Take a deep breath. If it doesn't start low, in your belly, and work its way up through your chest, you could use some help. So say the breathing teachers.

What they're saying isn't new. Yoga has long touted special breathing techniques as a path to physical wellness and spirituality . And while the claims are sometimes difficult to measure scientifically researchers have no meter for measuring whether somebody's life has been transformed - better breathing does make medical sense.

Using lungs more efficiently is a good thing. Of that, science is becoming as sure as alternative practitioners have been for years.

One of the newer techniques is called transformational breathing, which has its roots in traditional yoga-type breathing. Advocates claim it can change your life.

"Of all the healing arts I have worked in, transformational breathing is the most powerful and effective process that I have found," said Carol Hawk, a breathing teacher and yoga instructor from Somers Point. "The feedback I get from people is just so intense. For 10 years I have given a money-back guarantee and nobody has asked for their money back. There are tangible, long-lasting results."

Nine people are gathered in a semi-circle around Hawk. They're in a classroom at the Seashore Healing Arts Center in Somers Point. Today's lesson is transformational breathing. Two people are new. The rest are back for more of something they like a lot.

Igniting our healing powers

Hawk says she has taught transformational breathing to thousands. She also teaches traditional yoga typc breathing, but she says transformational breathing is different in that it sometimes produces more dramatic and longer lasting results. It can, she says, ignite a person's healing powers. And more.

"Many report mystical experiences of great beauty which bring insight and greater clarity to their lives," her brochure says. Others achieve a kind of serenity, or make progress toward long-sought goals, she says. Hawk also believes the traumas of our lives are stored in our bodies, and that breathing can help get them out. Other claims: pain relief, freedom from addictions and compulsions and "a morc vivid connectedness with God or source. "

The experienced people in the group nod their heads in agreement.

Hawk knows those kinds of claims often generate skepticism in the uninitiated, so she often stresses the basics: people who stick with transformational breathing become healthier, more energetic, happier and less stressed.

"The blah blah blah of everyday life somehow becomes more magical, more manageable, more doable," she tells the group.

Our breathing problems vary, she tells the group. Most people don't exhale completely. Ieaving in our body too much used, toxic air. Some people only use their upper chest to breathe, some only use the lower lungs. But the point is, they could be doing better.

The goal, she says, is not to breathe perfectly all the time but to spend five minutes a day doing the special breaths she's about to teach.

"One hundred breaths a day," she tells the class. "If you do that you will see so many changes in your life. You will find more peace, you will find more mental balance. "

"Stuff will come up"

But sometimes during transformational breathing, Hawk warns the group, unsettling things can happen. Some people cry. Some vomit. Some experience temporary and partial paralysis. Others feel a powerful vibration. This is natural and will pass before the end of the class, she says.

"Stuff will come up," she says. "It gets a little weird sometimes."

With that, she turns up the music and instructs the group to start jumping up and down and dance to some gypsy-sounding tunes.

One of the people in the group is Carol Lapinsohn of Margate. Two years ago Lapinsohn was going through a difficult time. She wound up going to one of Hawk's transformational breathing classes.

"It was the most incredible experience of my life," she said. "It allowed me to get though a very hard situation. I was able to find peace. "

She has since encouraged two of her daughters t o get involved. They too are believers. Now she's working on a third daughter.

"Every time my kids come down, the first thing they want to do is go to Carol and have a breathing session," Lapinsohn said.

She's readily admits it can all sound a little wacky.

"Some of the stories I heard, I didn't believe them (at first)," she said. "I was extremely skeptical. But ... it has absolutely changed my whole life. I love getting rid of all the darkness I have lived with for so long. I found inner peace, that's basically what it is. "

Moving experiences

When they're done with the jump dance, they lay down, out of breath and on their backs, and continue breathing heavily through their mouths. Hawk says a little prayer, which includes the declaration "that this space is free of all cosmic debris."

Hawk and another facilitator, Steve Zaid of Pleasantville, walk around he room helping everybody work on their breathing technique.

Keep your mouth wide open, they advise. Remember, the breath starts low, in the belly and works its way up the chest. Exhale fully, and start right in on the next breath without hesitation.

After about 45 minutes the students are slowly brought out of their breathing. They move to sitting positions. All appear to have been moved by the experience, some deeply. They seem calm, groggy and happy .... and different, somehow. Not bad for $35.

SIDEBAR: Carol Hawk left me panting and wanting more.

Yes, I tried transformational breathing, and yes, it felt a little weird at first. But I'm a graduate of the Transcendental Meditation movement of the '60s and '70s, and I like to think of myself as a person who's as open-minded as a professional skeptic can be. Sometimes a reporter has to experience something to get a good idea what it's really about (are you listening, NASA?).

Anyway, Hawk did leave me panting, right on the floor of the Seashore Healing Arts Center in Somers Point, but she and the other breathing coach kept coming back, helping me with my breathing, and pretty soon I started to feel a lot less self-conscious.

It did feel like transcendental meditation, but more physical. My legs shook some, and so did my arms, which Hawk later said was maybe some tension escaping. Good riddance.

I was aware of what was happening in the room, but also felt suspended and apart. All that extra oxygen was doing good things.

My breath never did feel really automatic, but I suppose that comes with practice. I kept hesitating at the end of the exhale, rather than going right into the inhale, and I really had to think about doing the belly breathing, kind of breathing from the bottom up. But I did OK as long as I concentrated.

I have no way to verify most of Hawk's claims. All I can say is it felt peaceful and good and calming and energetic all at the same time. The breathing went on for about 45 minutes, but it felt like maybe 15, maximum. When it was over I discovered something amazing. A reporter had become less skeptical. Now that's a near-miracle.