Breath

Have we forgotten the most natural thing in the world?

At least in recent years, people seem to be becoming more and more obsessed with healthy living. We do more sports, we are interested in good eating habits, we study sleep, we harden ourselves, we digitally record every bodily function. There is, however, one process to which we turn our attention only in moments of trouble: breathing.

Journalist James Nestor went through a similar experience. His long-term health problems were solved only thanks to breathing exercises, which he was initially suspicious of. After learning to breathe again, Nestor set out on his travels to find the answer to the question: Is mankind forgetting the seemingly simplest thing in the world?

The author searches not only in lung laboratories, but also in choirs, ancient burial sites, Soviet research bases or the streets of São Paulo. It compares scientific knowledge from physiology, biochemistry and psychology with yogic and other traditions and shows that breathing is the very basis of our being. Just maybe a little differently than one might expect.

Bestseller by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and others.