Ancient Mongolians had used rhubarb for making a sound of wind blowing. Later, bamboo, steel and other materials have been used to make a musical wind instrument – flute which perfectly accompanies long songs.
Today, the flute is widely spread among many nations and ethnic groups. However, Mongolians could develop a unique technique of playing flute. This technique is circular breathing the flute to produce a continuous tone without interruption. This is accomplished by breathing in through the nose while simultaneously pushing air out through the mouth using air stored in the cheeks. This traditional technique of Mongolian musicians to play long songs has been listed in UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage. Only Mongolians could preserve and develop the circular breathing flute technique, so that UNESCO declared it as unique cultural heritage needing protection.
In order to learn this technique, an ordinary regime of the respiratory system is changed to study managing breath stream.
The circular breathing is one of clear samples proving the oriental philosophic theory of “eternal and ephemeral”.