breatharianism

English

Etymology

breatharian +‎ -ism

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌbɹɛˈθɛəɹi.ənˌɪzəm/

Noun

breatharianism (uncountable)

1. The belief in, or practice of, living without food, subsisting instead on prana or sunlight.
   • 1988, Rev. Ivan Stang, High Weirdness by Mail, New York: Fireside, →ISBN, →OL, page 33:

     Wiley Brooks, the guru of Breatharianism, espouses a system of physical vitality by which one may stop eating and drinking entirely, and live, lichenlike, off light and air.

   • 1998, Ricky Jay, “The Ultimate Diet: The Art and Artifice of Fasting”, in Jay's Journal of Anomalies, volume 4, number 1:

     An exponent of Breatharianism named Wiley Brooks, a handsome, very thin black man in his forties, headed the Breatharian Institute of America, and in 1983 claimed not to have consumed anything except an occasional glass of fruit juice for eighteen years.

   • 2012 April 25, “Woman starves to death in spiritual quest to live on sunlight alone”, in Daily Mail‎^[1]:

     Followers of the cult Breatharianism believe that the energy they save on digesting food and drink can be transformed into physical, emotional and spiritual energy.

Related terms

• breatharian