At first glance one might say, “Oh No. Not another book on pranayama.” There seems to be a plethora of books of such books on yoga and breathing, the last thing we need is another one.This book, however, The Tibetan Yoga of Breath, has much to offer. Even to the seasoned yoga practitioner, will learn something new with the discussions and techniques described in this book.Part I consists of a general discussion of the Tibetan Buddhism, breath and the challenges of modern life. There is a close, complementary, relationship between the yogic practices of Tibetan Buddhism and Hatha Yoga. The specific pranayama practices of Tibetan Buddhism and Hatha Yoga are substantially similar, and the reader will readily see the similarity while reading the pages of this book. But while the virtue of Hatha Yoga is in identifying and perfecting these breathing practices, the Tibetan yoga of breathing shows how these practices can be applied to the practitioner’s personal life, with the goal of releasing the chains of attachment and ultimate liberation. Hatha Yoga draws the map and Tibetan Buddhism connect the dots.The great virtue of The Tibetan Yoga of Breath is the application of these breathing practices to great psychological maladies of our world. The authors emphasizes these applications by taking a cognitive psychological approach. They address problems of depression, anxiety, and stress. The person is viewed as a holistic connection between the mind and the heart, and contemporary maladies are the disruptions that lie between.Part II consists of guided meditations that repair these disruptions with the controlled inhalation and exhalation of breath. The authors present mantras the practitioner mentally recites during the process of inhalation and exhalation. The guided meditations are specifically linked to the discussions the authors presented in Part I. Whereas the first part presented the problems of modern life in general terms, the mantras offered by the authors target specific psychological pitfalls. These mantras are not New Age gobblygook, but are grounded by the main principles of Tibetan Buddhism: the impermanence of life; the nature of suffering; and liberation from the five poisons (anger, attachment, jealousy, ignorance and pride.)The Tibetan Yoga of Breath makes a significant contribution to our collective knowledge and understanding of pranayama and its implementation to our daily life.Disclaimer: I was honored to assist with the medical research in this book.Anyen Rinpoche and Allison Zangmo describe the relationship between our breathing patterns and our mental and physical state from the viewpoints of both Tibetan and Western Medicine. Straightforward instruction is given for working with this powerful but often taken for granted means of healing.In examining these two points of view, you will have a more complete understanding of the importance and the process of breathing. You will examine your own patterns of thought and behavior. You will be given contemplative and physical exercises to develop your experience and understanding. You will learn the basics of wind energy training - simple but potent techniques benefiting your health in the moment and over time.I have found these techniques to be very helpful in my own life, and have benefited greatly from the ability to calm my mind in the moment. Working with becoming aware of my breathing patterns and reactions has given me a better handle on my emotions and interactions with others in my daily life. In difficult situations, there is now a sense of pause and choice, rather than reaction and being carried long, and looking back later. I continue to work at these contemplations and exercises on a daily basis, and know that more benefit is yet to come.This book is written in an easy to relate to manner, and can benefit all who read it. You don't need previous experience, we're all breathing! Highly recommended.Awesome book. I use it in diabetes control some years ago, while in Arizona.I felt lead to practise yoga. I was in my mid 40s raising two small daughters. I was born visually impaired and my oldest daughter is too. At 39 I completed Exodus International believing I cou|d be healed from homosexuality. The church and I believed that I also got healed from diabetes because I "followed God", and married my wife. Those ten years were like being in a navy submarine. Two years ago, my wife took the girls, abandoned me and I haven't seen them since. Last summer at shelter, I bled on the floor. A trip to the ER revealed I'm still diabetic. I went nearly 12 years with no doctor supervision and I'm still ok. I take one metformin a day. Since last September my A1c droped from 10.9 to 6.6 with yoga diet and one metformin a day. Ithink I can reverse the effects of diabetes in my life.Excellent book for beginning to work on your own with the breath/wind energy. Rinpoche offers a solid foundation to get started and encourages further study with a qualified lama/teacher, which is wise. He is a most excellent, authentic Tibetan lama who is well-loved and revered for good reasons. If you have the chance to go to any of his retreats, in Denver or elsewhere, do yourself a big favor and go! He has a great depth of knowledge to share and has an authentic lineage. May you all be well, safe and happy!I found this book to be very disappointing. It is a wonderful manual for contemplative practices that have a basis in breathing, but the book only presents one significant breath practice on which most of these contemplations are founded. I think the book could be very helpful to many, but I thought it was going to present a more complete version of breathing practices themselves.The Tibetan Yoga of Breath is an essential beginner's guide to wind energy training. Anyen Rinpoche and Allison Choying Zangmo do an excellent job bridging the gap between the esoteric teachings of Yantra Yoga with modern medical knowledge. But this book is by no means just a theoretical manual. It's a practice guide filled with exercises that we can begin using in our daily meditation practice right away. As I read the book, I couldn't help feeling like I was eating nourishing food for a sick and ailing body and mind. Highly recommended!Fantastic book! Such an in-depth explanation of the enormousness of our breath (something that is taken for granted)! In ancient teachings it was believed that once a person becomes grateful for the air they breathe, their gratitude will have reached a new level of power, and they will have become the true alchemist, who and every part of their life into gold! As a yoga teacher and therapist I can see, that those who are disconnected from their breath are suffering, sick, unhealthy, stressed...Learn to breathe properly and start to live a healthier and happier life. A must read!I'm a Vajrayana, a Tibetan Awake-Soul-ist/Buddhist,and cannot recommend this book over James Nestor's.The difference is HUGE.Please, no matter how odd it may seem to invest so directlyin something you've already done all your life,please go invest in that book,& invest in reading all of it.There are a couple niggles in James Nestor's book "Breath:...",like the missing women's heart-rate equation,but nearly no percentage of our population knows that the"one size fits all, & women are, medically, small men" dogmagot debunked by specific research, years ago, already, right?IF you want real understanding of stuff that Vajrayana gives,that no other source gives,please try the kindle-samples of Robert Thurman's "Tibetan Book of the Dead",and Andrew Holecek's books on dream-yoga & death-yoga.Thurman's book is on the work of Padmasambhavathat gave a simplified explanation of whatsouls/CellsOfAllgod/ChildrenOfGod experience,when they detach from our body-lives...The "between" Soul-dreams.Really, unconscious Souls simply go, drunkenly,from what they don't liketo what they assume they like,unconsciously uncomprehending of consequences, &when what-they-wanted turns into what-they-don't-want,then they do the break from 1 to another phenomena/life,all over again.Some of the Souls in our current Punctuation between Equilibriums( ClimatePunctuation between temperate ClimateEquilibrium before& hot ClimateEquilibrium after )will make it into the new way of living,some will fight to break new way from Universe,be broken from our world,& in some future world, will try again.& possibly again, & possibly again.No death-of-a-life can break a CellOfAllgod from *its* life: they are unkillable,& setbacks involving lives & worlds aren't permanent, *to them*.All this cycling, repeatedly, different populations of Souls,while Universe's potential/opportunity gets used-up by Souls doing this...( "burning platform", Universe-scale )Anyways, Padmasambhava had to give a version of it that *could be held onto*,same as Yehoshua benJoseph ( aka "Jesus" ) did, in his context,and so he gave the version he gave.I think some ought have a more-technical, precise, accurate version, nowadays,but that isn't for me to do.Holecek's books are more How-To books, rather than a cultural-renditionthat alludes to a profound truth...Pick whichever you want,but begin with James Nestor's book, 1st,please.?The breathing exercises here can be summed up as Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing) for those familiar with yoga or pranayama. Very basic instruction is given in this book, which is also freely available on the internet. The meditative concentrations here are also very basic. For example, 'meditate on seeing life as a dream', or 'like a wave', etc. Some descriptions of the Tibetan winds of karma, or creative drops are interesting... But also freely available in many places on the internet or wikipedia. This book is well written and worded, but the knowledge therein is not profound unless you are a beginner to such concepts. If this book was less than ten bucks I might recommend it.This book was a complete waste of money. There are so many better books on the market on yoga breathing. The authors need to wake up and realise they've missed the boat. The West has had decades of good teachers and well-written books. We don't need another "fluff" book that has no value to readers, even beginners.Very bad book nothing is here