You can't solve a problem with the same

level of consciousness that created it.

Albert Einstein

In the context of overcoming unwanted states of panic and

anxiety, the above statement means that you have to take a
different approach rather than face your perceived problems
head on.
Now, because of new scientific information, we are learning
that the heart plays a huge role in how we think and feel and
it is by changing our hearts rhythm that we have the power
to improve our state of mind.
The 'technique' described in this ebook offers a radical new
approach to combating states of fear like panic and anxiety.
It does this by incorporating the principles of this heart
science and details easy to do exercises that can be
practiced anytime, anywhere by anyone.

Based on intuitive knowledge and valuable personal insights, the

information in this book can guide panic and anxiety sufferers to
combat their fears.
While other books may suggest facing fears head on, this offers a
more subtle and indirect approach, as the title suggests.
If you feel that you simply cannot face the causes of your panic and
anxiety, this book is written specifically for you (and of course your
fellow sufferers).
You are about to learn that you do not have to face your
fears in order to overcome them.

Dont face your fears!

How to overcome panic and anxiety
About the author
Robins primary focus for more than 20 years has been finding ways to achieve true
overall well-being through physical health and spiritual understanding. His search
has led him to some exciting discoveries which have compelled him to write this
ebook.
Robin believes that to find the road to true well-being (both mental and physical) we
simply need to be guided in the right direction. Once on the right path we no longer
need to keep searching for direction, we then just need to keep going.
By using himself as a model, Robin has carefully and extensively researched the
fundamental principles of how our bodies and our minds work together. Now he says
that he has discovered something of particular relevance that can offer help and
assistance to those that suffer from fear based problems.
Now the pioneer of a breathing 'practice he has termed Zero-point breathing, or ZPB
for short, through writing this ebook Robin is sharing this knowledge. And he says it
can have profound implications for the health and well-being of those that decide to
learn and practice it.
To offer further information about the discovery of the process and it's other
applications Robin has produced a website www.zero-pointbreathing.co.uk which
outlines many of the benefits that can be achieved, which he and his case studies
have personally validated.

Disclaimer
The information in this ebook is meant to help the reader overcome emotional states
of panic and anxiety through preventative means. Due to the rebalancing nature of
this process, some profound health benefits may also be experienced, although ZPB
is not being promoted as a 'cure' for any illness other than irrational fear.
Before following the ZPB guidelines please be sure to contact your Doctor or
physician if you have any health considerations relating to your heart or respiratory
system that may be of concern to you.
Set out in this book and on the Zero-point breathing website are guidelines only and
any reader who sets out to improve his/her life using this method should do so at
their own comfortable pace, well within the stress limits of the body.
No responsibility can be accepted for any health concerns that may arise from this
practice.

Table of Contents
About the author.......................................................................................................................... 4
Disclaimer.................................................................................................................................... 5

Introduction..................................................................................................................7
Chapter 1: What causes panic attacks and anxiety?....................................................9
Is it all in my head?...................................................................................................................... 9
Is my panic and anxiety an irrational fear?................................................................................... 9
Is it my bodies rhythms?.............................................................................................................. 9

Chapter 2: What are the physiological effects of panic and anxiety?.........................11

What happens to your heart during anxiety and panic?.............................................................11
Why is breathing important to control panic?............................................................................. 11
Your heart sends signals to the brain which regulate brainwave rhythms..................................12

Chapter 3: What is fear?.............................................................................................13

How does your breathing relate to your fears? .......................................................................... 13
Are you anxious about having a panic attack?........................................................................... 14

Chapter 4: When was your very first panic attack?....................................................15

What was it like to be born?....................................................................................................... 15
What were your first breaths like?.............................................................................................. 15
Is the panic reflex still necessary for survival?........................................................................... 16

Chapter 5: The hearts intelligence.............................................................................17

Does your heart have a brain?................................................................................................... 17
Why is my heart important to control panic?.............................................................................. 17
What is Heart Coherence?.......................................................................................................... 18
Has your brain taken over your hearts role?............................................................................... 19
Hungry heart.............................................................................................................................. 19
The torus.................................................................................................................................... 20

Chapter 6: How does Zero-point breathing work?......................................................21

What is ZPB?.............................................................................................................................. 21
How can this help you control panic and anxiety?...................................................................... 22
Breath, mind and emotion.......................................................................................................... 23
Computer analogy...................................................................................................................... 23

Chapter 7: Zero-Point Breathing Guidelines................................................................25

How to do ZPB........................................................................................................................... 25
Searching for the Trigger point. ............................................................................................... 27
Extending the trigger point........................................................................................................ 28

Chapter 8: The Emwave..............................................................................................29

Do I need one of these to do ZPB?............................................................................................. 30

Introduction
Dont face your fears is the title I chose for this book to give a strong message that
you simply dont have to 'face' your fears (at least not in the context of addressing
panic and anxiety). In fact I would go further and say that you shouldnt.
I can see that facing fears in order to overcome them is perhaps the most obvious
route available, but I would not agree that it is the best. Another option is to
understand their origins, and then undermine their power and influence. This is not
that difficult to achieve as you will soon find out.
Today, by reading this book, you are going to learn that you have a
resource inside you. A resource so powerful, that you will soon be
wondering why you were not aware of it before.
It does not matter:
How long you have been suffering,
How intense your symptoms are
Or whether or not you believe this process will work.
By practising the simple exercises described in the following pages, you will be
accessing and using this resource inside you to completely destroy the causes of
your anxiety and panic attacks.
It may take you a day or a week, or it may take a month or longer to achieve the
relief that you desire. The time it takes will depend on;
1) How long you practice for
2) How often and regularly you practice
3) How much effort you put into practising
4) Level of perseverance
5) How accurately you follow the advice given
6) whether or not you use the suggested equipment

There is also an extra resource is available to you.

If at any time you feel the need to have further guidance, a coaching service is
available to you by visiting my website http://www.zero-pointbreathing.co.uk
I know that there are a great many breathing techniques that people use to affect
their state of mind and encourage more positive emotions in themselves, but I want
to differentiate ZPB from all of these because;

This is not really a method of how to breathe at all!

Instead it is method of focusing your attention on an aspect of your breathing.
With ZPB you can basically breathe however you like, just as long as you are
focusing on the particular aspect that is described in more detail further on in this ebook. This will improve the way you heart beats and make it more regular, which will
in turn improve the quality of the signals sent to your brain from your heart.
Please note:
In this book I am addressing the issues of both panic and anxiety and I do this
without differentiating too much between them. By doing this, my job of writing this
ebook has thankfully been made slightly easier. So I ask if you could please disregard
any slight oversights due to my generalisations and style of writing.

Chapter 1: What causes panic attacks and

anxiety?
When you own your breath, nobody can steal your peace.
Author Unknown

Is it all in my head?
There are physiological (physical) aspects that can trigger panic attacks and cause
anxiety. Your physical body has systems that work rhythmically.
When you are in a balanced state, your bodily systems work rhythmically in
themselves and rhythmically and in harmony with each other. This is called
coherence.
When your bodies rhythms (blood flow, breathing, heartbeat etc.) become deharmonised in themselves and with each other, you become unbalanced and at risk
of an anxiety and panic attack.
This de-harmonisation can be called incoherence;
So no, it is not all in your head, but your body and mind work together and one will
affect the other.

Is my panic and anxiety an irrational fear?

Whether you are being irrational or not at the time of an attack is irrelevant. During
an attack there is barely the opportunity to be rational anyhow.
Remember that your physiology (your body) has an influence on your psychology
(your thoughts) and this in turn affects your feelings and emotions.
It follows therefore, that if your body is in an unbalanced state, it will adversely affect
the way you think, which will affect the way that you feel emotionally, possibly
causing panic and anxiety. This book is about learning a way to go beyond fear
whether it can be considered rational or not.

Is it my bodies rhythms?
It may very well be true that your anxiety and panic attacks are a natural symptom
of the body rebalancing itself. This may be especially true if your body is unbalanced
due to stress, poor diet, chemical and hormonal issues, improper breathing, lack of
exercise etc. Maybe you feel better after having an attack!?
Stress is a major cause of destabilising your body's natural rhythms causing
incoherence. It can become a vicious cycle; the more stress, the more anxiety, the
more stress...
Therefore it is necessary to alleviate yourself from stress to break the cycle.
Some negative thought patterns can be a major cause of stress (you are already
acutely aware of this I imagine), and therefore causes incoherence.
Another cause of incoherence is poor health:
http://www.savvyhealth.com/disp.asp?doc_id=533

The heart is the major player when it comes to coherence in your body. We
will talk more about that later in this book.

10

Chapter 2: What are the physiological effects of

panic and anxiety?
Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.
~Thich Nhat Hanh

What happens to your heart during anxiety and panic?

While experiencing anxiety and panic many of your bodily systems are affected.
During an attack you may especially feel that your heart is beating extra hard and
more erratically. When your heart is beating uncontrollably it naturally affects your
breathing rhythm, blood pressure rhythm, even body temperature and brain wave
rhythms. It then causes them to operate incoherently (erratically).
Your nervous system is influenced by your brain wave patterns. Your brainwave
patterns are influenced by your breathing, your breathing is influenced by the carbon
dioxide and oxygen levels in your blood, carbon dioxide levels influence body pH
(acid/alkaline balance) and pH levels affect flow of blood to the brain.
So as you can see, all of these bodily systems are connected and therefore affect
each other. If one is out of balance so will the others be compromised.
When many of your bodily systems are out of balance at the same time,
there is increased risk of experiencing negative emotions.
Also, just as your heart affects blood pressure, brainwave rhythms and breathing
rate and regularity, these bodily functions, in return will also affect your heart. When
all these others systems are behaving erratically it creates a backlash and causes
your heart behave erratically (incoherently)
This is a fundamental consideration when looking at the causes of anxiety
and panic.

Why is breathing important to control panic?

During a panic attack your breathing can be seriously affected. Your breathing plays
a major role in balancing carbon dioxide and oxygen in your blood. This directly
affects your ability to be rational as the brains normal functioning is disrupted. When

11

the carbon dioxide levels in your blood are increased it makes the blood become too
alkaline.
Over alkaline blood causes constriction of the arteries resulting in less oxygen
reaching the brain. When less oxygen reaches the brain it affects reasoning
capabilities and therefore the ability to think rationally.
Therefore breathing is a very important consideration when tackling panic
and anxiety attacks.

Your heart sends signals to the brain which regulate

brainwave rhythms.
The heart and the brain work in unison together. Our experience of emotions are a
result of these two organs communicating with each other through our nervous
systems.
Research shows that the heart sends more signals to the brain,
than the brain sends to the heart.
When a heartbeat is erratic it sends signals to the brains emotional centres which
are decoded and recognised and as stressful. Then actual experiences of negative
emotions such as anger, insecurity, depression are generated within the person
through the heart-brain connection.
An erratic heartbeat sending discordant signals to our brains is another reason to
cause us to be unable to think clearly and rationally.
So it is key to access your hearts intelligence and functioning in order to have an
influence over your brains activity. This will assist you to be able to control your
experienced emotional state.
If your heart is beating coherently through the practice of ZPB, then the
quality, regularity and consistency of your heart's messages to your brain
will be improved.
This will encourage feelings of calm, reassurance, resilience and peace.
For more on this go here;
http://www.mindfulmuscleblog.com/heart-has-consciousness/

12

Chapter 3: What is fear?

Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to
your thoughts. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

This is a massive question. To even start would take another book (which would
probably need to be written by someone else). So for the sake of simplicity and ease
of understanding, lets regard it here as a level of vibration in ourselves.
Fear has varying rates of low level vibration which have a debilitating effect on us.
The more we are afraid the more we can tend to freeze up to a slower vibration.
When we are attuned to this low vibratory level it makes us want to withdraw more
from the experience that is making us fearful. (Often by reducing breathing!)
All of our fears are connected in that they have a measure of this low level of
resonance.
The opposite is confidence, love and relaxation, a higher level of vibration.
Overcoming or transforming fear makes us feel liberated and is uplifting. In this book
you are going to learn how you can raise the vibration of your fear. Learning this skill
will enable you to have more control over your feelings.
Then you will be able to transform your feelings of fear and anxiety into confidence
and relaxation.

How does your breathing relate to your fears?

Intrinsically is the answer. There has been a continuous chain of events that lead all
the way back to your first breath and your first experience of life outside the womb.
That chain has been virtually unbroken up until your present moment. Everything in
your life has changed, to include your surroundings, your thoughts and feelings,
even the cells that make up your body.
But the one thing that is still with you, that is the common denominator in all your
experiences is, yes your breathing!

13

No matter how you have felt, what you have thought, where you have been, your
breath has been your lifelong companion. It has not deserted you.
One important realisation that I had many years ago, now a premise on which the
ZPB technique is based, is;
Your thoughts only have power over you if you breathe while you are
thinking them!
Let me say that another way.
If you do not breathe while you are having a thought it cannot affect you!
Or another way...
Your breath is the connection between your thoughts and your emotions!
So, your breathing connects you to your fears as it does to all of your thoughts (you
are not your thoughts btw). So, if you feel fearful because of what you are thinking
and feeling, know that you can take control by using ZPB and simply resist
breathing in!

Are you anxious about having a panic attack?

Knowing what a state of panic is like to experience, just the thought of going into one
would normally cause sufferers to become anxious. This would help to start the
process for an oncoming panic attack whether consciously or subconsciously. Once in
its grip any fear will try and squeeze you until you are suffocating, but you do not
need to allow this to happen. Before, you may have felt powerless to control your
state of anxiety and possible onset of a panic attack; but now, with ZPB you can
nip the fear in the bud and totally avoid the negative experience of it.
ZPB is not a thought process, so it is essential for you to know that you are able to
do this by the experience of actually doing it.
By creating a buffer between you and your thought processes using ZPB, you
immediately break the cycle of the downward spiral of anxiety, potentially leading to
a state of panic. Do this a few times and you will have the confidence to know that
you can do it anytime. Then you will not be so anxious about having a panic attack.

14

Chapter 4: When was your very first panic

attack?
What was it like to be born?
When you came into the world you would have had to start breathing fairly quickly.
Can you imagine what that must have been like? If your birth was relatively normal
you would likely have been squeezed down the birth canal into the arms of a
possibly quite anxious midwife. Then encouraged to start breathing if you weren't
already, by having your umbilical cord severed. This cutting of the cord very often
happens prematurely and can cause a state of panic in the infant.
This panic is caused by not having enough air to survive due to having the supply cut
off in an instant. This is when you would first start using your lungs.

What were your first breaths like?

Can you imagine for a minute what it would likely to have been like to use your
lungs for the first time ever?
Imagine this scenario.
You are a hypersensitive baby being born into the world. You find yourself being
forcefully evicted from your familiar, comfortable environment into dramatically
different surroundings. And while everything around you is changing, you also have
to change because in order to survive you have to start taking breaths into brand
new lungs (usually filled with fluid). So you start to breathe and then you
immediately feel like you are going to drown or suffocate. Also having to use your
lungs for the first time could well be excruciatingly painful.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/ptens3.html

All of this is happening to you and you do not have the reasoning capacity to
understand any of it and why it is happening.

Could this have been your very first panic attack?

Would you feel anxious about experiencing something similar again?

15

Le Boyer has addressed this issue around childbirth....This Link shows how birth
trauma can be carried around later in life especially when it is not recognised so that
the trauma can be healed.
http://www.soul-guidance.com/houseofthesun/birthwithoutviolence.htm

Is the panic reflex still necessary for survival?

If it is true that being born caused your very first panic attack and your first
experience of life outside the womb was traumatic, it would have set a precedent for
you. You may have made early decisions about life based on this experience.
Any anxiety and sensations of panic thereafter, will on some level resonate with this
early primary experience. This is because through your breathing and something
called cellular memory, you can be reminded now of the full extent of the trauma
that you experienced during birth. Even on a subconscious level, any memories of
this event may well exacerbate feelings of panic in the present.
You may protest at this idea. You may say I was only a little baby and it was such a
long time ago.
But, as a little baby you were extremely sensitive and vulnerable. Maybe even super
conscious.
http://www.eheart.com/cesarean/babies.html

Can you see now, that the experience of birth may have been more traumatic than
you previously might have imagined? Practicing ZPB can take your consciousness
back to this early event and help you realise that any sensations of panic are no
longer necessary for your survival.

16

Chapter 5: The hearts intelligence

The perfect man breathes as if he is not breathing
Lao Tze (604- c521 BC) Chinese philosopher

Does your heart have a brain?

Apparently so! Or at least it has a large group of neurons that acts like a brain.
Through research it is now known that the heart sends signals
to the brain before the brain sends any signals to the heart.
This is fundamental to understanding the power of the hearts
influence over our brains and our thinking. It also shows us that
we can adopt a different and more effective approach when
tackling mental problems, in this case fear.

Why is my heart important to control

panic?
There is a new and exciting field of science that is investigating the role of the heart
(other than being simply a pump) in the human body. This information tells us that it
is possible to gain control over how the body operates even when stressed.
And it tells us that heart coherence is this key to gaining control of our state.
This is possibly the most important consideration when learning how to
overcome panic and anxiety attacks!
This is because your heartbeat sends out a powerful
electromagnetic signal to all of your other bodily
systems. Also, it literally bathes every cell in your
body with a wave of electromagnetic energy. This
wave of energy surrounds us with an electromagnetic
field that extends about 14 ft in all directions.
When your heart is beating coherently (rhythmically),

Interesting facts:
The heart produces up to 5000
times more magnetism that the
brain and 60 times or more
electrical energy.
The Heart is the first organ to
develop in a growing foetus.

this electromagnetic energy field is strengthened.

17

Heart coherence, as mentioned earlier, helps to regulate your other systems and
bring them into coherence.

What is Heart Coherence?

Heart Coherence or HC is the measure of how rhythmically a heart is beating.
A musical beat has a steady rhythm and you can predict the next beat with ease.
This is a good example of high coherence.
The opposite of this is low coherence. If you imagine how a tin can bounces around if
being pulled behind a moving car, this gives you a good representation of low
coherence.
It is known that when we are relaxed and experiencing positive emotions, are hearts
beat much more coherently than when we are stressed and experiencing negative
emotions. This demonstrates the connection between Heart activity and emotional
states.

This new heart science is telling us that we can take control of our hearts
coherence to effect more positive emotions. This we can do very effectively
through certain controlled breathing practices.
It has been my personal discovery that ZPB is very effective for this
purpose. One of the main reasons for this is that it is so easy to do due to
the uncomplicated nature of the process.

18

Has your brain taken over your hearts role?

This is an interesting question for anyone to consider whether they suffer from
anxiety and or panic or not. In this modern day society we are encouraged to think,
think, think! with our brains. This happens from a very early age.
In our Western society we have been strongly encouraged to believe that it is by
using our brains only that we can navigate a safe passage through this world. This
has resulted in us adopting a false image of ourselves.
Often we do not properly consider our feelings and emotions, due to being so caught
up and dominated by our repeating thought patterns. In an effort to meet the
demands of the day, we can then find ourselves in a dichotomy. Or to put it in
more simple terms, our hearts and our heads become at war with each
other.
ZPB helps us to reconcile the differences that we may be experiencing
between our thoughts and our feelings.

Hungry heart
Before you start practising ZPB you need to understand what your heart 'centre' is.
Imagine a tornado or a whirlpool! These are spinning vortices of air and water that
have immense power and are characterised by having a conical, funnelling shape
and motion.
In Eastern tradition the Heart is said to have an energetic
Chakra and this is a spinning vortex of subtle energy. If
you can adopt this view of a whirlpool effect pinpointing
towards the very centre of your heart, you will enable a
connection

to

your

own

inner

energetic

world,

or

microcosm. This you will need to do to get the most out of

the ZPB practice, because as your attention is powerfully
drawn to your heart area, the energy generated there will need somewhere to go.
Then, when you breathe into this centre point, your emotions and thoughts can be
purified as they become reintegrated within yourself. This is an essential part of the
dynamic process of ZPB and should not be overlooked while practising.

19

The Torus
The Human heart emits an electromagnetic field that has been measured to extend
14 ft around the human body. It is called a Torus. The Torus is dynamic and is said to
represent not only the shape of the universe, but also the way in which the universe
moves. Check out these videos;
Torus Fun Torus Meditation The Torus
By 'tuning in' to our hearts, we are accessing the very centre of this toroid field. This
is how we can become more integrated with ourselves and bring together our body,
mind and emotions.
The shape of a Torus is geometrically perfect, it is self sustaining and self correcting.
A good example of this in action is a smoke ring or a ring bubble rising through
water. Dolphins blowing ring bubbles

But what is of real significance to us here, is the power that the Torus model
represents. It is the power of the universe, but it is also within us. By
practising ZPB we are activating the balancing and self-correcting forces of this
power and this will reduce sensations of fear caused by negative emotions and
irrational thinking.

20

Chapter 6: How does Zero-point breathing work?

When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady. But when the breath is
calmed the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life. Therefore, one
should learn to control the breath.
Svatmarama, Hatha Yoga Pradipika

What is ZPB?
Waiting for and following your breath call. this is what ZPB is in essence.
Let's break this down a little, so that it can be better understood.
'Waiting for' means reducing and regulating the in-breath and creating a demand in
the body for air to be breathed in, so as to notice your bodies desire to breathe. It
might also be described as under breathing, or perhaps more accurately under
inhaling.
'Following'
Firstly, this means to notice (follow the sensations) that stimulating the breath call
creates within your body. You should notice this to be more acutely somewhere deep
within the chest cavity. What you can experience is a vacuum or negative pressure
in your lungs.
Secondly, you breathe into this area, which means to trace or follow the flow of the
in-breath to the centre point of where this breath 'call' is being experienced.
As this call for in-breath represents your life force, finding it's origin (centre point) is
the key to your health and healing.
So, what is being described is not so much a breathing practise or regime, as with
ZPB you continue to breathe however you like, just as long as you wait for and
experience your bodys call for in-breath and then follow the flow of air and
pinpointing exactly where it wants to go when you do breath in.
If you do this over time, you will re-learn how to allow yourself to breathe
naturally.

21

When you were born, nobody told you how to breathe, you just started to do it. So I
am not about to try and tell you how to breathe and redesign your breathing pattern
for you. That would be far too difficult anyway.
This is an essential point that I want to make absolutely clear. What I am
saying is that with ZPB you are basically focusing on these described aspects of
your breathing process. And by doing this your whole breathing experience will be
changed.
By doing ZPB you can create and maintain a positive dynamic state within your
body.

Oxford Dictionary definition of

dynamic

Noun

1. A force that stimulates change or

progress within a system or process

How can this help you control panic and anxiety?

There are many ways both psychological and physical in which this breathing
process can help you to overcome your panic and anxiety attacks.
The 8 most apparent are as follows;
1) It makes your heart beat coherently.
2) It subtly changes the physiology of your body, making it work more efficiently,
as it regulates your bodys functions.
3) While you are focused on your next in-breath, you are not effectively able to
think about anything else that might have been worrying you.
4) It brings you powerfully into the present moment (making you unable to worry
about your past or future).
5) Resisting breathing in, even for only a short time, will enable you to gently
experience sensations of panic and anxiety. Because this experience is safe,
you feel a sense of control over this undesirable state. This is because you will
know that at any time you are able to breathe in. In the time it takes to inhale,
any sensations of anxiety and or panic will be alleviated.
6) Doing this breathing helps you remember your past. It helps you integrate
your memories so that you can be more of a whole person. You start to realise

22

that you are no longer a naive child with no life experience. You begin to see
that you are an independent person experienced in many aspects of life.
When you can easily remember the many positive events and feelings that
you have had over the years, it is more difficult to feel weak and vulnerable
and therefore easily afraid. The memory of even the negative aspects of your
past will help you feel empowered, because as you become aware of yourself
in the present moment you can realise that you did indeed survive those
events.
7) Diaphragm breathing (DB) and conscious connected breathing (CCB) are a
natural side effect of practising ZPB. Both DB and CCB are taught in yoga
classes to produce calm and awareness.
8) And as mentioned in chapter 3, through a process of buffering, any thoughts
that may cause panic and anxiety are rendered powerless.

Breath, mind and emotion

Here is a holistic model which will demonstrate to you how breathing directly affects
your entire state.
This chart symbolises the intrinsic relationship between
your breath your mind and your emotions
The scientific fact is that if one of these aspects is
affected in any way, positively or negatively the others
are automatically affected proportionately.
So if you change one you change the others equally.
Knowing this is valuable because; you can see that you
only have to work with one of them in order to

Pie Chart

change the others, and effectively alter your whole

state.
Now you may be able to imagine how powerful doing any breath work can be.
The real beauty of using this method to control states of fear is that there is no
thought required as the process becomes automatic. Once the process is understood
and practised no further mental discipline is required.

23

Computer analogy
Sometimes our computers can have programs running that will not shut down. Then
we may need to access 'task manager' in order to isolate and terminate the program
and sometimes this works.
Another way to shut down a runaway program is to turn the computer off for a short
time and then switch it back on again so that it reboots. This can be done with a lot
of electrical and electronic equipment to great effect
By doing this we exit the program by taking away it's power source.
This is a good analogy of how we switch our mind programming off using ZPB. We
are taking away the source of power to those overrunning mental programs. By not
breathing in to those self-perpetuating thought patterns, we are effectively closing
them down. When we breath again, we are 'rebooting our brains and giving
ourselves the opportunity to choose to run different mental programs that we have
control of.
With the ZPB process we are accessing our hearts centres whilst doing this and then
through a deeper understanding of ourselves and everyone else in our lives, we learn
to run 'programs' in our minds that serve us and humanity, This is what the
wisdom of the heart has to offer us and we can access this using ZPB.

24

Chapter 7: Zero-Point Breathing Guidelines

We too should make ourselves empty, that the great soul of the universe may
fill us with its breath.
Laurence Binyon

Following are the basic guidelines (points of focus) to apply ZPB. You may notice that
it is not a complicated process and has no difficult to learn techniques to master.
This is because this is not a system that is telling you how to breathe, but more of a
method of showing you how to improve the quality and power of each breath.
By focusing attention and awareness on certain aspects of each breath, your body
relearns to breathe correctly, as nature intended.

How to do ZPB
1) Let your lungs become empty. (There is no need to expel air forcefully,
instead, simply allow your body to relax, especially shoulders, chest and
abdomen.)
2) Then wait before taking your next in-breath. Wait for as long as you can until
it gets too uncomfortable to not breathe in.
3) During this time, allow yourself to feel what it is like to not breathe in, While
your lungs are empty like this you at the Bottom of your breath.
(Your lungs are not completely empty at this time, as they always contain an amount
of residual air, which keeps them open. Normally this is about 1.2 litres in men and
1.1 in Women).
4) Relax and keep noticing what this feels like! While you are waiting for your
next in-breath, explore the sensations in your body, both general and
localised. You may notice that it can become quite an overwhelming
experience, as the bodies demand for oxygen rapidly increases.

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5) You should inhale when you experience sensations of mild panic. (It is quite
natural to feel a bit panicky when you are resisting breathing in and your
demand for oxygen increases) You can inhale however you like at this stage.
6) Follow the flow of air into the centre of your lungs
7) You have now taken the first step in accessing the power of your breathing to
heal you of your trauma. This actually is a big step. It is unlikely that you
would have ever consciously resisted breathing in and consciously followed
your in-breath this way before now. Remember that this is where the
power of ZPB lies, it is in your breath call. And the sensations that you
are experiencing while resisting your in-breath is life force energy. This is the
same life force that animated you as a baby when breathing for the
first time ever.
8) Each time that you have inhaled to a comfortable amount you are at The Top
of the Breath. There is no merit in holding onto this state. In fact for the
purpose of ZPB you should not hold onto an in-breath. Instead simply let the
natural process of exhalation take over from the inhalation. Then
9) Let you lungs become empty again (but leave the residual air in there). There
is no need to expel air forcefully with ZPB. Instead simply allow your body to
relax, especially shoulders, chest and abdomen.
10)Once at the bottom of the breath again, you may wish to carry out the same
procedure exactly as before on your next breath, or you may wish to advance
with ZPB by either waiting for a longer period before starting to inhale, or by
breathing in more slowly, or both. See A) B) and C) further on.
The main aim with these 10 steps, is to experience and maintain your breath call,
your bodys demand for air and to feel your consciousness being drawn to the
negative pressure (vacuum) in the area of your heart. Then to breathe into this
experience, so as to become acquainted and comfortable with it.
After practising like this for a while you will begin to feel more comfortable with the
process and the experience of it. Once you have become more comfortable,
metaphorically you will have made yourself a base camp and it is then time to make
advances.

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To make further progress you need to practice 1-5 as directed. Then start applying
your attention to your in-breath. By this I mean experiment and play around with it
by using one of the following examples:
A) While keeping your chest as still as possible take a short breath in and out
quickly. This breath is like a short sniff directed towards a relaxed abdomen
followed by an immediate but unforced exhalation.
When you do this you are only taking in a small amount of air. In between each of
these short breaths, you are again pausing at the bottom of your breath and waiting
for as long as you can before you next inhale in this way.
B) Breathe in slowly. The emphasis here is on slowly, because you want to
maintain the dynamic power of the slight vacuum (negative pressure) that you
have created within yourself. Allow the lungs to slowly fill to a point of natural
equilibrium. (Nb. by keeping the chest area as still as possible, the diaphragm
takes over from the intercostal muscles during the in breath and the air is
directed to the lower portion of the lungs, which is more beneficial for the
exchange of gasses!)
C) Mix and match the 2 above.
As I said earlier, I am giving you guidelines only here. It is not my aim to give you a
set routine. By mixing it up as you see fit, you are likely to breathe more as you
should in your present moment with regard to meeting the demands that you are
experiencing.

Searching for the Trigger point.

An interesting and important factor of the ZPB process is recognising the transition
from exhale to inhale!
You create a physiological demand for more oxygen when you are gently resisting
your in-breath. You should notice that despite your ability to have conscious control
over your breathing experience, there is a point in time when your body simply
wants to take over and start to breathe automatically. This is called here the Trigger
point.

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Being conscious of this in-breath start point and familiarising yourself with it, will
enable you to recognise it and help you to build your faith in it as a source of life. By
doing this you set a precedent for your future breaths.
The power and quality of the whole of an in-breath will be influenced by
our ability to be conscious of it, especially at its start point.
The beginning of any event has a direct influence on how it will play out in its
entirety and this is true of every breath that each of us will take. Being conscious of
the start point of an inhalation, will enable us to be more conscious throughout the
rest of it.

Extending the trigger point

The in-breath trigger point is something which is automatically triggered by the
brains respiratory centre as a response to carbon dioxide levels in the lungs.
Once you become familiar with this starting point of each of your breaths you can
then start to take conscious control of it. By this I mean that you can resist it and
therefore experience more of it. By doing this you will be priming your body for a
better exchange of CO2 and oxygen. This in turn will make your breathing much more
efficient.
There is much more that can be said about this automatic breathing
mechanism. It is truly something of significance. But what is mostly of
importance here is to have an experience of it because it represents life
force! It is this positive force that will help you have power and control
over your negative emotional states that cause your panic and anxiety.
When you were born, nobody could tell you how to breathe, you just did it, and this
represented your spiritual life force entering your body. If you consider how you may
have breathed when you were a baby, you might see that it was with a similar focus
of attention as with ZPB!?
For a more comprehensive description of what ZPB is and for more variations of how
it

can

be

practised

you

are

invited

to

go

to

my

website

www.zero-

pointbreathing.co.uk

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Chapter 8: The Emwave

You know that our breathing is the inhaling and exhaling of air. The organ that
serves for this is the lungs that lie round the heart, so that the air passing
through them thereby envelops the heart. Thus breathing is a natural way to the
heart. And so, having collected your mind within you, lead it into the channel of
breathing through which air reaches the heart and, together with this inhaled air,
force your mind to descend into the heart and to remain there..
Nicephorus the Solitary

Since discovering ZPB and after practising this dynamic breathing for a few weeks,
my intuition told me that it was having an effect on my hearts rhythms. But I had no
way of validating this, at least not until I came across a product called an emwave
from The Heart Math Institute in America.
They have been doing extensive research into Heart coherence and how important it
is for health. As a way to help people achieve a regular heart rhythm they created a
biofeedback measuring device called an Emwave 2.
Their scientific research has shown the direct relationship between breath and heartrhythm.
Since buying one for myself I have enjoyed using it nearly every day, sometimes for
hours at a time.
What I have found is that this device is absolutely perfect for demonstrating and
proving the effectiveness of my ZPB breathing method.
To discover more about their exciting research centred around the heart, check out
the link below.
http://zero-pointbreathing.co.uk/redir/heart-research.htm

You may decide that you would like to invest in one of their excellent products as a
way to measure your progress with ZPB. If you do, then I would recommend the
emwave 2 link. This is the most versatile in my opinion as it can be used any time
and without the need for a computer (except to periodically charge the battery
through the usb port).

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To see how the rhythm of your heartbeat responds to your breathing is quite an
insight. But to see it go from beating erratically to a steady and coherent beat using
ZPB can actually be quite exciting.
(This small, portable device has an ear sensor which takes a pulse reading and
measures the space of time between each of your heartbeats which gives the HRV
reading. Using it encourages you to breathe in ways to advance on its built in
scoring system, which offers rewards for achieving higher levels of HC.)
There are 4 different measures of HC levels with this device. This means that you can
work your way up to higher HC at your own pace.
For me, it is not only the sense of achievement of reaching higher levels of HC that I
find exciting, but also of having powerful control over perhaps the most important
organ of the body. Gaining demonstrable control requires some effort yes, but the
emwave gently guides and encourages you with its lights and sounds.
ZPB and the Emwave work so well together that they could have been
designed for each other. Both are useful alone, but together they offer so
much more.
There are other companies that offer products that can give you similar readings of
HC.
Check my website for several other options......
http://www.zero-pointbreathing.co.uk/?page_id=49

One is Ithlete. They offer a HC measuring device to be used with an iphone or

android phone. It can help and encourage your progress with ZPB and offer other
benefits as well for the serious fitness trainer
http://zero-pointbreathing.co.uk/redir/ithlete.htm

Do I need one of these to do ZPB?

The absence of panic and/or anxiety will tell you how well you are progressing with
your new way of controlling your mental and physical state. However one of these
HC measuring devices can help immensely, especially if you feel that you need extra
confirmation and encouragement.

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Personally I highly recommend purchasing one! They offer excellent value for money
when you consider the health benefits they can offer, because the HRV
measurement is a vital indication to overall levels of health. The Emwave helps to
align the main organ of your body, which has the most powerful influence
over all your other bodily functions. This includes the way that your brain
works and so the quality of your thoughts.

http://www.savvyhealth.com/disp.asp?doc_id=533

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