Do Not Breathe through Your Mouth

Have you ever gone to sleep breathing through your mouth all night long and woken up with a dry feeling in the mouth and throat?

It has certainly happened to me and to everyone I’ve asked about it.

And this happens because when we breathe through our mouths, we are violating one of nature’s laws and we are inviting disease into our bodies.

We find people in all walks of life, habitually breathing through their mouths. Many of the diseases to which civilized man is subject are caused by the common habit of mouth breathing.

It is essential that you breathe through your nose at all times. Our noses are designed for breathing, our mouths for eating. The nostrils have two functions: 1)they warm up the air before it enters our lungs and 2)they filter out stuff that might harm our breathing passages.

When you breathe through your mouth, the air that enters your lungs is cold and unfiltered. Your body will have to spend more vital energy to warm it up and you’ll be more likely to catch a disease.

The Yogis know that the organs of respiration have the only protective filter in the nostrils. When the breath is taken through the mouth, there is nothing from mouth to lungs to filter the air, or to catch the dust. The dirt or impure substances have a clear track to the lungs. Remember that the mouth offers no protection to the respiratory organs and cold air, dust, impurities and germs easily enter by that door.

On the other hand, the nostrils and nasal passages show evidence of the careful design of nature. The nostrils are two narrow, twisting channels containing numerous small hairs which serve as filters. The air is strained of its impurities, which are then expelled when the breath is exhaled. They also perform an important function in warming the air inhaled. The long and narrow nostrils are filled with warm mucous membrane which warms the air when coming in contact with it through inhalation. In this way, the air can do no damage to the delicate respiratory organs.

Use your nostrils to breathe because, like abandon roads that soon become filled with weeds and garbage, unused nostrils become filled with impurities and harmful matter. One who habitually breathes through the nostrils is not likely to be troubled with a clogged or stuffy nose.

The Yogis encourage us to acquire this method of nose breathing and dismiss the other method of mouth breathing. It is imperative, as many contagious diseases including colds are contracted by the nasty habit of mouth breathing.

The intricate and purifying design of the nostrils is as important as is the action of the mouth in stopping chicken bones from being carried into the stomach. We should not breathe through our mouth any more than we would attempt to take food through our nose.