Breathlessness is far broader than a physical symptom. It affects people’s mood, self-esteem and social links and often involves feelings of guilt and shame. Breathlessness can also be a symptom of a range of mental disorders, such as panic and anxiety disorders. There … Read more…
Music therapist and writer Kate Binnie writes: Friday 29th September saw Oxford’s City Centre transformed by the Curiosity Carnival. This University-organised event sought to bring together researchers across fields of study to share knowledge, answer questions, and interact in creative ways with … Read more…
A cappella singing, a lone rower in the Pacific Ocean, fungal spores, clairvoyance and a baby’s cries…what could possibly tie these things together? The surprising answer is breath and poetry. ‘To Breathe Ourselves Into Some Other Lungs’ was an … Read more…
‘It Felt Like Drowning’ is the winner of our recent Inspired musical composition competition. Entrants were invited to attend the Feel It Festival in November 2016 and take their inspiration from one of the events. The winner, Elan Higueras, … 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…
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…
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…
Kate Binnie, yoga teacher and music therapist, writes: We’ve all experienced the shortness of breath associated with fear, nerves, anger and distress. Think of a tired little boy dropping his Mr. Whippy on the sand after a long hot day … 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…
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…
Principle Investigator on the Life of Breath and professor of philosophy Havi Carel will be giving her inaugural lecture on ‘The philosophical role of illness’ on April 11th. She writes: Serious illness is a great calamity. It is unwelcome, violent, frightening … Read more…
Vocal coach, community choir and workshop leader and music therapist Phoene Cave writes: In 2008 I answered an advertisement for a singing teacher at Royal Brompton Hospital in London. The original idea was inspired by Bronchial Boogie in Oldham, to … Read more…
In this essay, senior investigator Havi Carel recounts her experience of being diagnosed with a rare respiratory condition as a starting point for considering how waiting for and receiving a medical diagnosis affects people’s lives. After perhaps a prolonged period … Read more…
Kate Binnie, yoga teacher and music therapist, shares a memory of a hospice patient: Paula wakes early every day and spends time in bed, praying. “I’m a good Catholic girl” she wheezes up at me from her chair, grinning naughtily. … Read more…
Sarah McLusky, Project Manager (Durham) writes: What is breath? We all know what it feels like. We can perceive the rise and fall of the chest, the air moving in and out of our lungs, but unless it’s a frosty … Read more…
Susan M D Carr, art therapist at the Prospect Hospice and PhD Student at Loughborough University, writes: I was in a CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training session the other day, about to assist a ‘collapsed person’ in the form of a … Read more…
Physiotherapist and Bradcliff practitioner Pip Windsor writes: How can a symptom of chronic over-breathing be a feeling of lack of air? How can the answer to the feeling of air ‘hunger’ be to breathe less? Our body will usually give some useful … Read more…
Knowledge Exchange Facilitator (Humanities) Cleo Hanaway-Oakley at the University of Oxford writes: Cry, inspire, expire, and cry. This single short sentence provides a synopsis of Samuel Beckett’s play, Breath (1969). The full play script – which is, in its entirety, a mere … Read more…
Newly-appointed PhD student on the Life of Breath project Tina Williams writes: The patient experiences her illness from within, as a transforming experience impacting all dimensions of life […] She does not compartmentalise the disease, nor does she understand it … Read more…