Breathing Essentials: How to Breathe for Life
What you'll learn
- Unlock the Power of Breath – Learn the fundamentals of proper breathing anatomy and physiology, and ignite your curiosity to explore more.
- Break Bad Habits – Say goodbye to poor breathing mechanics with expert-led video exercises and step-by-step demonstrations.
- Transform your breathing to help reduce pain and enhance posture.
- Begin a lifelong journey toward better, healthier breathing habits.
Requirements
- This course is a basic course designed for the general public. No previous knowledge or experience is required to learn to change your breathing patterns.
Description
Breathing Essentials: How to Breathe for Life – A Definitive Guide
6-Week Program to Improve Your Breathing
This course is the first in a six-part Breathing Essentials series focused on the powerful impact of respiration, both positive and negative, on the human body. Grounded in science and supported by research, this program introduces you to the fundamentals of healthy breathing mechanics and function.
What You'll Learn:
The Role of Breathing in Health: Understand how dysfunctional breathing patterns can influence pain, posture, and physical performance.
Breathing Anatomy & Function: Explore the structure of the rib cage and the muscles involved in respiration, including the diaphragm, and learn how breathing should—and should not—be performed.
Diaphragm Dysfunction: Learn what happens when the diaphragm isn't working properly and how this affects overall body function.
Breathlessness Strategies: Discover effective positions and techniques to control breathing during episodes of shortness of breath.
Self-Assessment Tools: Use tools like the Nijmegen Questionnaire and the Self-Evaluation Breathing Questionnaire to identify symptoms of disordered breathing.
Mobility & Control: Improve chest expansion, enhance trunk rotation, and reduce bodily rigidity.
Breathing Exercise Program: Follow a structured 3–6 week exercise plan to retrain your breathing patterns.
This foundational course is designed to stand alone, but it also sets the stage for deeper learning in the full Breathing Essentials Series. Future courses will cover advanced topics such as detailed respiratory anatomy, core control, breathing pattern disorders, sleep apnea, and athletic performance enhancement.
Who this course is for:
- This course is designed for the student who is interested in learning about neck pain, back pain, chronic pain, sleep apnea, fatigue, poor athletic performance, scoliosis, weak core and poor trunk control. Sounds like a lot but how we breathe will influence all of those issues.
Instructor
- 4.6 Instructor Rating
- 183 Reviews
- 1,485 Students
- 6 Courses
Debra Dent, PT is a seasoned Physical Therapist with over 45 years of clinical experience, specializing in manual therapy of the spine. She graduated from the University of Manitoba, Canada, earning her Diploma in Physiotherapy in 1977 and a Bachelor of Physical Therapy in 1979.
In 1989, Debra became a certified Part A Manual Physical Therapist through the Canadian Physiotherapy Association’s Orthopaedic Division. She went on to achieve the Advanced Diploma in Manual and Manipulative Physiotherapy in 1994 and became a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Manual Physical Therapists (FCAMPT), a designation she held until her retirement in 2019. In the U.S., she earned the APTA Orthopedic Certified Specialist (OCS) designation in 1996, recertified in 2006, and was awarded Emeritus status in 2016.
Debra has been an educator in the physiotherapy field since 1989. Before relocating to the United States in 1993, she served as an instructor for the Canadian Physiotherapy Association’s Orthopaedic Division. From 2003 to 2005, she was a guest clinical instructor at the University of South Florida, teaching spinal manual therapy in the MscPT undergraduate program.
She has taught numerous manual therapy courses throughout the U.S. and Canada via Cross Border Seminars, Cross Country Education/VYNE Seminars, and TLC Physical Therapy and Rehab. Her written contributions include Segmental Stabilization of the Lumbar Spine for Northeast Seminars’ online platform, the four-part Proximal Imposters series for LiveConferences (2017), and Differential Diagnosis of the Spine for Home CEU Connections (2016). She offers a variety of courses on both ChiroCredit and OnlineCE. Her book, Differential Diagnosis of the Spine, is available in both softcover and Kindle editions on Amazon.
Debra is the owner of Cross Border Seminars and currently works as a consultant and contract physical therapist in Florida, focusing primarily on rheumatology and spinal conditions.