Book Title: Yoga Philosophy
Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi, Bhagu F Karbhari
Publisher: Agamoday Samiti

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Page 185
________________ The Science of Breathing. THE Science of breathing is as old as the world, It is practised not merely for health but for evolving certain occult powers which are latent in all of us. The Chinese, two thousand years before the Christian era, had this science; the Greeks and Romans also practised it. Some of the Roman writers mentioned the practise of holding the breath for medical purposes, because it was believed that thereby they could induce heat in the internal regions of the body. and also could strengthen the internal regions. Plato refers to the custom of resorting to breathing in certrain ways, and later on, in mediæ val ages, writers have made mention of this science. Kant wrote a work on the power of the mind to control sickness by the mere force of the will, and there is one chapter on this matter alone, that is, treating certain diseases by the holding of the breath. This science therefore must be deeply important not only for the curing of disease but for other more important purposes. If we do not breathe properly we cannot digest or live rightly. We all know the construction of the human body, that the lungs are the great organs of respiration that the lungs and the heart are placed in a avity and Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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