Saturday, September 24, 2011

Learning to Breathe by Priscilla Warner (TOUR and Giveaway)


I am very pleased to be able to participate on this blog tour for Learning to Breathe by Priscilla Warner. Many of you may know that she was one of the co-authors of the Faith Club, a very popular bestseller from a few years back. My mother read and loved it!

I am giving away a copy along with a very special additional prize mentioned below.


Book Description:

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.

Book Trailer:

Learning to Breathe

Additional Prize to Giveaway:
One of Priscilla’s handmade Buddha bracelets
(pictured below)

Priscilla has collected tribal and vintage beads from all over the world, stringing them together with a Buddha pendant on Tibetan mala cord.

Contest Rules:
Runs September 24- October 1
* You must leave a comment in order to be entered.
* Please be a follower
* Please leave your email


Author Info:

Check out this Facebook link for other giveaways!


Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

6 comments:

Jill Buck said...

Sounds like a book we could all benefit from, count me in!
buckfamily at ptd.net

Tales of Whimsy said...

Interesting.
I like the cover, allot.
(not an entry)

Gayle LIN said...

I could probably benefit from this book even though I haven't had a panic attack for about a year. Sometimes I feel one close by and have to stop and remember how to breathe also. I have empathy for anyone who suffers this condition.

gaylelin@hotmail.com

cynthia st. amand said...

This is my third try to leave a comment. I think the others did not go through, but in case you see 3 messages from me, it is because I didn't think they went through.

It is so important to me to express my thanks to Priscilla for writing this book.

As I previously commented,
The bracelet is "breathtaking" If I were to receive one of these... I would wear it faithfully and with love. Again, I send a beautiful thank you to Priscilla and those who support her, Sincerely, Cindy

Yes I would like to enter the contest, and here is my email! cynthiast.amand@yahoo.com

Jenny said...

Please enter me!

jennala(at)cfl.rr.com

Anonymous said...

I would be interested in this book because I know someone who suffers from it much as the author has. Thanks for the chance!
Rae, Best O' Books
bestobooks@gmail.com