Yoga Philosophy

Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi, Bhagu F Karbhari
Publisher: Devchand Lalbhai Pustakoddhar Fund

Page 60

The Science of Breathing.
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HIS science can be studied from two standpoints, the physical and the spiritual. Without studying it from the physical standpoint we can never study it from the spiritual. We must first know the conditions from the physical standpoint, what the construction of the system is and what it is for, and then we shall be able to understand why we ought to breathe in one way and not in another. We know that the lungs are the organs of breathing, and that the oxygen in the air passes into the blood. The respiratory organs are placed in the cavity called the thorax. The upper part is conical, and the lower part is broader and the whole apparatus is covered over by ribs and muscles, and so on. This being the construction o the respiratory organs, when the air comes in, it first of all comes to the lungs, and all the cells in the lungs are saturated with the oxygen of the air. It then goes to the blood, which is set in circulation, and the oxygen is taken up in combination and passes through all the parts of the body, when it is changed to carbonic acid and passes out of the body. In the light o all these things we want to study the different ways of breathing and decide which is the best. Ordinarily breathing is divided into two classes, abdominal and chest breathing. People who do not understand the science of breathing might think that sometimes we