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Let Every Breath... Secrets of the Russian Breath Masters | 
 enlarge | Author: Vladimir Vasiliev
Publisher: Russian Martial Art
Category: Book
Buy New: $19.95
New (1) Used (1) from $19.95
Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 147468
Media: Paperback
Pages: 125
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.4
ISBN: 0978104900
EAN: 9780978104900
Publication Date: April 17, 2006
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Product Description
Let Every Breath reveals the secrets of the Russian Breath Masters. This groundbreaking manual on Systema Breathing presents step-by-step training drills given to you in a thorough and comprehensive way. You will learn the unique methodology of Systema Breathing and get the foundation for every physical activity of your daily life. Whether you are looking to raise your athletic skills to the next level, or wish to increase your potential and to enjoy life, this is your tool to uncover the endless reserve of energy, health and happiness. At the same time, it is very easy reading, full of entertaining stories and thought provoking ideas.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Truly a Life Changing Book September 16, 2008
Bill W. Cunningham (Charlotte, NC United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Let Every Breath" is truly a life changing book. After reading it, I began taking classes in Ft. Mill, SC. Systema's philosophy is totally different than anything I have been involved with before. I must give Scott Meredith an unqualified 5 stars on explaining Systema breathing.
Will reading this book make you a Systema master? No. But after reading it, you will have a very good idea of how fundamental breathing is to this very different martial art, and to life itself.
Systema is much more than a martial art. It is a way to get more mileage out of your body, and more quality out of life. Some martial arts help you to win fights. Systema helps you when you're fighting, walking, running, lifting heavy objects, driving, mountain climbing, reading, or just feeling stressed. And the solution is always the same: Don't panic, just breathe, and relax.
Many thanks to Scott, Vladimir, and Mikhail for a new way of looking at life.
 Systema is a good. So is qigong. August 5, 2008
Student.
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The book is fairly short, but does contain a good selection of breathing/conditioning techniques you will find taught in Systema classes, although by no means all. There are genuine insights into breath control you won't find talked about much in other systems, such as the psychological effects of training with little or no breath, but I was pretty disappointed in Meredith's thinly veiled antipathy towards qigong/chi kung/chinese breath studies - sneering at it relying on "imaginary" concepts but then later asking you to "imagine" the breath inflating the entire body. He goes on to say qigong is too difficult because it requires the practitioner to become aware of "inner states". First qigong is just plain wrong - now it's too difficult. What he saying here is that he does not understand qigong. In fact, qigong is ancient, enormously detailed and proven, and underpins all of chinese combat/medicine/spiritual theory and can easily withstand Meredith's bias and ignorance. Fortunately, none of that takes anything away from the beauty, power and relevance of Systema.
Short, simple, profound February 4, 2008
Stratiotes Doxha Theon (Richmond, Missouri)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Do not let the size or the seductively simple-sounded topic fool you into ignoring the profound and health-inducing message of this little book. Steeped in the hesychasm of orthodox ascetic practices combined with strength and flexibility training, the breathing topics covered in this little gem can dramatically affect your emotional, physical, and spiritual well being. Though they have developed from monastic roots of deep Christian spirituality, these methods are effective and dramatic tools in pain management, physical training, flexibility training, and stamina training as well. Sometimes deceptively simple, the drills for learning their everyday practice go straight to the heart and begin their changes almost immediately. By all means, whether learning to deal with chronic pain or training for the most challenging martial arts, this book is for you. And you will want to read it again and again.
Master your breathing and you will master your life... August 13, 2007
Alberto Nacif (Brighton, MI, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have read this book from front to back multiple times, and referred to it many more times since I bought it from the Russian Martial Art website. I had already watched some of the videos and wanted to understand how Vladimir Vasiliev and Mikhail Ryabko and their senior students look so relaxed in the midst of fighting, it looked almost fake, like they were preoccupied with what their wives were cooking for dinner instead of turning opponents into pretzels. The book was also similarly lacking sensationalistic content. The first time I read it, well, it just seemed too simple. I finally decided to try it as opposed to reading about it. I could write a book almost as long as "Let Every Breath..." about the experience!
The first thing I noticed about trying out Sytema breathing was MY breathing. I became aware of patterns that I had previously become unaware of. I'm driving and looking for a street sign, and I hold my breath, I'm hearing a sad story from a patient, and I hold my breath, the telephone rings, and I hold my breath, a drunk at a bar says something rude to the girls sitting at the next table and I hold my breath...and so on.
It seems that stopping breathing, or holding it, or not understanding the power and control of breathing on your body, your motions, your emotions, your response to many different stressors, large and small creates an imbalance in the mind, body, and spirit. The simple statement that the control of your breathing enhances your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being is true. This book goes initially details some deceptively simple points about breath control and then builds on this basic foundation by going through many different combinations of breath and exercise. If you only read about it, you do not experience its profound power. I found that by controlling my breathing through the information from this very special book, I could literally improve my physical strength and endurance, my mood, and control my emotions to a much better degree. Look at Col. Dave Grossman's book "On Combat" and read the effects of disordered breathing on the body and the psyche. Also, there is new research in medicine that patients who are taught breath control and do breath exercise prior to open heart surgery do much better after the surgery than those who do not receive the specialized breath training. Preoperative hypnosis (which place people in a relaxed state and controls the rhythm of their breathing just as Sytema breathing does) can improve outcomes, and in many cases patients do not need anesthesia. These are just some examples of the power of breathing.
The book is written simply and interspersed with a lot of anectdotes which support the important points. There is a sense of humility from the teachers and from the writers of this book which really comes across. The real value is found in sitting quietly and getting to know the sound of your own life, your breath! This book encourages self mastery, staring from the core of your life: your breathing. I am an avid reader of all kinds of books, from scientific journals to poetry, to thrillers, and I have to say that this book is very special in that it gives you a blueprint to really change your life. Very few other books have given me such tools for change. Read it, but more importantly, do it!
Oh, and the fighting techniques shown on the DVD's? I was in Toronto this Spring for a Sytema seminar, and they're not fake. I wound up on my duff consistently trying to show some of the Systems students how tough I was. Oh well, breathe, relax, move, flow...
Alberto Nacif, MD.
Use in conjunction with the DVD for full benefit June 22, 2007
Thomas Campbell
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've read hundreds of books and purchased many of them through Amazon.com. This is the first review of any of those books I've felt moved to write.
A little about my background: I have a long-time interest in martial arts and physical conditioning. Ryabko Systema is NOT my primary practice, but I've derived great benefit from what I've learned in seminars with
Mikhail Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev, as well as seminars and one-on-one time with Scott Meredith. All three are excellent teachers and very competent martial artists. Scott in particular is very adept at presenting clear translations and explanations based on his own varied and extensive experience. My introduction to Systema back in 2002 was a seminar where Scott presented the concepts and range of practices described in this book in such a clear, thorough and engaging manner that I carry vivid memories of the seminar and what we covered to this day. I remember thinking back then, in 2002, that I really wish this guy would write a book presenting the seminar material.
Well, four years later he and Vladimir Vasiliev did write that book, and a companion DVD illustrating the basic physical practice was produced. I was impressed with the clarity of the combined presentation. While the book stands on its own, the desirability of seeing moving illustrations of the physical movements described in the book should be obvious.
Another reviewer compares/contrasts "Let Every Breathe" with Scott Sonnon's material. Mr. Sonnon is another good teacher who moves fantastically. Over the years since he trained in Russia, Mr. Sonnon developed his own methods of training and teaching that reflect some of what he learned then, but also reflect much of his own training and cogitation since then. Mr. Sonnon has developed and trademarked quite a lot of his own terminology for some basic physical and mental practices. I've seen most of Mr. Sonnon's material, and if that approach works for someone, that's great. It takes nothing away from "Let Every Breath" to be compared with Mr. Sonnon's approach.
I've given "Let Every Breath" and the companion DVD as gifts to others interested in well-being as well as to public libraries. It's that good.
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