Customer Reviews

Rebirthing: The Science of Enjoying All of Your Life

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This book eventually got republished as VIVATION: THE SCIENCE OF ENJOYING ALL OF YOUR LIFE and then this book also went out of print, being replaced by another book book called VIVATION: THE SKILL OF HAPPINESS by Jim Leonard. There is only a small difference between REBIRTHING: THE SCIENCE OF ENJOYING ALL OF YOUR LIFE and VIVATION: THE SCIENCE OF ENJOYING ALL OF YOUR LIFE, some minor revisions. Both these books are probably the best technical manual on Rebirthing. Part of the reason why the change in name happened is that the word "Vivation" is a registered name and therefore its use can be legally controlled. Rebirthing is a public use name and therefore anyone can use it regardless of the breathing method. Jim Leonard more rigorously defined Rebirthing aka Vivation in this book and in a short article in CELEBRATION OF BREATH by Sondra Ray which is an excellent summary and covers almost everything that is in this book. The key of Rebirthing is the "five elements". Only one of them is the breathing mechanics, the other ones are "awareness in detail", "intentional relaxation", "integration into ecstasy" (radical acceptance of all states which get stimulated up), and "doing whatever you do because everything works" (trusting intuition). Jim Leonard found that integration of emotional content is easier and more complete when all five elements are running together. While I think it is possible to learn Rebirthing from this book, going to a Breath Coach is useful, because many of our unconscious suppressions will defend themselves and a coach can keep you on track. The older Rebirthing tradition recommended that you commit to 10 coached sessions within a relatively short time to move through the core suppressions. Unlike classical Hindu pranayama, Rebirthing is more dynamic and more aggressive in bringing up suppressed emotional content. The Hindu pranayama approach usually intentionally focuses energy in specific locations and moves energy through specific meridians, usually the pingala and ida, and then the sushumna. Rebirthing focuses on the strongest sensation and then follows the energy where it wants to move. This particular book is more than a how to book on Rebirthing and is really a manual for people who want to become a breath coach. The information is well organized and is useful.

This is a superb book on rebirthing which will give you a blissful change on self-improvement.Try it,you might like it!!!

I hope someday this book is republished because it is one of the most creative books on the use of affirmations I've read. In addition to information about the rebirthing process, it shares a philosphy of life that includes physical immortality, "integrating" instead of releasing negative belief patterns, and the "ecstasy principle". My favorite quote is, "All statements are equally true because truth is a function of context. Everything is the way it is but 'truth' is how the mind thinks about it. Do not mistake truth for the thing itself." That quote may sound esoteric but the book is chock full of exercises to help us recognize our personal boundaries. Get it!

I bought this book because I had heard of rebirthing and was interested in the subject, but knew nothing about it. As it turned out, rebirthing is simply Pranayama for Western people who dislike Sanskrit jargon.

To practice rebirthing, essentially what you do is breathe in, filling your lungs, and do not control the exhale (allow your body to exhale on its own). Then as soon as your breath has been exhaled, inhale again, and continue this for about an hour. If you inhale through your nose, then exhale through your nose as well (mouth can be used, but the inhales and exhales have to be from the same place). This is called "circular breathing" in the book. The inhales can be fast, medium of slow and the depth can be shallow or deep depending on what works best for you. You can do this dry (lying on your back or in a fetal position is most common, but any position will do), or in a warm or a cold bath. This will relax you and according to the book, allow you to detect any hidden areas of tension in your body where suppressed emotions are stored. This tension in your body causes blockages of prana (or orgone, chi, ki, etc.), the life force. This much seems to be true or at any rate it does help you to relax and locate areas of tension in your body that you may have not realized were there. Supposedly you will also recall being born and be relieved of the trauma of that as well. Maybe.

There you have the art and science of rebirthing in a paragraph. The book takes nearly three hundred pages to tell you as much. The actual practice of rebirthing is covered in a few pages. The rest is mainly what "suppression" is, what it occurs, how it occurs, affirmations, selecting a teacher, the importance of having a teacher, addresses where you can find teachers, etc.

Oh, I forgot, according to the book, you will need to find a teacher to tell you what I just did and and if you do the exercises right, you will reverse the aging process and achieve physical immortality.