Customer Reviews

Conscious Breathing: Breathwork for Health, Stress Release, and Personal Mastery

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Ask people what they know about popular body-centered therapists Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks and their answers usually contain the words "relationship" and "breathing." Conscious Loving described the Hendricks's thoughts and experience regarding relationship transformation. Conscious Breathing, by Gay Hendricks, Ph.D. details the myriad, transformative uses of breathing he has explored. Reading Conscious Breathing, I was reminded of the Buddha's admonition to accept nothing based on faith or teaching, but only by your experience of its truth. Similarly, Hendricks repeatedly describes how the various techniques in the book have been refined and honed by his personal experience and by the experiences of the thousands of clients and workshop participants over the last 26 years. For example, teaching the age-old alternate nostril breathing, Hendricks shares the particular variation of which his clients reported the most profound effects. The wide variety of applications for breathing that he explores, makes Hendricks's breathing inquiry, and this book, unique. Unlike methods, like Rebirthing or Holotropic Breathwork, which focus on a particular technique and it's effects (e.g. Holotropic's design to reproduce hallucinogenic drug experiences through breathing), Conscious Breathing details breathing practices for everything from releasing trauma, stress reduction, heightened athletic performance and curing asthma to raising the body's "positive energy thermostat" and improved sexual performance. In fact, the cathartic breathing that most people think of as "breathwork" doesn't even appear in Conscious Breathing (but can be found in the Hendricks's earlier book, Radiance). This omission demonstrates the continual evolution of the Hendricks's work. Over the years, Gay and Kathlyn's emphasis has shifted to subtly and gently removing tensions and traumas from the body and "rewiring" it to hold a higher positive charge rather than engaging in less directed, cathartic process sessions. In fact, the constant development means that those who have previously learned some of the techniques described in Conscious Breathing (e.g. the "10 Minute Daily Breathing Program") will find changes in those teachings, and those who attend the Hendricks's workshops will find both refinements and additions to the material in Conscious Breathing. More than merely informative, Conscious Breathing is enjoyable and Hendricks makes his presence clearly felt. Abundant and entertaining self revelation run the gamut from Hendricks's valuable diary of how he uses breathing on a daily basis to the story of how his pre

Suggestions if you want to waste your money on this book.
1. Skip pages 1 -60 useless, boring, information about the author.
2. Read only areas that are in bold. These are the exercises.
3. Skip all the filler. It is about the author lending no interest, content, inspiration, etc. to the book.
4. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY. THIS APPEARS TO BE NOTHING BUT A PRODUCTION AUTHOR WHO CRANKS THESE THINGS OUT EVERY FEW MONTHS. Its as if he wrote the whole thing in a day. The exercises are just rehashed from other people's books and videos.

Filled with stories and not much substance. The author namedrops Andrew Weil's name ("Andy") early on and pronounces, not suprisingly, that Andy thinks breathing is real important. The book is filled with lots of half-empty pages, so trees are a big loser, too. Summary: lots of fluff but not much information!

I consider Gay Hendricks to be one of my primary teachers concerning the breath and one of the world's foremost experts on the subject A gifted author and therapist, he has facilitated over 20,000 private breathing sessions. This book is a must for anyone interested in the importance of the breath and breathing. I have integrated many of his insights in to my OPTIMAL BREATHING work.

I've been trying the breathing techniques and yes, they lower my stress levels at work. I just wish he would have toned down some of the benefits people reported. Become able to remember when I was conceived?? Ewwww.

The exercises in this book have been beneficial during stressful times for years ... and included is a great 10-minute sequence of three exercises for daily preventive maintenance and self care. The commentary is helpful, not fluff at all, the instructions are easy to follow, and the illustrations of people doing the exercises are very clear. For a more advanced book on the breath, you might also want to take a look at The Tao of Natural Breathing by Dennis Lewis.

Hello: I don't know if Amazon sells the VIDEO but I have a copy of the VHS Conscious Breathing and I find it to be very helpful when stressed. It reminds me to slowdown my breathing to allow maximum belly breath. I feel much calmer and clearer after I do the lessons on the tape. You do focus breathing and learn techniques that will help you to get that oxygen thru out the body. We breathe from our chests these days instead of from deep down--STRESS! Take care now!!

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-

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.

This book is well thought out and well written with chock full of useful techniques to use to de-stress. The book even contains diagrams so that you can see exactly how to breathe correctly using Hendrick's technique. I took this book out at the library to check it out but now I'm going to buy it definitely. It's something I want to have around all the time so I can remind myself of the breathing I want to be doing. It really helped relax my entire body physically and mentally. I recommend it highly.