I bought this book at our school after class on Saturday. I finished
reading it on Tuesday right before our next class. I knew the book
would be helpful to my training, but I honestly did not even believe
reading the book would make such a difference! But preconceptions do
not matter; this book will help you even if you don't expect it to.
One particular way it helped me is with the "no breathing" confidence
exercises we do in Systema class. After doing 20 pushups with
different inhale/exhale patterns, I was always "out of breath," a
phrase to ponder, because how can I "run out" of something which is
so plentiful and available? So I'd always struggle to do another 10
without breathing. And because I was "out of breath," not breathing
while exerting myself further caused me to panic, even though I knew
that panicking was only using up oxygen faster. My instructor and
fellow students offered much advice: don't freak out, think of
something else, look around the room, try not to dwell on lack of
air. But it always ended up the same, I'd do two or three without
breath, panic, and lay there panting while the rest of the class
finished the set. It was only after reading Let Every Breath that I
realized why this was happening and was able to correct my breathing
so that I was not so winded. Of course, I still need lots of
practice, particular with the leg lifts which are the hardest "no-
breath" exercises for me. Sometimes I forget what was so crystal-
clear immediately after finishing the book. But if I remember the
principles described in Let Every Breath, I can get to 5 and
occassionally or 7 or 10 without breath, which is a pretty dramatic
improvement from just 2 or 3. As suggested, it's very helpful to
reach what I think is my maximum and try for just one more; in this
way, my confidence improves gradually.

I'm describing the "no-breath" exercises because they are the biggest
challenge for me. Two things in particular helped me approach these
in a different way. First, for the inhale/exhale sets, I shifted my
focus from movement to breathing. Instead of matching my breathing to
movement, I tried it the other way around. And that is how I became
aware of movement that extended beyond my breathing. The book
describes a natural pause between inhale and exhale. But with the
exertion of movement, my pause was a bit longer than natural. Even
though I began my inhale or exhale before the movement, as described,
I was still halting it between inhale and exhale so that my movement
could "catch up" with my breath. Again, these were very tiny pauses,
barely noticeable, but they do add up! And that is why I was so
often "out of breath" at the end of the sets. By shifting my focus to
breathing, movement connects to breathing naturally, rather than
artificially, and I'm less likely to force myself to move when there
is no breath to support it.

If you are wondering why is so important to me, it's because I do
consider it potentially life-saving knowledge. Recently I was
watching a documentary program about accidents at sea and how people
survive them. It's an extremely difficult survival situation because
of hypothermia, which causes people to make irrational decisions and
even worse, to lose the will to live. At the end of the program, they
interviewed a survival expert who trained people to prepare for
disasters at sea. He was asked, "What can an average person do to
increase their chances of survival when lost at sea?" And he
said, "Know your own capabilities. Can you swim? How long can you
hold your breath? These things will give you the confidence to know
that you can make it through extreme circumstances." Before reading
Let Every Breath, if I had found myself in a situation where I could
not breathe, I know for a fact that I would have panicked, felt
despair, maybe even enough to give up! But now, I know that I can
hold my breathe at least for a little while without panicking, it
will certainly increase my chances of surviving such a situation.

Another paragraph from the book which helped me quite a bit was the
idea of breathing "through" the entire body during difficult
conditioning exercises. I knew that it is helpful to
visualize "breathing in" through the muscles that are under exertion,
but the breath penetrates the entire body. Not just symbolically,
it's a biological fact that every cell needs oxygen. If the muscles
are stiff, tight, sore, tense, or otherwise restricted, it's harder
to process the oxygen-rich blood and also to eliminate metabolic
wastes. This is a difficult cycle; the tight muscles that would
benefit most from increased blood flow actually get the least of it.
Lack of oxygen and accumulation of wastes perpetuate and spread the
problem to surrounding areas, and this can cause muscular pain as
severe as joint and bone pain, and a lack of mobility so dramatic,
many people resort to surgery. But I have to confess, I wasn't
entirely convinced that visualizing breathing through the entire body
would actually bring increased oxygen to restricted areas. But it
does seem to help, I'm not sure how or why, but I definitely feel
less restriction to those areas when I envision breathing "through"
the entire body. In fact, sometimes I'm not aware of the restriction
until I visualize the breathing permeating my entire body.

One thing I'd like to work on further is the concept of independence
of breath, because I think that I have too closely tied pain
management or exertion with exhaling. Focussing on the exhale is a
little bit easier and I think most beginners are taught to start with
that. But now that I've been training for a few years, I think it
would be beneficial to look more closely at my breathing and its
correlation to certain activities in training like accepting strikes,
yielding to joint locks, falls and rolls, and even just exertion.
Actually, there are many more ideas to ponder in Let Every Breath,
and I've found it to be an inspiration. In my day-to-day life, I can
gauge the effectiveness of my breathing by my commute to work each
weekday morning. When I get out of the subway, I'm about as far
underground as anyone can be in Manhattan, and there are two
platforms above me. So I have to climb two flights of stairs and
ascend a very steep ramp to get out to the street. If I'm stuck in a
big crowd, this can be a slow process. And it actually makes me a bit
sad to see people who look young and fit heaving themselves up the
stairs as if it's taking every last bit of energy to do so. Usually I
take the stairs quickly, but if I'm sleepy or carrying heavy bags,
it's always harder than if I'm well-rested and empty-handed. If I'm
out of breath when I reach the street, then I know I have forgotten
some of those basic principles!

This book is a treasure. You don't have to be a martial artist or an
athlete to benefit from reading it. If you breathe, it will help you!
The principles of Russian breathing are so clearly described, with
illustrations, exercises, and ideas to consider at every moment of
the day. Just for starters: how often do you hold your breath?
Holding the breath doesn't necessarily mean you are puffed up and
blue in the face. As the author explains, pay close attention to your
breathing as you perform simple tasks: lift a heavy package, thread a
needle, catch a ball. Is your breathing truly continous? It's such a
simple idea, and one that we take for granted: of course we don't
stop our breathing, or else we'd die. Even though I have been
training in Russian Martial Art, after reading Let Every Breath, I
realized that I stop my breathing at certain times, especially when
I'm suprised: when the train lurches suddenly, when I accidentally
drop something I'm carrying, or stumble, or knock something off my
desk. These small pauses, barely noticeable until I thought to check
for them, might seem inconsequential, but breath is life, and when
it's halted by fear or surprise or tension, it is contrary to our
very survival, and it disconnects us from the natural harmony of the
force of life. It's subtle, but so important, if you think of how
long most people can go without breathing, 10 or 20 seconds, perhaps
a bit more, then it becomes apparent why even the smallest change in
breathing will affect the whole body, and overall quality of life.

"Everyday that you live without proper breathing is another little
step of submitting to stress and deterioration of your health." -VV

And that's why Let Every Breath is such an important book. It is not
a book to change your lifestyle, get you to eat specific foods,
follow any sort of schedule, or do anything by rote. The real gem of
the book is simply the way it changes our perception of our own
breathing, that which connects us to the greater universe around us.
We look at a fish out of water, flopping around, and we know it is
doomed. But somehow, we consider ourselves higher than those fish, as
if they are imprisoned by their inability to survive without water.
We even have an expression for those who are ill at ease: "like a
fish out of water." But we are no different! Fish need water, we need
air, no creature can survive without the life-giving force of the
universe, and the best way to appreciate any gift is to accept it
with humble gratitude, and use it wisely and well.

"You breathe in when you're born and out when you die; in between is
your life." -MR

Many thanks to Scott and Vladimir for creating this book, and to
Mikhail, without whom it would not be possible. It is truly a gift to
the Systema community and to the world beyond.

*Spasibo i vsego nailuchshego* (thank you and best wishes),
Rachel