s happening through changes in intrathoracic pressure affecting cardiac output and strain. There is probably some sort of feedback loop that affects cortisol as well. I think there’s a lot of room for work in these areas and I look forward to more of it coming out. 
November 3, 2018
Read by the author: medium-pitch, enthusiastic female American accent, suitable for x2 speed. It was an enjoyable read. There are lots of breathing exercises and yoga positions to try, but even if you just picked out a few to practice, you’ll feel better in only a couple days. Her style of writing is mostly informative from a standpoint of experience, with the odd joke thrown in. Some anecdotes flesh out the interesting side of things. Worth a read! I would consider passing this on to people who wouldn’t necessarily think to pick it up for themselves.
Favourite Quotes:
"Your body wants to breathe in the way it was designed to: in an anatomically congruous way. Right now, it's not."
"Regardless of the threat or the prize, people often resist changing their ways when it comes to health habits."
"How well you breathe is the best indicator of how healthy you are and how long you'll live. "
"Retrain yourself to breathe in a way that nourishes your body at a cellular level."
"Did you know that stress gives you belly fat? Even baboons get muffintop when they’re stressed out in the wild."
Favourite Quotes:
"Your body wants to breathe in the way it was designed to: in an anatomically congruous way. Right now, it's not."
"Regardless of the threat or the prize, people often resist changing their ways when it comes to health habits."
"How well you breathe is the best indicator of how healthy you are and how long you'll live. "
"Retrain yourself to breathe in a way that nourishes your body at a cellular level."
"Did you know that stress gives you belly fat? Even baboons get muffintop when they’re stressed out in the wild."
February 20, 2023
I learned many of these techniques from a physical therapist who was helping me with healing a hiatal hernia so I knew already that many of them had helped me. I purchased it so I could learn about the techniques she covers that I have not yet tried. Breathing correctly has helped me in many areas of my health so I am looking forward to trying the new ones.
The only reason I gave it four stars is because the title says it is a 14 day program. So in reading it, I kept waiting to find the section that said, “here is the 14 day program” giving details on what to do from day 1-14. That doesn’t happen. There is just a lot of information on breathing techniques and how they benefit you. I guess the 14 day reference is how long it may take to notice a difference one you start to practice the techniques?
The only reason I gave it four stars is because the title says it is a 14 day program. So in reading it, I kept waiting to find the section that said, “here is the 14 day program” giving details on what to do from day 1-14. That doesn’t happen. There is just a lot of information on breathing techniques and how they benefit you. I guess the 14 day reference is how long it may take to notice a difference one you start to practice the techniques?
March 25, 2020
Are you breathing properly? Find out how to improve your health, sleep, stress, and well being just by learning to breathing properly.
This book gives detailed information and instructions with illustrations to teach proper breathing techniques for energy and numerous physical and mental health issues.
This book seems like a lot of information, but is easy to follow. Hopefully with practice these techniques will become second nature and improve your life and health.
Check this book out from the Villa Park Public Library!
This book gives detailed information and instructions with illustrations to teach proper breathing techniques for energy and numerous physical and mental health issues.
This book seems like a lot of information, but is easy to follow. Hopefully with practice these techniques will become second nature and improve your life and health.
Check this book out from the Villa Park Public Library!
June 17, 2017
A must read for everyone!
I highly recommend this book to people on a daily basis.
Dr. Belisa has a very approachable explanation to the breath. She cuts the fluff along touches the surface of the medical science with out going to deep for someone who is new to anatomy/ medical science. This is an excellent book for any one who is interested in improving their health, athletic ability, improving control & stability amongst many other things. For those who pick up the book and want to learn more, Dr. Belisa also offers classes and has a team of highly skilled and trained individuals that teach and train along the subject as well.
I highly recommend this book to people on a daily basis.
Dr. Belisa has a very approachable explanation to the breath. She cuts the fluff along touches the surface of the medical science with out going to deep for someone who is new to anatomy/ medical science. This is an excellent book for any one who is interested in improving their health, athletic ability, improving control & stability amongst many other things. For those who pick up the book and want to learn more, Dr. Belisa also offers classes and has a team of highly skilled and trained individuals that teach and train along the subject as well.
July 6, 2020
The information in this book is so valuable! I have struggled with my breathing for years. I'm only one day into the 14 day program, but I am hopeful that the exercises will help me regain control of my breath. While the author is clearly very knowledgeable and encouraging, I felt like the organization of this book made it difficult to see what the "program" was; it's more like a collection of exercises that the individual uses to create their own program. I also felt like the book was repetitive and long winded at times, which made it harder to get through. That said, I'm so thankful for this information, and I am hopeful that it will be a huge help for me!
January 4, 2022
Not the worst, but it's just another book where the author is convinced that their special interest is THE KEY to all your health problems. Even ones you don't know about!
Yes, perfect health can be yours. You just have to exercise your lungs, and all the muscles that go along with them. And for some reason that can't be done just through normal cardiovascular exercise. I guess because we've been breathing incorrectly our whole lives.
Yes, I'm going to incorporate some breath of fire into my routine after reading this.
No, I'm not going to do a two week intensive course to train my lungs. I don't think breathing is my problem, and this book failed if it was trying to convince me it was.
Yes, perfect health can be yours. You just have to exercise your lungs, and all the muscles that go along with them. And for some reason that can't be done just through normal cardiovascular exercise. I guess because we've been breathing incorrectly our whole lives.
Yes, I'm going to incorporate some breath of fire into my routine after reading this.
No, I'm not going to do a two week intensive course to train my lungs. I don't think breathing is my problem, and this book failed if it was trying to convince me it was.
June 17, 2018
I found this really helpful. It's going to take a while yet before my default breathing is totally fixed but it's much improved and I do feel better.
The organization of info could be a bit better arranged, but the exercises are simple.
When she has you measure lung capacity near the beginning, I would do it as she suggests but then again to your max so later you can compare max capacity to your increased max capacity.
Definitely worth a shot if you want to improve your well-being. Bonus is that you can do it for free without medication.
The organization of info could be a bit better arranged, but the exercises are simple.
When she has you measure lung capacity near the beginning, I would do it as she suggests but then again to your max so later you can compare max capacity to your increased max capacity.
Definitely worth a shot if you want to improve your well-being. Bonus is that you can do it for free without medication.
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November 25, 2019Loved this!
I started seriously doing breath work after reading Dr. Andrew Weil.
I went to the library to find something about breathing exercises.
This book gives a lot of great exercises and gives freedom to make up your own 14 day work out plan.
I've been doing the stretching from this book, a sequence of 4 exercises she recommends and recovery breath.
I can say my breathing has improved.
I started seriously doing breath work after reading Dr. Andrew Weil.
I went to the library to find something about breathing exercises.
This book gives a lot of great exercises and gives freedom to make up your own 14 day work out plan.
I've been doing the stretching from this book, a sequence of 4 exercises she recommends and recovery breath.
I can say my breathing has improved.
May 24, 2021
For the past several years I've been practicing Kundalini Yoga, and on of my fellow yogsi got me into Wim Hof's breathing videos on YouTube which made me wonder what else is out there. I caught Vranich's rather hurried TED Talk and wanted to read her book. The book contains good information, tho I occasionally got lost in the explanations on how to do some of the exercises. Will probably pick up the James Nestor book sometime for comparison.
April 23, 2019
I just looked into this. This is very very badly written.. No wonder such sick society with doctors like this... Why do people write when they don't know how to write and about topics they do not know?
If you have breathing problems rather go to an authentic yoga class or visit an authentic yogi...
If you have breathing problems rather go to an authentic yoga class or visit an authentic yogi...
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