Here is an illustration of what may be done by serious and persistent attention to breathing. It must be understood, however, that I by no means advise others to follow my example, although I believe it quite possible for anybody—man, woman, boy or girl—by constant practice, to develop the same perfect resistance that I myself have.
For a period of five years, I have made it a rule to dress in January exactly as in July—except in the matter of an overcoat. I go without underclothing, I wear no waistcoat, (vest). I do not take exception to the wearing by others of such garments, during the winter months. But for myself, as I gradually learned to take advantage of systematic breathing exercises and thus to charge my blood abundantly with oxygen, the necessity for much clothing disappeared. Underwear grew to be uncomfortable. I found myself both happier and healthier without it. When I wore the heavier clothing in winter, I suffered from frequent colds. Now I am rarely troubled in that manner. If, through carelessness, I do catch cold, I am able easily to throw it off within twenty-four hours by means of extra practice in deep breathing, together with a short fast.
I do not wish to infer that the heavier clothing is the cause of colds. My point is, rather, that the extra amount of oxygen I take into my blood supplies the place of the garments formerly worn by me, as well as acts in consuming, or burning up, the poisonous material that gathers in the tissues, and tends to make you feel cold.
Let me repeat that I do not advise anyone to experiment with the wearing of summer apparel in winter until after several months of systematic breathing exercises, with the consequent enriching of the blood. The matter, like that of the cold bath, is one for individual discrimination.
In my own case, the lighter garb has become actually a necessity for comfort’s sake.
Why We Should Establish Schools To Teach The New Science of Breathing
Whatever the different systems for muscular and health development may be, the value of developing those vital inner organs—the heart, the lungs and the digestive organs, is easily understood. A large arm, or a wonderful leg development cannot help these inner organs, if they are naturally weak, or if they have been weakened. The point is—what will give health to these organs the fundamental or motor power to all health.
Special exercises for the lungs, that is, conscious deep breathing exercises for a specific period of time, will give results which few realize. It is all so simple that most of us cannot believe it, like all truths. The maximum oxygenation of the blood through taking in large quantities of air—thereby feeding the organs with purer blood—the improved circulation, the exhilarated heartbeat, the drawing away of drowsiness from the brain, the improved digestion through the unconscious massage of the lower organs, all these will show what results are obtainable. If the children in our schools were taught conscious, deep, slow breathing at that period of their lives when body and mind are flexible, the habit would be easily formed for life. This habit would surely wipe out consumption within two generations. Millions of human beings die yearly from this, the greatest human menace. Why not, therefore, have schools for breathing. Surely this experiment is entitled to a place among the hundreds of other experiments which have been and which are being tried.
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