10-12 July 2018, Durham Breathing is a basic physiological process, yet also has deep cultural, spiritual and personal meaning. However, although breath and breathing are such resonant and urgent subjects, they have never been the subject of systematic cultural or … Read more…
25 August 2017, Edinburgh DECODING THE SECRETS OF THE AIR Science writer Sam Kean traces the origins and ingredients of our atmosphere in Caesar’s Last Breath. This fascinating investigation shows how what we breathe has shaped human progress, been the … Read more…
26 June 2017, Bristol As part of this interdisciplinary symposium, Jane Macnaughton and Jayne Wilton will explore the ways in which collaboration between an artist and an academic has opened out ideas about breath and its nature, stimulated new research … Read more…
The header shows Capacity by Annie Cattrell, part of the Royal West of England Academy exhibition ‘Air: Visualising the Invisible in British Art 1768-2017’. This post and ‘The uses and abuses of air (1)’ also appear in the publication accompanying the … Read more…
The header image shows a viola, also called heartsease. Music therapist and writer Kate Binnie writes: I am in the hospital. Cardiology ward. My mother sits on the edge of the hospital bed, her swollen and shiny legs look as if … Read more…
Life of Breath PhD student Tina Williams writes: The 2017 Research Without Borders Festival showcase exhibition ran at Bristol’s Colston Hall on May 12th. I, along with ninety-nine other research students, took part in this engaging research exhibition, with the aim … Read more…
The header shows Ascent of Lunardi’s Balloon from St George’s Fields, London, 1788-90 by J. C. Ibbetson, which will be part of the Royal West of England Academy exhibition ‘Air: Visualising the Invisible in British Art 1768-2017’, as does this … Read more…
Artist Caroline Wright writes: Earlier this year, a two-day project called Space to Breathe took place at Somerset House in London, a building that is located in one of the most highly polluted areas of the city. Commissioned by the … Read more…
Please note that audio files of all the talks given at this conference will be available shortly. Life of Breath PhD student Tina Williams writes: On the 16th and 17th March, The University of Bristol hosted a conference on phenomenology, anxiety … Read more…
The header image shows ‘In the same breath’, a 2008 artwork by artist and glass-blower Kate Williams (borosilicate glass / 40 x 125 x 40 cm / courtesy of the artist / Photo © Yiannis Katsaris. See Kate Williams’s website … Read more…
Following on from part 1, Life of Breath PI Havi Carel writes: What is breathlessness? This is a seemingly simple question. Why, it’s the well-known experience of panting, perhaps getting hot and sweaty, maybe a heaving of the chest, or … Read more…
The header image shows a representation of the three wise monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. A parody of these monkeys (each with a different injury, bandaged or in a cast) can be found in … Read more…
7 Dec 2016, Newcastle Sited in the five storey stairwell of Broadacre House, Public Address System is a sound installation initiated through the ensemble performance of a psycho-physical breath practice called brahmari. The audience are invited to walk through the … Read more…
The header photograph was taken by Paul Waine, and shows Bev Wears of the British Lung Foundation and Rebecca Oxley, post-doctoral researcher on the Life of Breath. Paul is a member of Breathe Easy Durham Dales, and has written a poem … Read more…
Tina Williams, PhD student on the Life of Breath project, writes a post prompted by the inaugural lecture of Prof. Jerry Nolan (audio recording now available), Honorary Professor of Resuscitation Medicine in the School of Clinical Sciences, University of Bristol: Loss. … Read more…
Life of Breath PI Havi Carel writes: The experience of illness is a universal and substantial part of human existence. Like death, illness raises important philosophical issues. But unlike death, illness, and in particular the experience of being ill, has … Read more…
David Scoins (lifelong runner, sometime sports teacher) spent seven years in China; a year or more in each of Xi’an, Nanjing, Beijing and Guangzhou, and shorter periods in other cities. The smallest of these cities has a population far bigger than … Read more…
This post is the first of a series on vaping and vape tricks by Rebecca Oxley, post-doctoral researcher in anthropology on the Life of Breath project. Rebecca is currently looking for people to share their stories about living with breathlessness. E-cigarettes can make the breath … Read more…
This post is written jointly by Jess Farr-Cox (Life of Breath Project Manager (Bristol) and recently back from a trip to Hangzhou, PR China), and her father David Scoins (lifelong runner, sometime sports teacher and resident in China 2007-2014). The title is … Read more…
In the second of a series of posts on cetaceans (see also ‘The cetaceans may give rise to some perplexity‘), Project Manager (Bristol) Jess Farr-Cox writes: Whaling abounds with breathing, breathlessness, air, death, myth and song. Factory whaling boats were … Read more…
Kate Binnie, yoga teacher and music therapist, writes: In his brilliant book Being Mortal (2015) Atul Gawande calls for all healthcare professionals working with patients at the end of life to “help people to end their stories on their own … Read more…
Elspeth Penny is an arts, health and communication specialist. She has a letter writing project and a creative consultancy and writes, directs and acts across several platforms. She writes: ‘My Dear Breath, I have lived with you for 83 years, the first … Read more…
In the first of a series of posts on cetaceans, Project Manager (Bristol) Jess Farr-Cox writes: As discussed in previous posts (see All his heart was cold), Aristotle was fascinated by creatures that live in the sea, and in particular … Read more…
In an essay that first appeared in Atrium: The Report of the Northwestern Medical Humanities & Bioethics Program (Spring 2011, p. 6), professor of English Joanne Jacobson writes: My accounts, which I can swear to have kept faithfully, I have, indeed, … Read more…