| Robert Fried, PhD, is professor of biopsychology and head of the respiratory psychophysiology laboratory at Hunter College, City University of New York. He has published extensively on breathing disorders. He has written a number of books. His books on breathing include: The Breath Connection; The Psychology and Physiology of Breathing in Behavioral Medicine, Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry as well as his recent book, Breathe Well, Be Well. He serves as director of the Stress and Biofeedback Clinic at Albert Ellis Institute in New York City. |  |
Dr Jim Bartley has written a monumental book about breathing. No doubt, it is the gold standard, the definitive book on the subject against which all others will be judged in the future. It is comprehensive and detailed, and it spans virtually all aspects of the anatomy, physiology and psychological/behavioural concomitants of breathing, as well as applicable medical therapeutics and breathing retraining. I can say unequivocally that this book is and should be required reading for anyone wishing to understand breathing or undertaking to treat a 'functional' or medical breathing disorder. Like the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, the book's structure is magnificent and solid. Anyone who enters it will want to go from the bottom to the top, spurred by the wish to see what comes next … and with relatively little effort. For at every level there are surprises for most of us: these range from little known though important curiosities, to major insights into clinical practice and treatment applications. I leave to the reader the pleasure of discovering them.
This book is the first of its kind. Until now, there have been a number of books with some form of the word 'breathing' or 'respiration' in the title. Some of them are about respiratory physiology or pulmonary medicine, while others are about yogic breathing and ways to transcend the conventional experience of consciousness. There are also compendiae of edited essays spanning breathing training applications, usually intended to tackle stress, anxiety and emotional disorders. The latter are typically the work of individuals with a great variety of curious - some even quirky - theoretical reasons for their emphasis on breathing training. Few such books have a sound scientific basis and very few indeed cite any kind of reliable training outcome studies. What's more, most of them, though they often include the obligatory tired, old and worn anatomical graphics about the lungs and the airways, equally often omit basics about breathing. Breathing Matters is about more than just breathing. It is about the body as a whole. Reading it did not leave me breathless! It speaks with a friendly voice, rather than the tone of the encyclopedist. It speaks with the reassuring voice of the family physician to whom we all turned for succour ages ago, rather than the passive, detached, scientific voice of modern medicine that often holds that therapeutics is exclusively either about biochemistry or surgery. There is nothing controversial in this book - there are no polemics. Yet it holds much that may surprise many who thought they knew something about breathing.
Now, I for one - having myself written a number of books on breathing - thought that I knew something about breathing. After reading Breathing Matters, I immediately concluded that my 'something' about breathing - was really only 'something'. This all-encompassing book provides all the basic information that is required when one aspires to reach from 'information' to 'wisdom'. We are learning so much, so fast, that hardly anyone can still be a generalist anymore. Looking at the chapters in this book, Breathing Matters clearly illustrates the dilemma, for none of its three major divisions represents a new field in breathing science, but in a sense they could each be a stand-alone book. The magic of this book is that these divisions form a whole that is really integrated into something greater than the sum of its parts. After reading this book, breathing training professionals will be better versed in related topics, including nutrition and exercise. And, thanks to Tania Clifton-Smith's input, they'll learn also about posture, exercise, stretching, and in-depth breathing retraining. They will get a carefully detailed description of the muscle structures engaged in breathing, such as those in the head, neck and thorax.
The later sections on breathing training in the various body postures and attitudes are an absolute must-read for anyone who seriously undertakes to do that, and I was delighted to see that Tania attributed the origin of breathing retraining to Claude Lum, MD, a pioneering British pulmonary physician from whom I learned so much. They will also learn about massage and more. And they will learn about common diseases where breathing is said to play a key role … and much, much more. It is a daunting task to identify and clarify all the major aspects of a professional health speciality even if it is 'limited' to respiration physiology, medicine and therapeutics. Well, when it comes to breathing, Dr Jim Bartley has written a book that comes as close as anyone can get to giving all things to all people in that discipline. He does this within the framework of conventional, orthodox medicine, physiology and treatment. Yet, this book is obviously a labour of love that reveals his profound personal commitment to understanding each individual patient as well as the disease(s).
Breathing Matters is a testament to Dr Bartley's profound knowledge and engaging writing skills. He has extracted all of the essentials of breathing, synthesised them into a working whole, and then presented them to us in a volume that is exciting to read and one that we can easily hold in one hand.
This book is for professionals of every stripe and all lay people with an interest in their health. Dr Bartley's book stands out all the more as it is the only available comprehensive compendium that reaches into virtually all aspects of breathing.
Robert Fried
New York