Breathing Spaces

The charismatic form of healing called qigong, which at its core involves meditative breathing exercises, achieved enormous popularity in China during the last two decades. Anthropologist Nancy N. Chen examines the cultural context of medicine and healing practices in the PRC, Taiwan, and the United States, and the pages of her book come alive with the narratives of the numerous practitioners, healers, psychiatric patients, doctors, and bureaucrats she interviewed.

Allergy is the sixth leading cause of chronic illness in the United States. More than fifty million Americans suffer from allergies, and they spend an estimated $18 billion coping with them. Yet despite advances in biomedicine and enormous investment in research over the past fifty years, the burden of allergic disease continues to grow. Why have we failed to reverse this trend? Breathing Space offers an intimate portrait of how allergic disease has shaped American culture, landscape, and life. Drawing on environmental, medical, and cultural history and the life stories of people, plants, and insects, Mitman traces how America’s changing environment from the late 1800s to the present day has led to the epidemic growth of allergic disease. We have seen a never-ending stream of solutions to combat allergies, from hay fever resorts, herbicides, and air-conditioned homes to numerous potions and pills. But, as Mitman shows, despite the quest for a magic bullet, none of the attempted solutions has succeeded. Until we address how our changing environment—physical, biological, social, and economic—has helped to create America’s allergic landscape, that hoped-for success will continue to elude us.

This book is a song of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for the people whose courageous witness has transfigured this community-and this pastor. Thanksgiving for the gift of these stories that cry out to be told and retold because in the midst of death they rise to fill the air with life. Breathing Space is the story of a young woman, Heidi Neumark, and the Hispanic and African-American Lutheran church-aptly named Transfiguration-that took a chance calling on a pastor from a starkly different background. Despite living and working in a milieu of overwhelming poverty and violence, Neumark and the congregation encounter even more powerful forces of hope and renewal. This is the story of a church and a community creating space for new life and breath in a place where children suffer the highest asthma rates in the nation. It's also the story of a young woman-working, raising her children, and struggling for spiritual breathing space. Through poignant, intimate stories, Neumark charts her journey alongside her parishioners as pastor, church, and community grow in wisdom and together experience transformation.

"This is the story of a year I spent in New York, studying with Yoga Master Alan Finger." When Katrina Repka moved to New York, she was eager to shed her past and begin a new life, but she soon discovered that her old problems had followed her to the big city, and that instead of finding herself, she was more lost than ever. It was when she was almost ready to give up on everything that she read a magazine article on Master Yogi Alan Finger and knew that she had to meet him. It was a meeting that would change her life. Over the next twelve months, with Alan's help, Katrina tackled and overcame many of the obstacles holding her back. Dealing with issues that every woman will relate to--criticism, emptiness, balance, family, and creativity (among others)--the twelve chapters in Breathing Space follow Katrina's ups and downs in New York. At the end of each chapter there is a simple but effective breathing exercise that will help readers eliminate harmful behavior patterns and speed their own process of personal transformation. Breathing Space is an inspiring and instructive book that offers every woman the chance to follow the author's path and become the person she truly wants and deserves to be.

Breathing Space is a ground-breaking book that will show readers how to avoid racing the clock and gain control over each day. It offers proven steps for handling information and activity overload and balancing one's professional and personal life.

In this book Mark Everard argues that governments and citizens too often take the air we breathe for granted. Air and the wider atmosphere are vital in protecting us from radiation, maintaining climate and weather patterns, dispersing water, seeds and pollen, and serving as an alternative source of energy. Breathing Space overturns conventional thinking on the atmosphere, and is the first book to properly integrate air into the wider environmental discourse. Outlining the structure and development of the atmosphere, Everard assesses its importance within the environment as a whole. Everard's work represents the long overdue incorporation of air into our wider understanding of ecosystems, and argues persuasively for the need for governments to recognise the importance of air as a resource. A must read for scholars, students and activists.

The impact of building materials and construction methods on the health and wellbeing of occupants is often underestimated. This book is an essential guide to understanding and avoiding hazardous materials and poor air quality in buildings. The author covers a range of issues beginning with an explanation of how buildings work and how this influences the health of occupants and users. The text covers: Ventilation, air conditioning and indoor air quality Damp and mould Asthma and respiratory problems Cancer and endocrine disorders Radiation and radon Hazardous building materials used in construction Indoor air quality and emissions Ecological alternatives and approaches and remedies for ‘sick’ buildings The book also guides the reader through the confusing world of regulations, EU and international guidelines and certifications, and provides a critical analysis of different theories of healthy buildings and philosophies. Written in a clear and accessible style, this book provides indispensable advice and information to anyone wishing to better understand healthy buildings and materials. It is essential reading for architects, surveyors, public health professionals, facilities managers and environmentalists.

"The study of acting should not begin with an exploration of feeling, perception, imagination, memories, intention, personalization, self-identification... or even performance—but physical action." Michael Lugering's The Expressive Actor presents a foundational, preparatory training method, using movement to unlock the entire acting process. Its action-based perspective integrates voice, movement and basic acting training into a unified approach. A wealth of exercises and diagrams guide the reader through this internationally taught program, making it an ideal step-by-step course for both solo and classroom use. Through this course, voice and body training becomes more than a simple skill-building activity – it is the central prerequisite to any actor training. This new Routledge edition has been fully updated, to include: A revised prologue, further discussing the historical and philosophical grounding of The Lugering Method A new introduction, with particular focus on the integrative nature of the method and how the book should be used. New developments, clarifications, and 12 new exercises. 6 new illustrative diagrams.