 PARKINSON'S RESOURCE ORGANIZATION
"Your presentation to our support group in San Diego was terrific… everyone in attendance received a great deal… [and] was motivated and energized by your gift.
Personally, I've used The Art of Breathing nearly every day since your presentation. I've found techniques for helping me fall asleep, [for] my long drives (500 miles each week), and in stress reduction. I am ever so grateful.
I know that the gentleman at the meeting who was able to speak aloud after you taught him how to breathe is still thrilled with the knowledge.
You are truly an inspiration."
--Jo Rosen, President & Founder, CHILDREN OF PARKINSONIANS (COPS), Palm Desert, California
COPS is now known as PRO (Parkinson's Resource Organization).
 UNITED SCLERODERMA FOUNDATION, INC.
"Thank you for [your] fantastic workshop… I remember thinking to myself… "What can I possibly learn about breathing that I haven't had during my own voice training days?"
What I learned was that I had forgotten. You ran an excellent workshop. Watching people with Scleroderma, who have breathing problems, try to use the techniques you presented and then seeing the smiles on their faces, was worth everything.
For me… I suddenly realized I could use some part of your technique in teaching my theatre class. It's a class of young, gifted children who are pre-teens and think they know it all. The time spent coaching them proved a valuable lesson. Now, when we can't hear them, instead of saying, "project," I usually say "breathe." They know immediately what I mean and put their hands to their abdomens and feel the expansion. It surprises them to see how much more power and control they have over their own voices."
--Natasha Lubin, Membership Chair, Los Angeles chapter, United Scleroderma
Foundation, Inc., and Drama Teacher, The Mirman School, Los Angeles, Calif.
 MISSION HOPSITAL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER
"Having reviewed your excellent video, The Art of Breathing, by Nancy Zi, we wish to include it in our programming [on an intercom television station, using VCRs with the capability of showing videos in all the patients' rooms on a special channel, optional, at no cost to the patient]."
--Rev. John A Struzzo, Chaplain, Pastoral Care Department, Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, Mission Viejo, Calif.
HEALING PAGES
Reviewed by Rosemary Jones, Healing Pages, Inc.
On AltMed Forum ™, America Online; available only to AOL Subscribers.
Located by using keyword "AHH" or "AltMed" Look for the Alt Med Reading Room"
Opera singers know the importance of breath control, as do many of the Oriental healing arts. Nancy Zi took her training at the first and applied it to the principles of the second. Her book on the art of good breathing is now in its third, expanded edition.
Good breathing, according to Zi, comes from deep breathing. Using the abdominal muscles correctly, people take deep breaths that fully utilize the lungs. However, many people fall into the habit of shallow breathing, using the upper chest muscles rather than the diaphragm, to draw air only into the upper part of the lungs.
As a shallow breather (a bout with asthma made me very aware of this!), I find breathing exercises both fascinating and a little frustrating. I'm not always sure if what I'm doing is right. Zi's explanations and drawings are wonderfully clear.
Much of her program concentrates on properly flexing and stretching the abdominal muscles. During my worst bout with asthma, I found much of my problems seemed knotted up with the physical tightness in the muscles covering my chest and rib cage created by my bad breathing habits. While the inflammation of the bronchial tubes creates the asthmatic condition, getting those other muscles to relax and make the abdominal muscles do more work helped me get my problems under control faster. Many of Zi's exercises mirror those that I was originally taught, and reading this book served as a good refresher course.
If you don't have an obvious breathing problem, like asthma, you might find this book useful for relaxing tension, improving sports performance, and just feeling better.
Article re Parkinson's (click here)
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