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.