In the spring of 2013, a channel titled "Living on Light" appeared on YouTube. Throughout its three-month-long window
of activity, a Seattle woman who went by name Naveena Shine... ...regularly uploaded video
diaries detailing the progress of an experiment she was conducting on herself. "My name is Naveena Shine, and I am both the founder of Living on Light, and the subject in the first of our experiments. Naveena's goal was simple. She wished to prove that a human being could
survive without eating. "So in this Living on Light experiment, we want to demonstrate that it's possible... ...for a human being to thrive withouth the need to ingest food into the physical body." Instead, Naveena would attempt to transition her body to use light as its only source of nutrition... ...a potential she believed everyone possessed, if they could only find a way to unlock it. If Naveena could prove such a lifestyle was possible, she predicted that people the world over would begin to adopt it... ...ushering in a foodless utopia with an end to hunger and a return to symbiosis with the natural world. "If it's actually true that humans do not have to eat food, it'll change everything we know about ourselves and out planet." "It will change the consciousness of humanity, and it will change everything we do in our world." Naveena's beliefs about the human body were nothing new. By her own admission, Living on Light was largely based on the similar claims throughout the decades of people absorbing nourishment through air and light. With methods such as pranic breathing and sungazing cited as replacements for eating and drinking. Named after the claim that they need only breathe
in the nutrients needed to survive... ...they call themselves the Breatharians. "We can treat our planet entirely differently..." "We can treat our lives entirely differently, when
we know that we don't have to eat." Naveena was no doubt familiar with the controversial history of breatharianism. And the several so-called breatharian gurus who had experienced brief celebrity within the fringes of the modern new age movement... ...later to have been exposed as lying about their lifestyle. Notable examples include Hira Ratan Manek, an Indian spiritualist who claimed to have not eaten for over a decade... ...instead, staring into the sun as a method of
maintaining vital functions, who was photographed at a restaurant in 2011. But Naveena was undeterred by such reputational blemishes. For her, Living on Light was an answer to a higher calling. "I see myself as being called to create this experiment and bring this vastly important information out into the world." Many interpreted Naveena's cheerful, sincere disposition as impressionable to the point of being delusional. Her experiment was met with overwhelming discouragement.... ...with the comment sections filled with reminders of the obvious dangers of such an undertaking. But where most viewers of Living on Light saw a woman ensnared in esoteric mysticism, Naveena saw herself as on the cusp of groundbreaking enlightenment... ...referring to breatharianism as the greatest discovery the human race has ever made. So, on May 3rd of 2013, 65-year-old Naveena Shine ate what she believed might be her last meal and began her process of living on light. "All the people who do this, who say they do
this, and there's thousands of them who say this..." "I can't think that all of them are lying. I mean, I can't think that." "Specifically, how long did you go without eating?" "For me, on and off, pretty well just on water and tea for two years." The name of Naveena Shine's experiment was likely
taken from a self-advertised spiritual guru who came to prominence in the late-1990s. An Australian woman named Ellen Greve, more commonly known as Jasmuheen, published a book titled Living on Light... ...which detailed a 21 day process of transitioning into a lifestyle which no longer required food. Instead, Jasmuheen claimed nourishment would be provided by prana, a sanskrit word meaning "breath" or "life force." "Where are they getting their sustenance from if they're not getting it from food?" "Qi, the chi, the universal life force, or what we call 'prana.'" "Or if you're a religious person you would say you are fed by the light of God, and obviously that's very hard to measure." Jasmuheen stated to have acclimated this lifestyle years ago... ...but still ate occasionally when the urge
to experience a particular taste arose. "I've been free from the need to take any nourishment from food now for 11 years." "That doesn't mean that I've had 11 years of
taking nothing, but in that time, yeah, I've had a piece of chocolate or cappuccino..." "...or completely non-nourishing substance, because the path is about freedom." Despite failing to rise to mainstream popularity during the quasi-mysticism trend of the 90s... ...a space occupied by new age juggernauts
like Deepak Chopra, she secured a loyal following reportedly numbering in the thousands. Her critics saw her as a dangerous charlatan whose teachings, if sincerely followed, would lead to inevitable tragedies. But her followers saw her as a vessel of ancient, forgotten knowledge, tasked with the duty of bringing about a shift in human consciousness in time for the new millennium. "We are going through a huge shift in consciousness." "It's obvious on the physical plane and it's obvious within the physical bodies of mankind." We could end hunger for good, Jasmuheen stated, if only we could reconnect to the alternate channels that offer freedom from physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual hungers. The first week of Jasmuheen's 21-day Living on Light regimen, as detailed in her book... ...involved consuming nothing at all, solid or liquid. According to the blogs of people who have attempted this protocol, extreme fatigue, kidney pain, and the sensation of their mouths feeling glued shut... ...were common complaints within a few days of this initial phase. But the book's assurance that this was merely the old spirit leaving the body, that these were signs of breaking through, kept them motivated to continue. The following two weeks allowed for the reintroduction of small amounts of water and diluted juice, but no food. It was recommended instead to channel pranic nourishment through meditation. "And simply saying, as the energy flows through you, 'feed me.' Mm? It's that simple." At the end of this 21-day initiation, individuals were promised a new body recalibrated to feed from the universe's pranic cache. In addition to her books and website, Jasmuheen would hold worldwide retreats charging fifteen hundred dollars for admittance. A small price, she argued, in exchange for no longer requiring caloric intake. "All my vitamins, all my minerals, everything that I need to maintain a fully healthy, vital, strong, regenerative body--youthing body, if you want that too--can come from prana... ...this can be maintained from the divine force within. The first of Jasmuheen's followers to die from Living on Light was in 1997. Reports suggested Timo Deegan, a 31 year old German kindergarten teacher... ...had discovered her website, fell into a colorful
rabbit hole of promised enlightenment... ...and slipped into a coma after attempting the 21-day protocol. The second fatality was Australian Lani Morris. Under the tutelage of a breatharian couple who were later found guilty of manslaughter, Lani Morris began to experience speech loss, paralysis and eventual death after little more than a week into Jasmuheen's Living on Light process. The black liquid she began vomiting days into the initiation... ...the breatharian couple assured her was
a spiritual pollutant that needed to be expelled. Jasmuheen denied culpability. Perhaps they were not coming from a place of integrity and did not have the right motivation, she told the Sunday Times. But it was after the death of her third follower, a 49-year-old woman named Verity Lynn... ...that the Australian media began to push Jasmuheen to renounce Living on Light. "I don't mean to belittle your your beliefs and I'm sure they're sincerely held, but there is a woman who is dead in Scotland..." "...as a consequence of following your principles." Along with a copy of Jasmuheen's book, authorities found Verity Linn's diary. The last entry indicated Linn didn't make it past the first week before collapsing of dehydration. She was discovered lying in a secluded moorland
in northern Scotland by a passing fisherman. Jasmuheen pointed out that in her book and on her website were disclaimers of personal accountability... ...including a checklist where aspirants were meant to self-assess their own eligibility... ...based on physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual fitness. Those who didn't meet such criteria as "feeling the presence of the Divine One Within" were discouraged from embarking on Living on Light. I effectively promote in that book absolute self-responsibility, use of personal discernment and self-mastery..." "Your responsibility to people who are silly enough to starve themselves." "None of the people who are involved in this see it like that." In an effort to quash Jasmuheen's growing movement, the television program 60 Minutes issued her an opportunity to prove the legitimacy of her lifestyle... ...broadcast to Australian viewers nationwide. Jasmuheen agreed to a seven-day demonstration in which she would take in no food or water, monitored by 24-hour, surveillance, claiming it would be nothing more than a holiday. "You wouldn't watch me die, I'd come out smiling and laughing. It would be a holiday." And the controversial broadcast that followed would become a moment in breatharian history, referenced by both critics and advocates for decades to come. "Don't you think you should leave it to the
audience to decide and the people who've bothered... to do in-depth research into what I'm actually
saying to decide?" What 60 minutes was proposing was a dangerous experiment, but nothing beyond what
Jasmuheen advocated inside the pages of Living on Light. But unlike those who had died attempting
it, Jasmuheen's progress would be attended by a physician who regularly monitored her vitals
throughout the week. As they met Jasmuheen in her home to escort her to the hotel where the experiment was to take place she was asked about her refrigerator stocked with food. She claimed
most of it belonged to her partner, the carton of creamer she kept for tea in case they were
guests. The experiment itself was short-lived. After day two without food or water, the physician
began warning Jasmuheen of signs of dehydration and elevated blood pressure. Jasmuheen claimed the city's air and its pollutants were preventing her from properly feeding from her pranic source, so
60 minutes relocated her to a more rural location. Her pulse continued to elevate, a sign of severe
dehydration, as well as a drop in blood pressure and weight loss of over 13 pounds. Despite her
deteriorating physical state, Jasmuheen reported being in good spirits. "It's Friday night, you
started on Monday night, how much water have you had?" "None." "None whatsoever?" "No. I'm not allowed." "How much food?" "None. I'm not allowed." "How are you feeling?" "I feel really good now I'm here." After day four the physician estimated Jasmuheen was experiencing around 11 percent dehydration. Her pulse had doubled since the beginning of the experiment and she was at risk for kidney failure. It was recommended that 60
minutes bring everything to a halt, to which they agreed. "It's too dangerous to continue?" "Very much
so, too dangerous to continue. 60 minutes would be... culpable if they encouraged her to continue."
The decision to end the demonstration was a divisive one. Many saw it as a clear debunking of
Living on Light. If a veteran breatharian such as Jasmuheen couldn't withstand week one, how could
anyone be expected to survive it? Jasmuheen was maligned in the press. She was even awarded the Ig
Nobel prize, a parody of the Nobel prize, meant to satirize unscientific research. Other recipients
include scientology founder L Ron Hubbard, and fellow new age guru Deepak Chopra, for his liberal
interpretation of quantum physics. But followers of Jasmuheen's brand of breatharianism argued that
by ending the experiment early, 60 minutes had disproved nothing. The dehydration, the quickened
heart rate, they claimed were normal and expected aspects of her 21 day process. "I see no reason
why Jasmuheen should not have passed the test," wrote filmmaker and bertharian advocate PA
Straubinger, "but it was stopped by the 60... minutes team who wanted to prove their story."
Jasmuheen's momentum in the fringe spiritual movement was slowed, but not halted. Her presence
persisted well into the ensuing decades, cited by many contemporary bertharians, such as Naveena
Shine, as being the authority on this way of life. "A very exciting thing happened for me yesterday.
I managed to catch Jasmuheen before she went off... on her tour. Jasmuheen lives in Australia and she's
kind of the guru, the authority, on Living... on Light. Breatharianism. She's been a breatharian
for many years now, and so, you know, she... lives breatharianism." Although Jasmuheen knew the
results of such experiments when taken too far, she had skyped with Naveena to offer her encouragement. Even promoting navina's youtube channel from her own Facebook page. But despite the clear influence,
Naveena Shine's version of Living on Light was her own. One, which thankfully, did not require her to
abstain from drinking water. In fact, by the end of the third week of her experiment the amount
of water Naveena was consuming was making her ill. "I've been having a bit of difficulty with
drinking water. I just drink water and tea now. I... let go of the coffee after a few days because it
was upsetting my stomach. But the water seems to... have been doing that. I realized that one of the
things that was going on, I think I might have... been drinking too much water. Because I just kept
drinking water, drinking water, drinking water." Like Jasmuheen and other breatharians who came after, Naveena could only offer an ambiguous explanation for what she intended to use as sustenance. Her use
of the term light, she admitted was a metaphor for an indescribable force. "We don't yet know if it's
actually light, or if the nourishment is coming... from the air, or the sun, or from somewhere else."
Her daily routine included exercising, reading and attempting to master the mind-body connection
she believed would allow her to access this form of supernatural nourishment. All without leaving
her house for the duration of the experiment. She had originally intended to offer her spectators
a 24-hour livestream, captured by cameras placed in all eight rooms of her home, a venture she
disclosed put her in significant credit card debt. "You'll be able to see every moment, every moment
of every day or night from anywhere in the world... just by tuning in to the internet live stream
livingonlight.com for as long or as little as you... like. You can just check in and see is she eating
or is she not?" But Naveena had overestimated her technical and financial ability to host a
continuous live stream on her own website and by the third week she seemed reluctant to promise
that it would ever operate as advertised. Naturally this diminished her credibility. But based on her
appearance as the weeks progressed, many speculated she was either not eating at all or eating
very little. By day 21 Naveena reported to have lost 21 pounds, averaging a pound per day since
she'd started. Feeling this was sufficient, she instructed her weight to begin maintaining itself.
"I've told my body that it's time to stop losing... the weight now, it can kind of taper it off and
start stabilizing and in my experience the body... usually does what you ask it to do, if you ask
nicely." Following Jasmuheen's public endorsement, Naveena began attracting attention. When a local
news team arrived at her home for a profile Naveena spoke with them optimistically about her
experiment, although her physical state appeared questionable. "I'm actually feeling the need soon
to like sit down, Because I'm beginning to, um... yeah I think I need to lie down. Okay. So do
you want to turn the cameras off for a minute?" Despite the technical setbacks with the
live stream she continued to film herself to create a record of evidence, in the event
she was successful. "Every individual on this... planet would have sufficient evidence for
them individually to say, yes this happened." Naveena offered assurance that she was lucid
enough to stop if she felt she was truly in danger of starving. When asked in an interview what
she thought of the deaths of previous breatharians Naveena stated, "I don't know why they didn't
notice they were dying and I don't know why... they didn't do anything about it." But at the end
of week 5 Naveena acknowledged she was approaching the eight-week window where the prisoners and
the Belfast hunger strikes began to pass away, and she intended to go at least 100 days,
well beyond the point anyone had survived. Most of her audience continued to ask her to
stop the experiment. Several commented that they would be reporting the channel for violating
Youtube's guidelines regarding self-injury. "I hear lots of criticism that's coming in. I've
heard about it at least. Where everybody... seems to be afraid I'm gonna kill myself
because I've begun to, that this is suicide and... everybody's gonna come to my funeral. I don't think
so." But there was a small but ever-present band of fellow mystics cheering Naveena on, proving the
movement of breatharianism was alive and well. Although breatharianism is largely attributed to
Jasmuheen, Ellen Greve was only responsible for resurrecting it. Throughout the 1980s
the breatharian movement was founded, popularized, and swiftly discredited, by
an enigmatic figure known as Wiley Brooks. Breatharian advocates, such as Jasmuheen, often
claim that the movement has roots stretching back thousands of years, originating from the yogis of
ancient India. But it's difficult to find usage of the term breatharianism prior to 1972. In a book
titled "Dick Gregory's Natural Diet for Folks who Eat," civil and animal rights activist Dick Gregory
wrote about a continuum of food consciousness, with showing no food restraint whatsoever on one end,
restrictive diet such as vegetarianism somewhere in the middle, and breatharianism, eating nothing
at all at, the other end. The Breatharian movement is not often attributed to Dick Gregory, due to
his likely satirical use of the word. But the term, along with many of its modern principles, was later
popularized by a smooth-spoken man from California. Wiley Brooks made his public debut in 1981 on a
TV show titled That's Incredible. Wiley, a gangly man of 130 pounds, was showcased lifting nearly
10 times his body weight. His secret, he said, was that he hadn't eaten anything in 17 years.
"You haven't eaten for 17 years. You have not... had a sandwich, a hamburger, hot dog, pretzel, a
piece of roast beef, fish, vegetables, nothing... for 17 years?" "Right. Well let me explain
what breatharianism is for us, if I might... Breatharian is--" "But you haven't eaten for 17 years?"
"Right, right. I don't eat, yes." As Wiley explained, he was once overweight, mindlessly consuming
what he referred to as the typical American diet. In pursuit of slowing the aging process
and becoming healthier, he stated he began moving through the food continuum with regular
fasting, as advocated in Dick Gregory's book, until reaching breatharianism. Although Wiley did
not invent the concept of breatharianism, the specifics of the lifestyle, how to achieve it and
how to maintain it, were left for Wiley to create. Wiley fleshed out the tenets of the movement
during his 12 hour seminars, or what he called intensives. And to the 4,000 people who paid to
watch him speak, Wiley's message was this: Stop eating and start living. "All of the constituents
that we need is taken from the air we breathe and the fact is there is only one thing that keeps
the human body alive, and that is breathing. Wiley's doctrine was solidified in a book he co-authored
with fellow new age dietitian Nancy Foss, which they titled Breatharianism: Breathe and Live
Forever. With the tagline: The Healthy Diet for Eternal Beauty, the book attempted to intersect
both the fad diet craze and the spiritualism craze of the 1980s, two booming movements which
became notorious for preying on the gullible. "When man reaches his perfect state of health and
natural state of being," chapter 1 begins, "he will be in perfect harmony with his creator and require
no foods, water, or sleep." Those who read past such a first sentence were lectured about the poisons of
food and how it was responsible for the negative effects of aging. "All the things we've heard about
'we must get old and we must get weak,' and I think I heard when I was a younger person that a man is
twice a child and once a man, and that is not the case. When a person gets older and wiser he should
get younger." But if achieving the lifestyle were as simple as not eating, it would have been a
short book. So, like the breatharian theologies that came after, Wiley detailed a transitional
period. A full decade before Jamuheen's infamous 21 day process, there was Wiley's yellow foods diet.
14 yellow foods such as eggs, corn, and rum raisin ice cream from Haagen-Dazs, were meant to purify
the blood of poison before one could mature into a breatharian. Although Wiley never fully explained
the significance of the color yellow, he claimed it was based on its vibrational frequency which was
designed to cleanse and detoxify the body. "Before we even get started our blood is poison, you see. We already start at a disadvantage when we're born." Other lifestyle changes which were required to
complete the transformation, such as never drinking water alone and only sleeping while facing
north, also seemed to need no further explanation. Wiley's following was smaller than what Jasmuheen would cultivate in the 90s but his brand of breatharianism managed to ensnare
a young actress whose career was just blossoming. Michelle Pfeiffer had fallen in with a group of
aspiring Hollywood breatharians in the early 80s. She later told the Huffington Post, "They were
very controlling. I wasn't living with him but I was there a lot and they were always telling me I
needed to come more. I had to pay for all the time I was there so it was financially very draining."
As she helped her husband, actor and director Peter Horton, research a role for a movie about a South
Korean cult, she began to realize she was part of a cult herself. Wiley's movement had experienced a
few years of unlikely success, but his time in the new age limelight would be short-lived. Just
three years after his debut, Wiley's secret habits would be exposed by his followers, sending
breatharianism into a decade of humiliated silence. "First you must kick the habit of eating, you see we...
...that's right." Wiley's growing organization had hinged on the promise that he hadn't eaten in 17
years, a claim he'd repeatedly made in interviews and lectures. But in 1983, with breatharianism still
in its infancy, Wiley was outed by a breatharian member for "sneaking junk food into his room
after everyone was asleep." "He'll eat a dozen donuts in a sitting," said former breatharian Lavelle
Leffler, who claimed to have first caught Wiley eating an omelet. When she didn't react, Leffler
stated he began eating around her more often. Wiley's response to the allegations varied.
To one newspaper, he said of Leffler: "We were romantically involved, we broke up, now she's out
for revenge." To another, he claimed Leffler was upset over having recently been banned from the
breatharian institution after being caught stealing. But other members began coming forward, saying
they witnessed Wiley emerging from a 7-eleven with a bag of groceries, and later seeing the
empty food containers in his hotel trash can. Modern constituents such as Jasmuheen would
later attempt to exonerate him by speculating that the food was for someone else. "He was seen
coming out of a 7-eleven, McDonald's because he was traveling with a group of people who eat." But
the damage to Wiley's reputation was irreparable. Despite assuring his followers that the movement
did not depend on whether he, its founder, ate or not, breatharianism suffered a critical blow. And
when breatharianism found its second wind nearly 15 years later, Wiley found he had no place in
it. "If you look out into the world, you'll see all kinds of breatharians, but you probably won't
see me," Wiley said in a 2013 interview. "I don't get invited to places to talk." Although very little
from Wiley's doctrines have endured the modern evolutions of breatharianism, which mostly omit
Wiley's promises of immortality, ability to go without sleep, and his yellow foods transitional
period, there are components of his early teachings that have persisted throughout the decades. "Eating
is an acquired habit just like drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes." As epitomized in Wiley's
catchphrase "food is more addictive than heroin," the notion that human consciousness is
meant to evolve beyond the need for food and that eating is merely an addiction, with hunger
being analogous to drug withdrawal, appears in many current versions of the movement. The unique power
of the human mind to transcend its own biology and will itself to live without food has also
been a foundational belief since the beginning. "We read that the hunger strikers in Belfast died."
"Right." "You're living. What's the difference?" "The difference is, very importantly,
they wanted to die." Similar assertions were stated in Naveena Shine's videos. If her body began to
shut down, she seemed to think that it wouldn't be the lack of food that would cause her to die
but the belief that she would die, categorizing the death as more of a self-fulfilling prophecy
than a biological inevitability. And like Wiley's early claims, she believed humanity's dependence
on food was meant to be grown out, of comparing her own living on light experiment to cutting the
umbilical cord. "And when the umbilical cord is cut it's terrifying for the baby." But as Naveena continued into the second month of her experiment her enthusiasm was clearly waning. Her video
diaries, once teeming with promises of changing the world, began to show struggles with self-doubt.
"I have no idea if I'm living on fight or not. I could be starving to death." "I have no agenda about being right about this. I would love it to be true. I would love that humanity had this tool that could possibly save millions of lives and billions of dollars
and keep our planet healthy. If it's not true, so what? If it is true, oh my god, how incredible is
that?" Criticism remained the majority of Naveena's audience response well into the sixth week of
Living on Light, with much of it unsparing, but Naveena had yet to be disillusioned. When asked by a reporter for the Guardian what she thought of the medical consensus that her organs would fail if
she continued, Naveena replied, "A doctor can't see living on light because he looks through different
lenses." "The people yet cannot see the possibility of living on light because they are living
the paradigm of 'it can't be done. Not possible.'" A large portion of the criticism centered around
Naveena propagating a deadly idea, despite however altruistic her intentions might, be but many also
suspected that Naveena was likely secretly eating with living online being an elaborate ploy for
attention and donations, a justifiable speculation given the history of breatharianism. This suspicion
was inflamed when Naveena admitted to introducing a daily vitamin c supplement. She was already under
scrutiny for a morning tea to which she added what she referred to as a splash of creamer. Naveena
contended that neither counted as food, but many told her she could no longer claim to be living on
light and therefore had compromised the experiment. "I have started the Emergen-C, which seems to
be causing huge consternation somewhere, but I think even that has only like 25 calories, so I'm
just going to say 'so what?'" Although Naveena appeared to remain positive, she occasionally cited the
negative feedback as a possible message from the universe that she was on the wrong spiritual path.
Naveena was also struggling physically. Her body continued to cannibalize nearly a pound of adipose
and muscle tissue per day, despite her pleas for it to stop, and by day 42 she claimed to have lost
35 pounds, experiencing frequent bouts of fatigue. "Maybe I don't feel well for a couple of days,
maybe I can, maybe I can't. There's no risk there." "On the other side of that: finding a technology
that can save the world. Save the world, not feel very well for a day..." Despite Naveena's repeated assurance that she
would not proceed if she felt she was in danger, many began to predict, both in the news and in
the comment sections of her videos, that the next casualty of breatharianism was unfolding. The most
recent death linked to breatharianism had happened only two years prior. A 55-year-old woman whose
real name was withheld from news outlets starved to death in her home in Switzerland in 2011. Like
the breatharian casualties of the past, this woman's death was a result of following Jasmuheen's 21-day
process, but she had gone to even greater extremes than past victims, reportedly even spitting out
her saliva during the no-water phase of week one. Although her death is linked to Living on Light,
reports suggest her inspiration for embarking on this venture were the claims of a modern day
Indian monk named Prahlad Jani. According to the lore surrounding Jani, who was 90 years old
at the time of his death in May of 2020, he was blessed by three goddesses when he was seven years old, who have been providing him with a steady drip of sustenance via a hole in the roof of his mouth
ever since. Despite Prahlad Jani sharing little overlap with other prominent breatharian figures,
with no assertions that he could teach anyone else to live without food or water, he's cited by many
advocates as proof that the practice is possible. This is largely due to the so-called scientific
studies that took place throughout the 2000s and his portrayal in a 2010 documentary
titled "In the Beginning There was Light". "Give a short encapsulation about what your film is
about." "My film is about the strange phenomenon of... breatharianism. I researched is this true,
what is true about it. But it's really... in the end not about eating or not eating. It's
really about understanding that we are more than... these meat machines modern biology explains
us that we are." Although breatharianism never disappeared in the years following Wiley and
Jasmuheen's prominence the movement seemed to be lacking a public ambassador. But in 2010 a
filmmaker named PA Straubinger would release In the Beginning There was Light, a controversial
film which sold over 75 000 tickets during its run in Austrian cinemas, despite being labeled
problematic and anti-scientific by critics. "Western science just isn't dealing with this
concept of life energy." The film presents itself as a documentary, with Straubinger providing
voice over narration, spliced with interview footage from alleged bartherians and members of
the medical community. Viewers are soon introduced to Michael Werner, a former chemistry teacher
who claims to have stopped eating a decade prior after completing Jasmuheen's 21 day process. His
relevance in the film centers around a 2004 study in which Werner voluntarily stayed in an intensive
care unit for 10 days, consuming nothing but water and unsweetened tea, observed by staff members of
the University of Bern's Institute of Complementary Medicine. Werner completed the experiment, but like
other breatharians who underwent similar studies, experienced physiological changes which
contradicted his claims. Elevated levels of ketone production, consistent with individuals who were in
a fasting state, appeared in Werner's waste. Werner also lost nearly six pounds, a significant amount
for dietary conditions he claimed mirrored his everyday life. Like Jasmuheen, Werner claimed the
discrepancy was due to the poor air quality which prevented him from pranic feeding. He allegedly
underwent a second experiment, but the film makes no mention of the outcome, only that the results
are yet unpublished. But the bulk of the film centers around the studies of Prahlad Jani, whose assertions
of not having taken any food or water for over 70 years surpass any other breatharian claim by a wide
margin. Draped in robes and jewelry, surrounded by devotees, it seems almost blasphemous to doubt the
claims of Prahlad Jani, who, the film references, was studied on two separate occasions in an
attempt to quote, "understand this wonderful... phenomenon." in 2003 Jani was observed for 10
days and what is described as a sealed room within India's Sterling Hospital. Oversight was provided
by a team of doctors, headed by the director of neuroscience, Dr. Sudhir Shah. According to the
project's case summary, Jani was monitored in person, as well as captured on CCTV camera during
the experiment, in which Shah claimed Jani did not take any food or fluid, nor did he pass any
solid or liquid waste. "Not eat anything, did not... drink, did not pass urine, did not pass stool." They
also claimed to observe, via twice daily sonograms, urine collecting in his bladder, which, quote,
"decreased on its own without passing." "We could see... formation of urine in his bladder, which was
reabsorbed from the bladder." The integrity of the study was marred by many issues. Aside from
brief moments of Jani leaving the view of the CCTV camera, bathing was also allowed during the
final days of the experiment. Straubinger claims the doctors measured his bath water before and
after use, although nowhere in the case summary is this mentioned. "I have to wonder of course, in my
skeptical way, whether some water just might have... accidentally splashed down the man's gullet, while
he was washing up." Years later a similar study, this time for 15 days, was conducted again by Dr. Sudhir
Shah to similar results. Dr. Shah continued to be flummoxed by what he called "Jani's ability to
generate urine in his bladder" without drinking any water. In an interview Straubinger accused skeptics
of the Prahlad Jani experiment of being ignorant. "The... video surveillance can be watched by anyone," he
said. "But no one bothers. That's where I get upset." When the interviewer asked if he had seen the
footage himself, Straubinger admitted to only watching clips. But most of the skepticism wasn't
aimed at the footage, it was aimed at the doctors. As pointed out by Sanal Edamaruku of the
Indian Rationalist Association, a group known for traveling around the country and debunking
the supernatural claims of mystics and holy men... "And most of these people who are claiming that
they're miracle men or holy men or saints are... conmen." Dr. Sudhir Shah seemed suspiciously close
with the breatharian community. He'd also verified the claims of sungazer Hira Ratan Manek, who'd
reportedly gone 411 days without eating, under Dr. Shah's supervision, years earlier. Manek would later
be photographed sitting in front of a plate of food inside an indian restaurant. And Straubinger's
reasoning that Manek is simply what's known as an "eating breatharian" did little to salvage his
reputation. "Even if you pay me a billion dollars... I will not eat." Although Straubinger argued
on his website that his film takes a neutral view at what he calls "the strange phenomenon
of breatharianism," he became quick to argue with those who showed skepticism of the lifestyle,
even defending disgraced breatharians such as Wiley Brooks and Jasmuheen, revealing himself as one
of the movement's foremost modern champions. By Straubinger's own admission, the intention of his
film was to evoke discussion. But those who know of bertharianism's tragic history are familiar with
what happens when a non-critical portrayal of the subject is introduced to the public. When the death
of the unnamed victim occurred a year after the film's release, news outlets attributed it to the
documentary. Straubinger was successful in avoiding repercussions, as the attorney who investigated
the death assured him that "an adequate causality between the film and the death of this woman can
be excluded." But as is often the case following a death linked to breatharianism, public scrutiny of
the practice was renewed. The film was labeled as "dangerous" and "manipulative." And with interest in
the lifestyle renewed, Straubinger's objective to bring breatharianism back into the public
curiosity was complete. "So first of all, I don't think I can do it. I stand in the place that it's already done. I don't know, maybe I'll catch up to that and maybe I won't." "And there are a lot of people who genuinely are concerned for safety and genuinely don't think it's possible and believe it to be dangerous. Now that I... see all that feedback, I am really seeing that it
is totally dangerous." On June 16th, 44 days after she began, Naveena announced she would be ending her attempt to live on light. "I am choosing to stop the... experiment now. Because even if it's true, it would
be a mistake to put that out as if it's easy, as... if it's real, as if it's anything." On her website
she wrote: "From the feedback I am getting, it is becoming patently clear that most of the world is
by no means ready to receive the information I am attempting to produce. Even if it were true that
a person can live on light and I were successful in demonstrating that, I see now that it would be
synonymous with giving a loaded shotgun to a baby." The feedback Naveena mentioned, while a reference
to the many discouraging comments she'd received, was also a reference to the fact that very few
donated to her experiment. And after not having left her house in a month and a half, she would
soon have to get back to work in order to afford her living expenses. "The money side of this is
kind of irrelevant because money is just an energy, so I'm looking to see what's going on behind that,
and very very clear. There's nothing like money to bring clarity into a situation." For those who
had been following Naveena's video diaries, this news was no surprise. Naveena had been voicing mixed feelings for weeks leading up to her announcement. "This is way way too dangerous. People will look
at one tiny little thing and think they've got the whole story, and then they will just go and
do it and kill themselves. Who wants to do that?" Naveena's video feed, which never aired but appear
to have been recording the entire time, was given a ceremonial shutdown. And the majority of
Naveena's audience congratulated her on the decision to bring Living on Light to an early
conclusion. "And thank you for your participation." As of 2020, the breatharian movement appears
alive and well, perhaps even at the height of its popularity. A 10-day gathering in Italy
called the Pranic World Festival has taken place annually since at least 2016. Pranic believers
from all over the world gather to listen to celebrity breatharian speakers such as Jasmuheen
and Kirby de Lanerolle, who gained notoriety in 2013 for preaching breatharianism to a crowd of young
people during a TedxYouth talk. "I ran a marathon for not eating for nearly three months." "Get a taste
of the lifestyle without food," the Pranic World Festival invites. Although, it's mentioned on their
website that food will be provided at the event with the disclaimer: "We don't want to be obliged
to call the ambulance." The connotation of the term breatharianism has only worsened throughout
the decades. Jasmuheen is among those who have distanced herself from the word, preferring such
synonyms as "pranic living." But modern promoters such as Audra Bear and Ray Maor have both embraced the term, although when questioned about their lifestyle admit to regularly consuming calories in
the form of juice, smoothies, and broth--taking their claims of not eating into semantic territory. But
like all breatharians they still claim to attain nourishment via prana, as demonstrated in Audra's
pranic breathing tutorial titled "How to Breathe" In 2013 Ray Maor even replicated Jasmuheen's 60 Minutes experiment. Despite Ray
collapsing to dramatic music on day four... ...Israeli television allowed the
demonstration to continue for eight days. Ray Maor stated that the goal was to prove
breatharianism exists, but many commenters pointed out that going a week without food or water does
not indicate that it's possible as a lifestyle. Nevertheless, there's no shortage of individuals
claiming to have gone years without consuming a single calorie, solid or liquid, and are typically
referred to as "level four breatharians." "You know, they don't urinate, it means that they don't have number twos--bowel movements." Bizarre mythology surrounds these individuals.
Ray Maor claims that while they don't drink, they are capable of absorbing the humidity in the
air through their skin. "They actually--their pores of their skin open up by breathing. They usually
live in a place that is humid." Indonesian level 4 Victor Truviano, who claims to have not eaten since
2007, is so revered that people line up to stare into his face for 30 seconds. But arguably the most
prominent of the modern gurus are a married couple named Akahi and Camila. Starting out as students of
breatharianism in 2008, claiming to have undergone Jasmuheen's 21 day process and haven't required
food since, Akahi and Camila are currently spearheading the movement with their retreats,
online consultations, books, and other materials. Their eight-day pranic living retreats are about
as successful as any breatharian instructor could hope to achieve, packing out secluded meeting
locations around the globe, with attendants each paying upwards of one thousand dollars. According
to journalist Breena Kerr, who attended one of their retreats in 2017, their students undergo an
abridged version of the 21 day process where they are instructed to complete three days without food
or water, and only juice for the remainder of their stay. "72 hours dry fast, and in this day we are
fully experiencing absolute prana, just living on air." Like nearly all breatharian retreats, no doctors
are present to assess the participants' well-being. Instead, Akahi and Camila use a product called
the BioWell, a small white box meant to measure one's vital force energy and chakra alignment. Akahi
apparently first encountered the BioWell in 2013, was impressed by his own readings, and began
using it to evaluate his students' progress. Declarations on their website of their breatharian
method being "scientifically proven" seem to be referring to their BioWell readings and
nothing else. But where Akahi and Camila have become truly controversial is the subject of their
children; specifically, when Camila alleged to have practiced breatharian pregnancy. "I have lived two
pregnancies now also in this state. Four times in my pregnancy with him I ate something, and this was
like in social settings." "I knew my son would be nourished enough by my love and this would allow
him to grow healthily and my womb," Camila stated. Despite assurances that their two kids are
happy and healthy and are fed three meals a day, there's lingering concern for the well-being
of the children--born and unborn--of Camila's many devout followers. Akahi and Camila's mentor,
Jasmuheen, is still regularly referenced as the authority on breatharianism. Since her 60 Minutes
appearance, an experience she cites is humbling... "The gift that 60 Minutes gave me was great humility." ...she claims to eat roughly 300 calories per day, about 15% of the generally recommended daily intake. She continues to publish books on the subject of prana but no longer advocates the 21 day process;
instead, recommending a lifestyle of 50% food 50% pranic nourishment. "We can test our pranic
nourishment percentage, it's easy to do, and if you're running a pranic management percentage of
fifty percent, that means you're getting it from your lifestyle, from other forces, other energy
currents, then you can immediately unhook from your dependence on the world's food resources by
50 percent. So that's fantastic." Wiley Brooks never fully recovered from being exposed, although rather
than continue to deny his penchant for fast food his strategy in recent years has been to write
it into his doctrine. According to his website, the gateway to the breatharian lifestyle now includes
the type of food he was caught eating decades ago. "Don't eat anything but the McDonald's double
quarter pounder with cheese and a diet coke," Wiley warns. "No water of any kind, no fruits or
vegetables of any kind." "McDonald's restaurants are living, breathing, vibrating consciousness
buildings of love, abundance, creativity immortality, and well-being. When you walk into
McDonald's, just know you were in a vortex of unconditional love." "That's what a powerful
breatharian who wants to get in the fifth dimension--" "If you want to get in the first dimension through me you will have to take that. Mhm." Like Wiley's yellow foods diet, reasoning behind this food choice is apparently too obvious
to explain, but there seem to be only about five members currently in his organization, and
operations are likely slow-going as it's doubtful any are attending his one million dollar workshops
or ordering his ten thousand dollar immortality drink. Prahlad Jani continued to face scrutiny for
his claims until his death at the age of 90. "What's in the fridge? What's inside? Can I
see?" "No, only water to wash the mouth." "Ah." Independent observers such as Edumaraku and James Randi, who had asked to sit in on his observation studies were denied, leaving Dr. Sudhir Shah's
questionable experiments the sole testimony of his claims. Similar to Jasmuheen, PA Straubinger
also received a parody award for his contribution to breatharianism--a German prize called the Golden
Blockhead for the category of "most astonishing pseudo-scientific nuisance." He continues to
promote his film at public speaking events where he's quick to acknowledge the dangers of
breatharianism while also rejecting personal responsibility for giving credence to it. "My film
of course is not dangerous at all, it's just doing research, because I said from the beginning please
don't try this out. Just because you see a film about somebody climbing the Mount Everest it
doesn't mean you should do it the next day in sneakers and shorts. So, this can be, of course, very
dangerous." Naveena's online presence seems to have disappeared following the end of Living on Light.
In her final video, she alluded to starting a new channel called "Shining a Light," dedicated to other
esoteric ideas. Although, no such channel matching that description seems to exist. She returned
to her channel a month later to check in with a portion of her audience who was worried about her.
"I'm doing really well, I just wanted to update you, for those who were concerned that I was not doing
so well towards the end of it. I'm eating. I think on July 4th was the first day I had a normal meal,
which was quite delicious." She wasn't comfortable conceding that breatharianism wasn't possible,
but admitted that she would never be the one to prove it. As it stands Naveena's Shine's channel isn't
the testament of our ability to live without food as she originally intended, nor did it succeed
in saving humanity from self-destruction. Instead, Living on Light chronicles something rarer for
breatharianism. In a movement so often filled with deception, injury, and death, Naveena Shine provided a much needed example of the awareness of danger and irresponsibility before following such an idea
to its tragic conclusion. "The universe is saying 'this is what I want,' because this is what's
occurring. I have no argument with that." "Her name is Naveena Shine. I'm not a doctor but
she didn't seem at all crazy to me, but she does have some ideas that are, shall we say, out there
a little bit. I'm not sure if Naveena is starving for attention or not but she's definitely
starving." Naveena Shine is a delightful English lady, 65 years old, and she's aiming
big. "This will literally save the earth."
I went a year without eating but I had a lot of fat and meth
I'm actually glad we get 1 video per 3 months or so, since this is about the time I need to get ready for it.
Such a great work. Quality of these documentaries is incredible, and modern filmmakers, who keep going into reality tv direction, could learn a ton from them.
Ugh I didn't get the notification! Fuck the bell but I'm excited for this
I thought I had heard of every pseudo science, conspiracy theory, esoteric topic...then this...it’s like a whole new rabbit hole has opened in front of me.
Now time to eat some tacos.
Thank you so much for this video! I have known of this group for awhile, but mostly as a punchline or oddity - I'm glad to know the honest truth about Breathairians and how people could get sucked into such an obviously dangerous idea.
YES great surprise on a Saturday.
For some reason I didn't think I would be too interested in the subject matter for this video, but boy was I wrong. Absolutely stellar work as always!
Fucking wack jobs period...the whole lot of them. It’s funny that most of these people look so gaunt and unhealthy...the walking dead. 𝐅𝐚𝐭 is needed in the human body for it to function
is there a reupload of this video somewhere ?
EDIT: found it on archive.org
https://archive.org/details/the-strange-world-of-breatharianism