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My Yearlong Quest to Bring Calm to My Life
Free Press
September 2011
On Sale: September 20, 2011
240 pages
ISBN: 1439181071
EAN: 9781439181072
Kindle: B004IK98KG
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Memoir
Priscilla Warner has had a great life: a supportive husband,
a flourishing marriage, two loving sons, and a bestselling
book, The Faith Club. Despite all her good fortune
and success, she suffers from anxiety and panic attacks so
debilitating that they leave her unable to breathe. She’s
tried self-medicating—in high school, with a hidden flask of
vodka—and later, with prescription medications—daily doses
of Klonopin with a dark-chocolate chaser. After forty years
of hyperventilating, and an overwhelming panic attack that’s
the ultimate wake-up call, Warner’s mantra becomes
“Neurotic, Heal Thyself.” A spirited New Yorker, she sets
out to find her inner Tibetan monk by meditating every day,
aiming to rewire her brain and her body and mend her frayed
nerves. On this winding path from panic to peace, with its
hairpin emotional curves and breathtaking drops, she also
delves into a wide range of spiritual and alternative health
practices, some serious and some . . . not so much.
Warner tries spiritual chanting, meditative painting,
immersion in a Jewish ritual bath, and quasi-hallucinogenic
Ayurvedic oil treatments. She encounters mystical rabbis who
teach her Kabbalistic lessons, attends silent retreats with
compassionate Buddhist mentors, and gains insights from the
spiritual leaders, healers, and therapists she meets.
Meditating in malls instead of monasteries, Warner becomes a
monk in a minivan and calms down long enough to examine her
colorful, sometimes frightening family history in a new
light, ultimately making peace with her past. And she
receives corroboration that she’s healing from a
neuroscientist who scans her brain for signs of progress and
change. Written with lively wit and humor,
Learning to Breathe is a serious attempt to heal from
a painful condition. It’s also a life raft of compassion and
hope for people similarly adrift or secretly fearful, as
well as an entertaining and inspiring guidebook for anyone
facing daily challenges large and small, anyone who is also
longing for a sense of peace, self-acceptance, and
understanding.
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