Unfortunately, many teachers have taken this attitude, overlooking the fact that, although life is dependent on normal, healthy breathing, such breathing is, in civilized communities, not the rule but the exception, simply because normal living is rare; the artificiality of modern life forbids it. The high pressure under which most people live induces mental tension together with the consequent nervous and muscular tension. We are, without being conscious of it, so habituated to unnatural tension that automatic breathing is shallow and irregular instead of being deep and rhythmic.
The task, therefore, is to reclaim a neglected birthright—natural breathing—to make it habitual and amplify it.
PRELIMINARY SUGGESTIONS
1. Breathing exercises to be invigorating and purifying demand plenty of fresh air.
2. At first do not practise longer than ten minutes at a time, three times a day.
3. Gradually lengthen the time without overdoing. When tired stop.
4. The best time is before dressing in the morning, with the window open. The worst time is directly after a meal.
5. Maintain throughout an easy, flexible poise.
6. Breathe as deeply as possible without abdominal distention. The greatest expansion should be felt at the lower end of the breast-bone.
7. Breathe as broadly as possible, expanding the sides without tension.