gurdjieff : Message: views on breathing

p 164, views:

Can experimenting
with breathing be
useful?

All Europe has gone mad
about breathing exercises.
For four or five years I
have made money by
treating people who
had ruined their breathing
by such methods! Many books
are written about it, everyone
tries to teach others. They say:
"The more you breathe, the greater
the inflow of oxygen," etc. and,
as a result, they come to me. I
am very grateful to the authors
of such books, founders of
schools, and so on.

As you know, air is the second
kind of food. Correct proportions
are required in all things, in
phenomena studied in chemistry,
physics and so on.
Crystallization can
take place only with
a certain correspondence,
only then can something
new be achieved.

Every matter has a certain
density of vibrations. Interaction
between matters can take place only
with an exact correspondence between
the vibrations of different matters.
I have spoken of the Law of Three.
For instance, if vibrations of
positive matter are 300 and
those of negative matter 100,
combination is possible. Otherwise,
if in practice vibrations do not
correspond exactly to these
figures, no combination will
result; it will be a
mechanical mixture which
could be again resolved
into its original
component parts.
It is not yet
new matter.

The quantity of substances to
be combined should also be in
a certain definite proportion.
You know that to obtain dough
you need a definite amount of
water for the amount of flour
you want to use. If you take
less water than is required,
you will not have dough.

Your ordinary breathing is
mechanical, and mechanically
you take in as much air as you
need. If there is more air it
cannot combine in the way it
should; so a right proportion
is necessary.

If artificially controlled
breathing is practiced as it
usually is, it results in dis-
harmony. Therefore, in order to
escape the harm which artificial
breathing may bring, one must
correspondingly change the
other foods. And this is
possible only with full
knowledge. For instance,
the stomach needs a
definite quantity of
food, not only for nutrition
but because it is accustomed
to it. We eat more than we
need simply for taste, simply
for satisfaction, and because
the stomach is used to a
certain pressure. You know
that the stomach has certain
nerves. When there is no pressure
in the stomach, these nerves stimulate
the stomach muscles and we have a
sensation of hunger.

Many organs work mechanically,
without our conscious participation.
Each of them has its own rhythm, and
the rhythms of different organs stand
in a definite relationship to one
another.

If, for example, we change our
breathing, we change the rhythm
of our lungs; but since everything
is connected, other rhythms also
gradually begin to change. If we
go on with this breathing for a
long time it may change the
rhythm of all the organs.
For instance, the rhythm
of the stomach will change.
And the stomach has its own
habits, it needs a certain time
to digest food; say, for example,
the food must lie there an hour.
If the rhythm of the stomach
changes, food may pass through
more quickly and the stomach will
not have time to take from it all
it needs. In another place the
reverse may occur.

It is a thousand times better
not to interfere with our machine,
to leave it bad condition rather
than correct it without
knowledge. For the human
organism is a very complicated
apparatus containing many organs
with different rhythms and different
requirements, and many organs are
connected with one another.
Either everything must be
changed or nothing,
otherwise instead of
good one may do harm.
Artificial breathing
is the cause of many
illnesses. Only accidentally,
in isolated cases where a man
manages to stop in time, does
he avoid harming himself. If
a man practices it long, the
results are always bad.

To work on oneself one must
know every screw, every nail
of one's machine--then you will
know what to do. But if you know
a little and try, you may lose a
great deal. The risk is great,
for the machine is very
complicated. It has
very small screws
which can be
easily damaged,
and if you push
harder you may
break them. And
these screws cannot
be bought in a shop.

One must be very careful.
When you know, it is another
thing. If anyone here is
experimenting with
breathing, it is
better to stop
while there is
still time.

Gurdjieff
p 164-166

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