Liberating the Natural Breath: Is this course right for me?
Responses to some frequently asked questions.
Note: Scholarship application instructions can be found at the bottom of this page.
Where can I read about others who have had success with this program?
Some participants have kindly taken the time to share their experience on our Breathing Testimonials page. We periodically update the page with new testimonials.
What does the process of restoring natural breathing involve?
Liberating the Natural Breath (LNB) will ask you to attend to the following four components of this process:
Set aside about 15 minutes each day for intentionally being with your breathing and your body according to the instructions and guidelines in the program. This helps to develop an ongoing foundation for healthier breathing and for the change process.
Work through the course resources and 15 modules at your own pace. Consider attending Office Hours and engaging with the LNB Community forums.
To the degree that you’re able, integrate the understandings and practices from the 15 modules and resources into both your 15-minute daily practice and your daily life and activities. Your ability to incorporate these suggestions, understandings, and awareness will grow as you progress.
If you like, or if you feel you are stagnating or having difficulty, you can consider seeking additional support by working with an in-person somatic practitioner (suggestions included within the course; cost determined by you and the local practitioner you choose); setting up an individual session with one of the course facilitators (additional cost involved); and/or attending Office Hours (included with your program membership).
What if I have a medical condition?
This course is not a substitute for medical evaluation and treatment. We do not interpret or comment on any individuals’ medical diagnoses. What we can say is the following:
First, if you have or suspect that you have a medical issue, we strongly encourage you to seek medical attention. If you have a medical condition and also experience symptoms of Chronic Breathing Tension and Air Hunger, it’s quite possible that working toward freeing your natural breathing could be very helpful and provide relief—even if you still have other aspects of the medical condition to deal with. I.e., it’s not unusual for people who have a medical condition that impacts their breathing to also have significant breathing tension and interference on top of it which worsens their breathing experience. So as long as your doctor is okay with your being in a process of freeing up tension and welcoming natural breathing, then LNB could be quite beneficial. We encourage you to consult your doctor if this is the case as this course is not a substitute for medical treatment.
Many people who decide to join LNB have already gone through countless tests and consultations with doctors without any resulting medical diagnoses or medical issues being revealed. We encourage people to get whatever medical tests or advice they need to feel comfortable and confident and to follow the advice of their physicians. If you have non-medical breathing dysfunction, we encourage you to join LNB.
Anyone who has gone through the process of seeking help for Chronic Breathing Tension and Air Hunger knows that it is not a well-understood or well-recognized condition. It can result in a variety of diagnoses, including Chronic Hyperventilation Syndrome. You’ll have to use your own discernment, subject to medical advice and consultation with your physician and health care providers, to determine for yourself whether your breathing difficulties are due to a medical condition or a result of non-medical Chronic Breathing Tension, which is the result of imbalance and habitual misuse of your body.
Some people considering the course wonder if their air hunger is caused by silent reflux or GERD. We don’t comment on individual medical situations beyond what we’ve already said in points 2 and 3 above, but of course if your doctor diagnoses you with GERD and prescribes a treatment, we recommend you follow it. It’s also worth considering the possibility (and discussing it with your doctor) that your breathing dysfunction—including abdominal tension and diaphragmatic issues—could be causing digestive issues and contributing to reflux in significant ways. We have seen cases where addressing breathing dysfunction has greatly improved reflux symptoms. Our general recommendation is to discuss any reflux or GERD with your doctor but to also consider joining Liberating the Natural Breath to address chronic breathing tension and work toward restoring your natural breathing.
When can I expect to see results?
The rhythm of this process is different for everyone. Some people experience rapid relief, while for others it is a more gradual process. Many people experience some relief in the first month as their understanding shifts and they begin to put the tools into practice. There are some who experience significant relief in the first month. Since an individual’s progress depends in part upon the way they implement course guidance and their particular physical and mental state, we cannot guarantee results, and occasionally individuals do not experience improvement. People decide for themselves how long to continue with the process based on their present level of breathing discomfort versus ease, since discomfort is usually the main motivator for people seeking to restore their breathing (it’s typical for people to continue with the LNB process until they’ve reached a satisfactory level of ease in their breathing). However, regardless of which of the above categories you fall into—whether you find relief more gradually or more rapidly—if you want to cultivate truly resilient natural breathing, the change process will usually need to continue for a number of months. In this way, the years of accumulated tension and interference that are often at the root of Chronic Breathing Tension can gradually unwind while the natural movement of the breath is reawakened, providing a growing sense of ease along the way. We provide all the tools and guidance we can in the course; your progress is then largely dependent on your continuation of the process and your understanding and application of the course resources. We will also be available through Office Hours and other avenues to help you navigate the process, so we suggest you make use of these options as needed.
I struggle with anxiety, and I’m pretty sure this plays a role in my breathing issues. Can this course help me?
Yes! For many people, anxiety or stress play a role in the development of Air Hunger/Chronic Breathing Tension. Addressing the anxiety is important. However, if the breathing patterns that have been established aren’t also addressed, this can make it difficult to address the anxiety, because anxiety may continue to be triggered and exacerbated by these breathing challenges. Furthermore, even if the anxiety is addressed on its own terms, if patterns of breathing tension have become entrenched, they often remain in place until they are also addressed on their own level. Thus, anxiety and air hunger can frequently develop into a mutually-reinforcing cycle that keeps both patterns in place until they are both addressed. This course seeks to support people in resolving their breathing difficulties, which may also help with resolving anxiety that is experienced as a result of breathing tension. This course is not a substitute for medical or psychological treatment for anxiety.
Why do you talk about Chronic Breathing Tension and Air Hunger? What’s the difference?
Air Hunger is the most commonly used term for the dysfunctional breathing pattern this course seeks to address. Chronic Breathing Tension is, we think, the most accurate definition for this condition. You could say that, whereas Chronic Breathing Tension is the actual underlying condition, the feeling of Air Hunger is an acute symptom of Chronic Breathing Tension. Chronic Breathing Tension is a descriptive term that occurred to us and that we’ve been using ever since because of how accurate and neutral it is for naming this condition.
How did Simon and Amira come to work together on this?
Simon and Amira met in 2007 through the Alexander Technique while living in New York. Amira was one of the breathing-specialized teachers Simon worked with as he learned to restore his natural breathing. To make a long story short, they eventually got married and now live in North Carolina. Each one of them has had a profound learning journey with the breath—Amira through her extensive training and practice, Simon through his own long experience with Air Hunger and his ensuing recovery, and both of them through the process of learning to navigate the journey from Chronic Breathing Tension to natural breathing as Simon found his way with the support that was available. This turned out to be a long and intricate process of study, trial-and-error, discovery, and innovation built upon the foundation of potent bodies of work such as the Alexander Technique. Their work together helping others with Air Hunger has continued to grow, as has their commitment to providing the best support possible for people making the journey toward natural breathing.
Can I talk to Simon or see him for an individual session before I take the course?
We aren’t able to have individual email discussions with people before they join LNB; instead, we try to provide all relevant information for people considering joining LNB on these pages. However, some people have asked to book an individual session with Simon before joining the course. If this is important to you, this option has recently been made available. Please note, our best recommendation for anyone with Air Hunger or non-medical breathing dysfunction is to join Liberating the Natural Breath. It is designed to deliver the most effective guidance to you in the most efficient and affordable way. Once in LNB, you’ll be able to join monthly Office Hours and hear or engage in conversations with Simon and Amira.
However, we recognize that some people have a strong desire for someone to discuss their specific breathing situation with before joining the course. Although this is certainly not necessary for taking the course—again, we encourage you to go ahead and join the course if you have chronic breathing tension—we have recently opened the option for people to book a session with Simon before joining the course, due to ongoing requests. These sessions are charged at my standard hourly rate ($130) and take place over Zoom. Please note that it is highly likely that you’ll also need to join LNB ($129) to continue your journey after our session. If you’d like to book a session, please email me using this contact form and include your scheduling availability (days/times) for our 60-minute session and your preferred method of payment (PayPal or Credit Card).
Do I need to see an Alexander Technique teacher or other somatic practitioner while taking the course?
No. While seeing an in-person practitioner can be potentially beneficial depending on the individual’s situation, it’s very possible to make significant progress in your breathing without seeing a practitioner. Seeing a practitioner doesn’t necessarily guarantee you’ll progress any faster. However, if you find yourself struggling, seeing an in-person practitioner at key points in your journey may offer significant support.
How is this course different from other approaches to improving one’s breathing?
While there’s a lot we could say about LNB’s approach compared to other approaches, to give you a sense of the orientation of the course, we’ll mention four important characteristics of LNB that are not typical of other approaches:
LNB is designed specifically for people with Air Hunger. This is not the case with most techniques or programs, which is significant, because Air Hunger is a very specific and stubborn pattern that is often not responsive to many breathing techniques or typical methods.
LNB is created and facilitated by someone who actually experienced serious air hunger for years, managed to get through it, and has spent years studying the process of how to restore natural breathing. Most breathing methods out there were not created by people who have experienced this form of Air Hunger. As you may have found, it’s difficult for people who haven’t experienced it to really understand what it’s like to deal with day after day, month after month.
LNB is based on a well-established body of work—the Alexander Technique—that has generated professional organizations, countless books, and publications; has attracted prominent scientists and researchers and philosophers; and is taught at universities. The AT has been developed and refined for over a century and has earned great respect for its comprehensive understanding of the body and its insights into how change happens. LNB is grounded in this reliable and long-established body of work.
LNB supports you in rediscovering and cultivating your inherently easeful, natural breathing by learning to gradually release the interference and tension that are at the core of the dysfunction while simultaneously learning to increasingly welcome and allow the natural movement that is seeking to happen. The breath ultimately becomes our teacher as we learn to listen to it. Most breathing methods, in contrast, seek to overlay set breathing models and exercises on top of breathing that’s already dysfunctional, which may exacerbate existing interference and tension or introduce new forms of it. These are two very different approaches.
What is the Alexander Technique? What role does it play in the course?
The Alexander Technique (AT) is a powerful method of restoring the natural ease, efficiency, and effectiveness of the body’s state and movement that was developed by F. M. Alexander (1869–1955). Rather than being a “therapy” in which a practitioner tries on some level to treat or fix the client, the AT instead empowers the student to see and sense the ways they interfere in their body’s naturally easeful and efficient state. By recognizing the ways they are unnecessarily creating tension and interference, the student can then shift their habits and support their system’s return to natural alignment. In many ways, it’s a unique method that gets to the root of the cause, which is why it has drawn the acclaim of some notable philosophers and scientists over the decades. The Alexander Technique has long been recognized especially for its sophisticated understanding of breathing (Alexander himself was dubbed “the breathing man” in his day), and a specific body of natural breathing work has been developed that draws largely on the Alexander Technique—Jessica Wolf’s Art of Breathing. Amira began her journey with the Alexander Technique in 1995 and has been teaching professionally since 2005; she is also certified in Jessica Wolf’s Art of Breathing. Simon has studied and practiced the Alexander Technique as a student for over 15 years.
LNB is not an Alexander Technique course; rather, it is a natural breathing course specifically for those with Chronic Breathing Tension. However, LNB is founded upon many of the principles, insights, and practices that have been developed within the AT over the past century. This is how LNB is able to support you on your path of restoring your natural breathing.
(For more on the AT, you can watch Simon’s introduction of it in the first half of Video #3 on the breathing resources page.)
Do I need to take this course, or should I just get Alexander Technique lessons?
We do not recommend getting Alexander Technique lessons for Air Hunger without taking this course first. Years ago, we used to think that directing people to work with an Alexander teacher was all that was needed. But we found that people had highly variable results because so much depended on the particular teacher they found, the understanding that the individual and the teacher brought to their work together, and the individual’s access to in-person lessons. The reality is that Air Hunger is not a well-understood condition, even in holistic health settings. This is a big part of why we decided to create Liberating the Natural Breath. As mentioned above, Alexander lessons are not necessary for you to progress. They are, however, one of the potential additional supports you may explore at some point in your journey. LNB will significantly enhance and accelerate the impact of any lessons you do take. It does this by providing you with an array of tools, knowledge, and guidance that would potentially require multiple in-person lessons to begin to understand, all for about the cost of a single lesson. It also guides you in how to find and work with a suitable Alexander Technique teacher, if that’s something you decide to pursue.
15 modules sounds like a lot. Do I need to do them all?
Modules 1 to 7—and particularly Modules 4, 5, and 6—cover the most directly applicable understandings and tools for the process of restoring your natural breathing. Most people will find a lot of what they’re looking for regarding how to proceed in Part One (Modules 1 to 7) of the course. All of the modules, however, provide important suggestions and insights into this process of restoring your natural breathing, and we recommend you continue moving through the modules at a pace that is comfortable for you, while referring back to Modules 4–6 as much as you find it helpful. The course Podia page provides a detailed overview of what’s included in the 15 modules.
In your essay, you talk about how you found your way through the worst of air hunger before you discovered the Alexander Technique. Can I just get through it that way?
We do not recommend this approach. There’s a brief section early in my (Simon’s) 2011 essay under the heading “Disrupting the Habit” where I discuss this initial progress that I made around 2003. However, approaching it in this way was extremely difficult, and the progress I made was limited. Most people who attempt this in an unsupported way struggle and do not have the success they’re looking for. There’s a much easier and more fruitful way to move through this stage of air hunger (what we call “Breakthrough 1” in the course), and this is the approach we guide you through in Liberating the Natural Breath. You’ll have much better results and a much easier time taking this more layered and supported approach than trying to follow the crude trial-and-error approach I was forced to work with early in my journey.
Scholarship Applications
How does this all work financially? Is LNB a business? How is the $129 course fee decided?
Transparency is important to us, and we’re happy to provide context. Our aim with LNB is to establish a reliable destination for those seeking help with air hunger that is eventually financially sustainable. By financially sustainable, we mean that it is sustainable over the long term and has the resources it needs to best support the people it seeks to serve through facilitator engagement, course updates and improvements, community moderation, and outreach. So while LNB is housed within Emergent Inquiry, LLC, a small company, in practical terms we think of LNB operating as a mission-driven organization akin to a not-for-profit that will hopefully be increasingly self-sustaining as it grows over time. Finding the right way to balance this endeavor’s needs and the large investment of time and energy this work requires from us as creators and facilitators with the desire to make these resources easily available to whoever needs or wants them has been a question we’ve held on this journey. The need to ensure that people who sign up for the course are willing to be invested in a process with their breathing and understand that this process requires time and attention is another consideration we’ve held. The way we’ve tried to balance these factors is by requiring a fee for the course, but setting it at a rate that is significantly lower than a lot of courses of this size and scope would usually charge, while also providing scholarships to whoever communicates genuine desire and need with us through our scholarship application form (scholarship instructions follow below).
How can I apply for a scholarship?
As well as seeking to become financially sustainable, we also want to ensure that people who genuinely want the help this course provides can access it, even if they are unable to afford the course fee. If this is you, we encourage you to apply for a scholarship. For those with genuine financial need and a genuine desire to take the course, we offer scholarships that cover between 50% and 95% of the course fee (we ask you to indicate your desired level of funding support when applying).
To apply, please send an email to liberatingbreath@gmail.com and write “Scholarship” in the subject line; please be careful to correctly type only the word Scholarship in the subject line (you don’t need to write anything in the body of the email). You will immediately receive an automated email response with our scholarship application form. Complete the form, and we will be in touch with you within a week.
The materials on this page and the associated online course are not intended to address medical conditions or mental health conditions. These materials and any associated services are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, examination, diagnosis, or treatment. Emergent Inquiry, LLC recommends that you consult your physician regarding the applicability of any information to your individual situation and utilize the guidance contained in the course Liberating the Natural Breath before attempting to apply these principles to your own breathing. Full terms of service can be viewed here.