Breathe How You Want to Feel - by Matteo Pistono (Paperback)

About the Book

"Breathwork guide and meditation teacher Matteo Pistono offers a how-to book for upgrading your nervous system to live your optimal life physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Do you want to calm your racing thoughts before lying down for a restful night of sleep? Or raise your energy levels before your morning exercise or spin class, and have laser focus before an important meeting? Are you overwhelmed from the flood of information from your social media and news feed? Any time your emotional state is out of balance, there are time-tested, practical methods to breathe your way back into the state of being you want. You have the capacity to change how you feel, in any moment, when you partner with your breath. It's a matter of paying attention and then consciously altering your breathing pattern. Too often in books on breathing and breathwork coaches do not teach the actual mechanics of breathing. Instead, they guide one-off sessions, teach protocols, or direct you to an app. The consequence of just following a protocol without understanding breathing mechanics leaves the student disempowered and dependent on the teacher. Instead, in Breathe How You Want to Feel, learning functional breathing becomes the basis upon which you gain control of your well-being-it's the secret tool behind resiliency. Breathe How You Want to Feel offers you a psychophysical tool kit that includes: awareness building, understanding the dials of your nervous system, the importance of nasal breathing, how breath holds (even when very short) are a superpower, and how to integrate optimal breathing throughout your everyday life, especially when you're sleeping. You'll use these tools to optimize your breathing to overcome being tired, wired, and uninspired. You'll learn how to breathe optimally during your workday, while exercising, when entering meditative and flow states, and for deep rest. And you'll partner with your breath to discover deeper meaning in life. This book meets you, the breather, where you are with step-by-step actionable tools to improve your health, sleep, and well-being"--Publisher's description.

Book Synopsis

Breathwork guide and meditation teacher Matteo Pistono offers a how-to book for upgrading your nervous system to live your optimal life physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Do you want to calm your racing thoughts before lying down for a restful night of sleep? Or raise your energy levels before your morning exercise or spin class, and have laser focus before an important meeting? Are you overwhelmed from the flood of information from your social media and news feed? Any time your emotional state is out of balance, there are time-tested, practical methods to breathe your way back into the state of being you want.

You have the capacity to change how you feel, in any moment, when you partner with your breath. It's a matter of paying attention and then consciously altering your breathing pattern.

Too often books on breathing and breathwork coaches do not teach the actual mechanics of breathing. Instead, they guide one-off sessions, teach protocols, or direct you to an app. The consequence of just following a protocol without understanding breathing mechanics leaves the student disempowered and dependent on the teacher. Instead, in Breathe How You Want to Feel, learning functional breathing becomes the basis upon which you gain control of your well-being--it's the secret tool behind resiliency.

Breathe How You Want to Feel offers you a psychophysical tool kit that includes:
- awareness building,
- understanding the dials of your nervous system,
- the importance of nasal breathing,
- how breath holds (even when very short) are a superpower, and
- how to integrate optimal breathing throughout your everyday life, especially when you're sleeping.

You'll use these tools to optimize your breathing to overcome being tired, wired, and uninspired. You'll learn how to breathe optimally during your workday, while exercising, when entering meditative and flow states, and for deep rest. And you'll partner with your breath to discover deeper meaning in life. This book meets you, the breather, where you are with step-by-step actionable tools to improve your health, sleep, and well-being.

Review Quotes

"Matteo's 'tome' on breathwork introduces the reader to a host of new, updated breathwork information that I've never personally discovered in any other breath literature. I highly recommend this read for the library of anyone who wants to optimize their nervous system, better their sleep, and discover clean energy at their beck and call."
-- Ben Greenfield, New York Times best-selling author, biohacker, and physiologist

"Matteo Pistono's insightful book, Breathe How You Want to Feel, highlights the profound in the simple. He teaches effective and powerful techniques for transforming breathing, the most basic of human functions, into a powerful tool we always have with us that can improve our overall wellness and support the potential of our True Self in coming forward into our lives."
-- Kimberly Snyder, New York Times best-selling author of You Are More Than You Think You Are

"In Breathe How You Want to Feel, Matteo Pistono weaves ancient wisdom with modern understanding to offer a profound road map for harnessing the transformative power of breath. From the foundational principles to the nuanced practices, Pistono brilliantly guides us to unlock the potential of conscious breathing for personal well-being. This book is a tool kit, a companion to help you navigate life's varied landscapes with mastery over your breath. Whether you seek physiological balance, emotional resilience, or spiritual enrichment, this book is an invaluable guide."
-- Patrick McKeown, founder of Buteyko Clinic International and Oxygen Advantage(R), author of The Breathing Cure

"Like breathing itself, this book is clear and gentle. Matteo Pistono has convinced me that how we breathe is a portal to enhanced mindfulness, health, and connection."
-- Florence Williams, author of The Nature Fix and Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey

"Dive into Breathe How You Want to Feel to unlock the secret powers of your breath. Matteo guides you in the art of conscious breathing to revitalize your health, improve your sleep, deepen your meditation practice, and foster resilience on your spiritual journey. You even discover breathing practices that help you take your consciousness with you beyond the threshold of death into infinity . . . I AM MY BREATH!"
-- Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D., medical anthropologist and author of Shaman, Healer, Sage and Grow a New Body

"Breathe How You Want to Feel offers the reader a fascinating deep dive into the art, science, and practice of conscious breathing to manage your mind, improve your emotional well-being, and benefit your health."
-- Emma Seppälä, Ph.D., author of The Happiness Track and Sovereign

"Breathe How You Want to Feel is about more than just breathing--it's about how to live a life that flourishes, and how to die well. This book is inspiring, filled with practical tips and great stories. I've had the pleasure of taking breath classes in-person with Matteo, and he's the real deal."
-- Shelby Stanger, host of REI Co-op's Wild Ideas Worth Living podcast and author of Will to Wild

"Fascinating book with great depth that helps to open the wonderful world of breath into new dimensions. A must-read."
-- Robert Litman, author of The Breathable Body

"Matteo Pistono is one of those rare beings who live and breathe their practice. I believe he is somewhere between genius and enlightened!"
-- Kyle Gray, best-selling author of Raise Your Vibration

About the Author

Matteo Pistono is a writer and meditation teacher. His books include Roar: Sulak Sivaraksa and the Path of Socially Engaged Buddhism, Meditation: Coming to Know Your Mind, Fearless in Tibet: The Life of the Mystic Tertön Sogyal, and In the Shadow of the Buddha: One Man's Journey of Discovery in Tibet. Matteo's photos and writings about meditation, Buddhism, yoga, and Himalayan and Southeast Asian cultural, political, and spiritual landscapes have appeared in The Washington Post, The Global Post, Buddhadharma, Tricycle, BBC's In-Pictures, Men's Journal, Kyoto Journal, and HIMAL South Asia.