Purposeful Breathing is a practical, user-friendly guide to simple
breathing skills that can rapidly reduce states you don't want (such as
stress and anxiety) and increase states you do want (such as feeling
stronger, performing better or relaxing).The breath is a remarkably
powerful mind-body connection. Anxiety, anger, deep calm or steady
concentration each have their own patterns of breathing and we move
between different styles of breathing every day without usually
realizing it. If we can recognize these styles of breathing, we can also
consciously change them and this in turn produces change in the
emotional state.People usually think of thoughts, feelings and physical
states as different things, but if we think of moving between different
'modes' -- survival mode, calm modes, anxious states -- then it is easy
to see that ways of thinking, feeling, perceiving and breathing are all
interlinked. The breath can then be used as the key to change these
modes.For anyone suffering from anxiety, feeling calmer can happen in a
breath or two. For anyone wanting to boost performance, the right
breathing skills will help them to get into 'the zone' of peak
performance. Purposeful Breathing also teaches breathing skills for
longer term health and healing, all of which are informed by new
discoveries from psychology and neuroscience.
