Respiration

The mystery of life is to be found in respiration, breathing. It is not in the air we breathe, nor in the act of breathing, but in an element that is superior to air and which is nourished by air: the element fire. Yes, life is contained in fire, heat, and the function of air is to sustain and nourish fire.
Life resides in the heart; the heart is the hearth in which burns the fire of life and the lungs are the bellows that continually feed the flames. The origin, therefore, the first cause of life, is fire, and air is brother to fire, and its role is to sustain and nourish it. When man breathes his last breath, when he exhales for the last time, the fire goes out; life is extinguished.
It is worth taking the time to reflect on the function of respiration which is at the root of life, in order both to understand it better and to practise it more efficiently. In most human beings, the respiratory function suffers from various impediments or is, in some way, diminished or contaminated; they need to learn to work with air so as to revive, purify and intensify the life within them.
One way of reaching a better understanding of the phenomenon of breathing and of the laws that govern is to compare it with the process of nutrition. »