Posts by Jennie Williford CIYT

BREATH – the power is in the prana! Prana is our life’s energy, and is also the only explanation of WHY breath practices have such amazing health and wellness benefits. It is our last reading of our Summer Book Club, but pick a practice to try before we meet!

From conscious hyperventilation to stopping your next breath – inducing short bursts of extreme stress on our nervous system through breath regulation may teach us to relax and restore more completely. Practices introduced in Chapter 8 and 9 of BREATH by James Nestor may require some supervision!

Chapter 7 of BREATH takes us on a journey of discovering HOW to create space in our mouths that ultimately effects our breathing! Chewing real food and attempting the exercise of “Mewing” seems to bring change for James Nestor…what are you willing to try???

Chapter 6 of BREATH by James Nestor is entitled “Less” and is a continuation of the last couple dealing with slowing down the breath and increasing the time of exhalation for optimum health and wellbeing through breathing.

I admit that Chapter 5 of BREATH left me a little skeptical, but curious. The premise of “SLOW”, the Chapter’s title, is that the poisonous waste product of carbon dioxide…

Chapter four of BREATH by James Nestor is titled “Exhale”, and he introduces us to some interesting stories of changing diaphragm malleability and lung capacity through different means to increase longevity and wellness. Once again, he refers to the practices and intuition of ancient sages who seemed to know the power of yoga movement and breath before the West began to study it so intensely.

On our second week reading BREATH by James Nestor, he gives the anecdote to the mayhem caused by mouth breathing. He gets to un-stuff his nose and experiment with taping his mouth shut at night for the maximum effect and benefit of nose breathing.

In our first week reading BREATH by James Nestor, he introduces us to the “dysevolution” of the human species toward mouthbreathing. He catches my attention here in the beginning in three ways – 1) I have been obsessed with freedivers since I was little 2) I am a Physical Anthropologist by education and 3) he uses himself as an experimental subject.