For over 100 years western students have been aided by the teachings of Yogi Ramacharaka. This collector-quality edition includes the complete text of this enduring classic in a freshly edited and newly typeset edition. With a generous 5"x8" page size, this Summit Classic edition is printed on heavyweight bright white paper with a fully laminated cover featuring an original full color design. Whether as an introduction for beginners or a self-study guide for more advanced students, the simple, straightforward style of the lessons belies the depth of the wisdom contained in the text. "Science of Breath" is a complete manual of the techniques of attaining physical, mental, psychic and spiritual development through breathing. Presented as a course of lessons in practical instruction, the text guides the reader with both a discussion of the underlying philosophy and physiology and a series of step-by-step exercises. Generations of students have found the study of this text and the practice of its teachings to be a valuable step in the attainment of wisdom, awareness, and improved health of mind, body and spirit. "Yogi Ramacharaka" was one of many pseudonyms used by William Walker Atkinson (1862-1932), an incredibly prolific American writer who published extensively in areas of yoga, the occult, eastern mysticism, personal development, and related subjects. Atkinson is believed to have written over 100 books, but he worked from behind a series of pen names, edited his own and other magazines and published most of his work through "The Yogi Publishing Society" and "The Advanced Thought Publishing Co.", both of which he owned and operated. It is impossible to know with any certainty how many of the "authors" to which articles and books were attributed were in fact Atkinson himself. A successful Pennsylvania businessman and attorney, Atkinson suffered what may have been a nervous breakdown in the late 1880's and, in the course of his recovery, became immersed in the "new thought" movement, eastern mysticism, and yoga. He relocated to Chicago, epicenter of the New Thought movement, and became the editor of multiple New Thought magazines and began publishing his books while again establishing himself as a businessman and gaining admission to the Illinois bar. While the Ramacharaka persona may have been fictitious, this is not to suggest that Atkinson was in any way a charlatan or fraud. He was in fact a serious and devoted student and practitioner of yoga, and was a major force in introducing yoga and Hindu philosophy to the United States. The Ramacharaka writings are still widely read and well-respected, and his "Advanced Course in Yoga Philosophy and Oriental Occultism" is considered an excellent basic text for the western layman.