The Revelation of the Breath

A Tribute to Its Wisdom, Power, and Beauty

Edited by Sharon G. Mijares
Foreword by Seyyed Ali Kianfar

Subjects: Yoga, Spirituality, Asian Religion And Philosophy, Psychology, Hindu Studies
Series: SUNY series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology, Excelsior Editions
Paperback : 9781438428765, 301 pages, October 2009
Hardcover : 9781438428772, 301 pages, October 2009

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword
Seyyed Ali Kianfar Shah Nazar Uwaiysi

Introduction
Part I: Eastern Breathing Practices
1. Ancient and Modern Yoga: A Science of Breath, Healing, and Enlightenment
Sharon G. Mijares, Ph.D.

2. Tibetan Buddhism and the Breath
Michael Essex, M.D., and Timothy Laporte, M.A., with Drupon Samten Rinpoche
3. The Breath of the Tao and the Tao of Breathing
Benjamin Tong, Ph.D.

4. Breathing Respect: Breath and the Martial Way of Aikido
Darrell Bluhm, Shihan
Part II: Western Breathing Practices
5. Character Armoring: Walls Between Oneself and the World
Vincentia Schroeter, Ph.D.

6. Birth, Rebirthing and Learning to Breathe
Michael Sky

7. The Healing Potential of Holotropic Breathwork
Stanislav Grof, M.D., and Kylea Taylor, MFT

8. Freediving: Learning Not to Breathe
Orion Garland

9. Buteyko: A Method for Healing with the Breath
Russell and Jennifer Stark

10. Breathexperience: A Somatic Science and Art of Living
Juerg Roffler with Ilse Middendorf
Part III: Middle Eastern Breathing Practices
11. Jewish Mysticism: Kabbalah and the Breath
Sheldon Z. Kramer, Ph.D., and Maura Richman, M.S.
12. The Holy Breath: Breath in the Cosmology and Spiritual Practice of the Aramaic Jesus
Neil Douglas-Klotz, Ph.D.
13. The Divine Vibration in the Breath—A Song of Life
Sonia Gilbert
Part IV: Further Explorations of the Healing Power of the Breath
14. The Natural Breath: A Dialogue between Western Somatic and Eastern Spiritual Approaches to the Body Awareness of Breathing
Neil Douglas-Klotz, Ph.D.
15. Be Wary When You Breathe: Respecting Its Wisdom, Power, and Beauty
Sharon G. Mijares, Ph.D.
16. Children Learning to Breathe: An Education for Our Future
Ken Friedman

17. Breathing for a Better World
Puran Bair

Contributors
Index

Celebrates and instructs in the healing power of breath.

Description

Faced with unrelenting stresses from daily news, relationships, health, and financial conditions, and unsatisfied with the temporary and side-effect-riddled relief that pharmaceuticals provide, millions are finding measures of peace and positive energy through mindful breathing practices. In this book, Stanislav Grof, Neil Douglas-Klotz, Sharon G. Mijares, Sonia Gilbert, Sheldon Kramer, Ilse Middendorf, Michael Sky, Puran Bair, and other well-known experts and international workshop leaders take up a wide range of Western, Eastern, and Middle Eastern breathing practices, describing the historical development of these techniques and philosophies, and providing examples of modern practices, stories of healing, and specific exercises for application.

Sharon G. Mijares is a practicing psychologist and teaches at National University and Brandman University. She is the coeditor (with Gurucharan Singh Khalsa) of Psychospiritual Clinician's Handbook: Alternative Methods for Understanding and Treating Mental Disorders; editor of Modern Psychology and Ancient Wisdom: Psychological Healing Practices from the World's Religious Traditions, and coauthor (with Aliaa Rafea, Rachel Falik, and Jenny Eda Schipper) of The Root of All Evil: An Exposition of Prejudice, Fundamentalism, and Gender Imbalance.

Reviews

"…shows us what a profound tool for well-being, healing, and creativity our breath can be when used consciously … this book is highly concentrated—a lot comes through in each short chapter. It is not excessively complex or technical. It speaks to the professional and to the layperson." — AHP Perspective

"Breathing is taken for granted in today's busy world, yet it is vital to all sentient beings. The Revelation of the Breath approaches the topic from a variety of perspectives, all of them contributing toward an appreciation of one's breath not only for survival but for transformation. I suspect that readers of this incredible book will never breathe in quite the same way again." — Stanley Krippner, coeditor of Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Experience