342 The Law of the Rhythmic Breath 



larges the aura, as the regular habit of deep, rhyth- 

 mic breathing. 



We must give a glance at some of the reasons 

 for our having to learn carefully and slowly, what 

 should be perfectly natural to every human being. 

 The first function of life which is aborted and per- 

 verted is that of correct breathing, and no other 

 function is so little understood or so ignored and 

 abused. It is this perversion and abuse that sow 

 the first seeds of weakness and disorder in the 

 human frame, because preventing any possibility 

 of the harmonically balanced rhythmic flow of 

 vital-force. 



The babe, before he has submitted to discipline's 

 unnatural methods of development, breathes 

 deeply, moving his abdomen more than his chest; 

 because the diaphragm is superintending the normal 

 function, and, when lowered, thrusts the viscera 

 downward which distends the elastic muscles of the 

 abdominal walls, and leaves the thorax above much 

 enlarged for the full expansion of the lungs. 

 Only thus can the lower lung-cells be filled or have 

 their stagnant residue of air changed and renewed. 

 Everything stagnant is impure and invites germs 

 of disease. < 



The moment discipline treats the child as some- 

 thing that must be bent to civilization's standards 

 instead of growing up naturally like a flower, con- 

 straint and fear begin their deadly work of tension 



