Breathe for Life

By taking control of your breathing patterns, you can dramatically improve your health and well-being. Easy-to-learn breathing techniques and exercises can help you find serenity, detach yourself from pain, alleviate asthma and even give up smoking. These seemingly revolutionary ideas are neither new nor unfounded. Thousands of years ago, people saw the vital association between life and breath. Yogis, t'ai chi masters, Tibetan monks, Taoists and others equated the breath of life with the spirit or life force. In India, they called it prana; in Latin, it was spiritus; in Ancient Greece, pneuma; in ancient Hawaii, ha; in China, chi; and in Japan, ki. In all these cultures, the study of breathing was the key to achieving physical, mental, emotional and spiritual mastery. In more recent times, health-care professionals, athletes, professional dancers and singers have come to extol the virtues of "conscious breathing." Dr. Sheldon Hendler, author of The Oxygen Breakthrough, wrote, "Breathing right is unquestionably the single most important thing you can do to improve your life. It will help you to live a longer, more energetic and stress-free life." Now Breathe for Life by Sophie Gabriel lets you fill a prescription for a healthy, hearty, and harmonious life one breath at a time. The book presents step-by-step directions for breathing exercises and techniques, amply illustrated with photos and diagrams. Expert professional opinions and explanations of the benefits of good breathing are also included.