Overview: The interest in all things Japan, as well as the increasing effort to center both physical and mental health as a core value of any flourishing society, leads to the nexus explored in this book, Missoku, a unique breathing method that has been handed down through Japanese Zen tradition.

Verdict: Missoku is a form of breathing in which the pelvis is tilted and the abdomen is in an expanded state. It’s proven to be effective in sports, martial arts, dance, theater, and playing musical instruments. The benefits to overall health and stamina are bountiful.

One incentive includes an increase in respiration capacity, which in turn stimulates the brain, balances autonomic nerves, and improves immune defenses.

Not only an excellent prose for all those that perform shakuhachi, a Japanese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo, and where the bamboo end-blown flute [now known as the shakuhachi] was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is actually since-named the fuke shakuhachi (more info that you came here for, most likely, sorry), but this new book is rather excellent overview of the lifestyles and religious ways of those who brought it into being.

Right now, due to one thing or another (that I most definitely will not go into), our society overall is extremely weak. Anxiety, a sense of entrapment, poor communication, irritability and lethargy. These are alarm bells from the body.

And so with lifestyles that do nothing but feed the weakness in the legs and feet, the chest and abdominal muscles and skeletal structure [for Western compound breathing], our breath has become shallow and rapid.

However, if you take a deep breath, you will find that your mind will calm down, your body will relax, and your senses will be revived. And so Missoku, otherwise know as the Secret Breath, is a technique that allows you to breathe deeply, quietly, and continuously.

Here within Breathing with Missoku - The Undiscovered Zen Secret of Japanese Culture by author Akikazu Nakamura, we get to lovingly rediscover, and therein recover the ancient art of breath culture that lies dormant within us.

In truth, rediscovering the Culture of Breath aka the Secret Breath, is a groundbreaking theory of the body, following Koshitu Culture, Namba Walking, and Kobujutsu, but with this book itself having been twenty years in the making, Akikazu shows that slowing things down, taking slow stock of oneself and the world around them, is an incredibly beneficial, beautiful way to bring for our everlasting flames.

So I implore you to get to know Akikazu Nakamura, a master of the shakuhachi method pioneered long ago by traveling Zen monks. For here within his new book, participants will be introduced to the aforementioned Missoku, the technique once practiced by these monks in music and meditation.

For Akikazu, who himself trained with shakuhachi master Katsuya Yokoyama, welcomes you to slowly, but surely work your way through this book, exploring all the chapters (that themselves cover a wide ranging set of genres), and take the steps to breathing easier, and thusly start to feel better within about the world around.

About the Author - Akikazu Nakamura is a shakuhachi performer, composer and educator. He has performed in over 40 countries across multiple genres including traditional Japanese music, jazz and classical. He lives in Tokyo, Japan.

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