Breath

The New Science of a Lost Art

By: James Nestor

Narrated by: James Nestor

A New York Times Bestseller

A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2020

Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR

“A fascinating scientific, cultural, spiritual and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe—and how we’ve all been doing it wrong for a long, long time.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat Pray Love

No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly.

There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.

Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe.

Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is.

Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.

Fantastic

I've red a few books about breathing, including The Oxygen Advantage, and this is my favourite of the lot. It doesn't go around in circles or spends hours telling you about stories from random people. I found all the information well explained and very relevant to the subject.

Yes, the breathing techniques are just the final half hour of the book, but I enjoyed every bit of it.

Practical

Can't wait to start practicing breathing in these ancient healing ways! Very intriguing as a supplement to Western Medicine.

Excellent work!!

It shows a refreshing view on an old subject and practice...great research... The last part with live excersices is useful and clear. It would be useful for Audible customers a PDF complement, with notes, research links, breathing systems, etc.

Life changing!

Thank you James Nestor! Invaluable life changing information. Anyone can benefit from the many practices he explains throughout the book.

Breathing made simple

Great story told by a curious journalist. Highly recommend especially during these strange times. Breathing just isn’t that simple.