Let Every Breath... Secrets of the Russian Breath Masters
by Vladimir Vasiliev
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Book Summary Information
Author: Vladimir VasilievEdition: Paperback
Published: 2006-04-17
ISBN: 0978104900
Number of pages: 125
Publisher: Russian Martial Art
Book Reviews of Let Every Breath... Secrets of the Russian Breath Masters
Book Review: A very mixed bag--some good bits but also full of nonsense
Summary: 2 Stars
I have a mixed reaction to this book. Before I delve into the matter, I think a preliminary point deserves to be made.
As another reviewer has pointed out, it is blatantly obvious that some of the glowing reviews (some, not all) of this book are somewhat illegitimate. They are reviews posted by people who are a part of this project, posted for commercial purposes.
If you do not already know, you should always be skeptical of reviews written by "solo artists," reviews posted by people who have not reviewed anything else. (Incidentally, you should also be skeptical of "top reviewers" who post multiple book reviews a day. They are fake reviews posted by people--sometimes groups of people--who receive free merchandise for the fake reviews. Amazon is now notorious for censoring people who point such things out, so we'll see how long this review lasts.)
With these points made I will now turn to my reaction to this book, both the bad and the good. I will start with the bad. First, the cover of this book states that it was written by Vladimir Vasiliev and cowritten by Scott Meredith. This is false. The book was written by Scott Meredith and is based on the teachings of Vasiliev. This would be like me writing a book based on the teachings of Morihei Ueshiba and claiming that he was the author. As part of his credentials it is stated that Meredith has a PhD from MIT and is a human-machine interaction researcher at a top company. (Coincidentally, I also have a PhD and am also a human-machine interaction researcher at a top company.)
Let Every Breath..., which is somewhat more of a pamphlet than a full-fledged book (and is therefore overpriced), unfortunately comes across as little more than a commercial for Systema. The author spends several pages touting his expertise in other systems, claiming that he has studied with many other masters. He states that his other training, though fascinating, has always seemed lacking in some way. This is all used to set up Systema as the end all and be all of martial arts.
The long introduction leaves less room for substance. The book starts off by sharing many anecdotes with the reader, many of which made me roll my eyes. The author describes himself waiting for his first Systema lesson, sitting under a tree, largely out of view of the street. Vladimir was driving past and the author says that he thought to himself, "If he's really a `master,' he'll see me." He says that he realized that even if Vladimir did NOT see him that this would not be evidence of any lack of mastery on Vladimir's behalf. Lo and behold, as he drove by, Vladimir casually turned his head and saw the author, which floored him. Though I am confident that Vladimir is in fact a Systema master, apparently the point was lost on the author that even if Vladimir DID see him this would be indicative of nothing.
Another aspect of the material presented here that I reacted negatively to were the claims presented of some of the healing powers of the author's teachers. The author claims that Ryabko rejects mystical martial notions, such as chi or ki, which is a good thing considering that studies show that chi does not actually exist. All the while, however, the author manages to keep a straight face discussing Ryabko's miraculous powers of "healing." Well, what's the difference between a "Chi Gung expert" who claims to be able to heal injuries by realigning energy paths in the body and a Systema breath expert who claims to be able to heal injuries by having you breathe through your injury? The same psychological factors that explain people's "first hand experiences" which lead them to believe in the former with the utmost veracity will undoubtedly apply equally to the latter.
Indeed, touting the "healing powers" of Systema breathing brings up problems inherent in any attempt to empirically verify such claims, such as accurate, normative covariation detection based on the successful completion of a 2x2 covariance matrix. If your shoulder hurts and a Chi Gung expert lights some incense and waves his hand over your shoulder a few hours after the injury and then you feel better, this is not evidence that Chi Gung works. Similarly, if your shoulder hurts and you "breath through your shoulder" for a few hours and then your shoulder feels better, this is not evidence that "breathing through your shoulder" works.
In order to accurately tell if this practice was in fact efficacious, one would have to look at multiple people with injured shoulders who, at a specific point in time after suffering the same injury: (1) breathed through their shoulder and then felt better, (2) breathed through their shoulder and then did not feel better, (3) did not breathe through their should and did not feel better and (4) did not breathe through their shoulder and felt better anyway. Without all of this information, NO CLAIM regarding the matter can validly be made. You have no way of knowing if chewing gum for a few hours would have had the same effect or not. If you believed it would, it might have. This also illustrates how personal experience often does not count as evidence. If you injured your shoulder, breathed through it and then felt better, this is an anecdote. It would fall in the top-left cell of a standard covariance matrix which itself would be only 25% of the information NECESSARY to accurately test such a claim.
Such chicanery can also be seen in the Systema video entitled Beyond the Physical. The demonstrations are very similar to standard chi demonstrations in other martial arts, in which the way the student responds (such as when Ryabko puts students to "sleep") is actually the result of operant conditioning. The student learns how to move when the teacher moves a certain way. First the student learns how to respond to certain throws and will move in concert with the teacher. Eventually the teacher does not even need to touch students and they will still respond in the conditioned manner, reinforced both by the teacher and the social situation created by the presence of other students. The teacher, not being familiar with the principles of operant conditioning, is conditioned by his own first-hand experiences that the feats unfolding before him are the result of some ability of his. Notice that such techniques are NOT used by such a teacher when being attacked for real by someone he doesn't know. The reinforcement caused by the reactions of other student spectators is an important factor.
It is all very similar to hypnosis, which only "works" when the hypnotee has certain beliefs about what it means to be hypnotized and then acts in a way which suggests such beliefs are true. The hypnotist searches the crowd for a "good" hypnotee, which is someone who wants to be a "good" hypnotic subject. The "good" hypnotic subject attempts to fulfill the role presenting itself to him in the hypnotic social situation (see Spanos' Multiple Identities and False Memories for a thorough explanation of such phenomena, including certain martial arts demonstrations). This can be seen when someone hypnotized to be "blind" says they can't read what's written on a large piece of paper. When they are then told that only fakers claim to be totally blind and that people who are really hypnotized see an image which then quickly fades, they say "Oh yeah, I saw a figure 8 that disappeared." (They were never told it was a figure 8.)
Systema is apparently very closely tied to the Russian Orthodox faith. The title of the book is Let Every Breath..., the "..." leading to "Praise the Lord." "Let Every Breath Praise the Lord." Systema breathing itself is claimed to have its origins in Hesychasm. This practice is allegedly based by a remark in Matthew that one should "retreat to one's closet to pray." This is interpreted in Hesychastic practice as meaning that one should retreat inside oneself, vigilantly guard against unwanted thoughts (which is, incidentally, highly conducive to the development of OCD) and attempt to ignore sensory input. The goal is to recite a prayer at all waking hours until a hallucinatory experience occurs, which is interpreted in Hesychasm as the "Holy Spirit" or "God's light." Indeed, the religiosity throughout this book may put off nonbelievers, but I believe that it should not. Yes, breath practice can literally make you high; it can also make you pass out or hallucinate, but done right it calms the mind and increases physical power (which is what beliefs in "chi" may be in part based on).
The value in this book comes in its seven principles of breathing. Basically you should always inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. When we are tense and/or anxious we tend to automatically engage in shallow mouth breathing. This causation is bidirectional. We smile when we are happy, but studies show that smiling also increases feelings of happiness. Similarly, shallow mouth breathing should be avoided. The most stress-free way to inhale is through the nose and the most stress-free way to exhale is through the mouth. If this claim is true--and I have no reason to assume that it is not--then if one is attempting to reduce tension and/or anxiety one should inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
Second, don't hold your breath. When we tense up or are concentrating we often automatically hold our breath. Don't. Breathe through it. As Scott says, your breath should be like a pendulum, naturally oscillating back and forth, to and fro between inhale and exhale, with a natural pause between each swing. Your breath should lead your action. If you are doing a push up, for instance, your inhale (or exhale) should begin just before the motion of the push up.
This book also does a really good job dispelling a few misguided notions regarding breath practice. For example, I have often seen people instructed to try to inhale for a certain number of seconds and then exhale for the same number of seconds. This often leads to over inhaling, which also creates tension. Inhale just enough air. It's all you need. Inhaling too much puts strain on the lungs. Inhaling too much on purpose over time can also make you light headed, much like hyperventilating. I have also seen many people instructed to "breathe with the belly." This is nonsense. Your lungs are not in your belly, and stretching your belly every time you inhale will do nothing but stretch your belly out.
With that said, however, I am skeptical of discussions in this book regarding "breathing through certain body parts" or "inhaling with your whole body." You don't inhale with your whole body; you inhale with your lungs via your nose. Even if oxygen replenishes every cell of your body this does not mean that your whole body is inhaling.
The portions of this book just on breathing are very good. Some of the latter exercises which involve the tensing and relaxing of various body parts do not contain enough information to be all that useful. We are told, for instance, to tense our right arm while keeping the entire rest of the body relaxed. Well, what if you cannot tense your arm without also tensing your chest? Such a level of information is not included here. Readers who find this book a little lacking in info can thankfully find additional information online.
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