Breatharianism is a spiritual practice where practitioners claim to survive without food or water, sustained by prana or sunlight. It’s linked to Eastern spiritual practices and extreme asceticism, with some deaths resulting from attempts to join the lifestyle. Despite being widely considered absurd, it remains a belief in some spiritual and religious circles.
Breatharianism is a spiritual practice in which practitioners claim they can survive without food or water. The premise of Breatharianism is that something besides food or water can sustain a human being, usually the life force of prana or sunlight and the air itself.
Breatharianism has been around for some time and appears in several cultures. It is usually connected to an esoteric spiritual practice and is often part of a larger spiritual tradition. Many people who practice the breath, for example, believe that by doing so they approach an ideal state of existence, in which the body becomes one with its “energetic” form of light, rather than its material form.
Breatharianism is most often linked to Eastern spiritual practitioners, who often link Breatharianism to yogic teachings. Some Jain beliefs also appear to be connected to the breath, with some people who have achieved perfect enlightenment being said to exist without food or drink. In this context, respirationism can be seen as the natural result of an extreme asceticism taken to its most extreme consequences.
There have been a number of high-profile cases of people claiming to practice breathwork in recent years, as well as a number of deaths resulting from people trying to join this lifestyle. The best known attorney is most likely the woman Ellen Greve, who adopted the name Jasmuheen. During the 1990s she made many public claims about her ability to go for months without any type of food or drink.
In 1999 she was tested on those claims by the TV show 60 Minutes, but the results seemed to indicate she couldn’t support herself without food or drink. Jasmuheen cited problems in the environment and the experiment itself, and although a doctor reported that she was already starting to show signs of physical trauma after four days, she continued to hold her breath as a healthy practice for those who are ready. because of this.
Also, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, a number of people died trying to practice respirarism. This caused quite a pronounced public outcry, labeling those who advocated respirarism as dangerous frauds contributing to the deaths of innocents.
Breatharianism does not exist only as a concept in yogic and Jain spiritual teachings. Some practitioners of Chinese esoteric disciplines have claimed to go for many months without food or water. Some Egyptian sources also appear to have advocated living without food or water as a way to transcend the mortal body. And the concept of respirarism is not uncommon in Catholicism, where accounts of saints who lived for many years without eating or drinking anything — or in many cases only Communion — are quite common.
Breatharianism is often considered one of the most absurd esoteric claims made in the modern era. Many popular skeptics refuse to even give him credit for publicly questioning him at any length. However, it remains a fairly widespread belief in some spiritual and religious circles, and seems unlikely to disappear anytime soon.
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