With vaccines rolling forward and spring on the way it feels like we are all breathing a little easier these days. At the risk of being too on the nose, this book seems fitting for these days. I initially dove into this book thinking it might expand on some of the therapeutic benefits to breathing (which are many and my clients hear about them all the time). While Nestor does touch on that theme, he does a massively deep dive into every element of breathing I can imagine. He covers everything from why breathing through your nose is so important not only for anxiety but for the structural integrity of your palette and sinuses, to the importance of chewing to maintain jaw integrity to support breath to how free divers and monks have harnessed breath in ways that are almost superhuman. Nestor explores the mundane and universal aspects of breath as well as the exceptional and unusual aspects of breath with equal enthusiasm.
Nestor is pretty convinced that most issues begin and end with breathing and while I think there may be more complexity there, it sure is nice to know we have a built in mechanism that is such a game changer. The appendix of this book makes it very user friendly, summarizing the various breathing techniques he references in more detail throughout the book, so if you get lost in the detail this is really all you need to come back to.
Content warning: There are some brief mentions in this book that pertain to healthism.