Latest / New Science of Controlled Breathing, Vol. 1 and 2 / 002 - Importance of Consciously Controlled Breathing

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002 - Importance of Consciously Controlled Breathing · New Science of Controlled Breathing, Vol. 1 and 2

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  Speaker 1: Section two of the New Science of Controlled Breathing, Volume
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  Speaker 1: one and two by Edward Lanco. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Importance of consciously controlled breathing. Air
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  Speaker 1: is truly the breath of life. It is the vital
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  Speaker 1: fluid that animates our being, that stimulates into activity every
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  Speaker 1: one of the billion of cells that go to make
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  Speaker 1: up the body. It is a fact conceded by every
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  Speaker 1: scientific man today that the oxygen in the air we
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  Speaker 1: breathe is absolutely the greatest purifying force in all nature.
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  Speaker 1: Yet there is but one way to get oxygen into
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  Speaker 1: your lungs and into your system, and this is to
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  Speaker 1: breathe it. In as long ago as two thousand years
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  Speaker 1: before the Christian era, the Chinese and the Hindus made
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  Speaker 1: elaborate studies in the art of breathing. Indeed, they developed
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  Speaker 1: a complex signce having to do with the control of
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  Speaker 1: the breath. Certain forms of breathing were employed for the
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  Speaker 1: cure of various diseases. Thus, for example, it was believed
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  Speaker 1: that controlled inhalations and exhalations would allay fevers, or in
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  Speaker 1: a contrary condition of the body, induce a salutary rise
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  Speaker 1: in temperature. In India, the Buddhist priests were at pains
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  Speaker 1: to practice breath control, so as always to command deep,
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  Speaker 1: quiet action of the lungs. In this measured breathing, the
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  Speaker 1: number of breaths was greatly reduced. The usual eighteen to
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  Speaker 1: twenty two breaths per minute were reduced to six or eight.
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  Speaker 1: Experience justified the theories of the priests concerning the value
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  Speaker 1: of a controlled breathing. Its merits have stood the tests
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  Speaker 1: of ages, and today in the Orient proper breathing is
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  Speaker 1: still deemed the fountain of health. Aside for from the
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  Speaker 1: distinctly physical advantages derived from breath control, their results also
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  Speaker 1: a poise of mind that is most desirable in its
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  Speaker 1: benefits to the whole nature of the man. Later in history,
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  Speaker 1: both the Greeks and the Romans practiced controlled breathing for
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  Speaker 1: hygienic purposes and for the attainment of bodily perfection. They
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  Speaker 1: even went further than the Orientals of an earlier epoch,
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  Speaker 1: for they deliberately set out to enlarge the chess cavity.
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  Speaker 1: They realized that the principal part of the body is
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  Speaker 1: the trunk, and that in this the chief constituent is
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  Speaker 1: the chest. The success they attained in the development of
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  Speaker 1: superb physiques is demonstrated by the examples that survived to
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  Speaker 1: us of their classic art. They were able to attain
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  Speaker 1: a bodily perfection unequaled in the history of the world.
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  Speaker 1: In their methods, controlled breathing was the chief agent Europe
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  Speaker 1: during the Middle Ages. This science of breath suffered from
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  Speaker 1: increasing neglect and finally died out as an appalling commentary
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  Speaker 1: on the neglect of proper breathing by the mass of mankind.
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  Speaker 1: We may consider the fact now generally admitted by the
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  Speaker 1: medical profession that fully one half of the world's death
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  Speaker 1: rate is due to consumption. The fact could hardly be otherwise.
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  Speaker 1: Any experienced physician is well aware that only a small
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  Speaker 1: part of the lungs is ordinarily used by the average person.
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  Speaker 1: A large portion of the breathing apparatus is in most
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  Speaker 1: cases never employed at all. Naturally, inevitably, such areas in
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  Speaker 1: the lungs weaken and become degenerate. They offer a breeding
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  Speaker 1: place for the germs of various infections. Why ordinary systems
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  Speaker 1: of exercise fail. The various systems of gymnastics are designed
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  Speaker 1: for the surface building of the body. The exercises effect
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  Speaker 1: almost exclusively the outer muscular structure. The scientific cultivation of
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  Speaker 1: the breath, on the contrary, acts directly on the inner
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  Speaker 1: vital organs. These are strengthened and developed from the outset.
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  Speaker 1: Thus a sure foundation is laid on which to build
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  Speaker 1: toward physical perfection and the true beauty, which is, or
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  Speaker 1: should be the heritage of every healthy man or woman.
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  Speaker 1: Any ordinary method must of necessity prove itself as ineffective
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  Speaker 1: as it is illogical. The majority of athletes exhibit exterior
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  Speaker 1: muscles of most impressive bulk. It is a curious fact, however,
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  Speaker 1: that the bony structure which measures the chest cavity, shows
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  Speaker 1: only a trifling development when deprived of its muscular support.
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  Speaker 1: It must always be borne in mind that the strength
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  Speaker 1: of the body lies in its organ power, not in
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  Speaker 1: the surface muscles. In fact, the larger the surface muscles are,
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  Speaker 1: the more strength is taken from the organic vitality in
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  Speaker 1: order to support and feed them. It is by this
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  Speaker 1: reason of this strain upon the inner forces that athletes
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  Speaker 1: so often die young. Abnormal development of the muscular system
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  Speaker 1: at the expense of organic vitality is a folly, always dangerous,
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  Speaker 1: and often fatal. How we live on air. Air is
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  Speaker 1: the substance on which, principally we feed. What we eat
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  Speaker 1: is of secondary importance. The purity of the blood and
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  Speaker 1: the strength of the arteries through which it throbs depend
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  Speaker 1: absolutely upon right breathing. The greater the quantity of air
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  Speaker 1: taken into the lungs, the more oxygen for the purification
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  Speaker 1: of the blood, the constant and prime requirement for health.
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  Speaker 1: The system of breathing, which I add dedcate in this work,
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  Speaker 1: is not a mere matter of theory, something vague and experimental.
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  Speaker 1: It is concrete, it is exact. Its worth has definitely
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  Speaker 1: been proved. I have demonstrated the merit of the exercises
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  Speaker 1: in my own case. During a year and a half
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  Speaker 1: of practice, my chest measurement increased from thirty eight inches
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  Speaker 1: to forty two. Breathing color into pale faces. With many
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  Speaker 1: flat chested and anemic girls, I have seen an equally
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  Speaker 1: astonishing improvement. I have seen their chests develop, their busts
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  Speaker 1: become firm and rounded, and telltale hollows under the collar
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  Speaker 1: bones fill out almost invariably. Flabby muscles become resilient, Pale
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  Speaker 1: sallow cheeks become pink with the sweet flush of healthy youth. Incidentally,
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  Speaker 1: I have discovered a variety of virtues in controlled breathing.
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  Speaker 1: Thus is the case of that most annoying among minor ailments,
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  Speaker 1: a cold. I have found that I could invariably be
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  Speaker 1: rid of it within twenty four hours by means of
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  Speaker 1: strenuous breathing exercises for twenty minutes at a time, repeated
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  Speaker 1: often during the day. For a more formal endorsement of
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  Speaker 1: this system, I may refer to the Society Internationale de
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  Speaker 1: la Tuberculos. An investigation by the Society was reported favorably
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  Speaker 1: at the Hague in London. In this connection, it should
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  Speaker 1: be remembered that the world at large has not yet
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  Speaker 1: begun to realize the supreme value of correct, quiet, slow
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  Speaker 1: breathing for general health. Its practice regularly would unquestionably prove
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  Speaker 1: a preventive of tubercular disease. Its judicious employment by those
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  Speaker 1: already affected would prove a powerful remedial agent. Consumptives who
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  Speaker 1: seek the pure of the mountains or plains often fail
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  Speaker 1: to receive benefit for the simple reason that they have
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  Speaker 1: never learned the proper manner of breathing to such The
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  Speaker 1: best of air is useless as the most nourishing food
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  Speaker 1: to the one who has no teeth with which to chew.
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  Speaker 1: When one inhales, the lungs seem to grow. As the
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  Speaker 1: cells are filled with air. The chest proportionately enlarges. At
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  Speaker 1: the same time, the ribs and the diaphragm assume a
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  Speaker 1: new position. The result is that the chest, the between
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  Speaker 1: rib muscles, and the diaphragm are all very strenuously exercised
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  Speaker 1: by proper breathing, The various muscles involved are constantly trained.
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  Speaker 1: They are developed and made elastic to such an extent
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  Speaker 1: that the lungs are not required to stand alone in
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  Speaker 1: their resistance against adverse conditions both within and without. The
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  Speaker 1: lungs expand during inhalation. They contract during exhalation. A full
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  Speaker 1: breath dilates the lungs to their maximum capacity. They relax
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  Speaker 1: to the minimum size when the breath is completely expelled.
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  Speaker 1: By practice, one can readily learn to influence the various
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  Speaker 1: movements and gradually to control them. The practice of the
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  Speaker 1: first exercises in the series given includes sudden exhalation, slow exhalation,
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  Speaker 1: and rhythmic exhalation. These tend to reduce the quantity of
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  Speaker 1: air that is left in the lungs when the breath
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  Speaker 1: is expelled. Such residual air is poisonous, and an excess
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  Speaker 1: of it due to improper breathing is very injurious. This
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  Speaker 1: retention in the lung cells not only lessens the space
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  Speaker 1: available to be filled with fresh air, but it also
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  Speaker 1: acts as a direct agent for ill in the bodily processes.
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  Speaker 1: How conscious controlled breathing makes you resist disease, it should
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  Speaker 1: be added, and with emphasis, that the habit of deep
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  Speaker 1: breathing makes one immune to the germs of various diseases.
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  Speaker 1: The practice of breath control gives a toughened fiber to
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  Speaker 1: the whole breathing apparatus. This and the constant purifying of
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  Speaker 1: the blood developed the body's vital forces to the highest
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  Speaker 1: degree possible, against which disease is rendered powerless. Thus one
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  Speaker 1: may enter into possession of the health and strength that
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  Speaker 1: are his by right, and thus and thus only shall
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  Speaker 1: he know the joy of life. Here is an illustration
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  Speaker 1: of what may be done by serious and persistent attention
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  Speaker 1: to breathing. It must be understood, however, that I by
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  Speaker 1: no means advise others to follow my example, although I
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  Speaker 1: believe it quite possible for anybody man, woman, boy or girl,
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  Speaker 1: by constant pricectice to develop the same perfect resistance that
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  Speaker 1: I myself have. For a period of five years, I
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  Speaker 1: have made it a rule to dress in January exactly
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  Speaker 1: as in July. Except in the matter of an overcoat,
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  Speaker 1: I go without underclothing. I wear no waistcoat vest I
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  Speaker 1: do not take exception to the wearing by others of
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  Speaker 1: such garments during the winter months. But for myself, as
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  Speaker 1: I gradually learned to take advantage of systematic breathing exercises,
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  Speaker 1: and thus to charge my blood abundantly with oxygen, the
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  Speaker 1: necessity for much clothing disappeared. Underwear grew to be uncomfortable.
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  Speaker 1: I found myself both happier and healthier without it. When
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  Speaker 1: I wore the heavier clothing in winter, I suffered from
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  Speaker 1: frequent colds. Now I am rarely troubled in that manner.
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  Speaker 1: If through carelessness I do catch a cold, I am
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  Speaker 1: able easily to throw it off within twenty four hours
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  Speaker 1: by means of extra practice in deep breathing, together with
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  Speaker 1: a short fast. I do not wish to infer that
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  Speaker 1: the heavier clothing is the cause of colds. My point
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  Speaker 1: is rather that the extra amount of oxygen I take
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  Speaker 1: into my blood supplies the place of the garments formerly
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  Speaker 1: worn by me, as well as acts in consuming or
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  Speaker 1: burning up the poisonous material that gathers in the tissues
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  Speaker 1: and tends to make you feel cold. Let me repeat
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  Speaker 1: that I do not advise anyone to experiment with the
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  Speaker 1: wearing of summer apparel in the winter until after several
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  Speaker 1: months of systematic breathing exercises, with the consequent enriching of
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  Speaker 1: the blood. The matter, like that of the cold bath,
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  Speaker 1: is one for individual discrimination. In my own case, the
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  Speaker 1: lighter garb has actually become a necessity for comfort's sake.
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  Speaker 1: Why we should establish school to teach the new science
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  Speaker 1: of breathing. Whatever the different systems for muscular and health
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  Speaker 1: development may be, the value of developing those vital inner organs,
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  Speaker 1: the heart, the lungs, and the digestive organs is easily understood.
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  Speaker 1: A large arm or a wonderful leg development cannot help
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  Speaker 1: these inner organs if they are naturally weak or if
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  Speaker 1: they have been weakened. The point is what will give
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  Speaker 1: health to these organs, the fundamental or motor power to
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  Speaker 1: all health. Special exercises for the lungs. That is, conscious
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  Speaker 1: deep breathing exercises for a specific period of time will
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  Speaker 1: give results which few realize. It is all so simple
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  Speaker 1: that most of us cannot believe it, like all truths.
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  Speaker 1: The maximum oxygenation of the blood through taken in large
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  Speaker 1: quantities of air, thereby feeding the organs with purer blood.
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  Speaker 1: The use the improved circulation, the exhilarated heartbeat, the drawing
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  Speaker 1: away of drowsiness from the brain, the improved digestion through
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  Speaker 1: the unconscious massage of the lower organs. All these will
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  Speaker 1: show what results are obtainable. If the children in our
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  Speaker 1: schools were taught conscious, deep, slow breathing at that period
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  Speaker 1: of their lives, when the body and mind are flexible,
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  Speaker 1: the habit would easily be formed for life. This habit
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  Speaker 1: would surely wipe out consumption within two generations. Millions of
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  Speaker 1: human beings die yearly from this, the greatest human menace.
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  Speaker 1: Why not, therefore, have schools for breathing. Surely this experiment
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  Speaker 1: is entitled to a place among the hundreds of other
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  Speaker 1: experiments which have been and which are being tried. End
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  Speaker 1: of section two read by Martha Heaton, October twenty twenty three,
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  Speaker 1: SA