Donna Nolan’s book, Breathing My Own Breath, is beautifully transparent when recounting her experiences about her choices in life and most importantly she shares what she has gained from those experiences and how they have influenced her.

In her early twenties, as an earnest seeker of truth, Donna came across yoga which seemed to offer some solutions and she put much effort over many years into studying with yoga masters all over the world, becoming a yoga teacher herself.

She even thought at times that she was close to finding the answers to those big questions, ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What am I doing here?’ but in the end it was an elusive quest, and she could never quite find the deep settlement she was searching for.

At the age of 33 Donna was diagnosed with breast cancer which put a stop to the momentum of her life. Living a healthy lifestyle, she could not, at first, understand why she would get breast cancer. She shares her feelings and reactions very honestly and how she was able to use her encounter with cancer as an opportunity to look at her life and discover more about herself. Donna did not blame herself or others but allowed herself to become vulnerable. She started to listen more deeply to her body and connect with her inner strength and wisdom, realising that she had not been ‘breathing her own breath’ – that she had been living by what she thought she should do, often disguised as something she was quite convinced she wanted to do.

I really liked Donna’s honesty and willingness to be transparent and how she does it with gentle understanding, and without putting herself down. She shows how we can use a difficult situation as a learning, to let go of what no longer works for us and then move forward.

There’s a realness to the way she relates her life – it’s not a ‘happily ever after’ story but a journey of someone who has lived life to the full and embraced the magical moments as well as the unfavourable circumstances as opportunities to evolve.

How and where Donna found settlement I leave to you to discover in the pages of this warm and easy to read book.

– Gayle Cue