Breath Taking

An expert in pulmonary medicine shares a wide-ranging exploration of the human lung: the organ that explains our origins and holds the keys to our future. We take an average of 7.5 million breaths a year and some 600 million in our lifetime, and what goes on in our body each time oxygen is taken in and carbon dioxide expelled is nothing short of miraculous. “Our lungs are the lynchpin between our bodies and the outside world,” writes pulmonologist Michael Stephen. And yet, we too often take our lungs for granted. In Breath Taking, Stephen sheds much-needed light on our extraordinary lungs. He relates the history of oxygen on Earth and the evolutionary origins of breathing, and explores the healing power of breath and its spiritual potential. Stephen interweaves his narrative with scientific history, such as the development of the lung transplant, and poignant human stories, including his own frantic attempts to engage his son’s lungs at birth. Despite great advances in science, our lungs are ever more threatened. Asthma is on the rise, increasing anxiety leaves us vulnerable to disease, and COVID-19 has revealed that vulnerability in historic ways. Breath Taking offers inspiration and hope, inspiration, and vital perspective to us all.

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.

Breath Taking offers an easy and provocative program that uses human instinct as the basis for maximizing the 20,000 breaths we take every day. Through a series of 15-second, 1-minute, and 5-minute breathing techniques, author Dr. Lorin Roche helps readers tap into the basic human instincts: eating, exploring, homing, resting, playing, grooming, mating, hunting, self-expression, and healing. Accessing the hunting instinct can increase confidence and aggression levels -- key elements to a successful business interview. Nerves can be calmed before public speaking by tapping into the resting instinct. And the mating instinct can improve intimacy -- and even increase the intensity of orgasm. The 60 techniques in Breath Taking have been developed through work with vocal coaches, yoga instructors, athletic coaches, divers, Lamaze instructors, and others who use breath to enhance awareness, promote relaxation, improve performance, and focus concentration. The simple, effective exercises can be practiced anywhere, making Breath Taking the most practical guide to using breath to improve the quality of life.

To the outside world, Cara's life seems perfect. The only one who knows the dark secrets inside her home is her best friend and next-door neighbor, Adam. Cara's only escape is by writing and sharing her stories with him through their facing bedroom windows late at night. Just when everything seems to get better, Cara's world shatters, causing her to spiral into a deep depression and writer's block. Even though Adam promises her "everything will be okay," she knows things will never be the same. As she clutches to the fractured wounds of the past, how will Cara ever be able to love or write again? Breathtaking is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story that fans of John Green and Nicholas Sparks will love.

Carrying one stuffed elephant, six panniers and two tents, Paula and Lorenz Eber set off from Athens, Greece on two tandem bicycles with their eleven year old daughter, Yvonne, and her thirteen year old sister, Anya. Their dream: to circle the world by bicycle, raising awareness of asthma and the world's desperate need for clean air. Pedaling in an unbroken line through Europe and Asia, along Australia and the South Pacific and then across North America, the Ebers promoted a carbon free, environmentally friendly way to travel, encouraging others to try new, more sustainable and harmonious ways to interact with new places and peoples. Breathtaking is the exciting, hilarious and inspiring true story of their adventures. Readers follow the Ebers as they raise their daughters around the world, teaching them to cherish and respect our environment and other cultures. School is conducted outdoors on mountaintops and in historic castles. Dinnertime consists of strange international foods cooked on a simple backcountry stove in a meadow. And the responsibilities of parenting have been expanded to include hunting for an English copy of the latest Harry Potter book and holding a memorial service for one of Yvonne's most treasured (and only) possessions: a Polish bunny thermos. But the journey is also a test of the family's strength and endurance. As the family pedals further and further away from home, they struggle to work together through increasing hardships. They face a 100 degree heat wave in Italy, drug smugglers in Russia, a snowstorm at the Great Wall in China, and even the bite of a poisonous molokau in Tonga. To succeed, they realize that the greatest challenge they must face is not the journey without, but the one they must undergo within themselves.

From USA TODAY bestselling author Christie Ridgway comes a sparkling new series set in the California mountains, where Hollywood glamour meets rustic charm, and the sparks fly among the unlikeliest of couples… Poppy Walker has a plan to restore the family resort, and she's sticking to it. So when a good-looking guy with plenty of cash rents one of her half-repaired vacation cabins, she figures he's just what the handyman ordered. But when a storm blows through, it takes down some trees, her roof and then…her self-control. Even though she's been burned before by a wealthy passer-through, she can't stay away from the brooding but gorgeous stranger in the bungalow next door. Former teen idol turned Hollywood exec Ryan Hamilton wants a private place in which to endure his very personal heartbreak. Finally, at this rustic mountain cabin, he has all the seclusion one man could want—until sparks begin to fly with his sexy, formerly chilly landlady. By the time the weather dies down, they're both hot, bothered and certain they're still wrong for each other. But there's no telling how they'll face the new storm brewing on the horizon….

Finally, a book to help you improve not only the sound of your voice, but your delivery style. Inside BREATHE you’ll find the breathing techniques used by actors, voice-over speakers, singers, and presenters to create those fascinating nuances that draw in an audience. Follow the seven-step process to cultivate your best-sounding vocal performance with accessible, simply organized exercises. Immediately recharge your speech, tone, clarity and energy! How you BREATHE will lead to breathtaking speeches.

Praise for Take Their Breath Away "Are you bored? We're so spoiled that when something is merely good enough, we just walk away. Chip and John explain that the surefire method for growth and customer loyalty is simple: don't be boring." —Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow and Tribes "Take Their Breath Away shows how legendary customer service delivery can win and keep devoted customers for life. I LUV this fantastic book." —Colleen Barrett, President Emeritus, Southwest Airlines Company "No one knows more about creating profit through service than Chip and John. If you want to know the best way to do it, read Take Their Breath Away. The examples in this book will certainly start your creative juices flowing and help your organization take your customers' breath away. —Howard Beharformer, former president, Starbucks Coffee International.