They are called “respirians”. Since Friday, they have converged in Aveyron to participate for five days in a gathering called “Pranic Festival France”. This gathering, which is being held in Oasis de Lentiourel near Saint-Affrique, is of great concern. What do we advocate there? How is this dangerous? Why are we talking about sectarian practice? We summarize everything for you.
What is the philosophy advocated?
The “respirians” practice “indie”, also called “respirianism” or “pranism”, namely extreme fasting for several days. This practice was promoted in France by Ellen Greve who introduces herself as “the Australian priestess Jashmuheen”.
The philosophy ? “It is possible to live in perfect health and harmony without resorting to solid or liquid food, by taking it by mouth,” indicate the organizers on the event’s website. In other words, no need to eat or drink. Air and light are enough to nourish your body.
“In its natural state, each cell of our body draws from the vital force everything it needs to maintain perfect health and harmony,” develop the organizers, specifying that nutrition passes through “Qi” and ” energy “.
How is this dangerous?
“It’s complete madness,” says Doctor Patrick Serog, nutritionist at the Parisian. And remember that the total absence of food and drink for several days or even weeks “does psychological damage”. Without forgetting the risk of malnutrition, loss of muscle and energy. “The body will be disturbed, it will become exhausted,” he explains. Lack of sugar can also “create psychological and cognitive disorders, such as dizziness or loss of speech”.
“You can go without eating for five weeks. But at what cost: we become weak and end up falling from starvation. This fasting taken to the extreme can in no way be a way of life,” was alarmed by Doctor Jean-Philippe Zermati, with 20 minutes in 2017. Same story from Professor Eric Fontaine, president of the Collective for the Fight against Malnutrition: “With three meals a week, we can last a year or two, but a malnourished person ends up dying when they have lost half his muscles. Most often from an infection or heart problem. »
Without solid food, it is generally not possible to survive beyond 40 to 60 days, recalled Randall Packer, professor of biology at George Washington University in the journal ScientificAmerican in 2002.
Why is this considered a cult practice?
This is not new… In 2011, shortly after the release of the Austrian documentary film Light, dedicated to Breatharianism, Miviludes (the interministerial mission for vigilance and the fight against sectarian abuses) had already described these practices with “strong sectarian connotations” as “charlatanesque” and “extremely dangerous”. And to list the “rejection of conventional medicine”, “the exorbitant financial pressures”, and “the break” of followers with “their family environment”.
In 2023, the body still decried the dangers of this practice in its 220-page report. “Respirianism is thus based on the practice of “total fasting”. This type of fasting constitutes a “sacred process” of 21 days beyond which it is possible to nourish oneself only with air and light,” she writes, stressing that this practice “would be responsible for 7 deaths abroad nowadays “. The first occurred in 1997 in Germany. The last one, attributed to “breathing” was recorded in the Netherlands in 2014.
Finally, “conferences or fasting courses can serve to place the subject under mental influence and thus make them a victim of criminal offenses,” she pointed out.
