Episode Details

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Primary / traditional texts and core religious sources

• Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118), translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Access to Insight. Best primary source for Buddhist mindfulness of breathing.
• “Ḏekr / Dhikr,” Encyclopaedia Iranica. Strong source for Sufi remembrance, rhythmic repetition, posture, and breathing-linked practice.
• “Hesychasm,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Good general source for the Christian contemplative tradition of stillness, uninterrupted prayer, and the Jesus Prayer.
• “Saint Gregory Palamas,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Useful for the role of bodily posture and controlled breathing in Hesychast prayer.
• Crowley, Aleister. Liber E vel Exercitiorum. Primary text for Crowley’s explicit inclusion of “Pranayama – Regularisation of the Breathing” in occult training.
• Crowley, Aleister. Book Four, Part 1. Useful for Crowley’s statement that pranayama is useful in “quieting the emotions and appetites.”

Historical / religious context

• “Prana,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Best short source for the deep Indian background: prāṇa, the five prāṇas, and breath as vital force.
• “Pranayama,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Best short source for classical Yoga: pranayama as the fourth limb aimed toward samādhi.
• “Hatha Yoga,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Useful for the force-oriented turn: bodily mastery, purification, and regulation of breathing.
• “Qi,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Good for Daoist and Chinese background: qi as psychophysical energy and breath-linked vital force.
• “Qigong,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Useful for qigong as a discipline combining movement, breathing, and mental concentration.
• “Are Kabbalistic Meditations all about Ecstasy?” in Hermes Explains (Cambridge). Strong academic source for Abraham Abulafia and ecstatic Kabbalah.
• “Classical Kabbalah, Its History and Symbolic Universe.” Useful academic source noting ecstatic Kabbalah’s breathing exercises, postures, and developed techniques.

Neuroscience / physiology / altered states

• Ashhad, Kam, Del Negro, and Feldman. “Breathing Rhythm and Pattern and Their Influence on Emotion.” Annual Review of Neuroscience (2022). One of the best overview papers for the whole episode.
• Yackle et al. “Breathing control center neurons that promote arousal in mice.” Science (2017). Key source for the preBötzinger complex / calm-vs-arousal section.
• Schottelkotte and Dutschmann. “Forebrain control of breathing: Anatomy and potential functions.” Frontiers in Neurology (2022). Best source for cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and thalamus in breathing control.
• Krohn et al. “The integrated brain network that controls respiration.” eLife (2023). Strong review for respiration as part of a larger integrated brain network.
• Heck et al. “Breathing as a f