Science of Breath, A Review of

How to describe Swami Rama's books without recourse to superlatives! This book is no exception in this respect.

In spite of his spiritual background, the author, who grabbed everyone's interest by his seminal work (Living with the Himalayan Masters), had never thought it helpful to ram his ideas of spirituality down anyone's throat.

Consistently proving to the scientists and empiricists that spirituality can happily coexist with western science, He participated in several clinical experiments that tested the validity and veracity of his claims. The results that Swami Rama presented completely confounded the scientists and especially his detractors.

"Science of Breath" should be studied together with Swami Sivananda's "The Science of Pranayama" and "Svara Yoga", and Swami Sivapriyananda's "Secret Power of Tantrik Breathing" if one desires to profit from the author's views.

Everyone exists primarily because of his continuous breathing. One may survive, depending upon one's constitution, without food and even water for a couple of day but not without breathing for more than a few minutes. Yet, we have not only taken breathing for granted but have also forgotten how to breathe healthfully. Western science has not helped us in this regard, too; in fact, it has been one of the reasons for most people's thinking that concepts regarding "proper breathing techniques" should rightly be consigned to the bin of intellectual dead ends or superstition.

Objectively analysing the ancient science, comparing it with western science, the author dismantles various arguments that readily pooh-pooh the science of breathing.

If one is serious about putting into practice what Swami Rama has prescribed in his work, then, one should consider reading it.