The Transformation of Air, Our Second Food
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For full citations and meaning of abbreviations, see Introduction and Bibliography.
According to Gurdjieff, the air is a kind of food,1 not only for ordinary life, but also, in terms of the normal transformation of its elements, an essential means for self-development.2
This is not an easy subject in the teaching of Gurdjieff, as the importance of exercises regarding the breath are tempered by the warnings of potential dangers,3 or, at best, uselessness,4 that accompany their application without knowledge. For example, in In Search of the Miraculous, Gurdjieff describes how people become ill through the wrong use of breathing exercises:
Many people used to come to me in Moscow who had completely disorganized right functioning of their machines by so-called 'yogi breathing' which they had learned from books. Books which recommend such exercises represent a great danger.5
He says that it is better not to do anything than to attempt exercises without knowledge, and especially emphasises problems connected with artificially changing the respiration.
It is a thousand times better not to interfere with our machine, to leave it in 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.6
So, what is the basis of these warnings? One aspect seems to be the danger of interfering with what should be an automatic process, which goes on of its own accord without problem, day and night, and adjusts to the needs of the organism. For the ordinary consciousness or the formatory apparatus to try to take over the control of this process7 is for the reins to be taken by a part that has no real connection with the body, that does not communicate with the subconsciousness, that does not have very much energy to continue for long, or even the right kind of energy, and that goes to sleep at night when such processes must continue in order for life to continue.
Yet, for most of us, our breathing is already messed up, simply from the effects of modern life. How can we at least approach something more normal?