Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a big fan of breathing.  Not only does it keep you alive, but for public speakers, proper breathing calms you and gives your voice the right kind of quality so that people will want to listen to you speak, the quality known as resonance.  Resonance is impossible without good “belly” breathing; that is, breathing that involves expanding the stomach using the diaphragmatic muscles on the in-breath, and then once again using the diaphragmatic muscles on the out-breath to squeeze the air out through the mouth. 

So I’m going to inaugurate this series on summer reading – books that are interesting and useful for public speakers – with the classic book on breathing, Science of Breath, by Yogi Ramacharaka. 

The book seems to have been written early in the last century to judge by the language it employs.  Words like “Oriental” and “Occidental” are used instead of the more modern “Eastern” and “Western.”  Yogi Ramacharaka may be a real person, or he may be the pen name of William Walker Atkinson, an American lawyer who embraced Eastern thought, and who claimed to be a student of Ramacharaka’s. 

But don’t let the flowery, old-fashioned prose and the mystery of the book’s composition put you off.  Everything you need to know about breathing is contained in this 70-page book.  If you practice the techniques described in this book, you will increase your resonance and lung capacity.  Those are both good for your public speaking and your overall health.  Indeed, while you may not decide to practice distance healing or auras – two of the more advanced activities described quite simply in this remarkable volume – you should at least learn to breathe deeply and profoundly before you stand up to speak. 

Good public speaking begins with good breathing, and this book tells you how.  It belongs on every public speaker’s bookshelf.