How to Take a Breath

Learn how to breathe well for reduction in stress and anxiety, better sleep, clearer thinking and improved performance in sports and at work, written by an experienced clinical expert in breathing disorders.

Breathing well can bring about improvements in a surprising number of areas of your life. This skill is usually taken for granted. Surely you just breathe in … and then you breathe out…? But experienced physiotherapist and breathing dysfunction specialist Tania Clifton-Smith has been helping people correct their breathing patterns for over 30 years and has seen at first hand what a difference it makes.

Includes chapters on:

• Why breathe well?
• Self-awareness and self-checks
• The stress connection
• Meditation, mindfulness and breathing
• Why does breathing change?
• Recipe for breathing well
• Breathing well at different ages and stages
• Sports Performance and recovery
• Voice production
• Cough, hoick, spit
• Pain management
• Beyond the body and mind – a Maori perspective

Author Biography

Tania Clifton-Smith is a New Zealand physiotherapist who has 30 years’ experience in the field of breathing dysfunction, breathing pattern disorders and hyperventilation syndrome, treating thousands of individuals. She and co-founder Dinah Bradley developed the world-renowned BradCliff Breathing method. Tania is in demand as a speaker at international conferences, now mostly on-line, due to her expertise and skills in treating Covid patients. Tania also has post-graduate diplomas in spinal manipulation, mind and body medicine, and meditation and mindfulness instruction. She is on the NZ Asthma and Allergy Educational Board and is a member of the NZ Physiotherapy Business Development Advisory Group.
In 2021 Tania became an Honorary Fellow of Physiotherapy NZ, the Oscars of physiotherapy and equivalent to a national knighthood within her profession. Tania joins an exclusive list to become one of only nine New Zealand physiotherapists ever to receive this honour.