Science of Breath

A Complete Manual of the Oriental Breathing Philosophy

Yogi Ramacharaka

• Publisher: isid.de - media production
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9783985440818
• Subtopic: Sport & Exercise Science

This is the original English text of the Hindu-Yogi classic of 1904, carefully corrected from the first edition. Writing as Yogi Ramacharaka, the American author William Walker Atkinson produced the little manual that introduced generations of Western readers to breathing practice – and that countless modern breathwork methods still echo today. The book opens with its famous credo, "Breath is Life", and a promise: between the materialism of Western science and the mysticism of the East there is common ground, and the breath is where they meet. The exoteric chapters explain the machinery of respiration – lungs, diaphragm, circulation – and why shallow, careless breathing undermines health and vitality. The esoteric chapters introduce Prana, the universal life energy absorbed with every breath, stored in the solar plexus and distributed through the nervous system. A pivotal chapter contrasts nostril breathing with mouth breathing, calling the habit of breathing through the mouth one of the great enemies of health. Then the practical core: the four methods of respiration – high, mid, low and the Yogi Complete Breath – with exact instructions for acquiring the Complete Breath and making it one's natural manner of breathing, followed by its physiological effects. The exercise section contains the celebrated routines: the Yogi Cleansing Breath, the Nerve Vitalizing Breath, the Vocal Breath, the seven minor exercises for chest and posture, Yogi rhythmic breathing timed to the pulse, and the psychic and spiritual applications – thought projection, self-healing, general health suggestions and the "grand psychic breath". A closing chapter sketches the spiritual side of the science: breath as a vehicle for unfoldment, not merely for vigor. Short chapters, plain language, constant warnings against overdoing – Ramacharaka remains a practical teacher throughout. For readers of English, this is the source text of modern breath culture, complete and unabridged.

Table of contents

• Science of Breath
• Text
• Chapter I. Salaam
• Chapter II. "Breath Is Life"
• Chapter III. The Exoteric Theory of Breath
• Chapter IV. The Esoteric Theory of Breath
• Chapter V. The Nervous System
• Chapter VI. Nostril Breathing vs. Mouth Breathing
• Chapter VII. The Four Methods of Respiration
• Chapter VIII. How to Acquire the Yogi Complete Breath
• Chapter IX. Physiological Effect of the Complete Breath
• Chapter X. A Few Bits of Yogi Lore
• Chapter XI. The Seven Yogi Developing Exercises
• Chapter XII. Seven Minor Yogi Exercises
• Chapter XIII. Vibration and Yogi Rhythmic Breathing
• Chapter XIV. Phenomena of Yogi Psychic Breathing
• Chapter XV. More Phenomena of Yogi Psychic Breathing
• Chapter XVI. Yogi Spiritual Breathing