Counseling Sheet

Agatha M. Thrash, M.D.
Preventive Medicine

Deep breathing aids digestion by massaging the internal organs. It assists in the return of blood to the heart by causing a negative pressure to develop in the chest. Thereby we de-congest the head, reducing the likelihood of headaches, pull blood up from the legs, making it unlikely that there will be pooling in the lower extremities, and encourage the flow of blood from the gastrointestinal tract to the liver for processing. Blood coming from the intestinal tract is often heavy with nutrients and needs assistance in return to the heart.

In the sanitarium, "...people were to be taught how to dress, breathe, and eat properly - how to prevent sickness by proper habits of living." Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 303.

"Nature will want some assistance to bring things to their proper condition, which may be found in the simplest remedies, especially in the use of nature's own furnished remedies - pure air, and with a precious knowledge of how to breathe...." Selected Messages, book 2, p. 287.

He has "...not had a liberal supply of air.... His circulation is depressed. He breathes only from the top of his lungs. It is seldom that he exercises the abdominal muscles in the act of breathing. Stomach, liver, lungs, and brain are suffering for the want of deep, full inspirations of air, which would electrify the blood and impart to it a bright, lively color, and which alone can keep it pure and give tone and vigor in every part of the living machinery." Testimonies, vol. 2, pp. 67-68."

In order to have good blood, we must breathe well. Full, deep inspirations of pure air, which fill the lungs with oxygen, purify the blood." The Ministry of Healing, p. 272.

"A walk, even in the winter, would be more beneficial to the health than all the medicine the doctors may prescribe.... there will be increased vitality, which is so necessary to health. The lungs will have needful action, for it is impossible to go out in the bracing air of a winter's morning without inflating the lungs." Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 529.

"And while the importance of deep breathing is shown, the practice should be insisted upon. Let exercises be given which will promote this....'' Education, p. 199.

"The influence of pure, fresh air is to cause the blood to circulate healthfully through the system." Testimonies, vol. 1, p.702.

"Fresh air will prove more beneficial to sick persons than medicine, and is far more essential to them than their food." Counsels on Health, p.55.

"Air is the free blessing of heaven, calculated to electrify the whole system. Without it the system will be filled with disease and become dormant, languid, feeble. Yet you have all been for years living with a very limited amount of air." Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 701.

"Air, air, the precious boon of heaven which all may have, will bless you with its invigorating influence if you will not refuse it entrance. Welcome it, cultivate a love for it, and it will prove a precious soother of the nerves." Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 702.