Product Description

Conscious Breathing draws on more than twenty years of research and practice to present a simple yet comprehensive program that can be used every day to improve energy, mental clarity, and physical health. As the essential life-force of the body, the breath influences how we feel on every level.  But many traditional breathing programs are limited by esoteric or cultlike elements.  Pioneering therapist Gay Hendricks has refined the most important practices into a mainstream healing tool that can provide dramatic benefits--ranging from lowered blood pressure and pain reduction to elimination of depression and anxiety--in as little as ten minutes a day. At the core of the book are eight key breathing exercises, fully illustrated, with step-by-step instructions, plus the "short form" ten-minute breathing program.  Additional chapters provide breathing techniques for special concerns, including: Breathing to aid in trauma release and recovery from addictions. Treatment of asthma and other respiratory problems. Enhancement of sex and communication between couples. Improved concentration and stamina in sports.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82524 in Books
• Published on: 1995-03-01
• Released on: 1995-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From Publishers Weekly
"In your lifetime you will breathe in and out more than a hundred million times.... What if you made a tiny improvement in something you did that many times?" So queries Hendricks, a professor of counseling at the University of Colorado and author of Conscious Loving, at the start of this quietly assured guide. His guided breathing exercises, most done lying down and in combination with gentle movements, are designed to free the movement of the diaphragm, increase oxygenation and relax the body. Benefits can include stress reduction, pain management, improved health and spiritual growth. In his discussion of the anatomy of breathing, Hendricks errs in saying there are two lobes in each human lung (the right lung has three lobes), but this handsome handbook, appealingly illustrated and laced with aphorisms about breathing from sports heroes, poets and philosophers, offers much of value to those just fostering awarenes of breathing to such advanced practitioners as singers and athletes.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
We inhale 20,000 times a day. Deprived of oxygen for more than 10 seconds, the brain fogs and panics; after 4 to 5 minutes, it never again functions with its former efficiency. Hendricks first traces the physiological journey of a breath, then lists the benefits of conscious breathing. Reportedly, it reduces stress and tension; increases energy and endurance; facilitates emotional mastery, particularly over anxiety and depression; prevents and heals certain physical complaints, especially asthma, respiratory problems, and cardiovascular illness; contributes significantly to "graceful aging" ; helps in managing pain; enhances mental focus and physical performance, particularly when applied to sports; and enables psychospiritual transformation. "Ultimately," Hendricks asserts, "breathing can be a path to that most essential of human experiences: learning to love." Thereafter, his amply illustrated book provides basic and advanced breath-work lessons and a 10-minute daily breathing program. Calling himself his "own best client," Hendricks builds a convincing case for his addition to alternative-healing therapies. Whitney Scott

Review
"You may think you know how to breathe. Gay Hendricks will show you there is more to learn." -- Andrew Weil, M.D., author of Natural Health, Natural Medicine

Customer Reviews

A Good First Step
I understand some of the comments posted here from less favorable reviews. But, I also believe the people writing those reviews are probably a bit further down the path in terms of their understanding about the importance of breath work. So, of course it would seem boring to them to learn about the author, the value of learning how to breath well, etc. But, as a counselor and someone who values the importance of breathing, I find most of my clients enjoy this book. They find it a good first step and especially like the techniques and pictures. Of course, if they want to spend a little more I encourage them to take it to the next step and get The Breathing Box: 4 Weeks To Healthy Breathing. That is really my favorite item from this author. - Dr. Lisa Love, Beyond the Secret

Our breathing: the more we learn the better we feel
If only we breathed as we began life doing! As Gay Hendricks puts it:

"if you want to see healthy diaphragmatic breathing, watch the way a baby breathes. The belly rises and falls effortlessly with the breath. The chest moves somewhat, but the primary movement is below the diaphragm. Later, breathing becomes restricted as the baby is affected by the various shocks life has to offer. It is rare to see poor diaphragmatic breathing in kindergarten, but it is rare to find proper diaphragmatic breathing by high school." (p. 44)

CONSCIOUS BREATHING is notably well written, lacking the smart alecky colloquial banter that even weight loss giants like Mehmet Oz (YOU ON A DIET) feel compelled to sport.

The book abounds in drawings. Early on we are led inch by inch as a single breath works its way into our lungs, deposits its oxygen and removes carbon dioxide (pp. 4 - 7). Take air in through the nose, not the mouth. That warms your breath and purifies it. See the four lobes of the lungs, all resting on the diaphragm. Breathing better, says Gay Hendricks, will increase your oxygen by 5% per breath.

And better breathing means better health. One Minneapolis hospital studied 153 heart attack patients. Not one breathed "in the effective abdominal style." Rather they tensed stomach muscles and therefore not enough oxygen got to the bottom of their lungs. And 76% of those heart attack patients were mouth breathers, not nose breathers. (p. 17) Surprisingly small amounts of the body's toxins are "discharged through sweat, defecation and urination." A whopping 70% of toxins are removed by exhaling. (p. 17)

Dr Hendricks's principal action recommendations boil down, I think, to the following five:

What are the GENERAL elements of proper breathing throughout the day?

--(1) Breathe in with your stomach muscles relaxed. Breathe, that is, like a baby.

--(2) Breathe through your nose, not your mouth.

--(3) Do not hold your breath. (This is not easy, as we instinctively clench up when faced with pain or danger.)

What additional recommendations relate to systematic breath EXERCISING?

--(4) When doing "breathwork," i.e. conscious breathing exercises, do them slowly, gently.

--(5) Block one nostril, then the other.

Dr Hendricks stresses that his book is based on his 20+ years of doing and teaching conscious breathing. He believes that theory is still way behind practice. But theory there has been and is and he points toward some of it in his Appendix B: "A Bibliographical Note." There he begins with Wilhelm Reich, commending the 1984 biography by Myron Sharaf, FURY ON EARTH. For the personally inarticulate Moshe Feldenkrais, Hendricks suggests beginning with Thomas Hanna's 1980 THE BODY OF LIFE. He also cites books on Hindu psychology and western medical and bio-feedback traditions.

This is a rich, very well written book. I have omitted far more topics than I have sketched. If you have not given much thought to the subject but are nonetheless seriously concerned to improve your breathing -- for whatever reasons -- I can recommend CONSCIOUS BREATHING unreservedly. -OOO-

Using this book in my yoga classes
The author speaks from years of experience teaching people how to lower their stress and improve their health by learning how to breathe correctly. Very readable with clear instructions for the exercises. I'm using it with my yoga students. It's been life transforming.