COHERENCE

The New Science of Breath - 2nd Edition

This second edition incorporates many small changes and one significant update/correction. The correction has to do with the physiological relationship between the heart rate variability (HRV) cycle and instantaneous arterial pressure. The first edition describes the arterial pressure wave during resonance, as varying with the heart rate variability cycle, peaks and valleys of the HRV cycle correlating directly with peaks and valleys of the arterial pressure wave.

While the aforementioned description is understood to be representative of the relationship that exists between heart rate and blood pressure during typical non-resonance, at resonance, heart rate variability and blood pressure cycles are 180 degrees out of phase, blood pressure falling as heart rate rises and visa versa. This revised understanding is based on the work of leading researchers, Vaschillo, et al., as reported in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback , Volume 27, March 2002, Note and again referenced in Volume 31, June 2006.

I would like to thank Michael Duquette, CTRS, BCIAC, of the National Institutes of Health, Rehabilitation Medicine Department, for bringing the matter squarely to my attention. It comes at a time when, with the assistance of Carol Elliott, L.Ac., I have been studying “blood stagnation”, a common symptomology of Traditional Chinese Medicine, attempting to understand its relationship to breathing. Reconciling the phase relationships between the heart rate variability cycle and arterial pressure has led to an important advancement in my own understanding that I have incorporated into the writing of the 2nd edition.

I would also like to thank the many readers of the first edition of The New Science of Breath for your strong interest, enthusiasm – and criticism. As of this writing, there are in excess of 1000 copies in circulation in half a dozen countries.

The New Science of Breath

In 1905, the Yogi Publication Society published Yogi Ramacharaka’s “Science of Breath”, which to this day remains one of his most popular and respected works. 100 years later, Stephen Elliott, accomplished student of Eastern yogic and martial arts, engineer, inventor, and life scientist, asserts a “New Science of Breath”.

With it, Elliott offers us a revolutionary new theory of health based on breathing for autonomic nervous system balance, autonomic nervous function underlying all aspects of health and well being - body, mind, and spirit. Importantly, this “new science” sheds a light of hope on today’s pandemic health challenges ranging from stress, anxiety, and chronic muscle tension, to hypertension and attention deficit disorder. The emerging medical understanding is that these conditions are rooted in autonomic nervous system imbalance - what has not been understood is the root cause of this imbalance. Elliott posits that the root cause is in fact suboptimal breathing.

The New Science of Breath (ISBN 0978639901) introduces “Coherent Breathing”, a specific breathing modality that promotes autonomic nervous system balance and cardiopulmonary resonance. Autonomic balance yields peace of mind, well being, and enhanced biological function.

The therapeutic efficacy of Coherent Breathing is supported by the work of integrative neurotherapist Dee Edmonson, RN, Fellow BCIA - EEG. Dee presents a dozen compelling case observations where Coherent Breathing was applied adjunctively with conventional forms of neurotherapy, all with profoundly positive result.

This book is must reading for health care professionals, educated health enthusiasts, and serious athletes. For yoga and meditation enthusiasts, when combined with relaxation and stillness, Coherent Breathing directly results in meditation.

See Reviews here.