12 The Law of the Rhythmic Breath 



most philosophical, and only scientific cult of phys- 

 ical health and spiritual life; but, clothed in the 

 most poetic imagery, they have been studied, trans- 

 lated, and read for that alone, as curiosities of 

 literature. 



It is a deplorable fact that these so-learned 

 minds rejected, without the experiments which 

 they are assured would verify the statements, but 

 with cheerful indulgence for the " childish vagar- 

 ies " and the credulity of those sacred writers who 

 believed them, all these profound truths weighted 

 with the most beneficial results to humankind, and 

 which, in consequence, have remained Occult mys- 

 teries closely guarded by the few who understood 

 them. 



The forms of Yoga breathing which excite the 

 greatest incredulity, because differing radically 

 from accepted theories of the function, are best de- 

 scribed as alternate breathing; that is, through 

 each nostril in turn, the exhalations preceding the 

 inhalations from the same nostril. 



This method is profoundly scientific, being 

 based upon a phenomenon of normal breathing al- 

 most unknown to Western scientists (eight years 

 ago, I heard of two Buffalo physicians who had 

 discovered it) . It is that every human being in- 

 hales and exhales for a certain period nearly 

 an hour through the right nostril and then all 

 unconsciously changes to the left for a like period. 



