Newsletter — Vol. 1, No. 2
May 2017
OutBreath
Institute
GREETINGS from Betsy Thomason
Meet Karen Brown, retired RN medical researcher, who lives in Philadelphia with her 22-year-old cat, Hodie. She is joining me to create the OutBreath Institute team, as Coordinator of Community Outreach. Karen shares her story in Chapter Two of Just Breathe Out — Using Your Breath to Create a New, Healthier You. Here in this newsletter, she delves in even deeper, to explain why the BreatheOutDynamic system (BODs) has been so significant for her well-being.
Building the OutBreathe Institute Team
Since the age of two, my reality has been in constant conflict with the rest of the world and especially with the supposed experts — everyone from school teachers to athletic coaches; even my childhood dancing instructors; and the intimidating medical community. Thank God my mother ran interference for me because she believed me, and believed in me.
Why did my world go crazy? Well, one day I was a healthy two-year-old. The next day I was slammed with paralytic polio that has intruded upon and dominated the rest of my life, with leg braces, splints, thirty-five surgeries, and a ventilator to help me breathe during sleep.
Out of this devastating turn in my young life, I’ve learned something valuable from Betsy Thomason’s book Just Breathe Out. Her message has led me out of that chaos into a serene, independent, and healthy life. That “something” is learning to honor to my body.
I’ve have discovered three steps to honoring my body, all related to learning the BreatheOutDynamic system (BODs), as explained in Just Breathe Out, Chapter 3:
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First Step: You become aware of your body talking to you. The outbreath focus quiets the noise of negativity so you can listen deeply and discover your own personal truth.
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Second Step: You learn the meaning of different body sensations. Now you can interpret their meaning. You feel the ah ha, the excitement of self-awareness.
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Third Step: You give voice to your body. It speaks to you in the doctor’s office, helping you educate the doctor about what’s really going on in your beautiful body.
In the past four years, I’ve been experiencing more joy, hope, and satisfaction with my life. I credit BODs with giving me a new lease on life. The active, spine-stretching outbreath has restored my stamina, cognitive function, and provided pain relief — all measures of healing.
As I join the OutBreath Institute team, my mission is to help others move from pain and suffering or despair and distraction to a place of personal truth and healing.
Could this be you?
What’s your story?
What’s your vision for your future?
You can reach me at karen@outbreathinstitute.com. Karen Brown, RN
Karen Brown's Story
April 2017
American University Faculty & Staff
AU alum Betsy Thomason, BA, RRT, engaged AU faculty and staff in the power of the outbreath to create relaxation and conserve energy. Attendees were introduced to the best way to manage stress: with their active, spine-stretching outbreath which engages the parasympathetic nervous system to promote relaxation, conserve energy, and manage pain.
October 24, 2017
Academy of Integrative
Health and Medicine
Betsy Thomason, BA, RRT, is presenting a two-hour BreatheOutDynamic system workshop at the annual conference of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, held in San Diego from October 22-25, 2017. For more information, go to www.aihm.org or contact Betsy at
betsy@justbreatheout.com.
Speaking Calendar ~
1) Want to improve your health using your outbreath? Read Just Breathe Out — Using Your Breath to Create a New, Healthier You, available at www.justbreatheout.com.
Choose soft-bound, e-book, or audible/iTunes formats.
2) Please, contact your public library and ask them to order Just Breathe Out for their collection. It’s available through all library distributors. Recommend Just Breathe Out for your book club.
3) Tell us about your progress learning BODs and applying it in your life.
Email Karen Brown at karen@outbreathinstitute.com. We’ll be sharing some of your insights in the next newsletter.
4) Write a review —
directly on Amazon, or email it to betsy@justbreatheout.com
for the website.
Happy trails!
What’s your diagnosis? Seems that everyone these days leaves the doctor’s office with a “diagnosis.”
The February 2017 issue of CHEST Physician, the monthly newspaper of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), reported on a retrospective Canadian asthma study published in the March 2017 issue of JAMA — the Journal of the American Medical Association. It revealed that a lot of people had been misdiagnosed or not even reevaluated.
How could you avoid being misdiagnosed or not reevaluated?
Build a partnership with your intelligent body, mind, and spirit, as well as with your health practitioner. Do not put your health practitioner on a pedestal or a throne. Use your own authority to gain clarity about your particular situation. Get a second opinion and educate yourself. Learn the BreatheOutDynamic system (BODs)
What’s your diagnosis?
May it be “healthy.”
How's Your Health?
LISTEN to a podcast I did in December with Ronald Hoffman, MD, a noted integrative doctor, author of Intelligent Medicine. When he wrote it 20 years ago, he included my name and contact information in his resource list.
