Don’T Hold Your Breath: A Guide to Good Breathing

The equation is simple - good breathing and good health go together. Because we breathe naturally, we rarely think about our breath and, yet better understanding of how we breathe could reduce stress and enable us to remain in control throughout every crisis. This little book can help every reader make that simple step forward. In Don’t Hold Your Breath, Jenny Beeken models good ways of breathing. Some of the ways she offers are specific exercises, like alternate nostril breathing, but, underlying them all, is the perception that, with only a small amount of practice, we could be infinitely more content. Although she is schooled in the lyengar tradition, Jenny’s approach is as light-hearted as the title suggests. The theme of the book is release. At the same time, breathing is pranayama - the intake of spiritual food - and there is a deep spirituality to be found therein. Guidance on relaxation is part of the book and so is meditation, in a form easily understood by the beginner. Jenny’s own life, with a lively daughter and a busy schedule, gives her every opportunity to understand how difficult it may be for all of us to take time and catch our breath. She trained in physics but took up yoga on realising how well it brought together all that she needed for her own self-healing. She lives in Petersfield, Hampshire.