The air taken in and sent out that one feels through the nostrils or lungs is what we ordinarily call breath. In reality, however, that is as the stem of a tree whose branches are many. A mystic sees the whole body as a plant of the breath. According to the physician the lungs are the channel of the breath, but to the mystic the lungs are the branches of the tree, and other branches reach all parts of the body. The mystics call all the branches by different names.

This tree has a root in the body, and has centers where the branches meet the stem. There are five such centers in the body of man. The breath has its particular work in every center. By the study of mysticism one finds that man's life depends upon the working of the centers. Generally the centers are blocked up on the inner side of the body. Therefore they give but a dim light, if the breath be pictured as a gas and the centers as lanterns.

When the centers are not in a fit condition they are wasted; not only this, but man is deprived of the full experience of life. Powers that are considered supernatural become natural when man leads a natural life. The first lesson of a natural life is right breathing. Many people breathe a half, many a quarter, and (many) still less.

It is a certain direction that the breath takes that brings about sleep, and it is the direction of the breath that brings vigor or fatigue. A man may, by the help of the breath, become stronger by doing physical exercises, and another by physical labor may become exhausted and worn out. The laborers in India who have to lift heavy weights have a certain way of breathing, and work a great deal and yet feel little fatigue.

According to the point of view of the mystic, a natural, full breath gives perfect health; and to a mystic's view, in a hundred people not one breathes rightly. Every Brahman teaches his child the way of breathing when he is nine years old. As it is a common thing that everyone breathes incorrectly, it rarely occurs to the mind that one's breath is incorrect. There are many reasons why people in general do not breathe rightly, but one among them is the lack of education in this. As health is more important than anything else on earth, and as health depends entirely on breath, which is the very life, it is necessary that the culture of the breath should be considered as of the highest importance.