Breath

manuscripts included detailed instructions on how to regulate the breath, slow it,

Many early pioneers in this discipline weren’t scientists. They were tinkerers, a kind of rogue group I call “pulmonauts,” who stumbled on the powers of breathing because nothing else could help them. They were Civil War surgeons, French hairdressers, anarchist opera singers, Indian mystics, irritable swim coaches, stern-faced Ukrainian cardiologis

my questions about breathing. I went to

I took my doctor’s advice and signed up for an introductory course in breathing to learn a technique called Sudarshan Kriya.

No matter what we eat, how much we exercise, how resilient our genes are, how skinny or young or wise we are—none of it will matter unless we’re breathing correctly.