Breathing

“ What lies behind all these words is the feeling familiar to man in those times, that breathing was not only a means of keeping the body alive, but that a spiritual essence streamed in with the breath. ”

“ What is easier than for a man to breathe? And yet, have you never seen a breathless man, a man in whom the breathing was almost stopped, a drowning man, an exhausted man? have you never seen, when the breath was put once more to his nostrils and brought down once more into his empty lungs, the struggle with which he came back to it? ”

“ Air and Fire, or Breath and Vibration, which form the fuel of the flesh, are the most potent forces of the Illuminatus. The conscious breath, passed over the lips in a rhythmical breathing, becomes like a bellows igniting the dry cells waiting for the spark of higher energy. ”

“ For the shorter breaths we can count three, or five, or ten to inhale, and the same number to exhale, until we have the rhythm established, and then go on breathing without counting, as if we were sound asleep. Always aim for gentleness and delicacy. If we have not half an hour to spare to lie quietly and breathe we can practice the breathing while we walk. ”

“ Breath′less, out of breath: dead: excessively eager, as if holding one's breath from excitement.—n. Breath′lessness.—To catch the breath, to stop breathing for an instant; To spend one's breath, as in profitless talk; To take breath, to recover freedom of breathing; With bated breath, with breath restrained from reverence or fear. ”

“ And completion of the knowledge mentioned above is in the aspect of the lung, for the main source of the knowledge and the brains is via the oiliness of the body. For the intellect ignites like a candle via the oiliness of the body, and the lung raises up oiliness of the body to the brain via the breathing of the lung. ”

“ Witness, for instance, our breathing. We breathe what we call the breath of life; is it by any action of ours? God made us and planted that principle within us, and sleeping or waking our lungs continue to play. ”

“ You don't have to be conscious of your breathing. Why do you want to be conscious of your breathing? To control your breathing, to expand your lungs, to do what you like with your chest -- that's a different matter. ”

“ The breathing organs are the windpipe and bronchial tubes, the voice-box, the epiglottis, the nostrils, the soft palate, the lungs, the air-cells, the pleura, the diaphragm, and the chest walls.
6. When we breathe we use our lungs like a pair of bellows.
7. A man's lungs hold nearly one and a half gallons of air.
8. In ordinary breathing we use less than a pint of air, but when necessary we can use much more.
9. The air we breathe out contains carbonic-acid gas and another invisible poison.
10. A candle will not burn in air which has been breathed, and animals die when confined in such air. ”

“ The physiology of breathing is an exact science, and the singer who is taught its laws and obeys them, will acquire in due time the habit of artistic respiration. It is that breathing that is as natural and unconscious as in normal slumber, so natural in fact that it has to be acquired through correct instruction, because most men and women are unnatural or have taken on habits that are unnatural.
Taking in the breath, the function of inspiration, results in a readjustment of certain organs which become disadjusted by the act of expiration or [Pg 31] outbreathing. ”

“ The breathing mechanism of Man is so constructed that he may breathe either through the mouth or nasal tubes, but it is a matter of vital importance to him which method he follows, as one brings health and strength and the other disease and weakness. ”

“ Put your hand before your mouth. What do you feel coming out of your mouth? It is your breath. You breathe every moment. When you are asleep, you breathe. You cannot help breathing. [8] But who gives you breath? ”

“ Life and respiration are convertible terms, for there is no life without breathing and no breathing without life. If the eye be cut out there is an end of seeing; if the legs be cut off there is an end of walking; if the tongue, of speech, et cetera; if respiration, there is an end of everything immediately. ”

“ Would you even put forth your greatest mental exertions in speaking or writing, keep your lungs clear up to their fullest, liveliest action. Would you even breathe forth your highest, holiest orisons of thanksgiving and worship, deepening your inspiration of fresh air will likewise deepen and quicken your divine inspiration. Nor can even bodily pleasures be fully enjoyed except in and by copious breathing. In short, proper breathing is the alpha and omega of all physical, and thereby of all mental and moral function and enjoyment.
A Man full of Holes. ”

“ Kant, the philosopher, claims to have cured himself of consumption by this discovery. Persons never snore except by breathing through the open mouth. O, give us quiet, you snorers, by keeping your mouths shut, even at the expense of “keeping your eyes open” to watch yourself, and thus deliver the world from the disturbance of snoring.
The Lungs.—Breathing.
All that live, down even to vegetables and trees, breathe, must breathe, in order to live; live in proportion as they breathe; begin life’s first function with breathing, and end its last in their last breath. ”

“ The writer knows of the case of a man who has such control over his heart and lungs that he can actually throw himself into a profound sleep in which the breathing is so absolutely stopped for an hour that a mirror is not moistened in the least by the breath, nor can the pulses be felt. ”

“ Indeed, there is no suffering so horrible as that produced by breathing air, which is entirely made of air breathed from the lungs. To illustrate this, I will mention a case of some gentlemen, who were once shut up by a cruel tyrant in a very small room, with a very little window in it. ”

“ I. That must answer our purpose, dear Ann. Of the change which takes place in the blood, and of the renewal of our physical system, which is effected by circulation, I shall say nothing. We will pass to respiration.
E. Whose popular name is breathing?
I. Yes. The act of inhaling air, is called inspiration; that of sending it out, expiration. Its organs are the lungs and windpipe. The apparatus employed in the mechanism of breathing is very complex. The windpipe extends from the mouth to the lungs. ”

“ The old man gives a faint gasp, ceases to breathe, and life is over. From the first faint breath of the infant to the last gasp of the dying man, it is one long story of continued breathing. Life is but a series of breaths.
Breathing may be considered the most important of all of the functions of the body, for, indeed, all the other functions depend upon it. Man may exist some time without eating ”

“ Development of the Lungs.—Much has been said and written upon diet, eating and drinking, but I do not recollect ever noticing a remark in any writer upon breathing, or the manner of breathing. Multitudes, and especially ladies in easy circumstances, contract a vicious and destructive mode of breathing. ”

“ See section on Disorders of the Stomach and Bowels, p. 208.
OF THE BREATHING AND COUGH. The breathing of a child in health is formed of equal inspirations and expirations, and it breathes quietly, regularly, inaudibly, and without effort. But let inflammation of the air-tubes or lungs take place, and the inspiration will become in a few hours so quickened and hurried, and perhaps audible, that the attention has only to be directed to the circumstance to be at once perceived. ”

“ Other metaphors, in ancient tongues of our Indo-European family, indentify to be with to breathe or to dwell. The real also in general lives; for it is internally self-sustaining, as, to a more primitive mind, natural life may seem to be. And breathing is a well-known token of life. ”

“ It is an interesting sight to see, and one that cannot be looked on without delight and admiration at this beautiful contrivance of Divine Wisdom, for the incessant breathing of the respiratory organs in water charged with vivifying oxygen. ”

“ Respiration.—As usually defined, respiration, or breathing, consists of two simple processes—that of taking air into special contrivances in the body, called the lungs, and that of expelling air from the lungs. ”

“ If you have studied the special features of the four given methods of breathing, you will at once see that the Complete Breathing comprises all the advantageous features of the three other methods, plus the reciprocal advantages accruing from the combined action of the high-chest, mid-chest, and diaphragmic regions, and the normal rhythm thus obtained. ”

“ When one has learned to breathe properly, then it is that standing and walking may be practiced. Lift up the chest, inflate the lungs naturally, as in paragraph on breathing, then step up to the front of a door, letting the toes touch the woodwork. ”

“ This eventually will establish the habit of longer breaths in the regular unconscious movement of our lungs, which is most helpful to a wholesome physical state. The directions for deep breathing should be carefully followed in the deep breaths taken after each motion. ”

“ Proper Breathing.—We should breathe slowly, regularly, and deeply, from the abdomen rather than from the top of the lungs. If we breathe too fast or too irregularly, we shall speak in a rapid, jerky way, and find it very difficult to make ourselves understood. ”

“ There is another relation between phrasing and breathing which the student may investigate to advantage. The emotions have a direct and immediate effect upon the breath, and as the brain informs the nervous system of new emotional impressions the visible evidences may be first observed in the breathing. ”

“ The imagination can help you a great deal. The next breathing is slowly drawing the breath in, and then immediately throwing it out slowly, and then stopping the breath out, using the same numbers. The only difference is that in the first case the breath was held in, and in the second, held out. This last is the easier one. The breathing in which you hold the breath in the lungs must not be practiced too much. ”

“ Breathing, again, is an action acquired after birth, generally with some little hesitation and difficulty, but still acquired in a time seldom longer, as I am informed, than ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. ”

“ When breathing in heavily they know: ‘I’m breathing in heavily.’ When breathing out heavily they know: ‘I’m breathing out heavily.’ When breathing in lightly they know: ‘I’m breathing in lightly.’ When breathing out lightly they know: ‘I’m breathing out lightly.’ They practice breathing in experiencing the whole body. They practice breathing out experiencing the whole body. They practice breathing in stilling the body’s motion. They practice breathing out stilling the body’s motion. ”

“ Even in the old Greek and Roman times the doctors recommended deep breathing, the voluntary holding of air in the lungs, believing that this exercise cleansed the system of impurities and gave strength. ”

“ The lungs are to the body what the bellows are to the fires of the forge. The more regularly and vigorously the air is forced through the bellows and through the lungs, the livelier burns the flame in the smithy and the fires of life in the body.
Practice deep, regular breathing systematically for one week, and you will be surprised at the results. You will feel like a different person, and your working capacity, both physically and mentally, will be immensely increased. ”

“ Is the difficulty of breathing, arising from anasarca of the lungs, relieved by sweats from the head and neck; whilst that difficulty of breathing, which arises from a dropsy of the thorax, or pericardium, is never attended with these sweats of the head? ”

“ Breathing is a reflex or involuntary act. The respiratory centre, consisting of an expiratory and inspiratory division, is situated in the bulb, or medulla oblongata, the portion of the brain just above the spinal cord. All the ingoing nervous impulses affect respiration through the outgoing impulses that pass along the nerves to the muscles; that is, the ingoing impulses pass up by the nerves from the lungs to the centre, and thence along other nerves to the respiratory muscles. ”

“ Under pleasurable or painful sensations we breathe more rapidly: possibly as a consequence of the increased demand for oxygenated blood. The sensations that accompany exertion also bring on hard breathing ”

“ In breathing have the inspirations and expirations of equal length, and it will at least conduce to the repose of the brain.
For a SLIGHT ILLNESS all that you need to do very often is to breathe full, so as to make deep inspirations for half an hour; and you can rear healthy children if you can secure to them good round chests. ”

“ The thorough aëration of the blood by free exposure to a large breathing surface in the lungs, is necessary to maintain that full vital power on which the vigorous working of the brain in so large a measure depends. ”

“ Try to turn into pure-toned voice every particle of breath you give out. Replenish the lungs every time you pause. Light gymnastics, brisk walking, running, horseback riding, and other exercise will improve your breathing capacity. ”

“ The breathing of the air,
The song of the sweet nightingale,
The grove and its beauty
In the serene night,
With the flame that consumes, and gives no pains. ”

“ While the alternate breathing exercises are very valuable for overcoming obstructions in the air passages, for establishing the habit of rhythmic breathing and for refining and accelerating the vibratory activities on the physical and spiritual planes of being, they must be practiced with great caution. ”

“ Others cannot fill the lungs enough. These breathings will correct that very much. Half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening will make you another person. This sort of breathing is never dangerous. ”

“ The healthy adult savage and the healthy infant of civilization both breathe in this manner, but civilized man has adopted unnatural methods of living, clothing, etc., and has lost his birthright. And we wish to remind the reader that the Complete Breath does not necessarily call for the complete filling of the lungs at every inhalation. One may inhale the average amount of air, using the Complete Breathing Method and distributing the air inhaled, be the quantity large or small, to all parts of the lungs. ”