When I started my journey into breathwork (and still the case now) I didn’t really know where to look, what to read and how useful it was. Where could I learn about respiratory physiology? Ancient breath practices (Tummo is not an easy subject to find books written on it)?
In light of that I’ve decided to create an ever evolving page, as a reference for the books that I have read, a brief outline and an area that they sit in. Hopefully this will help provide guidance for other people on their breathwork path.
I’ve divided the books up into the sections below and listed each book in the section:
Respiratory Physiology
The Respiratory system – Andrew Davies & Carl Moores.
Recognizing and treating breathing disorders, A multi discplinary approach – Leon Chaitow, Dinah Bradley, Christopher Gilbert.
Accessing the healing power of the Vagus Nerve – Stanley Rosenberg
Breathing techniques
The Oxygen Advantage – Patrick McKeown
The Breathing Cure – Patrick McKeown
The Wim Hof Method – Wim Hof
The Bliss of Inner Fire – Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Holotropic Breathwork – Grof & Grof
Coherent Breathing, Aligning Breath and the heart – Wilfried Ehrmann
Conscious Breathing – Anders Olsson
Breathe Well – Aimee Hartley
The Hindu-Yogi Science of Breath – William Atkinson as Yogi Ramacharaka
Sport and Performance
Instructor Training manual – Oxygen Advantage
Breathe Strong Perform Better – Alison McConnell
Breathing for Warriors – Belisa Vranich
Let Every Breath – Secrets of the Russian Breath Masters
Everest the first ascent – Harriet Tuckey
Dr Breath – Carl Stough & Reece Stough
Exercise without Movement, Manual One – Sri Swami Rama
Breathwork, breath and it’s development
Just Breathe – Dan Brule
Unravelling Letting Go, Getting Well – Philip Greenfield
Breath – James Nestor
Jaws, The story of a hidden epidemic – Sandra Khan and Paul Ehrlich.
Breath Taking – Michael Stephen
Respiratory Physiology
The Respiratory system – Andrew Davies & Carl Moores. The book I went to to teach myself about how conventional science currently believes our respiratory system works. This invaluable in understanding the mechanics behind how we breathe and helping marry breathwork practices with practical scientific application.
Recognizing and treating breathing disorders, A multi discplinary approach – Leon Chaitow, Dinah Bradley, Christopher Gilbert. An excellent book that covers how we breathe and then looks at a multitude of breathing pattern disorders and the varied clinical and non clinical treatment modalities. Absolutely brilliant.
Accessing the healing power of the Vagus Nerve – Stanley Rosenberg – whilst there is some contention around Stephen Porges Poly Vagal theory (which is clear when you look at his Wikipedia page) there is definitely some benefit in having an understanding of the relationship between the vagus nerve and the breath. This has elements that draw on these threads.
Breathing Techniques:
The Oxygen Advantage – Patrick McKeown – Patrick’s first book I read, that outlines in clear in concise detail his breathing methodology, how it works, science supporting it, what to use it for and a brief background on how he came to write the book. Focusing on bio-mechanics, bio-chemistry & cadence this book outlines reduced breathing & the importance of nasal breathing for good health.
The Breathing Cure – Patrick McKeown – Patrick’s more recent, updated and expanded book that covers areas he hadn’t explored in the Oxygen Advantage, that are coupled with breathing techniques to use that help resolve many different challenges for individuals. Greater detail on the science that supports his ideas and a more comprehensive guide than the Oxygen Advantage.
The Bliss of Inner Fire – Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In this buddhist text Rinpoche explains how Tummo – or inner fire meditation – how to prepare, what it means and the various stages that are key to moving through as you perform the Inner Fire mediations. A fascinating esoteric journey into what underlies the basis of Wim Hof’s breathing technique, fleshing out a far broader methodology behind how Tummo works and how to approach it.
Holotropic Breathwork – Grof & Grof. A fascinating read about how 2 practioners have taken hyperventilation to a whole new level, combining with guided sessions as therapy to help unlock trauma and allow people to find peace in their problematic lives. The methodology is explained, alongside how this was developed and how it can be of use to people.
Coherent Breathing, Aligning Breath and the heart – Wilfried Ehrmann. This book covers how the breath can be used to create coherence with our heart and covers HRV in detail. He explains what this is and why it works.
Conscious Breathing – Anders Olsson. In much the same way that Patrick McKeown explains his breathing methods, Anders does the same here. He marries science of how we breathe with modalities to maximise your well being. Some great daily tools, alongside with performance based ideas as well.
Breathe Well – Aimee Hartley. Aimee looks at 10 different areas of our lives (sleep / tech being 2) and offers different breathing techniques to help support growth / or peace in each area.
The Hindu-Yogi Science of Breath – William Atkinson as Yogi Ramacharaka – What seems like a prescient text for its time (or one where some clear understanding of Eastern breath practices are outlined). Written by an American in 1903, under an assumed pseudonym this goes into how the respiratory system works, the importance of oxygen and Prana, how we breathe, how to improve our breathing and a whole series of exercise to support physical, mental and spiritual well-being. A very concise and interesting 53 pages long.
Sport and Performance
Instructor Training manual – Oxygen Advantage. The guide that accompanies the OA training for instructors. Invaluable support in which breathwork methods to use when.
Breathe Strong Perform Better – Alison McConnell. Alison McConnell’s journey into insopiratory muscle training and how this can be applied to the world of sport. Covering how breathing muscles work in sport, why we need to train those muscles and then has a whole host of different exercises to support progress in different sports.
Breathing for Warriors – Belisa Vranich. Belisa Vranich covers how to assess breathing and then different exercises to use to help improve performance in both a sports setting and daily life
Everest the first ascent – Harriet Tuckey. Whilst not a book specifically about breathwork, the information that is gleaned from Griffith Pughs work around oxygen / altitude and athletes is fascinating and valuable in building an understanding of the physiology needed for high level performance. Works as a nice counterpoint to the Dr Breath book below
Dr Breath – Carl Stough & Reece Stough. A wonderful insight into Carl Stough’s work with the US Olympic track team for the 1968 Olympics. Whilst the book itself is ridiculously expensive it can be found as a free PDF. In terms of understanding the impact of breathwork on athletes and the observations around emphysema patients are very useful threads that help build a greater understanding of the physiology and impact around breath.
Exercise without Movement, Manual One – Sri Swami Rama
A short text from 1984 that focuses on using the breath and mental focus to help revitalise and tune into your body. Particularly helpful is the 61 point meditation (or Shavayatra)
Breathwork, breath and it’s development
Just Breathe – Dan Brule. A book written by a difficult man who has spent his life immersed in the breathwork world for over 50 years. He shares what he has learned and how different practices have different impacts.
Unravelling Letting Go, Getting Well – Philip Greenfield A wonderful book on the relationship between the mind, body and emotion and how we can use the breath to help bring all of these things together.
Breath – James Nestor An excellent overview of Nestor’s journey into the world of breath and what he learnt. Great anecdotes, historical interest and techniques that Nestor settled upon. A wonderful read.
Jaws, The story of a hidden epidemic – Sandra Khan and Paul Ehrlich. A deep-dive into how the change in how our jaws are developing that is leading to a whole host of potential life threatening conditions. How this is being currently responded too and what can be done. Within this is discussions on the impact changing jaws have on breathing and the consequences of these changes.
Breath Taking – Michael Stephen – An associate professor at Thomas Jefferson University Michael Stephen begins by explaining the early impact of oxygen on earth and the history behind how this saw life develop – and the relationship between oxygen and evolution. He draws this round to how the lungs developed and how the lungs work. This leads him onto a deep dive in how specific lung diseases have affected humans and how humans have begun to approach cures. He looks at TB, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IBF), cystic fibrosis (CF), pollution and the impact on the lungs (here with commentary around the affect working at Groudn Zero in New York had).
BreatheToMove 