The Transformative Power of Breath: Music, Alternative Therapy, and Medieval Practices of Contemplation

Because historical records do not describe how medieval English mystics used breathing during their contemplative exercises, this essay turns to modern breathing practices advocated by brass instrument teachers Arnold Jacobs and Michel Ricquier and by proponents of Holotropic Breathwork, which itself draws on pranayama. The evidence from these modern sources, when applied to the short-word contemplative exercises encouraged by fourteenth-century mystics, offers groundbreaking insight into the transformative role of breath in medieval contemplation.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract In the absence of information about the role of breathing as part of the contemplative exercises of medieval English mystics, this essay investigates instead modern-day breathing practices as advocated by teachers of brass instruments and modern-day spiritual movements. Arnold Jacobs and Michel Ricquier offer information about breathing techniques for the use of brass musicians that share revealing characteristics with proponents of Holotropic Breathwork, itself influenced by pranayama, the art of breath control. The evidence gathered, once applied to the practice of short-word contemplative exercises encouraged by fourteenth-century mystics, provides ground-breaking information on the transformative power of breath in medieval contemplation.