Therapeutic Breathwork - by Christiane Brems (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Therapeutic breathwork has become an important component of many healthcare and psychotherapeutic interventions, as well as being an essential aspect of yoga practices based in ancient wisdom traditions. Despite growing popularity of integrating breathing practices into healthcare and yoga therapeutics, many healthcare providers and yoga professionals lack depth of knowledge about the biomechanics, biochemistry, and psychophysiology of breathing. This dearth of wisdom can result in breathing practices based on prevailing myths and misconceptions about breath and breathing, and often leads to one-size-fits-all approaches to breathwork that can be detrimental for particular clients or contexts. Therapeutic Breathwork: Clinical Science and Practice in Healthcare and Yoga offers a different approach: it translates respiratory science and ancient wisdom into practical guidance for therapeutic breathwork that is individually tailored and person-centered. This book encourages a four-part process of understanding the challenges of the person being served, carefully assessing context and root causes of presented challenges, co-creating clear goals and optimistic motivation, and offering breath, breathing, and breathwork practices that are optimally designed based on this understanding of each breather's context and personhood.

The text familiarizes healthcare providers and yoga professionals who use therapeutic breathwork in their clinical practice with the science, psychology, and yoga-based pedagogy of breath and breathing. It discusses modern respiratory science in great depth, inviting learners to apply these principles practically and flexibly to create accessible, tailored, and person-centered therapeutic breathwork practices. Practical considerations are outlined for a variety of breathing practices and discussed to optimize accessibility and tailoring across the diverse patient and student populations represented in healthcare, yoga settings, and other therapeutic contexts. It offers providers clear instructions, person-centered guidelines, suggestions for cuing, sample intervention scripts, and guidance for adapting and tailoring breathwork to the bioindividuality and diversity of clients, patients, and yoga students.

Therapeutic Breathwork: Clinical Science and Practice in Healthcare and Yoga advocates for an interactive, reciprocal, and compassionate relationship between provider and client in the therapy or medical office and yoga classroom. It serves as a guide to breathwork and breathing practices for healthcare providers, yoga professionals, and advanced yoga practitioners who want to use breathwork to enhance personal and collective health and resilience, in the contexts of healthcare, self-care, and therapeutic yoga.

From the Back Cover

Therapeutic Breathwork: Clinical Science and Practice in Healthcare and Yoga translates respiratory science and ancient wisdom into practical guidance for therapeutic breathwork that is individually tailored and person-centered. This book encourages a four-part process of understanding the challenges of the person being served, carefully assessing context and root causes of presented challenges, co-creating clear goals and optimistic motivation, and then offering breath, breathing, and breathwork practices that are individually tailored based on this understanding of each breather's context and personhood. This text familiarizes healthcare providers and yoga professionals who use therapeutic breathwork in their clinical practice with the science, psychology, and yoga-based pedagogy of breath and breathing. It discusses modern respiratory science in great depth, inviting learners to apply these principles practically and flexibly to create accessible, tailored, and person-centered therapeutic breathwork practices. Practical considerations are outlined for a variety of breathing practices and discussed to optimize accessibility across diverse patient and student populations represented in healthcare, yoga settings, and other therapeutic contexts. It offers providers clear instructions, person-centered guidelines, suggestions for cuing, sample intervention scripts, and wise guidance for adapting and tailoring breathwork to the bioindividuality and diversity of clients, patients, and yoga students.

Therapeutic Breathwork: Clinical Science and Practice in Healthcare and Yoga serves as an enlightening guide to breathwork and breathing practices for healthcare providers, yoga professionals, and advanced yoga practitioners who want to use breathwork to enhance personal and collective health and resilience in the contexts of healthcare, self-care, and therapeutic yoga.

Review Quotes

"This book offers practical and digestible information for the practitioner, including how to set clear intentions, provide safety, tools for assessment and applicable sequences, and techniques to put into personal and professional practice immediately. ... I highly recommend it to all levels of practitioners wanting to learn more and use ancient strategies while supplementing modern protocols." (Manmeet Rattu, Yoga Therapy Today - Publication of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, 2025)

About the Author

Dr. Christiane Brems directs YogaX in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford School of Medicine where she is a Clinical Professor. YogaX is an innovative special initiative providing therapeutic yoga education for healthcare professionals, yoga teacher training, and community services with emphasis on integrating therapeutic yoga into healthcare. Dr. Brems is a licensed and board-certified clinical psychologist (ABPP); registered yoga teacher (E-RYT500); and certified C-IAYT yoga therapist, Interactive Imagery Guide, and Buteyko Method Breathing Instructor. She is professor emerita at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where she held leadership positions, including Director of the Center for Behavioral Health Research and Services, Director of the PhD Program in Clinical-Community Psychology, and Interim Vice Provost for Research. She is professor emerita at Pacific University Oregon, where she served as Dean of the School of Graduate Psychology. Dr. Brems is a professor, researcher, and clinician with interest in yoga, health promotion, and rural healthcare delivery. Her research has been funded by the NIH, CDC, and SAMHSA, among others. Dr. Brems has shared her work in the peer-reviewed literature, technical reports, and books, including the Comprehensive Guide to Child Psychotherapy, Dealing with Challenges in Psychotherapy and Counseling, Basic Skills in Counseling and Psychotherapy, and others.