Baker - Breathe: the simple, revolutionary 14-day program to improve your mental and physical health

BREATHE

The Simple, Revolutionary
14-Day Program to Improve Your
Mental and Physical Health

DR. BELISA VRANICH

St. Martins Griffin New York

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Dr. Vranich has managed to lay out a convincing, accessible, and friendly guide to making friends with your breath. This is the book to give to someone who suffers from stress, headaches, sleeplessness, or any of the multitude of modern-day ills, yet hasnt made the connection between these conditions and something very simple: poor breathing patterns. Every single cell in the human body requires oxygen to create energylearning to breathe more effectively may be the best thing you ever do for improving your health.

Donna Farhi, author of The Breathing Book

Breathe expertly combines relevant science, repeated inspiration, and pinpoint guidance to propel readers to develop a fundamental tool to restore their health: a regular breathing practice. With this book, Dr. Belisa Vranich lays out in plain Englishand wonderful humorhow to reclaim your vitality and reboot your body by doing something we all forgot how to do long agobreathe!

Anthony J. Lyon, M.D.,
Medical Director, The Ash Center, NYC

I was smilingand breathing!as I read Dr. Belisas wonderful book, Breathe. With a great sense of humor, and an even greater understanding of her craft, she reminds us how breathing is our birthright, despite its neglect by modern (wo)man. She further connects us to our breath with relevant hows and whys, and empowers us to reclaim respiration with practical exercises. A full, deep breath benefits us on so many levels; I frequently recommend breathwork to patients and am delighted to now be able to recommend this book.

Stephanie Marango, M.D., RYT,
founder of i.m. body and author of Your Body and The Stars

Over the last few years, its been refreshing to see some individuals in the fitness industry shedding light on the importance of proper breathing and the benefits it has on ones overall well-being. Breathe differentiates itself from the pack in its thorough explanation of proper body mechanics. Ive had the fortunate experience of working and studying with Dr. Belisa, and as a result have had tremendous success with my own training as a martial artist, fitness enthusiast, and firefighter. I have also applied her methods in training clients, students, and probationary firefighters in understanding the proper breathing techniques, which has led to their own success. Breathe will teach the beginner and the elite athlete alike how to take the necessary steps in an easy-to-understand system to feeling and looking better.

Joe March, Firefighter,
NASM, CPT, CES, MMASC, BJJ black belt

Dr. Belisa Vranich draws on her years of clinical knowledge, skills, and insights to provide critical information in a direct way. Breathe equips us with essential and innovative tools that allow us to rejuvenate our physical and mental well-being.

Dr. Adeyinka M. Akinsulure-Smith, senior supervising psychologist at the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture and associate professor at the City College of New York and The Graduate Center, City University of New York

The concept of breathing awareness may strike some readers as far-fetched and unsubstantiated by scholarly research, but Vranich will win them over with her detailed descriptions of strenuous-sounding but practical exercises to expand lung capacity and improve diaphragm strength. For those suffering from shortness of breath or ailments related to breathing or core strength, this work and its accompanying exercises depict an appealing and methodical program for improvement.

Publishers Weekly

With her remarkable talent for making important health information poignant and practical, Dr. Belisa is a wealth of information like no other.

Lisa Oz, radio and television personality, six-time New York Times bestselling author of several books including the You: The Owners Manual series

Innovative and effective stress relief. Amazing experience. It made such a difference in my clarity and energy. Just spectacular!

Dr. Mathew Reid, Capt., U. S. Army Medical Corps, Emergency Department, Atlanta, Georgia

I left Dr. Belisas feeling like I was walking on air.

Drew Grant, staff writer for the New York Observer

A light-headed, blissed-out state that, for some, borders on hallucinogenic. Even Xanax cant compare.

Katie Becker, W magazine

Successful, long-term weight loss needs you to address your stress/cortisol levels as cortisol causes your body to hold on to fat. Breathwork and meditation is the most successful way to do this, and Dr. Belisa teaches this in an easy, fast way. Many of my clients have worked directly with Dr. Belisa and see immediate results in not just their waistline, but in their overall happiness! Bravo, Belisa, for showing us how!

Lyn-Genet, author of New York Times bestseller The Plan: Eliminate the Surprising Healthy Foods That Are Making You Fatand Lose Weight Fast

Dr. Belisa is an incredibly open and gifted healer of others and her book is full of her amazing wisdom!

David Elliot, healer and author of Reluctant Healer and Healing

We are living at a time when we are so caught up in doing things and trying to keep up with the rapid escalation of information and media that we often forget to stay connected to that which is most essentialbreathing. Rudolph Steiner informs us that the average person breathes 25,900 times daily. How we breathe has a radical influence on the balance of our autonomic nervous system, our acid/alkaline balance, our digestion and elimination, and our posture and the muscles themselves. Dr. Belisa Vranich has put together a simple, effective program to help anyone learn to breathe effectively, which is an essential first step to body-mind integration.

Paul Chek, Holistic Health Practitioner and founder of the C.H.E.K Institute

This was the most effective class Ive ever taken. It changed the way I felt instantaneously.

Julia Edelstein, Real Simple, staff health editor

Dr. Belisas class helped alleviate my sciatica like no other treatment, so I was able to perform at Carnegie Hall once again! It is extraordinary.

Ieva Siuksta, violinist, The Manhattan Symphony Orchestra, New York City

In memory of Liam Mikael Kowal.
Life is precious, please dont drink and drive.

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

This book would never have seen the light of day without the vision of my literary agent, Peter McGuigan, of Foundry Media, and the inspiration of Senior Editor Daniela Rapp, of St. Martins Press. To them I give heartfelt thanks for having the foresight and open-mindedness to understand the far-reaching significance of the inhale and exhale on the body, mind, and soul. To the Foundry team of Emily Brown, Kirsten Neuhaus, Alicka Pistek, Heidi Gall, and Claire Harris, and to the St. Martins/Macmillan team of Brant Janeway, John Karle, Angelique Giammarino, Anne Marie Tallberg, Jessica Preeg, and Dori Weintraub, I express my deepest appreciation for their poignant feedback. I wish to acknowledge the contributions of those forward-thinking writers and journalists who covered this topic in its youthLisa Held, Carole Sabas, Sumathi Reddy, Cassie Shortsleeve, Marissa Stephenson, Jason Fine, Alix Strauss, Anna Maltby, Joshua David Stein, Drew Grant, Phyllis Korkki, Amy Maclin, and Alison Davis. I openly express my debt to Vernick Alvarez for his steadfast friendship, even under grueling deadlines; to Max Smith for his patience in translating my impulsive e-mails; to Connor Mitchell for his modeling skills in the illustrations; to the capable artists Gerald Echeverria and Hilary Mockewich for their talent and remarkable flexibility.