Breathing is a unique brain function that bridges conscious and unconscious states and can be consciously controlled.

“So, you can either do it, thinking about it, the way we do with pain control in hypnosis or you can do it to some extent, by taking charge of your breathing and doing things that will produce a change that you want to see happen in your body.”

“breathing is unique among the functions of the brain because it really originates as a brain function and then extends of course to the body in that it represents a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious because at any given moment we're breathing and of course at any given moment we can take control of our breathing”