Yes, the yogis were aware of this from a long time ago. Breathe properly and oxygen enters your blood, cells, and brain properly, and you feel relaxed and energized. It is kind of amazing how aware people were a long time ago.. yoga is an ancient art.

It sounds like they are talking about pranayama which is the yogic exercise of altering the breath to have different effects. It isn't necessarily the same as meditation because you might not do it repeatedly for long periods of time, which is basically what meditation is, but pranayama could be viewed as meditation because you are focusing on the breath and building awareness, and maybe doing it for some amount of time and repetition. This is why in zen they say everything is zen.. because whatever you are doing, for one second or one hour, is, in a sense, meditation. If anything there are different types of meditations. Some would say meditation is a key element of yoga, whether you are practicing pranayama, asana, or whatever, you are supposed to be meditating, otherwise it isn't yoga.

A song of ice and fire is quite amazing.. until you are ready for book 6 ><

I read this. Her parents were truly rebels. She went through a lot. Crazy that some people live like that. I guess it ultimately worked out for the author and her siblings.

Im guessing it's the Buddhist practice of "just observing" which I believe is sitting meditation but ya I could be wrong and it is confusing.