The Evolving Breath Volume 1

As humans have evolved, so has the way we breathe.

The Evolving Breath explores this evolution in a comprehensive way to help practitioners improve their clients’ wellbeing. The authors uniquely combine evolutionary biology, anatomy, physiology, assessment, technique and psychology, to develop current concepts regarding the mechanics of human breath, whilst also bringing to light new approaches to the theory and practice of breathwork.

All of this is explored in a way that is approachable and practical using text, images and videos, to bring the science to life. With practical applications such as alleviating dysfunctions and aiding digestion, The Evolving Breath is an essential read for anyone who teaches or practices breathwork.

• Lynne Robinson, author of The Pilates Bible

  A must read for every Pilates or movement teacher. I learnt something new on every page.

• Joanne Elphinston, author of The Power and the Grace: A Professional’s Guide To Ease and Efficiency in Functional Movement

  At last, a book on breathing that truly acknowledges that who and how we are as humans appears in our breath, responding dynamically moment to moment, through every system in our bodies. With The Evolving Breath, Christopher Gladwell and James Earls have gifted us with the most ambitious, fascinating and comprehensively holistic text available on this most fundamental of human processes.

James Earls is a Structural Integration practitioner and manual therapist with decades of experience. He holds diplomas in various forms of bodywork and a BA(Hons) in Psychology and an MSc in Human Anatomy & Evolution. James lectures regularly worldwide and was a founder of the annual Evolution101 Summit in London. He has written widely. As well as writing for Massage World, Today’s Therapist, the journal of the International Association of Structural Integrators and ‘In Touch’, James has authored four books with Lotus/North Atlantic Books: Fascial Release for Structural Balance (2 ed); Born to Walk – Myofascial Efficiency and the Body in Movement (2ed ); Understanding the Human Foot; and Functional Anatomy of Movement

Christopher Gladwell has authored 14 self-published books, the most popular of which is Engaged Yoga: Weaving Yoga into Daily Life. He has also written over 50 articles for the yoga press, including Kindred Spirit Magazine. Christopher’s exploration of breath began with athletics and the military, where he encountered first-hand the relationship between respiration, stress, performance, and resilience, an inquiry that expanded through martial arts, yoga and meditation, plus conscious connected breathing, into a systematic investigation of how breath, biomechanics, nervous system regulation, and attention shape both individual and collective development. With five decades of lived practice and study, his work integrates the wisdom of deep meditative and initiatory lineages with evolutionary biology, neuroscience, psychology, and physiology to support sustainable human flourishing.