SCIENCE OF BREATH/PART 9
CHAPTER
IX.
PHYSIOLOGICAL
EFFECT OF THE COMPLETE BREATH.
Scarcely
too much can be said of the advantages attending the practice of the Complete
Breath. And yet the student who has carefully read the foregoing pages should
scarcely need to have pointed out to him such advantages.
The
practice of the Complete Breath will make any man or woman immune to Consumption
and other pulmonary troubles, and will do away with all liability to contract
"colds," as well as bronchial and similar weaknesses. Consumption is
due principally to lowered vitality attributable to an insufficient amount of
air being inhaled. The impairment of vitality renders the system open to
attacks from disease germs. Imperfect breathing allows a considerable part of
the lungs to remain inactive, and such portions offer an inviting field for
bacilli, which invading the weakened tissue soon produce havoc. Good healthy
lung tissue will resist the germs, and the only way to have good healthy lung
tissue is to use the lungs properly.
Consumptives
are nearly all narrow-chested. What does this mean? Simply that these people
were addicted to improper habits of breathing, and consequently their chests
failed to develop and expand. The man who practices the Complete Breath will
have a full broad chest, end the narrow-chested man may develop his chest to
normal proportions if he will but adopt this mode of breathing. Such people
must develop their chest cavities if they value their lives. Colds may often be
prevented by practicing a little vigorous Complete Breathing whenever you feel
that you are being unduly exposed. When chilled, breathe vigorously a few minutes,
and you will feel a glow all over your body. Most colds can be cured by
Complete Breathing and partial fasting for a day.
The
quality of the blood depends largely upon its proper oxygenation in the lungs,
and if it is under-oxygenated it becomes poor in quality and laden with all
sorts of impurities, and the system suffers from lack of nourishment, and often
becomes actually poisoned by the waste products remaining uneliminated in the
blood. As the entire body, every organ and every part, is dependent upon the
blood for nourishment, impure blood must have a serious effect upon the entire
system. The remedy is plain—practice the Yogi Complete Breath.
The
stomach and other organs of nutrition suffer much from improper breathing. Not
only are they ill nourished by reason of the lack of oxygen, but as the food
must absorb oxygen from the blood and become oxygenated before it can be
digested and assimilated, it is readily seen how digestion and assimilation is
impaired by incorrect breathing. And when assimilation is not normal, the
system receives less and less nourishment, the appetite fails, bodily vigor
decreases, and energy diminishes, and the man withers and declines. All from
the lack of proper breathing.
Even
the nervous system suffers from improper breathing, inasmuch as the brain, the
spinal cord, the nerve centers, and the nerves themselves, when improperly
nourished by means of the blood, become poor and inefficient instruments for
generating, storing and transmitting the nerve currents. And improperly
nourished they will become if sufficient oxygen is not absorbed through the
lungs. There is another aspect of the case whereby the nerve currents
themselves, or rather the force from which the nerve currents spring, becomes
lessened from want of proper breathing, but this belongs to another phase of
the subject which is treated of in other chapters of this book, and our purpose
here is to direct your attention to the fact that the mechanism of the nervous
system is rendered inefficient as an instrument for conveying nerve force, as
the indirect result of a lack of proper breathing.
The
effect of the reproductive organs upon the general health is too well known to
be discussed at length here, but we may be permitted to say that with the
reproductive organs in a weakened condition the entire system feels the reflex
action and suffers sympathetically. The Complete Breath produces a rhythm which
is Nature's own plan for keeping this important part of the system in normal
condition, and, from the first, it will be noticed that the reproductive
functions are strengthened and vitalized, thus, by sympathetic reflex action,
giving tone to the whole system. By this, we do not mean that the lower sex
impulses will be aroused; far from it. The Yogis are advocates of continence
and chastity, and have learned to control the animal passions. But sexual
control does not mean sexual weakness, and the Yogi teachings are that the man
or woman whose reproductive organism is normal and healthy, will have a
stronger will with which to control himself or herself. The Yogi believes that
much of the perversion of this wonderful part of the system comes from a lack
of normal health, and results from a morbid rather than a normal condition of
these organs. A little careful consideration of this question will prove that
the Yogi teachings are right. This is not the place to discuss the subject
fully, but the Yogis know that sex-energy may be conserved and used for the
development of the body and mind of the individual, instead of being dissipated
in unnatural excesses as is the wont of so many uninformed people. By special
request we will give in this book one of the favorite Yogi exercises for this
purpose. But whether or not the student wishes to adopt the Yogi theories of continence
and clean-living, he or she will find that the Complete Breath will do more to
restore health to this part of the system than anything else ever tried.
Remember, now, we mean normal health, not undue development. The sensualist
will find that normal means a lessening of desire rather than an increase; the
weakened man or woman will find a toning up and a relief from the weakness
which has heretofore depressed him or her. We do not wish to be misunderstood
or misquoted on this subject. The Yogis' ideal is a body strong in all its
parts, under the control of a masterful and developed Will, animated by high
ideals.
In
the practice of the Complete Breath, during inhalation, the diaphragm contracts
and exerts a gentle pressure upon the liver, stomach and other organs, which in
connection with the rhythm of the lungs acts as a gentle massage of these
organs and stimulates their actions, and encourages normal functioning. Each
inhalation aids in this internal exercise, and assists in causing a normal
circulation to the organs of nutrition and elimination. In High or Mid
Breathing the organs lose the benefit accruing from this internal massage.
The
Western world is paying much attention to Physical Culture just now, which is a
good thing. But in their enthusiasm they must not forget that the exercise of
the external muscles is not everything. The internal organs also need exercise,
and Nature's plan for this exercise is proper breathing. The diaphragm is
Nature's principal instrument for this internal exercise. Its motion vibrates
the important organs of nutrition and elimination, and massages and kneads them
at each inhalation and exhalation, forcing blood into them, and then squeezing
it out, and imparting a general tone to the organs. Any organ or part of the
body which is not exercised gradually atrophies and refuses to function
properly, and lack of the internal exercise afforded by the diaphragmatic
action leads to diseased organs. The Complete Breath gives the proper motion to
the diaphragm, as well as exercising the middle and upper chest. It is indeed
"complete" in its action.
From
the standpoint of Western physiology alone, without reference to the Oriental
philosophies and science, this Yogi system of Complete Breathing is of vital
importance to every man, woman and child who wishes to acquire health and keep
it. Its very simplicity keeps thousands from seriously considering it, while
they spend fortunes in seeking health through complicated and expensive
"systems." Health knocks at their door and they answer not. Verily
the stone which the builders reject is the real cornerstone of the Temple of
Health.
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