The Hindu-Yogi Science of Breath

About this book

Breathing is so ordinary that it can pass unnoticed for hours. Yogi Ramacharaka makes it the centre of a disciplined system, linking attention, posture and rhythm to claims about vital energy.

Published under William Walker Atkinson's yogic pen name, the manual introduces exercises associated with pranayama through early twentieth-century New Thought assumptions. Its promises sometimes go beyond evidence, and intensive breath practices are not suitable for everyone. As a historical text, it shows how breath became a meeting point between Western self-improvement and selected Indian traditions.