(#100) 100 Inspiring Breathing Quotes

To celebrate making it to 100 days of The Breathing 1%, here are 100 Inspiring Breathing Quotes.

You can also download them as a PDF:

1.     “To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

2.     “Breathing, like most forms of physical rest, improves as you practice. It takes a little time. But it’s a technique you’ll be able to do for the rest of your life, so it’s worthwhile getting good at it now.” — Matthew Edlund

One of my favorites of all time:

3.     “And beyond improving stress resilience, breath practices can restore your sense of being genuinely who you are, of knowing what you feel, of recognizing what others feel, and of being able to experience deep and meaningful connections with people, with your values, and with all that is.” — Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarg, MD

4.     “In this way, the breath is like a mirror that shows you the state you are in.”— Wim Hof

5.     “If the spirit is circulating, the breath is circulating. If the spirit stays still then the breath remains, too.” — The Primordial Breath, Volume I

6.     “Our breathing is designed to help us release any tensions that have become so much a part of us that we no longer sense their presence.” — Carla Melucci Ardito

7.     “Breathing involves a continual oscillation between exhaling and inhaling, offering ourselves to the world at one moment and drawing the world into ourselves at the next.” — David Abram

8.     “The lungs are a mysterious and even mystical organ. They are our connection to the atmosphere, the organ that extracts the life force we need to exist.” — Michael J Stephen, MD

9.     “Anxiety is often excitement and anticipation without the breath.” — Michael Port

10.  “Thus spirit = breath = life, the aliveness and power of your life, and to speak of your spirit (or soul) is to speak of the power of life that is in you.” — Frederick Buechner

11.  “Each new breath creates a unity of life as all people share the nourishment that the earth’s atmosphere freely offers.” — Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D.

12.  “There is one way of breathing that is shameful and constricted. Then there’s another way; a breath of love that takes you all the way to infinity.” — Rumi

13.  “Gradually, study after mind body study, carried out with the most careful scientific protocols, produced incontrovertible evidence that the mind can indeed influence—and heal—the body.” — Herbert Benson, MD

14.  “Looking down the generations, those of us who practice breathing exercises today may well pass on more disease-resistant genes to our descendants tomorrow.”—Michael J Stephen, MD

15.  “The quality of our breath expresses our inner feelings.” –TKV Desikachar

16.  “Many ancient practices and rituals have been rejected by modern science, only to be resurrected from the grave by that same science!” —Herbert Benson, MD

17.  “If something is going to happen to me, I want to be there.”—Albert Camus

18.  “In other words, by changing the breath pattern one can induce a chosen state of mind.” — Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

19.  “Happiness lies in your own heart. You only need to practice mindful breathing for a few seconds, and you’ll be happy right away.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

20.  “Breath...is the essence out of which philosophers have constructed the entity known to them as consciousness” — William James

21.  “In brain-imaging studies, focused breathing, mindfulness, and repeating a mantra have all been shown to deactivate hubs of the default mode network.” — Kelly McGonigal

22.  “I am as confident as I am of anything that, in myself, the stream of thinking is only a careless name for the stream of my breathing.” — William James

23.  “We should take wandering outdoor walks, so that the mind might be nourished and refreshed by the open air and deep breathing.” — Seneca

24.  “To breathe is to absorb ourselves in what surrounds us, to take in little bits of life, understand them, and give pieces of ourselves back out. Respiration is, at its core, reciprocation.” — James Nestor

25.  “A universal goal in meditation of every kind comes down to sustaining attention in a chosen way or to a given target, such as the breath.” — Daniel Goleman & Richard Davidson

26.  “Slow-paced breathing appears a promising cost-effective technique to improve subjective sleep quality and cardiovascular function during sleep in young healthy individuals.” — Journal of Clinical Medicine (2019)

27.  “They gathered two decades of data from 5,200 subjects, crunched the numbers, and discovered that the greatest indicator of life span wasn’t genetics, diet, or the amount of daily exercise, as many had suspected. It was lung capacity.” — James Nestor

28.  “It is quite a striking example of evolutionary balance and beauty that the trees around us that give off oxygen and the trees in our lungs that absorb it share a similar structure.” — Patrick McKeown

29.  “Love—like taking a deep breath…—not only feels great but is also life-giving, an indispensable source of energy, sustenance, and health.” — Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D.

30.  “If you would foster a calm spirit, first regulate your breathing; for when that is under control, the heart will be at peace; but when breathing is spasmodic, then it will be troubled.” — Kariba Ekken

31.  “[B]reath understood as metonym for life itself, rather than as a discrete physiological process, has often acted as a philosophical first principle.” — Arthur Rose

32.  “Everything in the world is full of signs. All events are coordinated. All things depend on each other. Everything breathes together.” — Plotinus

33.  “One breath at a time, one synapse at a time, you can gradually develop an increasingly unshakable core inside yourself.” – Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

34.  “We might say (every pun intended) that the richness lies right beneath our noses in any and every moment.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn

35.  “[W]e must seek awareness, and that can begin with the awareness of your breath, the foundation of your totality as a human being.” — Al Lee and Don Campbell

36.  “The soul is the child of the breath, and breath is the mother of the soul. Soul and breath follow each other just as form and shadow do.” — The Primordial Breath

37.  “Western science is now finally catching up to the fact that controlled breathing practices can at least ‘enhance immunity, improve cardiovascular fitness, modulate chronic disease and increase longevity’, and at most lead to almost superhuman feats.” — Charlie Morley

38.  “We are all journeying through the night with plans, breathing in and out this mysterious life.” –Tara Brach

39.  "There's nothing mystical or abstract about it. It's physical. Your breath is your life-force, right here, right now. It could not be any simpler. Just breathe and reclaim your soul." –Wim Hof

40.  “I am nothing more than a single, narrow, gasping lung floating over the mists and the summits.” – Reinhold Messner

41.  “The breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.” – Kahlil Gibran

42.  “The physical is the substratum of the spiritual; and this fact ought to give to the food we eat, and the air we breathe, a transcendent significance.” –William Tyndale

43.  “Use breathing.  Do not have doubts.” – The Primordial Breath

44.  “Breath is the finest gift of nature. Be grateful for this wonderful gift.” –Amit Ray

45.  “The daily use of breath practices can turn back the tide of stress, counteract disease progression, and improve overall quality of life.” –Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarg, MD

46.  “In a single breath, more molecules of air will pass through your nose than all the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches—trillions and trillions of them.”—James Nestor

47.  “[B]ut the nostrils, with their delicate and fibrous linings for purifying and warming the air in its passage, have been mysteriously constructed, and designed to stand guard over the lungs—to measure the air and equalize its draughts, during the hours of repose.” – George Caitlin

48.  “The pattern of your breathing affects the pattern of your performance. When you are under stress, deep breathing helps bring your mind and body back into the present.” – Gary Mack

49.  “To say that learning breath control is the most important component to forging mental toughness would not be an overstatement.” – Mark Divine

50.  "Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths." – Etty Hillesum

51.  “One could also say that our human existence can be made meaningful “to the very last breath”; as long as we have breath, as long as we are still conscious, we are each responsible for answering life’s questions.” – Viktor Frankl

52.  “The calmer and quieter you breathe, the larger your blood vessels open, enabling better circulation and distribution of oxygen throughout the body, including the brain. Oxygenate the brain—breathe less.” –Patrick McKeown

53.  "You know that our breathing is the inhaling and exhaling of air. The organ which serves for this is the lungs which lie round the heart. Thus breathing is a natural way to the heart." –Nicephorus the Solitary

54.  “The breath is the intersection of the body and mind." –Thich Nhat Hanh

55.  “When the incoming breath is offered into the outgoing breath, the outgoing breath is offered into the incoming breath, or when both are offered into the retention, the mind is purified of self-interest.” –Baba Hari Dass (1999) from Restoring Prana

56.  “‘[A]ccording to the Navajo conception, then, Winds exist all around and within the individual, entering and departing through respiratory organs and whirls on the body’s surface. That which is within and that which surrounds one is all the same and it is holy.’ Finally, and most profoundly, this invisible medium in which we are bodily immersed, is what provides us with the capacity for conscious thought.” – David Abram, with inset quote from James McNeley

57.  “Just as your mind influences the breath, you can influence the state of your mind through the breath as well.” –Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

58.  "So get out of your mind and into your breath because the breath is the life-force.  Not your mind, the breath.  Follow your breath, and it will lead you anywhere in your brain-and thus the mind-that you want to go." – Wim Hof

59.  "Thanks to the regulation of breathing patterns, patterns in our thinking are not just affected, but revealed, together with their entanglement with respiration." –Marco Bernini

60.  "Messages from the respiratory system have rapid, powerful effects on major brain centers involved in thought, emotion, and behavior." –Patricia Gerbarg, MD and Richard Brown, MD

61.  "Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person." –Genesis 2:7

62.  "That oxygen, life, and lungs all came into our world in relatively close succession is no coincidence.  Only with oxygen and some means of extracting it are all things possible-thinking, moving, eating, speaking, and loving.  Life and the breath are synonymous." –Michael J. Stephen, MD

63.  When the Breath wanders, the mind is unsteady, but when the Breath is still, so is the mind still." –Hatha Yoga Pradipika

64.  "Breathing isn't only the automatic exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, after all. The way we breathe is influenced by our emotions and environment, and vice versa." –Shayla Love

65.  "How do you identify someone who needs encouragement. That person is breathing." –Truett Cathy

66.  "Mouth tape is a tool that everyone should have in their medicine cabinet-or nightstand, if you're like me." –Dr. Mark Burhenne

67.  "One day I noticed that I wasn't breathing-I was being breathed." –Byron Katie

68.  "For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on the earth." – Sanskrit Proverb

69.  "When the mind is agitated, change the pattern of the breath." – Pantanjali

70.  "Breath is the king of mind." – B.K.S. Iyengar

71.  "Science is beginning to investigate in a serious manner something humanity has known for centuries-that the breath can be used to heal the body." - Michael J Stephen, MD

72.  "Your quality of sleep is closely related to how you breathe, both when you sleep and when you are awake." - Anders Olsson

73.  “The practices of breathing and working with your body are about re-empowering you. They’re about connecting you with your own mind, your own body, your own will and your ability to live and to value your life.” — Daniel Libby, Ph.D.

74.  “Bringing awareness to our breathing, we remind ourselves that we are here now, so we might as well be fully awake for whatever is happening.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.

75.  “If we can learn to allow the breath to unfold naturally without tampering with it, then in time we may be able to do that with other aspects of our experience: we might learn to let the feelings be, let the mind be.” – Larry Rosenberg

76.  “[B]reath is the animated, nonphysical aspect of your being. So that when you look in the direction of breath, when you focus your attention on your breath, you are really looking at your spiritual self.” – Andrew Weil, MD

77.  “Of all the techniques that I have investigated for reducing stress and increasing relaxation, it is breathwork that I have found to be the most time-efficient, the most cost-efficient, and the one that most promotes increased wellness and optimal health.” — Andrew Weil, MD

78.  “The act of breathing begins our life as we come out of the womb; in our last moment, when we cease breathing, our life is over. It only makes sense that the breath should also have a profound influence on all the moments in between.” – Larry Rosenberg

79.  “By breathing less frequently, we begin to achieve elemental harmony.” — Anyen Rinpoche & Allison Choying Zangmo

80.  “From time to time we should take a breath and notice the silence between sounds.” — Haemin Sunim

81.  “Since earliest history, virtually every major psychospiritual system seeking to comprehend human nature has viewed breath as a crucial link between the material world, the human body, the psyche, and the spirit.” — Stanislav & Christina Grof

82.  “The breath is as big as the ocean. … It is the sea itself. It’s where we came from, who we are. It is bigger than us because it is us.” — Wim Hof

83.  “The breath is also our life force. No organ in the body can function without the supply of oxygen we get from the cycle of breathing in and breathing out.” — Bhante Henepola Gunarantana

84.  “Each breath form is taught for its own special healing purposes. Just as you use different exercises for different muscle groups, you gain more by using a variety of breathing practices that each has their own unique effects.” –Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarg, MD

85.  “All persons going to sleep should think, not of their business, not of their riches or poverty, their pains or their pleasures, but, of what are of infinitely greater importance to them, their lungs; their best friends, that have kept them alive through the day.” — George Catlin

86.  “Walk slowly! Talk little! Love breath!” –The Primordial Breath, Volume I

87.  “These ancient techniques are a reminder of a simple truth that any of us can choose to harness right now: Oxygen is life.” – Tony Robbins

88.  “In the beginning was the voice. Voice is sounding breath, the audible sign of life.” –Otto Jespersen

89.  “This illustrates the most empowering point of all. The key to our own experience lies within our bodies all the time.” — The Tibetan Yoga of Breath

90.  “The breath can command the brain, and the brain can regulate our moods. This gives us a way to practically direct moods.” — Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, Ph.D., and Yogi Bhajan, Ph.D.

91.  “We have to learn the art of breathing in and out, stopping our activities, and calming our emotions.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

92.  “The breath is a constant reminder of what is going on in this very moment. It is not a time to think about the past or what you will be doing later. The breath is always now.” –Lodro Rinzler

93.  “In fact, every relaxation, calming or meditation technique relies on breathing, which may be the lowest common denominator in all the approaches to calming the body and mind.” — Christophe André

94.  “The body’s function of breathing has been regarded by most ancient esoteric religious teachings as the very handle to be used to get hold of, or obtain the control of one’s mind and body.” — Michael Wurmbrand

95.  “The fact is that when we focus on the breath, we are focusing on the life force. Life begins with our first breath and will end after our last. To contemplate breathing is to contemplate life itself.” – Larry Rosenberg

96.  “I feel very strongly…that proper breathing is a master key to good health.” – Andrew Weil, MD

97.  "Following your breath as you inhale and exhale is the basic mindfulness meditation practice that trains attention, cultivates awareness, settles the mind, and calms the body.” – Laurie J. Cameron

98.  “Integrate rapture and joy with the sensations of the breath. Let bliss breathe you, let the breath be tranquil.” – Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

99.  “Be devoted to the breath and renounce everything else.” – Eugene Cash

100. “To meditate with mindful breathing is to bring body and mind back to the present moment so that you do not miss your appointment with life.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

P.S. Many of these quotes will be recycled for future weekend editions of TB1% : )