CHAPTER XXIII MAGNETIC BREATHING

EVERYBODY is quick to jump at conclusions. The first thought of an uninformed person who reads the title of this
chapter will be to inquire what relation breathing can have to vitality. The best answer is to tell the inquirer to
abolish breathing for a few days, or long enough to ascertain its im�portance in sustaining life. The fact is that the
very sources of magnetism come from the vital changes that occur when the oxygen of pure air reaches the new
blood of the lungs. Then might arise the inquiry. Why will this of itself not create magnetism? It will, it does; but
its process may be greatly increased or greatly retarded.
Respiration is the process of taking in and letting out the breath. It begins at birth and ceases at death. The quality
and energy of breathing are dependent upon the vital condition of the individual; and the following facts may be of
importance at this juncture:
1. In a state of inactivity during waking hours, respira�tion is feeble and the value small.
2. In sleep following a day of inactivity, respiration is feeble.
3. In sleep following a day of activity or effort, respira�tion is deep, full and heavy when the health is normal.
4. In waking hours of activity the respiration is in�creased.
5. Exercise, fast walking and running will increase the respiration in proportion to the force exerted.
6. All increase thus acquired is in the form of a greater number of breaths and not of longer range or greater
depth; and, while some good is attained, the value is not important.
7. Happiness, joy, pleasure, good news, and all bright moods deepen the respirations and increase their number.
8. Laughter does even more.
9. Gloom, despondency, bad news and sorrow reduce the respiration to the shortest range and slowest time, so
that in some cases it appears as if the breath had stopped altogether.
10. When some little thing goes wrong the nervous sys�tem is depressed, the respiration diminishes, headache
fol�lows, and even sickness may ensue.
11. Non-magnetic persons are shallow in lung-action, having no great depth of inhalation.
12. Persons who are naturally magnetic are correct breathers; and by this term we mean that they follow the
methods which are presented in this chapter. They do so instinctively, for it is right and natural.
FIFTY-NINTH GRAND PRINCIPLE Rapid inhalations are vitalizing.
If you will observe any persons who seem to be full of life and vigor you will notice that they are always taking in
full, deep and rapid breaths; not in succession so much as at times when some effort is required in mental or
physical opera�tions. They are silent breathers, in the sense that the nose or mouth does not give out a sound of
passing air as in an ordinary quick breath, or a sigh.
The way the air is passing, whether in or out, may be determined by watching the chest, the nostrils or the throat;
although a keen eye is required in some cases. The speed of an inhalation is found by noticing the recurrence of
action, for the body indicates when the change occurs from the end of an in-going breath to the end of its exit. To
give out a sound of passing air is both faulty and injurious, and gener�ally is evidence of weakness.
A rapid inhalation need not be one of great speed; all that is required is that it should be faster than an ordinary
breath for any increase is evidence of a strong affirmative vitality. It is of course true that men and women of
great vigor, when full of life, or vivacious as it is called, seem to take a breath as a giant would grip a pigmy; they
snatch it up with an easy power. The jaws are firm, the eye bright, the face full of determination, and the air is
drawn with energy into the lungs. Mere physical vigor does not do this; it re�quires a nervous vitality.
SIXTIETH GRAND PRINCIPLE Slow exhalations prevent loss of vitality.
The reason of this law will be more readily seen when we say that the lung-cells, their elastic surroundings, the
great diaphragm and all the muscles attached are involved in breathing, and that a quick "let-go" of the group is
equal to a collapse which must stand as evidence of weakness, just as a fall of the head by a "let-go" of the neck
muscles indicates sleepiness or fainting.
To draw in air it is necessary that the chest, lungs, tissue, diaphragm and associate muscles should expand and
open just as a piece of rubber is enlarged. When the air is in and is about to pass out, a condition of vitality would
prevent the elastic power from being lost all at once. A sigh does this; and sighing is very weakening.
We have proved by experiments that slow inhalations followed by quick exhalations, if persisted in, will bring on
chills and break down the vitality very fast. So dangerous is this practice that a person who is not perfectly well
would quickly collapse. We can all observe in those who are ill the constant tendency to let the breath go out itself;
they lack the power of holding it back and allowing it to gently exhale. The habits that are universal with persons in
ill health must belong to that condition; and this "letting-go" of the breath is the most marked of all.
It is for the same reason that one gasps when tired or exhausted. Try the experiment by taking very short breaths
and letting them out in this quick fashion. You have the panting of the invalid. The heat of fever is reduced by the
same action. A magnetic person requires a higher tempera�ture than one who is not so endowed, and the loss of
animal heat through rapid exhalations is a serious matter. Not only does heat go out, but vitality and magnetism
go with it. The cure of one of the worst of faults and the prevention of loss can be found in no other way than
under our present prin�ciple.
The habits of persons of fine health, when such habits are always present, must be construed as indicating a law;
and, when we see such persons in control of the organic func�tions of breathing, taking firm, vital inhalations, and
pre�venting the "let-go" or collapse of the lungs and diaphragm, we are compelled to admit that respiration is the
key to health and to much else besides. So many experiments have been based upon this law that it is not a
matter of doubt. Any person may test it. For instance, those who have used drugs vainly, while seeking to
overcome such diseases as nervous prostration, low vitality, weakness, loss of life-forces, feeble heart, collapse of
digestion, lung debility, and private failures in the functions of manhood and womanhood, have invariably been
wrong breathers. They have not had firm, energetic inhalations, nor slow, controlled exhalations. We have known
of many thousands of such cases and have never failed to find the reverse conditions; namely, slow, weak,
inhala�tions, and quick "letting go" exhalations.
The more quickly the breath enters the lungs the sooner its value is imparted to them; the more quickly it goes out
the less value it leaves. Speakers who use the voice properly and with the four qualities of perfect resonance, are
always in health, for such use of the lungs invites vigor and vitality; but all speakers who know how to use the
voice properly know also that the quick inhalation and the slow exhalation are necessary in their profession.
Otherwise the orator, as well as the singer, would lack voice control because lacking breath control. Some speakers
are accustomed to taking quick, full breaths at every pause, but only at pauses and then only when the pause is a
natural one. This habit soon grows on a per�son and compels the longest exhalations while speaking or singing. It
is well known that some of the ablest and most magnetic of professional men and women in public life have used
the out-going breath for forty seconds, fifty seconds, sixty seconds, and even more, one claim of ninety seconds
being authenticated.
The sensible person drops the use of drugs, and comes under the influence of natural laws. Many and many a weak
breather has dosed the system with poisons that could not cure, and has found out at last that medicines cannot
give firm inhalations and controlled exhalations, the very things that the health requires. What nature does
spontaneously may be employed to invite the conditions that give rise to her acts. Thus, if she marks her healthy
men and women with correct methods of breathing, then correct methods of breathing will invite the health that
would naturally inspire them. This is right in philosophy; but it is true in practice and has been the means of doing
a vast amount of good. Get pure air, then train the lungs to observe the methods that nature insists upon in
periods of health; and they will gradu�ally generate the vitality that will sustain permanent health.
This kind of vitality is of the greatest value in the devel�opment of magnetism.
SIXTY-FIRST GRAND PRINCIPLE
Extra-deep inhalations invite extra vitality.
As has always been our custom, we have first ascertained what have been the habits of men and women of
acknowledged magnetic power; and these we have followed until their iden�tity with the true laws of magnetism
has been established. The most noticeable habit of such a person is the firm and rather rapid inhalation; the habit
next noticeable is that of a controlled outgoing breath; but there is something of still greater value that nearly
always eludes observation, and this is what we are now to speak of.
We must be pardoned for taking our magnetic types from those who are most easily observed when they possess
this power known as personal magnetism. We can see and study the speaker and the actor who is thus gifted, for
they are always observable. We can also analyze the methods of the man or woman who, in social life, sways
others by such charm. And it is such persons who first give us light upon the matters that embody the laws of
action which appear in books.
From time immemorial man has evinced the extra en�ergy of magnetic vitality during periods of genuine power;
for it is born in him, and has always been a part of his nature. The same thing is apparent to a trained eye
whenever a per�son is exerting the magnetic power, as when a speaker is holding an audience in his power and
carrying it onward to greater control. Not only are the breaths firm but there is an extra depth in each inhalation
that is not otherwise reached.
This extra depth is noticeable in all persons who are deeply affected by something that exhilarates. We do not refer
to laughter or pleasure, but to those episodes that come into lives but rarely and take strong possession of them.
We have witnessed this extra deep inhalation in such cases as the following:
1. A woman on being successful in her love suit.
2. A man on receiving a letter announcing a similar success.
3. A society woman at whose home a personage of great fame called.
4. An author on receiving a check for one thousand dol�lars as payment for his first literary production.
5. A contestant in the crisis of competition, when resolv�ing to win, and finding that he had the power to do so.
6. An orator on an occasion when he felt unusual mag�netism and proceeded to exert it with telling results. He
passed to climax after climax, each higher and grander than its predecessor, until it seemed as if he could not
sustain his power; yet on he went surprising all beholders. At that time the author was intensely interested in
getting the exact facts relating to the use of the lungs in the act of extra breath�ing, and the movement was
distinctly observed. It is the same in all cases when the vitality is suddenly increased to an enormous extent.
Since finding its universal prevalence in conditions of excessive magnetism, we have had it put into practice as an
exercise, and the results have proved its value. The diffi�culty is in making the precise movement clearly
understood and recognizable by others who may read our description of it. The mechanical practice does but little
good, although it sometimes leads to the right method, for which latter rea�son we give it at this place.
The Mechanical Way.—Take a standing position with the weight of the body sustained on the balls of the feet.
Inhale silently through the nostrils, until the lungs are packed full of air. Swing the arm to a high position over the
head by a long, quick motion of the hand, at the same time rising sud�denly on the tips of the toes, and inhaling
as much more air as possible. The quick rise of the body will draw in more air. This is the mechanical method, and
lacks the main ele�ment of success in that it has no feeling of exhilaration to invite it.
The Magnetic Way.—Repeat the same exercise at some time when the feelings are buoyant. Some persons are
able to create a pleasurable excitement by the force of the imag�ination, and this will serve as well.
Then send the extra deep breath down into the lungs without the aid of the mechanical practice. This can be done
after a few weeks of trial, and need not take any time, for the occasions are many in every day when such
exercises may be performed. Nearly all of the successful students have prac�ticed while walking outdoors and
engaged in other duties. You are compelled to breathe all the time, and it is as easy to breathe right as wrong. •
SIXTY-SECOND GRAND PRINCIPLE
Complete exhalations, made slowly, give control of the vitality.
It can at once be seen that half-emptied lungs, speaking in a popular sense, means half-filled lungs at all times.
We call the lungs empty when the full exhalation has been made; although, in fact, it is not possible to entirely
collapse the air-cells. But most persons never get out all the air they can. An invalid will pant when very weak, and
this consists in taking in a very small quantity of air and letting it out at once; possibly not five per cent of a full
respiration, which means that ninety-five per cent is neglected.
In daily activity the range is greater than in idleness, but not by any means as large as it should be. Even the
person who runs for a car, or for other reasons, and gets out of breath, respires in a quick, short action, while the
trained athlete compels himself to breathe deeply and slowly, be�cause he knows that one deep breath is better
than a dozen short ones. He also knows that he cannot fill a vessel with new material if he does not empty it.
If you have a pitcher which is full of old milk and you wish to have nothing but new milk in it, you would not be
content to pour out half of it and then add enough of the new to fill it. The average person does not exchange
twenty per cent of the air in the lungs at a breath made with some depth; and eminent specialists claim that not
ten per cent is exchanged. This is as much as to say that when you have a pitcher full of old milk you will pour off
one-tenth, leaving the ninety per cent in the pitcher, add enough new milk to fill it up, pour off one-tenth, fill it up
again, and so continue all the time. What would be the result ?
One of the great advantages to the health in the study of oratory, reciting, voice culture and similar arts when
pur�sued scientifically, is found in the fact that students are taught to use all the air of the lungs, and to get as
much new air as possible in each inhalation. Then comes the great fact that, when all the dead air is taken out of
the lungs, their action is more vital. We once had a distinguished pupil who could not learn how to get deep, full
breaths under a teacher who taught only the methods of inhalation. We began by teaching nothing but exhalations,
and soon had the lungs empty, as it is called. The pupil was surprised at the results. The empty lungs were hungry
for air and took it in with great zest and exhilaration. The vitality and magnetism at once increased in marked
degrees.
In this brief period we have presented certain secrets in the methods of respiration that have long been held
seclusive by certain European teachers. We have made them clear, and the only remaining duty is to impress upon
our students the necessity of adopting them as lifelong habits. In doing so we advise that the mere mechanical
part of the practice be made a stepping-stone only to the natural use of the exercises, and be abandoned as soon
as possible. Breath should enter the body much as food does, under the impulse of zest and hunger, eagerly taken
and absorbed. The me�chanical injection of uninvited food is followed by indiges�tion. The same law holds true in
breathing.
For the reason stated we hope that you will try to place yourself in conditions that will invite a love of deeper
breaths. Brightness of life tends always to effect this result. You know that you can always find what you are
looking for; if it is trouble, you will not have to search far; if it is dis�couragement and gloom, they are yours; but
if you care to seek the bright side of everything, and obtain comfort from living, you will surely find all that you
earnestly strive for. A deep breath in a moment of happiness is vital; the exhilara�tion that attends it leads to
magnetism and power.
It is said that all persons are naturally gifted with the art of acting, and no child is denied this talent; the baby,
from the time it learns to walk until the era when all "for�wardness," so-called, is driven out of it by the stern
parent, is a natural actor. It creates, portrays and reproduces the moods and deeds of its elders. In the more
limited scope, the stage actor is able to do the same thing. When, for instance, he simulates joy, if he is a real
actor, he puts himself in the mood of joy and all attendant circumstances, by which he actually feels the pleasure
he depicts. This is what we would like to have you learn to do.
How many times have we stood before pupils in a school where dramatic work was being taught, and told them to
take lines that represented power, authority, triumph and great joy, and notice the methods of the most earnest of
them! Those who had a real conception of what acting meant threw themselves into the portrayal as though it
were life itself. Here are some of the lines:
"I am the king."
"I have re-created France."
"My happy heart with rapture swells."
"I love, and therefore am a woman."
"To thy knees and crawl for pardon."
"There is no such word as fail."
"Madam, you have bereft me of all words. Only my blood speaks to you in my veins."
"A husband's roof, however lowly, is in the eyes of God and man the temple of a wife's honor."
"I can scarce contain myself, I am so full of joy."
"And this sabre did the deed."
"No power on earth shall part us till I have saved my Selim."
The foregoing lines are a few only of the number that were employed, but they are enough to illustrate what is
meant. We advise you to try them in connection with your practice under the principle stated. The lungs must be
well tilled., and, as the power is conceived just before the line is uttered the extra deep breath is taken. It also
comes volun�tarily into the lungs at each pause in a sentence, no matter how brief it may be.
END OF THE fifth step