When traveling in India, I met in solitary places saints who dedicated their lives to building a strong body necessary for a high spiritual state.
Every day they spent many hours practicing rhythmic slow, deep breathing. These Hindu saints were incredibly physically developed, deep breathing and fresh air kept them from the power of time.
I met one such person at the foot of the Himalayas, and he told me that he was 126 years old. He had no reason to tell me a lie, because his whole life was devoted to serving God.
He taught me a system known as “deep cleansing breath.” Unfortunately, I do not have the opportunity to talk about it in detail.
This man had excellent health, and on his head there was not a single gray hair. He has all his teeth, and he looked like an athlete.
He was fluent in seven languages. When I asked him how he managed to maintain such physical and mental activity, he replied: “I have a great practice of deep breathing, and I regularly do the necessary breathing exercises on a daily basis.”
I do not like to ask women about their age. But while sailing to India, I met a woman who seemed to me 50 years old. How surprised I was when she told me that she was 86.
She was a beautiful woman with no trace of old age. I asked her what was the secret of her beauty and health, and again I heard in response the same as from the saint. This woman was aware of the importance of deep breathing.
Watch children running and jumping, playing and rollerblading or biking.
When they do all these active exercises, they absorb a large amount of oxygen, even more than we can imagine. We must remain active, we must take long, invigorating walks on foot.
I know that we live in a poisoned air world today, and it is all the more important to cultivate the habit of deep breathing.
When I see people leading a sedentary lifestyle who do not adhere to the rules of exercising, I know that they deliberately shorten their lives.
Deep breathing
I had a friend named Amos Stagg – a famous coach in football and athletics. Mr Stagg lived more than 100 years. I asked him what was the secret of his long life.
He replied: “For most of my life, I ran and did other physical exercises, which provided my body with plenty of oxygen.”
In New York, I had a friend, James Hocking, who was the champion of the country in walking long distances. I asked Mr. Hokking on his 100th birthday, what is the secret of his long active life, his super health. He replied: “I always walked a lot and breathed deeply.”
So you see that oxygen, like starvation, expels poisons from the body.
Personally, I practice deep breathing and I am absolutely sure that people should expose their body to the free effects of moving air. Air baths are very good for good health. You must sleep with the windows open at all times to create good ventilation. I sleep better and get better sleep if I don’t wrap myself up for the night.
Wrapping warmly, we do not allow our skin to absorb oxygen freely.
If most of your life is associated with a seat, you should compensate for all this by walking in the air and exercising.
You will solve many of your problems by regularly conducting three to five-kilo-meter walks on foot. Long walks by the end of the day relieve me from fatigue. I am sure that after the evening meal everyone should walk three kilometers on foot.
We are today a race of seated people. We experience air and oxygen starvation. We can not remove all carbon dioxide from our organs and therefore are filled with pain, suffering, we age old prematurely.
And all this because we are too lazy and too indifferent. On all city streets you can see pale, exhausted people. And all because they lack air. But during fasting, you are cleared of accumulated carbon dioxide, which does not allow the body to breathe deeply.
So, when you are starving, you should go for walks in the afternoon or in the evening, even if they are small. Make it a rule to be an active person.
This means that you need to go out into the fresh air, walk, run, swim, dance. You should not allow carbon dioxide to accumulate in your body, it is fraught with serious consequences.
So, following the fasting program, you should make a habit of two to three kilometer daily walks. During these walks, you must constantly remember to breathe slowly and deeply.
Remember, I told you: the slower and deeper you breathe, the longer you live. And if you combine deep breathing with starvation, add many years to your life.