(d) Exhale “ss” first holding chest high, then letting it sink slowly with breath. (e) Two to three cleansing breaths. Pause before repeating. To be done five or six times with pauses. The Climax Breath EXPLANATION IN DETAIL This exercise is the most difficult of all breathing gymnastics, and should not be attempted by the sick. It requires great endurance. Even an athlete should not attempt it, until the others are well in hand. The first part is exactly like the exercise marked “The Short Controlled Breath.” But in the second part, instead of expelling the air suddenly, you proceed to exhale very slowly (after holding the breath a few seconds). Care should be taken to see that the upper chest is held high as long as possible while exhaling. With the last atom of breath leaving the lungs, drop (relax) the shoulders and whole frame. Quickly take two or three more cleansing breaths to quiet the heart and lungs. When one is ready for this strenuous exercise, it becomes a great force for building breadth and depth to the chest, and new inner vitality. During the first few weeks one performance of this exercise is enough for the day. After the second month, two exercises per day, fifth month, three exercises per day, etc., very gradually increasing the number. The Climax Breath IN CONDENSED FORM (a) Exhale “ss.” (b) Inhale slowly. “Hiss” through smallest opening of lips and closed teeth. Place hands on diaphragm, as in Photograph 3. (c) Hold breath several seconds. (d) Exhale slowly “ss” through small opening of lips and teeth. (e) Several cleaning breaths. =Long= pause. This is never to be performed more than twice at one time, during the first two months. With girls or women who are inclined to stoutness, it may sometimes be well to place the hands immediately under the busts--slightly supporting the breasts--instead of on the hips. It will be found that the “relaxing” movements can thus be performed with more comfort--until such time as the muscles supporting the busts gain in strength and elasticity. Care should be taken at first not to take in too much breath, nor to hold the breath too long. This matter, however, is entirely individual. Naturally, a greater amount of care must be exercised by a delicate child or by a consumptive than by a healthy youth. And right here it should be emphasized that, if you are a business man, sitting for long hours every day at a desk, you should, in order to derive the maximum amount of good from these breathing exercises, plan to stand up, near the open window and spend a few minutes practicing some of these simple exercises. You will often find that what you thought was the fatigue of overwork is nothing more or less than staying too long in a close atmosphere, and making an insufficient use of your organs of respiration.