The Breathing Book: Good Health and Vitality Through Essential Breath Work

Donna Farhi has done a wonderful job here explaining the common habitual breathing mistakes many people adopt and how to reverse the habit. We tend to trivialize the imprtance of breathing correctly and yet it is the very mechanism that can transform the way we think and therefore the way we act. It does have alot of information in it but 'Rome was not built in a day', and most of us have spent a lifetime cultivating a strange breathing pattern that causes gripping in the body and mind. This book is great for the yoga student and teacher but also to anyone else, as we all need to breathe be it on a sticky mat or not.The anatomy of breathing was very useful, as was the section on dismantling the incorrect pattern. Camella Nair - Author of "Aqua Kriya Yoga".

I have mild asthma and used to use my rescue inhaler (albuterol) a couple of times a week, and more often in the winter. Then I read an article in Yoga Journal about how asthma treatment only addresses the symptoms, not the causes, of asthma. I would usually have an attack due to cold winter air, cigarette smoke and strong perfumes, and when I went jogging. My yoga teacher loaned me THE BREATHING BOOK, and I read about how "chest breathing"--breathing into the chest only instead of down into the belly--and breathing through your mouth can trigger attacks. I realized that I often would breathe through my mouth instead of my nose, and that I would habitually hold in my stomach and only breathe into my chest. This creates shoulder tension and also doesn't give the diaphragm time to rest. These things together, I learned from this book, can cause the symptoms of asthma. It's important to breathe in deeply, through the nose, and to allow the diaphragm a moment of rest after each exhalation. The book has simple breathing exercises for asthmatics and for many other physical conditions. When I read Farhi's advice, I changed my patterns and practiced conscious breathing, and almost immediately saw results. In just a couple of months, I found that I needed to use my inhaler less and less, only once or twice a month instead of once or twice a week. Of course, this might not work for everybody, and I still keep my inhaler with me always just in case, but for the price of the book and a small investment of time, I've seen an enormous improvement. After I returned my yoga teacher's copy of the book, I decided that I had to buy it for myself.

The book is simple to read, easy to follow and has clear explanations. It is well organized and the pictures are relevant.

I really liked this book! It is thorough, easy to read and understand. This is the first time someone has explained it to me in a way I can understand it! Excellent diagrams, exercises, etc. Not only an outstanding yoga teacher but also a good book writer!

Clearly written and very readable, the focus of this book is not on esoteric breathing excercises but on remembering and relearning the deep, smooth, easy breath we had as children. With lots of explication and diagrams for the analytical among us, and many postures, excercises and meditations to try, this book offers good advice on how to identify and remove habitual stress patterns that encourage shallow or restricted breathing. The last two chapters- "The shared breath - Inquiries for couples" and "Minding the Breath - Cultivating Mindfulness" were definitely my favorites.