Breathwork: How to Use Your Breath to Change Your Life

By Andrew Smart and Eric Nyquist

Harness the power of your breath to nourish your mind, body, and spirit.

For anyone in search of peace, clarity, and calm, Breathwork is an all-levels handbook of breathwork techniques—the practice of combining breathing exercises with meditation.

Decrease anxiety, foster energy, and build awareness using breathwork traditions.

• Covers foundational breathing techniques from a range of traditions—including Zen breathing, Somatic breathing, and Holotropic breathing
• Teaches simple-to-follow breathing exercises that you can do on your own
• Unintimidating and highly accessible to beginners

With practices for energy, healing, awareness, stress relief, and more, this all-levels guide gives you everything you need to find balance and clarity.

All you need is your breath to foster health and happiness.

• The perfect book for anyone seeking simple self-care techniques to help for their mind, body, and spirit
• A useful skill to learn and pair with other mindfulness practices, such as meditation and yoga
• Great for readers who enjoyed The Little Book of Mindfulness by Patricia Collard, Calm by Michael Acton Smith, and The Healing Power of the Breath by Richard Brown

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chronicle Books Digital
• Release date: May 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781452181622

Andrew Smart

Andrew Smart is a breathwork teacher based in Los Angeles, California. He is the author of Crystals: The Stone Deck.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

A Life on Breath

A book about breath is a book about life.

I definitely had a life before I discovered breathwork. And I have one after. It’s the manner in which I live it that has changed. In some ways, the changes are subtle; in others, profound.

At this point, I’m very certain of one thing: However I’m breathing is however I’m living. If I find myself holding my breath, I’m likely holding back, controlling, siphoning off energy from my creativity and my most important relationships. If my breath is shallow, I’m not reaching the most powerful depths in spirituality, in work, and in love.

When I first discovered breathwork, I was recently sober. Raw would be an understatement. I came into it with zero expectations. In fact, at my first session, I thought we were all coming together to sit down for a quiet, guided meditation.

Instead, it was something altogether different. It was activating, intense, difficult. From an energetic standpoint, I felt my sternum breaking open, revealing my heart for the first time. I felt ecstasy and agony. And while, in life, I had known unconditional love, during this breathwork session, I felt it for the first time. As the great Dutch athlete and breathwork pioneer Wim Hof says, Feeling is understanding. And in this altered state—cultivated 100 percent without drugs—I escaped the thinking mind for a time and experienced spirituality firsthand. I instantly released long-held resentments. I left my body and watched myself from a bird’s-eye view, lying on a concrete floor, breathing deeply, and laughed at the beauty and comedy that is life on Earth. My mind, body, and spirit were blown.

It took months for me to try it again. But after a period of fear and resistance (and with the encouragement of a few great guides—Ann Faison, Lauren Spencer King, and David Elliott), I accepted that if I was going to find whatever I was looking for in life, I would find it riding the breath.

So I studied. And I practiced. And then I began teaching others.

Every time I hold space (guide another person or a group through a session of breath), my eyes are opened to something I hadn’t seen before. The breath keeps changing, and I keep changing along with it. Every time I breathe, I learn something new. What’s captured here is what I know of the power of breath so far.

The following pages are organized into two sections: Inhale and Exhale. Part One: Inhale includes seven chapters, counting up from chapter 1, that reflect some of the feelings, sensations, experiences, troubles, and archetypes that might enter your life as you embark on a path of breath. Part Two: Exhale includes seven chapters, counting down from chapter 7, on different practices of breath—from most heady to most physical.

These practices are accessible to all readers: If you’re alive, you can breathe. You have to. I encourage you to try all of the schools of breathwork presented here. And, if you find yourself drawn to a particular practice, go for it. You can experiment alone or find a trusted group. In my own practice, I have pulled elements from all seven of the schools of breath outlined in Part Two into my daily breathwork practice.

The best way for you to use this book is to let your intuition guide you. Whatever you have to learn, to feel, to understand is already inside you. You don’t need a class or permission from a guru to enter. You don’t need psychedelic drugs. And you don’t need this book. But I really hope you enjoy it anyway.

Inhale

A beloved yoga teacher, Eddie Ellner, often opens his class with the words, You can take a breath.

This is an invitation. And a reminder.

Did you forget you can breathe right now? Did you lose sight of how amazing that is?

You can take a breath is a cue to add consciousness to something you’re already doing, to take something automatic and make it intentional.

You’ll take millions of breaths in a lifetime. But what about this one?

Will it be nothing more than the breath between the last one and the next one? Or will you empower it to be something more?

If you’re feeling anxious, you can take a breath. If you’re feeling physically tight or run-down, you can take a breath. If you’re feeling disconnected from others, from the experience of your own life, or from your own understanding of God, you can take a breath. In every moment, good or bad, you can always take a breath.

TRY IT NOW.

Inhale deeply.

Exhale. Repeat.

Try it again.

Breathe all the way in. Let it go. Again. That’s how we feed our systems. That’s how we

Reviews for Breathwork

[Mitch Bowler · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Quick and Easy read with insightful tips. Gives you the basics without the mumbo jumbo.

[Linda F M Rae · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Love this book. It's written in such an engaging way, never boring, full of essential knowledge about breathwork and with a great overview of the different techniques. My favourite: the Wim Hof method. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a good idea of what breathwork is all about.

[Nav Chand · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great concise summary of breath work techniques. It is well broken down and easy to understand. I enjoyed reading it!