Breath Beyond Illness: A Mind-Body Approach to Living with Lung Conditions
500 million people worldwide live with chronic respiratory disease. Most receive treatment for their lungs. Almost none receive treatment for everything else.
Living with a lung condition is exhausting, isolating - and so much harder than most people around you will ever understand.
Breathlessness. Fatigue. Anxiety before every exertion. The quiet grief of a life that has slowly had to shrink. If you are living with COPD, asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, bronchiectasis, post-TB COPD, or another chronic respiratory condition, you already know that managing your lungs is only half the battle. The other half - the emotional, psychological, and existential weight of it - is rarely talked about, and almost never treated.
Up to 40% of people with COPD live with anxiety. 36% live with depression. Fewer than 15% of pulmonary rehabilitation programmes address either.
Breath Beyond Illness is written for the other 85%.
Introducing the PIPR Model
At the heart of this book is Dr Sundar's original clinical framework - the Psychosocially Integrated Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PIPR) Model - developed over two decades of working directly with patients with chronic respiratory disease across India, Ireland, and the UK.
The PIPR Model brings together conventional pulmonary rehabilitation with psychological support, breathwork, trauma-informed care, cultural responsiveness, and digital inclusion - to treat the whole person, not just the lungs.
What this book gives you:
A clear understanding of how your mind and lungs are deeply, inseparably connected - and why fear can be as disabling as airflow obstructionPractical breathwork techniques to reduce breathlessness and anxiety at homeTools to manage the emotional toll - fear, panic, depression, grief, and loss of identity - that accompanies chronic illnessAn integrative approach that bridges clinical medicine with mind-body tools, giving you more options for healingReal patient stories from India and the UK that will make you feel less aloneGuidance on building sustainable habits that support your lung health every dayA voice that sees you as a whole person - not just a diagnosisThis book is for you if:
You have COPD, asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, ILD, bronchiectasis, post-TB COPD, or another chronic respiratory conditionYou feel your mental and emotional health is being overlooked by the healthcare systemYou want practical, evidence-based tools - not just reassuranceYou are a carer, family member, or healthcare professional supporting someone with a lung conditionYou believe that healing means more than a better walk test resultAbout the Author
Dr Devi Sundar, PhD, is a South Asian Indo-Irish integrative mind-body medicine consultant with over 23 years of clinical experience in respiratory care, psychotherapy, and neuroscience. She is the founder of Tele-Therapies and the architect of the Breathe Better Programme. Her doctoral research focused on a biopsychosocial model for chronic respiratory disease management developing Psychosocially Integrated Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PIPR) Model and she has published over 30 peer-reviewed research papers across respiratory health and mental health.
This book is also a deeply personal one. Dr Sundar lost her own mother to Diabetes and COPD at the age of 62. That loss - and the conviction that it did not have to end that way - is the reason this book exists.
"You are more than your diagnosis. And breathing better is only the beginning."
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