Reviews

“I learned the BreatheOutDynamic system (BODs) twenty-five years ago when I attended one of Betsy’s outbreath workshops. I’ve continued my practice and find BODs especially useful when I’m walking hills or climbing flights of stairs. I also use it in stressful situations, including while driving on New Jersey’s congested highways. What delights me about Just Breathe Out is the pages and pages of testimonials. They reinforce what I’ve been doing and experiencing all these years.”
--Anne Hurwitt, octogenarian

“Half way through Just Breathe Out, I’m so impressed with its engaging style and the readability of the technical explanations. I’ve started practicing BODs as I’m falling asleep at night. Walking and using BODs is a challenge. Now I understand the importance of quiet practice to learn BODs in your muscles.”
--Susan Eisen, sculptor

My first experience with the BreatheOutDynamic system (BODs) was 12 years ago at the Mount Sinai Beth Israel ALS Clinic. I had been diagnosed with ALS, a muscle-wasting condition, in 1994. Prior to meeting ALS staff respiratory therapist Betsy Thomason, my breathing had weakened. At the Clinic, I was offered one breathing machine after another. The thought of being connected to a ventilator weighed heavy on my mind, coupled with the reality of decreased physical ability and the prospect of losing yet another bodily function—breathing

Betsy understood my refusal to use breathing machines and gave me an alternative—BODs. So I gave BODs a try. Within a couple of months of starting BODs practice, I was free from headaches that were becoming more frequent and debilitating, due to CO2 build-up caused by the decreased function of my respiratory muscles. Although my fight with ALS continues on—now for 24 years—it’s my OUTBREATH that’s energizing me, allowing me to walk and manage my life with my incredible family.

Now that Betsy has published Just Breath Out—Using Your Breath to Create a New, Healthier You, I am proud to say that the information in Just Breathe Out is the reason I’m alive and functional today.
--Benito Bernard, ALS survivor, Harlem, New York City

Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped

Judy Dixon, Consumer Relations Officer at the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, announced that The Library of Congress has published Just Breathe Out—Using Your Breath to Create a New, Healthier You in two formats, audio and braille. The National Library Service provides audio and braille books to readers with vision impairments and those who have difficulty holding a book. For more information, go to https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-library-service-for-the-blind-and-physically-handicapped/about-this-service/

The audio version of Just Breathe Out is available for download by eligible blind and physically handicapped persons. The book number is DB86922. The braille version, available after Labor Day 2017, is number BR21813.

To learn more about how people with vision impairment read using braille, check out this link to an NPR interview on January 3, 2014 by Audie Cornish with Judy Dixon from the Library of Congress. http://www.npr.org/2014/01/03/259414937/for-the-blind-connected-devices-create-a-novel-way-to-read