Breath Summary

One: The Worst Breathers in the Animal Kingdom

Overview

The chapter opens with the author's personal health crisis, which led him to a transformative breathing class and sparked a deep curiosity about the mechanics of respiration. His investigation revealed a world where breath is considered a trainable skill for enhancing health, a concept supported by ancient traditions but largely overlooked by modern medicine. To explore this gap, he embarked on a radical ten-day experiment with a Stanford rhinologist, deliberately blocking his nose to force exclusive mouth breathing and document its effects. A medical exam beforehand revealed his own compromised nasal anatomy, likely shaped by a modern soft-food diet.

The structured experiment aimed to compare the physiological impacts of mouth breathing versus nasal breathing through rigorous testing. This modern inquiry is set against a vast evolutionary backdrop, tracing how life harnessed oxygen and mammals developed efficient respiratory systems. The core problem, however, is revealed through the study of ancient and modern skulls. While all ancient human specimens show wide airways, straight teeth, and robust facial structures, modern skulls consistently exhibit recessed jaws and shrunken sinuses—a condition framed not as evolution but as dysevolution. This anatomical decline is linked directly to the dawn of cooked food, which freed energy for massive brain growth at the direct expense of facial structure, simultaneously creating the human capacity for speech and a uniquely vulnerable airway.

The immediate, personal cost of this anatomical shift becomes brutally clear during the experiment's first nights. The data shows that nasal obstruction causes snoring to increase by 1,300% and sleep apnea events to quadruple within a single day, proving that mouth breathing creates instant dysfunction. The chapter ultimately presents a powerful irony: the very adaptations that made humans dominant—our large brains, cooked diets, and complex speech—physically obstructed our airways, making us, in many ways, the worst breathers in the animal kingdom.

The author’s personal journey into the science of breathing began unexpectedly during a stressful period in his life. Suffering from recurrent pneumonia and general malaise, he attended a free breathing class on his doctor’s recommendation. The session, led by a tape-recorded guided meditation, initially seemed uneventful. However, by the end, he found himself drenched in sweat despite the cool room, experiencing a profound, days-long sense of calm he couldn't explain. This puzzling event sparked a years-long quest to understand the power of conscious breathing.

His research led him to the world of freediving, where he encountered individuals who treated breathing as a conscious, trainable skill that conferred extraordinary abilities. They spoke of breathing techniques that could expand lung capacity, boost the immune system, aid in weight loss, and even help put cancer into remission—claims that often referenced ancient Taoist, Hindu, and Buddhist texts. Skeptical yet intrigued, he found that modern pulmonology had largely ignored these ideas, focusing instead on treating acute lung diseases rather than optimizing everyday respiration.

A Nasal Investigation

This curiosity culminated in a radical personal experiment conducted with Dr. Jayakar Nayak, a Stanford rhinologist. The author and a Swedish breathing therapist named Anders Olsson volunteered to have their nasal passages completely blocked for ten days, forcing them to breathe solely through their mouths. The goal was to experience and document the detrimental effects of chronic mouth breathing, a condition affecting about half the modern population.

During a pre-experiment examination, an endoscopic camera revealed the author’s own compromised airways: a V-shaped palate, a severely deviated septum, and sinus deformities known as concha bullosa. These structural issues, linked to a modern diet of soft, processed foods that fail to stimulate proper jaw and sinus development, explained his lifelong nasal congestion. Dr. Nayak took a bacterial culture from deep within his sinuses to establish a baseline, intending to compare it with a sample taken after ten days of nasal obstruction to study how mouth breathing alters the sinus environment.

The Stanford Breathing Experiment

The author describes the structure of the breathing experiment conducted with Dr. Anders Olsson at Stanford. It consists of two ten-day phases: Phase I involves living normally while breathing exclusively through the mouth with the nose plugged, and Phase II repeats the same activities while breathing exclusively through the nose and practicing specific techniques. Before and after each phase, a battery of medical tests—measuring blood gases, inflammation, hormones, smell, and pulmonary function—will quantify any changes. Despite warnings from some friends, many questioned the significance, treating breathing as a uniform action. The experiment aims to prove otherwise.

This investigation is framed within an immense evolutionary timeline. The narrative traces the origins of aerobic life, from primordial sludge consuming carbon dioxide to scavenger organisms that learned to harness oxygen, unlocking exponentially more energy. This process fueled the development of complex life, leading to mammals that evolved specialized systems—noses, throats, and lungs—to efficiently process air. For millions of years, this system worked exceptionally well for human ancestors.

The Anatomical Shift: From Ancient to Modern Airways

The root of modern breathing problems is identified as a profound anatomical shift that began around 1.5 million years ago. This is illustrated through the author's visit with orthodontist Dr. Marianna Evans, who studies ancient and modern human skulls. Her examination of the Morton Collection reveals that all ancient skulls, regardless of origin, shared “perfect” facial structures: forward-facing jaws, expansive sinus cavities, broad mouths, and perfectly straight teeth without dental care. These features created wide, open airways, making chronic issues like snoring, sleep apnea, and sinusitis unlikely.

In stark contrast, every modern skull she examines shows “reversed” growth: recessed chins, slumping jaws, shrunken sinuses, and malocclusion (crooked teeth). Humans are now the only mammals to routinely suffer from such misaligned jaws and teeth. Evans poses the critical question: “Why would we evolve to make ourselves sick?” The answer lies not in beneficial evolution, but in dysevolution—the adoption and passing down of detrimental traits.

Cooking, Brains, and Compromised Airways

The narrative rewinds to explore the cause of this dysevolution. It begins with Homo habilis 1.7 million years ago and focuses on a key innovation: processing food. Tenderizing and, later, cooking food with fire made calories more accessible. This dietary shift saved massive amounts of energy previously used for digestion, which was redirected to fuel a rapidly expanding brain.

This brain growth came at a direct cost to the face. The growing brain case took space from the mid-face, causing facial bones to weaken and shorten. The snout receded, leaving behind the distinctive human protruding nose. While adaptations like narrower noses in cold climates developed, the overall trend was toward smaller sinus cavities and a shrunken mouth. The throat was further reshaped by two other key human adaptations: speech and a descended larynx, which allowed for complex vocalization but made us uniquely susceptible to choking.

The tragic irony is that the very adaptations that ensured human dominance—large brains, cooked food, and complex speech—physically obstructed our airways. This recessed facial structure laid the anatomical groundwork for the chronic respiratory problems prevalent today.

Immediate Consequences of Mouthbreathing

The theoretical becomes personal and immediate as the author details the first nights of the mouthbreathing experiment. Lying in a separate room with taped nasal plugs and monitoring equipment, the effects are rapid and severe. Unfiltered mouth air is drying and irritating. The data is stark: after just 24 hours of nasal obstruction, the author’s snoring increased by 1,300% and sleep apnea events quadrupled. His partner Olsson’s results were even more dramatic. This proves that nasal obstruction doesn't just cause long-term structural issues; it creates immediate, measurable dysfunction in sleep and breathing.

Key Takeaways

• Modern human anatomy, characterized by recessed jaws and narrowed airways, is a product of dysevolution, linked to dietary changes and brain expansion, not survival fitness.
• Ancient human skulls show universally wide airways and straight teeth, suggesting chronic breathing and dental problems are modern maladies.
• The Stanford experiment demonstrates that nasal obstruction has an immediate, severe impact, causing snoring and sleep apnea to skyrocket within just one day.
• The human adaptations for speech (a descended larynx) and large brains came with a trade-off: a compromised airway that makes us prone to choking and breathing disorders.

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Breath Summary

Two: Mouthbreathing

Overview

This chapter opens with a striking statistic: around 90 percent of people are breathing incorrectly, a dysfunction linked to everything from anxiety to chronic disease. It suggests that proper breathing might be the most fundamental pillar of health, a lost art explored throughout history by a curious group of pioneers. To test this idea firsthand, the author and a friend conduct a difficult experiment, living for days with their noses blocked to force mouthbreathing.

The effects are immediate and severe. The author's blood pressure soars and his mental clarity dissolves. An athletic test on a stationary bike becomes a grueling ordeal, introducing the critical difference between efficient aerobic respiration and its less healthy counterpart, anaerobic respiration. This personal suffering is mirrored by cruel but revealing historical experiments on monkeys, which show how mouthbreathing physically deforms the airway, creating a vicious cycle of labored breathing.

The consequences hit hardest at night. The author's snoring skyrockets by over 4,800 percent, plunging him into obstructive sleep apnea where his oxygen levels dangerously dip. This disrupts his sleep and hormones, leaving him parched and exhausted in a cycle of thirst and frequent urination. Science confirms this isn't just an annoyance; disrupted breathing is linked to ADHD, mood disorders, and cognitive decline, a danger recognized even in ancient texts.

A modern case of a child with chronic respiratory issues underscores a hidden epidemic: the vast majority of people now have some deformity affecting their breathing. The irony is that comparing modern faces to ancient skulls reveals how far we've strayed from our natural, healthy airway structure. Yet, there is powerful hope. Research using those ancient skulls as a guide shows that restoring nasal breathing can reverse damage, reshape faces, and resolve chronic conditions. As the author's miserable experiment nears its end, he lies awake anticipating the chance to undo the damage, reclaiming the ancestral birthright of breathing properly.

The Universal Breathing Problem

The text opens with a startling claim: around 90% of people breathe incorrectly, and this dysfunction is a root cause or aggravating factor for a wide array of chronic diseases, from asthma and anxiety to ADHD and psoriasis. Conversely, researchers are discovering that simply changing our breathing patterns can alleviate or even reverse many of these conditions. This work positions breathing as the missing pillar of health—a factor more fundamental than diet, exercise, or genetics. The author frames the book as a "scientific adventure" into this lost art, exploring how the billions of molecules inhaled with every breath build and continually influence the body. This knowledge isn't new; it's been discovered, forgotten, and rediscovered for centuries by a cast of characters the author calls "pulmonauts"—tinkerers, mystics, surgeons, and coaches who pioneered breathing techniques out of necessity.

A Self-Inflicted Experiment

The narrative pivots to a personal, contemporary experiment. The author and his friend, Olsson, are halfway through a self-imposed, "masochistic" study to test the effects of exclusive mouthbreathing. For days, they have lived with their noses blocked by silicone plugs and tape, measuring their physiological data three times daily. The results are grim: the author's blood pressure has spiked into hypertension, his heart rate variability has plummeted, and his sense of mental clarity is gone. Both men feel awful, their health visibly deteriorating. Their daily routine is a miserable, isolated grind, punctuated by tests and the consumption of identical, meticulously tracked meals.

Testing Endurance and Energy Systems

Seeking data on athletic performance, the author and Olsson take their plugged noses to a gym for a stationary bike test, replicating a protocol from researcher John Douillard. The author pedals for 30 minutes while mouthbreathing, keeping his heart rate at a specific aerobic threshold (136 BPM). The experience is grueling, leaving him sweaty, bleary-eyed, and having covered a disappointingly short distance. This test sets the stage to explain the body's two energy systems: efficient, oxygen-based aerobic respiration and the quicker, toxic byproduct-producing anaerobic respiration. The key to health and endurance is to stay in the aerobic zone, which the formula 180 minus your age helps define.

The Physical Transformation of Mouthbreathing

The text then explores the historical science behind their suffering. It details the cruel but illuminating experiments of researcher Egil P. Harvold, who plugged the noses of rhesus monkeys. Within months, the animals' facial structures changed—jaws grew slack, faces elongated, and airways narrowed. This demonstrates the simple physics of breathing: mouthbreathing decreases pressure in the airway, causing soft tissues to collapse inward and making breathing harder, a vicious cycle. Nasal breathing does the opposite, toning airways to stay open. The author experiences this firsthand, suffering from sinus headaches and a sensation of being choked in his sleep as his own airways adapt negatively. His snoring has increased catastrophically—by 4,820%—in just ten days.

Personal Health Decline from Mouthbreathing The author's snoring intensified dramatically, with a 4,820 percent increase over ten days, leading to obstructive sleep apnea. At its worst, he experienced 25 apnea events nightly, where oxygen levels dropped below 90 percent, risking heart failure, depression, memory issues, and premature death. Listening to sleep recordings revealed disturbing sounds of self-strangulation, far from harmless snoring. Historical insight from 16th-century physician Levinus Lemnius underscores that mouthbreathing during sleep has long been recognized as harmful, causing dry mouth and increased thirst.

Physical Consequences of Disrupted Sleep Mouthbreathing led to a 40 percent increase in water loss, leaving the author parched and waking frequently to drink. Paradoxically, it also caused more frequent urination. This is linked to disrupted deep sleep, which impairs secretion of vasopressin—a hormone that regulates water retention. Without adequate vasopressin, kidneys release more water, triggering thirst and bladder irritation, creating a cycle of nighttime discomfort.

Scientific Evidence of Harm Chronic insomnia is often rooted in breathing problems, not just psychology. No amount of snoring or sleep apnea is benign; even mild symptoms like heavy breathing can lead to mood disorders, learning disabilities, and blood pressure issues. Research from Stanford and Japanese studies shows that mouthbreathing reduces brain cell growth in rats and disrupts oxygen flow to the prefrontal cortex in humans, linking it to ADHD. Ancient Chinese texts, such as the Tao, also warn against the "adverse breath" of mouth inhalation.

Modern Epidemic of Breathing Problems The case of Gigi, a young patient with snoring, sinusitis, and allergies despite a healthy upbringing, illustrates a broader crisis. Statistics reveal that 90 percent of children have mouth or nose deformities, 45 percent of adults snore occasionally, and 25 percent of Americans over 30 have sleep apnea, with most cases undiagnosed. Despite medical advances and longer lifespans, humans have lost touch with proper breathing, leading to widespread health declines. The irony is highlighted by comparing modern faces to ancient skulls with ideal airways.

Hope Through Airway Health Research Marianna Evans and colleagues are using measurements from ancient skulls to develop new models for airway health. Their work shows that restoring nasal breathing can reverse damage: patients like Gigi, after treatment, saw transformed faces, straightened teeth, and resolved respiratory issues. Similarly, Harvold's monkeys, after forced mouthbreathing, recovered their natural facial structures once nasal breathing resumed. This offers a blueprint for reclaiming ancestral breathing patterns.

Personal Reflection and Anticipation Lying awake, the author harbors hope that he can reverse decades of damage by relearning to breathe through his nose, as his ancestors did. With the nasal plugs set for removal the next morning, he anticipates a journey back to healthier breathing and improved well-being.

Key Takeaways

• Mouthbreathing and sleep apnea pose severe risks, including cardiovascular damage, cognitive decline, and chronic sleep disruption, with no level considered safe.
• Proper nasal breathing is crucial for optimal oxygen delivery, brain function, and hormonal balance, particularly in regulating sleep and hydration.
• Modern humans face a hidden epidemic of breathing-related deformities and disorders, despite overall health advancements.
• Research into airway health, inspired by ancient skulls, demonstrates that restoring nasal breathing can reverse health issues and reshape facial structure toward a more natural, healthy state.
• Personal and clinical stories offer hope that relearning ancestral breathing patterns can lead to significant recovery and improved quality of life.

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Breath Summary

Three: Nose

Overview

This chapter opens with the author’s messy but revelatory post-surgery recovery, where his first clear nasal breaths spark a profound sensory awakening and a new understanding of breathing as a vital exchange with the world. This experience leads him into the fascinating physiology of the nose itself, beginning with its natural nasal cycle. Governed by erectile tissue, this rhythm alternates airflow between nostrils, a process ancient texts and modern science both recognize. Each nostril plays a distinct role: the right nostril acts as an accelerator for alertness and logic, while the left nostril serves as a brake for relaxation and creativity.

Learning to work with this cycle through practices like alternate nostril breathing brings immediate benefits, but the author discovers that the most powerful change comes from simply breathing through the nose constantly. This allows the body's innate intelligence to self-regulate, leading to dramatic improvements in blood pressure and heart rate variability within a single day. The chapter then explores why the nose is so effective, detailing its intricate design as a filter and defender. Structures like the turbinates and a mucus-propelling cilia system warm, clean, and pressurize air, making nasal breathing far more efficient and protective than mouth breathing.

This isn't a new discovery. The chapter highlights the 19th-century advocacy of George Catlin, who documented the robust health of Native American tribes and attributed it to their strict, lifelong practice of nasal breathing, which he called the "great secret of life". The author applies this historical wisdom through the modern practice of mouth taping during sleep, a technique strongly endorsed by dental and speech pathology experts. Taping forces nasal breathing, which boosts nitric oxide production—a crucial molecule for circulation, immunity, and oxygen absorption—by sixfold.

Medical professionals explain the "use it or lose it" principle, where the nasal passages atrophy without regular use, but can be rehabilitated through consistent nasal breathing. After some personal experimentation to find a comfortable taping method, the author experiences striking results: snoring and apnea events plummet, leading to deeply restorative sleep. The chapter closes by echoing Catlin’s timeless, emphatic advice, framing nasal breathing not as a trend but as a foundational pillar of health rediscovered.

Immediate Aftermath of the Obstruction

The author returns to Dr. Nayak’s clinic to have the nasal plugs and obstructions removed, a process that is far from the celebratory relief he anticipated. His nasal cavity is inflamed and "soupy," requiring further intervention to manage the mess. Subsequent medical tests reveal that the simple act of returning to nasal breathing after over a week of forced mouthbreathing has a profound and rapid effect. That evening, his first clear nasal breaths bring a hyper-aware sense of smell, connecting him vividly to his environment and leading to a realization: breathing is a reciprocal process of taking in and giving back, a fundamental exchange with the world.

The Science of Nasal Cycles and Erectile Tissue

The nose is revealed to be a dynamic organ with its own rhythms. The ancient Shiva Swarodaya text described nostrils opening and closing in a cycle tied to cosmic rhythms, a concept later observed scientifically as the "nasal cycle" by Richard Kayser in 1895. This cycling is driven by erectile tissue lining the nasal cavity, which engorges with blood, linking the nose directly to sexual arousal and states of health. This tissue acts as the body's internal HVAC system, switching airflow from one nostril to the other every 30 minutes to 4 hours.

Nostrils as Accelerator and Brake

Each nostril governs a different physiological state. Breathing primarily through the right nostril activates the sympathetic nervous system (the "gas pedal"), increasing heart rate, blood pressure, and circulation, and feeding blood to the brain's left hemisphere for logical thought. The left nostril is connected to the parasympathetic nervous system (the "brake"), promoting relaxation, lowering blood pressure, and stimulating the brain's right hemisphere associated with creativity and emotion. Balancing these two states is crucial for optimal health, and imbalances—like excessive left-nostril breathing potentially exacerbating schizophrenia symptoms—can be addressed by consciously manipulating breath.

Practicing Alternate Nostril Breathing

The author begins practicing nadi shodhana, or alternate nostril breathing. Simple techniques, like inhaling/exhaling only through the right nostril to aid digestion or through the left to relax, produce immediate feelings of clarity and floatiness. However, the most significant transformation comes not from these short exercises but from the simple, consistent practice of breathing through the nose all day and night, allowing the nasal cycle to self-regulate. Measurements after just 24 hours of nasal breathing show dramatic improvements: the author's blood pressure drops from hypertensive to near-normal, and heart rate variability surges.

The Nose as a Filter and Defender

The intricate structure of the nose is designed for optimal air processing. Turbinates (nasal concha) create a winding path that slows, spins, and pressurizes incoming air. A mucous membrane covering erectile tissue warms and humidifies the air, while mucus acts as a "conveyor belt," trapping pollutants. This belt is propelled by microscopic cilia that beat in coordinated waves, moving debris to the stomach for sterilization. This entire system makes nasal breathing far more efficient and protective than mouth breathing, extracting more oxygen while defending the lungs.

Historical Advocacy: George Catlin and the "Great Secret of Life"

In the 19th century, artist George Catlin documented the universal health and robust physiology of over 50 Native American tribes, which he attributed to their strict nasal breathing practices. Tribes trained infants from birth to breathe through the nose, a habit maintained for life, which they believed prevented disease and ensured strength. Catlin, who cured his own life-threatening respiratory ailments by switching to exclusive nasal breathing, championed this "great secret of life" in his 1862 book, The Breath of Life, crediting it with his longevity.

Modern Application: Mouth Taping for Health

Emulating Catlin’s nighttime method, the author adopts the modern practice of mouth taping during sleep, advised by a dentist who links mouthbreathing to cavities, gum disease, and sleep apnea. A key benefit of nasal breathing is the release of nitric oxide from the sinuses, a vital molecule for improving circulation, oxygenating cells, and supporting immune function, mood, and sexual health. This practice represents the applied culmination of the chapter's exploration: using the nose as it was designed is a foundational pillar of recovery and ongoing health.

Professional Endorsements and Mechanisms

The practice of mouth taping receives strong validation from medical experts. Dr. Mark Burhenne, a dentist, and Dr. Ann Kearney, a speech-language pathologist at Stanford, both advocate for its use. They explain that nasal breathing boosts nitric oxide levels sixfold, leading to 18% more oxygen absorption compared to mouth breathing. This physiological shift has helped patients overcome ADHD, snoring, and sleep apnea, with Kearney noting that mouth taping effectively rehabilitated her own chronic nasal congestion without surgery.

The "Use It or Lose It" Principle

Kearney's experience underscores a critical concept: the nasal cavity atrophies without regular use. She observed that patients who underwent laryngectomies, bypassing nasal breathing, suffered complete nasal obstruction within months to years. Conversely, consistent nasal breathing trains the tissues to remain open, preventing snoring and apnea. This principle of adaptive response highlights why many people develop breathing disorders and how simple behavioral changes can reverse them.

Techniques and Personal Experiments

Application methods for mouth tape vary widely. Burhenne prefers a small horizontal piece over the lips, while Kearney uses a larger strip. Online suggestions range from multiple tape pieces to duct tape, but the author found these excessive. Through trial and error with painter's tape, Scotch tape, and Band-Aids, he discovered that a postage-stamp-sized piece of 3M Nexcare Durapore tape at the center of the lips works best—minimal, comfortable, and residue-free.

Dramatic Improvements in Sleep

The results were striking. Within three nights of using the tape, the author's snoring reduced from four hours to ten minutes per night, and his apnea events dropped from two dozen to zero. He experienced deeper sleep without interruptions or nocturia, likely due to proper vasopressin release. Similarly, his subject Olsson saw his snoring vanish and apnea events fall from 53 to zero, leading to renewed energy and well-being.

A Historical Echo

The chapter closes with a reference to George Catlin's Breath of Life, where he emphatically advises "SHUT-YOUR-MOUTH" as a universal motto for health. This historical perspective reinforces the timeless importance of nasal breathing, tying modern practices to centuries-old wisdom.

Key Takeaways

• Nasal breathing increases nitric oxide production by sixfold, enhancing oxygen absorption and offering therapeutic benefits for conditions like ADHD and sleep apnea.
• The nasal cavity operates on a "use it or lose it" basis; consistent nasal breathing prevents atrophy and maintains open airways.
• Mouth taping, with simple methods like a small piece of gentle surgical tape, can dramatically reduce snoring and apnea events, leading to restorative sleep.
• Personal experimentation is valuable for finding comfortable taping techniques, but minimal application is often sufficient.
• Historical advocates like George Catlin long emphasized the critical importance of breathing through the nose for overall health.

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Breath Summary

Four: Exhale

Overview

The chapter opens with ancient practices, revealing how a ritual like the Five Tibetan Rites was sought not just for spirituality but for the tangible goal of expanding lung capacity. This pursuit finds validation in modern science, where studies identified lung capacity as a premier indicator of longevity, overturning the old belief that lungs were fixed and doomed to decline. This sets the stage for exploring how deliberate breath can physically reshape the body, exemplified by Katharina Schroth, who spent years breathing her spine straight to cure her own severe scoliosis.

The narrative then focuses on the pivotal, forgotten work of Carl Stough, who shifted the focus from inhalation to a full, controlled exhalation. Diagnosing emphysema as a disease of exhalation, he saw the diaphragm as a second heart and taught dying patients to reactivate it, producing documented lung expansion that baffled conventional medicine. His method, termed Breathing Coordination, trained the diaphragm to its full range, a technique the author experiences firsthand. Stough’s principles proved equally transformative for elite athletes, helping Olympic sprinters like Lee Evans break records by mastering the breath at the starting line.

Despite these profound results, Stough’s legacy remains elusive. His hands-on, physically intense methods were never systematized and appeared bizarre to outsiders, a "lost science" that faded after his death. His documented successes in treating emphysema find no place in modern pulmonary medicine, leaving a powerful, unconventional body of knowledge buried and the full potential of the exhale largely unexplored.

The Ancient Path to Lung Expansion

The narrative begins with a personal ritual: a daily practice of the Five Tibetan Rites, a series of stretches and breaths believed to have been secretly passed down by Buddhist monks. This practice is undertaken not for mystical reasons alone, but for a tangible physiological goal: expanding lung capacity. The story of how these rites reached the West is attributed to writer Peter Kelder and his encounter with a retired British Army officer, Colonel Bradford, who claimed to have reversed his aging by learning these techniques in a Himalayan monastery. While Kelder's 1939 booklet, The Eye of Revelation, was largely dismissed, the exercises themselves have ancient roots and tangible benefits.

The Scientific Link Between Lungs and Longevity

Western science eventually began to validate the intuitive knowledge of the Tibetans. Landmark studies, including the decades-long Framingham Study, identified lung capacity as the single greatest indicator of life span—more than genetics, diet, or exercise. Larger, more efficient lungs correlated directly with longer lives. For much of the 20th century, however, Western medicine held that lungs were immutable organs destined to decline with age, shedding significant capacity by the time one reached 80. This fatalistic view is now being overturned by the understanding that our internal organs are malleable. Freedivers, who have increased their lung capacity by 30-40 percent, and moderate aerobic exercise, which can boost lung size by 15 percent, are living proof.

Breathing the Body Straight: The Story of Katharina Schroth

The transformative power of directed breath is powerfully illustrated by Katharina Schroth. As a teenager in early 1900s Germany diagnosed with severe scoliosis, she theorized that expanding her lungs could reshape her skeletal structure. Through a self-devised method of "orthopedic breathing"—twisting, arching, and consciously inhaling into specific areas—she spent five years literally breathing her spine straight. She later founded an institute where severely hunched patients, many bedridden, practiced bare-chested breathing exercises in an outdoor lot. Within weeks, backs straightened, heights increased, and mobility returned, earning Schroth belated recognition from the medical community and allowing her to live to the age of 91.

The Second Heart: Carl Stough and the Art of the Exhalation

The core of this section explores the groundbreaking, yet largely forgotten, work of Carl Stough. A choir conductor, Stough discovered that the key to robust singing—and to health—was not the inhalation, but a full, controlled exhalation. His expertise led him to the East Orange Veterans Affairs Hospital, where he confronted dying emphysema patients. Stough made a radical diagnosis: emphysema was a disease of exhalation. The patients' diaphragms—the "second heart" that powers circulation—had atrophied, trapping stale air. Through gentle manipulation, massage, and breathing exercises, he taught them to exhale completely, reactivating their diaphragms and accessing healthy parts of their lungs. Before-and-after X-rays showed dramatic lung expansion, baffling doctors who believed such change was impossible.

Awakening the Diaphragm

The author experiences Stough’s techniques firsthand with his protégé, Lynn Martin. The therapy focuses on achieving "Breathing Coordination," where the respiratory and circulatory systems find equilibrium. Through exercises like counting aloud on a long exhale until the breath is fully spent, the diaphragm is trained to engage its full range. This counters the shallow, chest-based breathing that leads to poor posture and respiratory issues. Stough later applied these same principles to elite athletes at Yale and with Olympic hopefuls, teaching sprinters to exhale at the starter’s pistol to take a richer first breath. The results were less strain, faster recovery, and broken records, proving that optimal breathing is fundamental to peak performance, just as it is to healing.

The Unconventional Legacy of Carl Stough

The chapter illustrates the tangible, championship-winning impact of Stough’s breathing methods through the story of Olympic sprinter Lee Evans. Evans credited the technique of a full exhalation with sustaining his energy, a practice he later described as being “for my life.” His iconic victory, alongside the historic 12-medal haul of the 1968 U.S. men's track team—who uniquely forewent supplemental oxygen—stands as a powerful testament to Stough’s “breathing coordination.”

A Bizarre and Elusive Technique

Lynn Martin’s personal account reveals Stough as a gifted but inscrutable figure who never codified his secrets, believing his work was “too difficult to put into words.” This elusiveness is highlighted by the only known video of Stough in action, a strange spectacle from 1992. The footage shows him aggressively manipulating a tenor’s body, jiggling his jaw, and counting in a “gibberishy harmony.” To an outsider, it appeared bizarre, even like “borderline molestation.” The author’s own session with Martin, involving chest poking and babbled numbers, clarifies why this radical, hands-on therapy, despite its successes, remained on the fringes. Stough was not a doctor but a “self-made pulmonaut,” and his methods were simply “too weird” for mainstream acceptance.

A Lost Science

Stough viewed breathing as an uncharted territory between anatomy and physiology, a map he spent a lifetime drawing. His death, however, meant that map was lost. His revolutionary work at the VA hospitals vanished when he left. The author’s subsequent research into modern emphysema treatments confirms this erasure: standard care includes drugs, surgery, and basic breathing exercises, but no mention of Stough, the diaphragm as a “second heart,” or the curative power of a full exhalation. Emphysema remains officially “incurable,” a stark contrast to the recoveries Stough once facilitated, leaving his pioneering contributions buried and forgotten.

Key Takeaways

• Carl Stough’s breathing coordination technique produced undeniable, championship-level results for Olympic athletes like Lee Evans.
• Stough’s methods were intensely physical, unconventional, and never formally systematized, which prevented them from gaining mainstream medical acceptance.
• Despite documented success in reversing emphysema symptoms, Stough’s work was entirely lost after his death and receives no acknowledgment in contemporary pulmonary medicine.

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