*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 61944 ***

  THE NEW SCIENCE
  OF CONTROLLED
  BREATHING

  The Secret of Strength,
  Energy and Beauty--Through
  Breath Control

  By EDWARD LANKOW

  Leading basso with the Boston, Metropolitan and
  Chicago Opera Companies. World-renowned
  singer and teacher of the new science
  of controlled breathing


  LESSON I

  Importance of Consciously Controlled
  Breathing


  CORRECTIVE EATING SOCIETY, INC.
  47 West Sixteenth Street
  NEW YORK CITY




 “_And the Lord God ... breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
 and man became a living soul._”


Copyright, 1922, Corrective Eating Society, Inc.




FOREWORD


The staff of life is not bread--it is _breath_. For you can live days
without drink, and weeks without food. But you can only live a few
minutes without air.

You would think, inasmuch as the human race has been breathing for at
least five hundred thousand years, that men and women today would know
_how_ to breathe.

As a matter of fact, however, consciously controlled breathing is known
to but very few people. These few fortunate individuals have been
rewarded by Nature in the way Nature always rewards those who follow
her laws.

She blesses them with magnificent constitutions, tireless energy and
the strength and beauty that comes from radiant health; skin that shows
the rich blood flowing under its clear surfaces, sparkling eyes, and
the vivacious manner that attracts and holds the attention of men and
women alike.

This, Nature does for those who use rightly her great gift.

Of the few in all the world who know the inmost secrets of the art
of breathing, Edward Lankow, the talented author of this course, is
perhaps the greatest.

The Editor of Physical Culture Magazine says of him:

“Mr. Edward Lankow is rated by many critics as the greatest basso
in America. The richness, resonance, depth, power, flexibility and
cello-like beauty of his voice has not been duplicated in America
for years. Mr. Lankow is thirty-five years old; weight, 205 pounds
stripped; height 6 feet, 1-1/2 inches; chest 44-1/2 inches; waist, 38
inches. He is Russian-American, born in Tarrytown, N. Y.”

In 1902, at the age of nineteen, Lankow was offered the principle Bass
engagement with the “Bostonians” by Barnabee and MacDonald, which he
declined on account of a desire for further study. The same year he
was offered a Tour with Adelina Patti, which he declined for the same
reason. In 1906 he started his career in Europe, where he sang at all
the principle opera houses, and in concerts. In 1911 he returned to
America and made his debut on the opening evening of the season with
the Boston Opera Company. Before going to Boston, he studied Pelleas
et Mellisande in Paris, at the first rehearsal at which the famous
composer Debussy was present, he received the superlative compliment
from the composer, who said to him “In your voice, I hear for the
first the mystic timbre of voice I thought of when I composed the part
fifteen years ago.” Mr. Lankow sang all the nine performances of this
opera in Boston with Mme. Leblanc and Mary Garden.

In 1912-1913 at the first performance of the Magic Flute at the
Metropolitan Opera House, the management brought Mr. Lankow over
from Boston for the first half dozen performances, where three of
the New York newspaper critics pronounced him the greatest basso in
America--one critic saying “A voice of amazing beauty, he is by long
odds the greatest basso in America.”

In April, 1917, while attending a garden party at Governor’s Island,
Mr. Lankow noticed that the speaking voice of Colonel Hartman was
naturally exceedingly well placed (or resonant) and asked the Colonel
if he had studied to produce it that way. To which the Colonel
answered, “No, I always spoke that way, and always wanted to find out
how I did it so as to show it to younger officers--but I couldn’t.”

Mr. Lankow then showed the Colonel by pressing his hand on the
Colonel’s abdomen how by Nature he used that organ in support--a
support which most of us had to learn but which came quite natural to
him. The quick mind of Colonel Hartman absorbed the value of the idea
at once, and he asked Mr. Lankow to teach this subject at Camp Gorden,
Ga., the largest development camp in the country.

Here official instructors of various subjects from all the other
camps in the country from Maine to San Francisco were gathered for
special instructions--from 6.45 A. M. Mr. Lankow would have classes
ranging from 25 to 1100, and gradually developed 41 officer assistant
instructors, so that several thousand men were doing the work at the
same time. The Commanding General, Brigadier General William Sage and
all of his staff were in his morning class.

After the third week, Mr. Lankow was asked to mess at Headquarters, and
live at the former home of Brigadier General Shaw. The results of his
work were more than astounding.

Men who had apparently no voices at all, and who had pain in the throat
while giving commands, suddenly found that it was a pleasure to use the
voice. On the other hand, men whose health was run down so that they
were on their way to forced retirement, were so changed in appearance
that their civilian friends asked them what they were doing.

Surgeon General Rupert Blue thought so highly of the health-building
power of Mr. Lankow’s course of instruction that he made the following
statement to Mr. Lankow in Washington:

“Use my name for anything you like in connection with your system of
teaching breath control.”

Another health authority said:

“Give the world two generations of children taught this trained,
scientific method of breathing and you’ll make the community free of
consumption.”

Many of the world’s greatest singers have profited by Mr. Lankow’s
instructions. Mary Garden, Director of the Chicago Opera Company and
famous prima donna, has written “Half the world does not know that
correct breathing means health, happiness and contentment. I had the
joy of learning this truth from Mr. Lankow. Every day my voice became
better--and my health too. His work is _really great_.”

In this complete course of “Lessons” Mr. Lankow tells all the secrets
of his wonderful work.

Within a few days you, too, by following the simple directions Mr.
Lankow advises, may be well on the road to such health, strength,
mental clearness and physical beauty as you have never known before.

For you will be working in harmony with Nature--and with Nature’s great
and beneficent laws.

                                                          The Publisher.




_LESSON I_

Importance of Consciously Controlled Breathing


Air is truly the breath of life. It is the vital fluid that animates
our being; that stimulates into activity every one of the billion of
cells that go to make up =the body=.

It is a fact, conceded by every scientific man today, that the oxygen
in the air we breathe is absolutely the greatest purifying force in all
Nature.

Yet there is but one way to get oxygen into your lungs and into your
system--and this is to breathe it in.

As long ago as two thousand years before the Christian Era, the Chinese
and the Hindoos made elaborate studies in the art of breathing.
Indeed, they developed a complex science having to do with control of
the breath. Certain forms of breathing were employed for the cure of
various diseases. Thus, for example, it was believed that controlled
inhalations and exhalations would allay fevers; or, in a contrary
condition of the body, induce a salutary rise in temperature.

In India the Buddhist priests were at pains to practice breath-control
so as always to command deep, quiet action of the lungs. In this
measured breathing the number of breaths was greatly reduced. The usual
eighteen to twenty-two breaths per minute were reduced to six or eight.
Experience justified the theories of the priests concerning the value
of a controlled breathing. Its merits have stood the tests of ages, and
today, in the Orient proper, breathing is still deemed the fountain of
health.

Aside from the distinctly physical advantages derived from
breath-control, there results also a poise of mind that is most
desirable in its benefits to the whole nature of the man.

Later in history both the Greeks and the Romans practiced controlled
breathing for hygienic purposes and for the attainment of bodily
perfection. They even went further than the Orientals of an earlier
epoch, for they deliberately set out to enlarge the chest cavity. They
realized that the principal part of the body is the trunk, and that in
this the chief constituent is the chest. The success they attained in
the development of superb physiques is demonstrated by the examples
that survived to us of their classic art. They were able to attain
a bodily perfection unequaled in the history of the world. In their
methods, controlled breathing was the chief agent.

In Europe, during the Middle Ages, this science of breath suffered from
increasing neglect, and finally died out.

As an appalling commentary on the neglect of proper breathing by the
mass of mankind, we may consider the fact, now generally admitted by
the medical profession, that fully one half of the world’s death-rate
is due to consumption.

The fact could hardly be otherwise. Any experienced physician is well
aware that only a small part of the lungs is ordinarily used by the
average person. A large portion of the breathing apparatus is in most
cases never employed at all. Naturally, inevitably, such areas in the
lungs weaken and become degenerate. They offer a breeding place for
the germs of various infections.


Why Ordinary Systems of Exercise Fail

The various systems of gymnastics are designed for the surface-building
of the body. The exercises affect almost exclusively the outer muscular
structure. The scientific cultivation of the breath, on the contrary,
acts directly on the inner, vital organs. These are strengthened and
developed from the outset. Thus a sure foundation is laid on which to
build toward physical perfection, and the true beauty which is, or
should be, the heritage of every healthy man or woman. Any ordinary
method must of necessity prove itself as ineffective as it is illogical.

The majority of athletes exhibit exterior muscles of most impressive
bulk. It is a curious fact, however, that the bony structure, which
measures the chest cavity, shows only a trifling development when
deprived of its muscular support. It must always be borne in mind that
the strength of the body lies in its organic power--not in the surface
muscles. In fact, the larger the surface muscles are, the more strength
is taken from the organic vitality in order to support and feed them.
It is by reason of this drain upon the inner forces that athletes so
often die young. Abnormal development of the muscular system at the
expense of organic vitality is a folly always dangerous, often fatal.


How We Live On Air

Air is the substance on which principally we feed. What we eat is of
secondary importance. The purity of the blood and the strength of
the arteries through which it throbs depend absolutely upon right
breathing. The greater the quantity of air taken into the lungs, the
more oxygen for the purification of the blood--the constant and prime
requirement for health.

The system of breathing which I advocate in this work is not a mere
matter of theory, something vague and experimental. It is concrete; it
is exact; its worth has been definitely proved. I have demonstrated
the merit of the exercises in my own case. During a year and a half
of practice my chest measurement increased from thirty-eight inches to
forty-two.


Breathing Color Into Pale Faces

With many flat-chested and anemic girls I have seen an equally
astonishing improvement. I have seen their chest develop, their busts
become firm and rounded, and tell-tale hollows under their collar bones
fill out.

Almost invariably, flabby muscles become resilient, pale sallow cheeks
become pink with the sweet flush of healthy youth.

Incidentally, I have discovered a variety of virtues in controlled
breathing. Thus, in the case of that most annoying among minor
ailments, a cold, I have found that I could invariably be rid of it
within twenty-four hours by means of strenuous breathing exercises for
twenty minutes at a time repeated often during the day.

For a more formal indorsement of this system, I may refer to the
Societe Internationale de la Tuberculose. An investigation by the
society was reported favorably at The Hague and London.

In this connection, it should be remembered that the world at large
has not yet begun to realize the supreme value of correct, quiet,
slow breathing for general health. Its practice regularly would
unquestionably prove a preventative of tubercular disease. Its
judicious employment by those already affected would prove a powerful
remedial agent. Consumptives who seek the pure air of mountains or
plains often fail to receive benefit, for the simple reason that they
have never learned the proper manner of breathing. To such, the best of
air is useless as the most nourishing food to the one who has no teeth
with which to chew.

When one inhales, the lungs seem to grow. As the cells are filled with
air, the chest proportionately enlarges. At the same time, the ribs
and the diaphragm assume a new position. The result is that the chest,
the between-rib muscles, and the diaphragm are all very strenuously
exercised. By proper breathing, the various muscles involved are
constantly trained; they are developed and made elastic to such
an extent that the lungs are not required to stand alone in their
resistance against adverse conditions, both without and within.

       *       *       *       *       *

The lungs expand during inhalation; they contract during exhalation.
A full breath dilates the lungs to their maximum capacity; they
relax to the minimum size when the breath is completely expelled. By
practice one can readily learn to influence the various movements, and
gradually to control them. The practice of the first exercises in the
series given includes sudden exhalation, slow exhalation, and rhythmic
exhalation. These tend to reduce the quantity of air that is left in
the lungs when the breath is expelled. Such residual air is poisonous,
and an excess of it, due to improper breathing, is very injurious. Its
retention in the lung cells not only lessens the space available to be
filled with fresh air, but it also acts as a direct agent for ill in
the bodily processes.


How Consciously Controlled Breathing Makes You Resist Disease

It should be added, and with emphasis, that _the habit of deep
breathing makes one immune to the germs of various diseases_. The
practice of breath-control gives a toughened fiber to the whole
breathing apparatus. This and the constant purifying of the blood
develop the body’s vital forces to the highest degree possible, against
which disease is rendered powerless. Thus one may enter into possession
of the health and strength that are his by right; and thus, and thus
only, shall he know the joy of life.

Here is an illustration of what may be done by serious and persistent
attention to breathing. It must be understood, however, that I by no
means advise others to follow my example, although I believe it quite
possible for anybody--man, woman, boy or girl--by constant practice, to
develop the same perfect resistance that I myself have.

For a period of five years, I have made it a rule to dress in January
exactly as in July--except in the matter of an overcoat. I go
without underclothing, I wear no waistcoat, (vest). I do not take
exception to the wearing by others of such garments, during the winter
months. But for myself, as I gradually learned to take advantage of
systematic breathing exercises and thus to charge my blood abundantly
with oxygen, the necessity for much clothing disappeared. Underwear
grew to be uncomfortable. I found myself both happier and healthier
without it. When I wore the heavier clothing in winter, I suffered
from frequent colds. Now I am rarely troubled in that manner. If,
through carelessness, I do catch cold, I am able easily to throw it off
within twenty-four hours by means of extra practice in deep breathing,
together with a short fast.

I do not wish to infer that the heavier clothing is the cause of colds.
My point is, rather, that the extra amount of oxygen I take into my
blood supplies the place of the garments formerly worn by me, as well
as acts in consuming, or burning up, the poisonous material that
gathers in the tissues, and tends to make you _feel_ cold.

Let me repeat that I do not advise anyone to experiment with the
wearing of summer apparel in winter until after several months of
systematic breathing exercises, with the consequent enriching of the
blood. The matter, like that of the cold bath, is one for individual
discrimination.

In my own case, the lighter garb has become actually a necessity for
comfort’s sake.


Why We Should Establish Schools To Teach The New Science of Breathing

Whatever the different systems for muscular and health development may
be, the value of developing those vital inner organs--the heart, the
lungs and the digestive organs, is easily understood. A large arm, or
a wonderful leg development cannot help these inner organs, if they
are naturally weak, or if they have been weakened. The point is--what
_will_ give health to these organs the fundamental or motor power to
all health.

Special exercises for the lungs, that is, conscious deep breathing
exercises for a specific period of time, will give results which
few realize. It is all so simple that most of us cannot believe it,
like all truths. The maximum oxygenation of the blood through taking
in large quantities of air--thereby feeding the organs with purer
blood--the _improved circulation_, the exhilarated heartbeat, the
drawing away of drowsiness from the brain, _the improved digestion
through the unconscious massage of the lower organs_, all these will
show what results are obtainable. If the children in our schools
were taught conscious, deep, slow breathing at that period of their
lives when body and mind are flexible, the habit would be easily
formed for life. This habit would surely wipe out consumption within
two generations. Millions of human beings die yearly from this, the
greatest human menace. Why not, therefore, have schools for breathing.
Surely this experiment is entitled to a place among the hundreds of
other experiments which have been and which are being tried.




TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:


  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

  Emboldened text is surrounded by equals signs: =bold=.

  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.





End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The New Science of Controlled Breathing, by 
Edward Lankow

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 61944 ***