LAUSR

The attraction of this book for me was multi-layered. Breathing is central to meditation and prayer. It is a foundation for mental health and managing anxiety. I have to keep breathing (and keep my breathing calm and under control) for endurance sport and especially the rhythm of swimming. And my yoga teacher consistently reminds me to breathe through my exercises while stretching. I have realised that attentiveness to my breathing is a growing edge for many aspects of my life. Thus I was eager to learn and practice breathwork from the exercises and principles of Just Breathe. Dan Brulé is an international expert and pioneering guru in breathwork, and leader of the Spiritual Breathing movement. The curious genesis of his interest in breathing was hearing his Catholic pastor instruct his first-grade class on Genesis and how God ‘breathed into the nostrils of man the breath of life; and man became a living soul’. This idea that God was breathing into him captured his imagination. He later became a US Navy deep-sea diver, trained CPR instructors, studied with Indian yogis, Zen Buddhists, Chinese medicine experts, and developed a University program on breathing training. Just Breathe offers six chapters that generally offer a combination of breathing principles, an overview of chosen experts and suggested exercises. The first chapter is an introduction to breath awareness and conscious breathing. The next three chapters outline principles and diverse exercises for breathing that has potential to transform our bodies, minds, and spirits. A fifth chapter counsels how breathing can foster success in all aspects of life, relationships and work. Finally, Brulé outlines a 21-day breath mastery challenge with different exercises for each day. The scope of the book is as broad-reaching and ambitious in what it promises as Brulé’s definition of breathwork: ‘the use of Breath Awareness and Conscious Breathing for healing and growth, personal awakening, and transformation in spirit, mind, and body’ (3). There were more experts and exercises than I have time for, but I was convinced that just practicing a few of the exercises would help my physical, mental and spiritual health. For example, these are 10 exercises or principles I noted that I want to practice: