The secret of all the realizations of those ascetics who choose Yoga as a technique or philosophy or of those who, having understood Archeosophy, follow its inherent Asceticism, is always that of controlling, with the will, the Vagal-Sympathetic nervous system, named autonomous or vegetative, and the workings of the endocrine glands which regulate the nervous plexi and ganglii in correlation with the etheric-astral Centers.

Breathing is very important because a large part of the Vagal nerve is connected to the respiratory system. The voluntary conquest, the dominion, of the portion of the nervous system which controls the respiratory tracts, means commanding all the other organs connected to the Vagus and, with them, the correlated emotive and intellectual states.

 

Breathing, disciplined and educated daily, acts on the heart, stomach, pancreas, liver, small intestine, kidneys, windpipe, bronchi, which is obvious, given that these organs and systems are controlled by the nerve endings of the Vagal nerve which issues from the medulla oblongata.

Breathing is a semi-automatic function, in the sense that only within certain limits can we influence it with the will: by blowing, laughing, inhaling, coughing, we modify its normal rhythm; we can also stay for a short time without breathing, if we deliberately hold the breath, for e.g. when swimming under water: but, in general, breathing regulates itself, without any conscious intervention on our part.

 

Breathing actions are caused by the respiratory center and other centers situated in the medulla oblongata, between the base of the encephalon (brain) and the beginning of the spinal cord. It is connected to the other nervous cells which control the movements of the diaphragm and the levator muscles of the ribs, and receive impulses from the lung nerves which tell them how much the lungs have expanded.

 

When the expansion reaches a certain point, the respiratory nervous center tells the respiratory muscles to relax. This is the moment of exhalation.

 

Breathing rhythm also becomes faster with the provocation of nervous impulses coming from chemical stimuli or stimuli from other parts of the body. For example, if the blood is too full of carbon dioxide then the breathing must accelerate to expel the gas quickly, this is done by the opportune stimulating action which it exercises on the gray cells of the respiratory center.

 

This happens when the organism needs a larger amount of oxygen after physical exercise. Here, it is the muscles that tell the center.

 

But there are many other examples of how breathing is influenced when the organism is on the alert.

 

The orders of the respiratory center reach the muscles through the vagal nerves. When a baby is born it does not breathe, it is a smack which makes the respiratory center act; it gives the first orders to the lung muscles and, so, the first cry. Breathing works automatically for the entire life span. So, it is obvious how very important it is to educate this center.

 

If, while we were sleeping, the lungs stopped pumping air, then death would be inevitable, but the physiological structure is so ingenious that the breathing rhythm is guaranteed by the respiratory center which is outside the lungs and keeps the breathing under control. It is this wonderful center that gives impulses and orders to the rib case and diaphragm so that they do the necessary breathing movements. Only as big as a pinhead, the breathing center is at the top of the spinal cord. How it works is a mystery, why it never stops is another enigma.

The brain is the headquarters of the nervous system, from it leave twelve cranial nerves – for the most part discovered by Galen, the doctor who lived in ancient Rome; of these, the 10th nerve, called Vagus, is the only one which arrives at the chest and abdomen. It is the regulator of the heartbeats, breathing and digestion. So, the Vagus innervates the windpipe and bronchi, the kidneys, liver and pancreas. The sexual organs are not innervated by the 10th nerve.

Tommaso Palamidessi

excerpt from "PRELIMINARIES TO THE ARCHEOSOPHICAL ASCETIC RESPIRATION. THE VAGAL-SYMPATHETIC OR AUTONOMOUS NERVOUS SYSTEM AND THE CENTER OF BREATHING."

of the 13th Booklet