New Age flute music plays softly as people file into an
apartment in West Los Angeles, remove their shoes
and seat themselves quietly on Oriental carpets on the
floor. A picture of a bearded guru in white robes sits at
the front of the room with a tiny offering of fresh flowers. There
are 14 students, and they have come here to learn to breathe.
Known as the Art of Living, this intensive breathing course will
last six days. The class has drawn people ranging in age from
their 20s to their 60s.
There is a builder, a businessman, a masseuse, an acupuncturist
and a Jacuzzi engineer. It includes some who are seeking relief
from asthma, chronic pain and depression and others who have
come because they heard about it from a friend. One man came
after seeing a flier at a Whole Foods market.
Students of the Art of Living program say the breathing technique
can bring greater awareness, a fuller and happier life, less stress,
greater mental focus, and a bevy of other health benefits. But
there is scant research so far to support those claims.
Now, a handful of doctors and psychiatrists in this country are
touting the benefits of the special breathing technique taught in
the Art of Living course to help relieve depression, post-traumatic
stress disorder, insomnia and anxiety.
One of those is Dr. Richard Brown, an associate professor of
clinical psychiatry at Columbia University’s College of Physicians
and Surgeons.
After Brown published a book in 1999 about holistic approaches
to depression, people from the Art of Living contacted him and
explained their program. Impressed with what he heard, Brown
later began recommending the program to many of his patients.
“Many of them were transformed,” Brown says. “I didn’t expect
that.”
Brown eventually took the Art of Living course, then started
teaching the program to, among others, fellow mental health
professionals in New York.
He’s also become the main spokesman in the medical community
for Art of Living.