Tarik Fehmi

1. What is your impression of the instructor and how she or he runs the class?

My impression of the instructor is that of a person who spent the last thirty years dissecting the breath and figured out a way to integrate its separate parts. It was a pleasure working with Mr. White because of his tremendous insight on the topic.  Mr. White ran the class quite efficiently in stepwise organization with advanced topics building upon previously learned fundamentals: the way a subject should be taught. Although I have not done the advanced course, I could only imagine how effective the techniques are considering how safe and powerful the fundamental techniques are.  The class was run well and with a high degree of enthusiasm.  Mr. White's passion for teaching is evident once you step into his office and he truly enjoys what he does. It was a pleasure learning from him.

2. What are some of the major benefits you received as a result of the class?

The major benefits received were:

  - greater insight into how a breathe should feel and be, and how to go about training to attain permanency of proper breathing.

  - powerful tools for opening one's breath and how one would go about teaching themselves and maintaining healthy, natural, relaxed, deep, smooth, and unrestrained breathing.
 
  - mastery of my ability to relax and remove muscular tension that was restricting my breath, movement, and believe it or not, my strength.  I actually gained strength on the three main powerlifts as a result of Optimal Breathing Techniques.
 
  - learning objective and immediately quantifiable parameters of breathing.  The fact that one could not only subjectively feel their breathing improve but also measure some quantity of change makes this method of teaching the breath the most effective one.  There is absolutely no guess work involved and one could immediately learn which aspects of their breathing need improvement and the manner in which to go about their improvement.

3. How could the instructor have improved the service to you?

I cannot comment on this because all of my expectations were either met or exceeded.  If anything, a beneficial improvement to the training course would entail the inclusion of a table of contents in the manual for easier navigation. However, my expectations were fully met.  I cannot wait to return to class for the advanced course.

4. How would you describe Optimal Breathing(R) to someone who might need or want this service?

Optimal Breathing is a way to detect and become aware of previously unapparent breathing blocks and is a method of removing those blocks. It is common for one to laugh off the idea that their breathing is dysfunctional; however, this method of teaching the breath will immediately change the minds of those who believe they "breathe just fine". Optimal Breathing is not a series of breathing exercise but it is a system that teaches one what a proper breathe should feel like and which qualities are to be improved upon. To date, I have not had a dissatisfied client and whoever I've worked on reports leaving a session feeling like they've had a body transplant.  The effects are that profound and must be experienced to really appreciate their significance.

If you are a person who:

  - subjectively feels there is something not quite right with your breathing but wishes for objective measurements and evaluations that you could not receive from medical doctor or respiratory specialist because of factors that are overlooked or not taken into consideration, Optimal Breathing is for you.

  - has chronic tension and pain, Optimal Breathing is a system that teaches you to release those tensions with improved breathing function and diminish pain because of increased the parasympathetic tone. One must realize that knots, trigger points, and other types of muscular tension are brought about as a result of decreased circulation, thereby decreased oxygen concentrations, in the afflicted areas.  The better you breathe, the less tension and pain you will carry.
 
 - deals with or has dealt with anxiety or phobias, then Optimal Breathing is definitely for you.  The system allows one to feel empowered rather than fearful and is an excellent complement to psychotherapy and may altogether eliminate the need for anti-anxiety medication.

 - has a diagnosed pulmonary or cardiovascular or related disease, then Optimal Breathing will absolutely improve the quality of your life and will complement treatments provided by your health professional. The techniques are safe and do not interfere with medical treatments.

5. How would you go about integrating Optimal Breathing into your daily life?

   Practice reflex triggering upon rising and throughout the day.  In my case, the pelvic tilt reflex trigger is the most practical one to use upon rising.

   Incorporate key breath expansion exercises into my daily fitness, exercise, and health regime.
 
   Focus on relieving/releasing muscular tensions that may cause breathing blocks or hinder my athletic performance that may arise as a result of dysfunctional breathing.

   Practice until Optimal Breathing becomes second nature.  Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect breathing.

Tarik holds a bachelor's degree in Pharmacology & Toxicology from the University of Western Ontario and currently studies Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Toronto.  Tarik has athletic backgrounds in rugby, Olympic style weightlifting, powerlifting, and grappling sports such as wrestling and no gi submission wrestling.