The Doctrine and Practice of Yoga Part 7

Exercise X.

This exercise is for those troubled with a too large abdomen, which trouble is caused by too much fat gathering there. The abdomen may be materially reduced by a reasonable indulgence in this exercise--but always remember "moderation in all things" and do not overdo matters, or be in too much of a hurry. Here is the exercise: (1) exhale the breath (breathe out all the air in the lungs, without straining yourself too much) and then draw the abdomen in and up as far as you can, then hold for a moment and let it resume its natural position. Repeat a number of times and then take a breath or two and rest a moment. Repeat several times, moving it in and out. It is surprising how much control one may gain over these stubborn muscles with a little practice. This exercise will not only reduce the fatty layers over the abdomen, but will also greatly strengthen the stomach muscles. (2) Give the abdomen a good but not rough kneading and rubbing.

Exercise XI.

The exercise is as follows:--Follow it carefully. (1) stand erect, with heels together, toes slightly pointed outward; (2) raise the arms up by the sides (with a circular movement) until the hands meet over the head, thumbs touching each other; (3) keeping the knees stiff; the body rigid; _the elbows unbent_; (and shoulders bent well back as the movement is made); bring down the hands, slowly, with a sideway circular motion, until they reach the sides of the legs the little finger and the inner-edge (the "chopping-edge") of the hand alone touching the legs, and palms of the hands facing straight to the front. The shoulder gets the right position by touching the little finger of each hand to the seam of the trousers. (4) Repeat several times, _slowly_ remember. With the hands in the last position, having been placed there by the motion stated, it is very difficult for the shoulders to warp forward. The chest is projected a little; the head is erect; neck is straight, the back straight and hollowed a little (the natural position); and the knees are straight. In short, you have a fine, erect carriage--_now keep it_.

SEVEN MINOR BREATHING EXERCISES.

Exercise I.

(1) Stand erect with hands at sides. (2) Inhale complete breath.

(3) Raise the arms slowly, keeping them rigid until the hands touch over head. (4) Retain the breath a few minutes with hands over head. (5) Lower hands slowly to sides exhaling slowly at the same time. (6) Practise cleansing breath.

Exercise II.

(1) Stand erect with arms straight in front of you. (2) Inhale complete breath and retain. (3) Swing arms back as far as they will go; then back to first position; then repeat several times, retaining the breath all the while. (4) Exhale vigorously through mouth. (5) Practise cleansing breath.

Exercise III.

(1) Stand erect with arms straight in front of you. (2) Inhale complete breath. (3) Swing arms around in a circle, backward, a few times. Then reverse a few times retaining the breath all the while. You may vary this by rotating them alternately like the sails of a wind-mill. (4) Exhale the breath vigorously through the mouth. (5) Practise cleansing breath.

Exercise IV.

(1) Lie on the floor with your face downward, and palms of hands flat upon the floor by your sides. (2) Inhale complete breath and retain.

(3) Stiffen the body and raise yourself up by the strength of your arms until you rest on your hands and toes. (4) Then lower yourself to original position. Repeat several times. (5) Exhale vigorously through the mouth. (6) Practise cleansing breath.

Exercise V.

(1) Stand erect with your palms against the wall. (2) Inhale complete breath and retain. (3) Lower the chest to the wall, resting your weight on your hands. (4) Then raise yourself back with the arm muscles alone, keeping the body stiff. (5) Exhale vigorously through the mouth.

(6) Practise cleansing breath.

Exercise VI.

(1) Stand erect with arms "akimbo" that is with hands resting around the waist and elbows standing out. (2) Inhale complete breath and retain. (3) Keep legs and hips stiff and bend well forward, as if bowing, at the same time exhaling slowly. (4) Return to first position and then take another complete breath. (5) Then bend backward exhaling slowly. (6) Return to first position and take a complete breath. (7) Then bend sideways exhaling slowly (vary by bending to right and then to left). (8) Practise cleansing breath.

Exercise VII.

(1) Stand erect or sit erect with straight spinal column. (2) Inhale a complete breath but instead of inhaling on a continuous steady stream, take a series of short, quick "sniffs" as if you were smelling aromatic salts and ammonia and did not wish to get too strong a "whiff." Do not exhale any of these little breaths, but add one to the other until the entire lung s.p.a.ce is filled. (3) Retain for a few seconds. (4) Exhale through the nostrils in a long restful breath. (5) Practise cleansing breath.

WHEN YOU ARE IN TRAINING.

Do not attempt to take all the above exercises at one and the same time. Take them several times in the day. Never exercise immediately after a meal or before it. Do not try to force development as you will be apt to suffer from re-action. Slow and steady wins the race. Gentle and persistent exercises are advisable. That will lead to permanent development.

EFFECT OF MIND AND BODY.

It has been proved conclusively even on the physical plane that a "a Man thinketh in his heart so is he." The great thing to avoid is Fear and Worry thoughts. These and all other undesirable thoughts are due to bad health partially but it is even a greater truth that physical degeneration is due to bad thinking. Fear affects the heart. During epidemics such as plague, cholera, etc., you generally first project the deadly germs of Fear-Thoughts upon yourself and thus by weakening your mind you weaken your body and expose yourself to disease influence.

Again, if you have some hereditary disease and if you accept adverse suggestions from ignorant people and keep telling yourself that such and such a disease has taken shelter in you and your body as its "fixed abode" you simply hasten your own end. The body and mind are interrelated. Thoughts materialize themselves in your body. You should get as far away from the idea of disease and old age and weaknesses as possible and hold the health-thoughts steadily before your mind. The only way in which to be quite immune from Disease is to Deny the Power of Disease on yourself. Say "I cannot be ill," "I will not admit disease."

Health and strength are in the unyielding will. De-hypnotise yourself of that superst.i.tion that G.o.d sends disease. Your body is yours to control and keep healthy. G.o.d will give you--(He has already given you rather)--the Power to control your body. Remember always; you alone can save yourself. All Power and Wisdom are potentially resident in you.

Have confidence and set that thing in motion, exercise it constantly and persistently and it shall grow and unfold. G.o.d is in you and you are in G.o.d. When you pray you are simply, although often unconsciously, helping that Latent Power to uncoil itself. Remember again: G.o.d will grant you the opportunity, the means, the wisdom, the ability to accomplish a thing, but You Shall Have to do the work yourself. Hence, you see, the illumined mind is quite necessary for perfect health. Get rid of all weak thoughts. Have a strong mind. Remember lastly:

MIND ACTS UPON BODY IN ALL WAYS.

Make your mind positive to your body. I have told you how to do so.

Physical exercise plus Mental Exercise will put you on the road to Power and Poise. And side by side with this follow health-laws. But bear in mind that if you a.s.sert your power on your mind and body confidentially, they cannot but obey your commands. The body has an intelligence of its own. This intelligence knows its work perfectly. It is what you call Instinct. It digests your meals; a.s.similates and eliminates; repairs wastes; works the heart and controls the circulation; heals wounds and presides over all other natural and involuntary processes in the body. This Instinctive mind knows its work perfectly.

But, mark you, this intelligence in the cells and nerve-centres of your body is negative to the Central Intelligence in the brain--the controlling centre--the "I Am" and is affected by suggestions, beliefs and thoughts in your brain. All you have got to do is to avoid projecting negative thoughts from your mind and let it alone. But suppose you have by violation of the Laws of Nature disturbed the action of the Instinctive Mind, disease results. Disease is simply the effect of nature to throw off unnatural conditions and re-a.s.sert natural conditions. In such a case all you have got to do is to re-establish natural states. You can do so by simply increasing the general vitality of the body and by changing your Mental Att.i.tude. For instance, if you somehow or other have accepted the "belief" that your stomach is weak or your heart is weak or your liver is slow or your circulation is bad or your vitality is low, etc., your instinctive Mind will take up your Beliefs and work them out in no time physically. The Instinctive Mind--which is the same as the sub-conscious Mind working in the body--_never reasons_. It is on the plane of Automatism. Therefore, if you have done any such negative thinking your first step is to wipe out these noxious mental weeds by the Positive Denial. Say "No, No, No, my body is strong; my stomach is strong, my heart is strong, etc." In this form of suggestion you use positive Denial as well as Positive Affirmation. The former is destructive of evil if rightly applied, the latter is constructive of good. Belief and confident expectation are mighty forces. Be sure you apply them wisely. The power of mind over matter is supreme and a Proven Reality.

RESERVE FORCE.

Here I should like to draw your attention to the Reserve Power existing in your body. Of course there are soul-powers existing potentially within YOU which leap into brilliant expression as you succeed in developing and expanding your brain to a state of perfect responsiveness to the touch of your will. For really and truly your will, forming as it does the divine part of yourself, is always strong and must unfold "as a rose" by exercising itself, in the field of matter, force and mind;--all of which are subordinate to YOU and the real aim of human evolution is actually to place in your hands the wand of power.

What is within your body is sure to find its correspondent outside in Nature. Control nature inside and you will move as a master out in this universe.

Now without going into details let me tell you--if you do not know it already--that mind is the finest form of matter, and matter the grossest form of mind, and there is a constant interaction between the two poles.

But since mind represents the positive end and matter the negative, the former can dominate the latter. You can evoke states of consciousness by applying stimulus to the periphery and again mental states evoke corresponding vibrations in the cellular life of body and brain.

Hence you see your mind controls and forms your body. Also your body reacts upon your brain and affects that part of your mind which has to operate through the brain, which is matter pure and simple. So to keep aright the polarities of your brain and body a constant adjustment of forces is needed and thus you can establish POISE.

In order always to be in a state of perfect health two things are necessary. Deny the power of disease over yourself. In the unyielding will is health. In the weak, vacillating, fearful mind is disease and death. At the same time always be in perfect magnetic trim with the physical laws of health. A knowledge of the latter and the ascension of a fearless mental att.i.tude will open up hitherto unrecognised channels of physical and mental expression. Physiological researches have led sincere investigators to the inevitable conclusion that there is subtle, refined, dynamic substance, a reality that binds up the reorganization, causes growth, vitality and motion; repairs injuries; makes up losses; overcomes and cures diseases. Von Helment called it "Archeus"; Stahl called it "Anima;" Whytt called it the "sentiment principle;" Dr. Cullen called it "Caloric;" Dr. Darwin called it "Sensorial energy"; Rush called it "Occult cause;" and many other names such as "Vital Principle," "Living power," "Conservative Power," "Odic Force," etc., etc., have been given to it. We of India have recognised it and devised Yoga methods for controlling it; we call it Prana and only in India do you come across men who possess pranic control or control over universal energy.

There exists in your physical organism reserve stores of vital energy stored away for your use, particularly in that central ganglion of your vital battery known as the Solar Plexus and generally in the chain of ganglia or storage batteries along and up your spine and elsewhere in other nerve-centres. The solar plexus is also known as the Abdominal Brain and your brain depends and draws upon this vital centre for its energies. You will find after the prolonged concentration and brain-work that this part of your body--at the back of pit of stomach--becomes warm. Now when you engage in physical exercise, for instance, you must have noticed how at first you soon get tired and all done up. But if you wait a little and then start again, you will find how the sense of fatigue has quite pa.s.sed away and you can run your body under full pressure for a very long time, and the more you exert yourself the greater and more powerful the surging up of your vital energy. With each new exertion you seem to acquire a fresh start. This has puzzled physiologists. You will find a parallel phenomenon in mental work. You may experience a sense of weariness and fatigue in some brain-work which demands close thinking and attention, but if you attack your work a little later after the first effort you will do your work a surprising degree of freshness, vigour, and enthusiasm far surpa.s.sing the original attempt. Again everyone can and does put forth universal energy under pressure of some urgent necessity, which will startle even himself. No matter who you are and what your physical condition, there is an enormous amount of power in your body that has never been drawn upon at all and impatiently waiting for up-call. We go on in ordinary dog trot pace, resting, limping, "taking care of our health," and then we think we are doing our best. Do not permit your mind to be self-hypnotised into a false sense of being "exhausted" and "old." Neither of them is a fact except in your thought of yourself. All your powers are lying dormant.

All your latent energies are lying unused. Back of your conscious mentality are tremendous energies awaiting the pull of your will. When your brain conceives of being something unusually great, at least so it may appear from your view-point, do not question your strength but go ahead unhesitatingly, fearlessly and steadily. a.s.sert your life-force.

Feel that you are young, strong and healthy and fit. Live in mental consciousness of power and never think of weakness. Keep your grip and run right along. Nature is sure to honor your draft. Nature is sure to give you strength, energy and vim, in boundless measure. Just try this my friends, you, who write me of "there being a serious lack of vitality"

in your system and hence your inability to grapple with the occult. No such thing. Fact is you lack courage and initiative, pluck and "go" and you are labouring under the hypnotism of weakening thoughts. Just change your thoughts, and your reserve forces will rush out into activity and you will be a changed man in no time.

HOW TO EXERCISE.

In exercising aim at rhythm of motion. Let your movements be easy, regular, rhythmic and graceful. Take an interest in your work. Do pay attention. Put Will-Power and Mind into your work. Think of all it means.

Do not fatigue yourself unduly. After exercise towelling or a spray-bath is advisable. Wet your towel, pa.s.s it over your body, rubbing thoroughly.

Raise the towel and repeat. After exercise and towelling, you should be in a splendid glow. Be sure to keep the windows open when exercising.

Fresh air is an absolute necessity. Never mind about cold and so forth.

Remember the Positive Denial will fill you with Power of Resistance. Say "Cold cannot affect my body" and believe what you say. You can face anything in this way and remain untouched.

BATHING AND LINEN.

The student should bathe daily, using plenty of water, rubbing and cleaning the body from top to toe. I myself bathe very early in the morning, in all seasons, in cold water. Cold water stimulates circulation and is a wonderful tonic internally and externally. Warm water is soothing and relaxing in its effect. If you can bathe in the flowing water of a river, so much the better. Swimming is a wonderful bracer, besides being an enjoyment in itself. There is Prana in water and your body extracts this Prana from air, water and food. I cannot give you instructions as to different forms of bathing, as this is not a "doctor"

book. As far as possible bathe twice a day, mornings and evenings; if not, once in the morning, using the towel at other times. Bathing is not merely pouring water on body but cleansing it out and out with water rubbing and scrubbing with hands and towels. Aim at perfect cleanliness.

Cleanliness is G.o.dliness and Health is Holiness.

Then again while bathing if you let the water flow over your body and try to "appreciate the sensation" and dwell on the idea of Prana-absorption from water, you shall get double benefit.

About linen--_Be neat_, for G.o.d's sake. I have seen orthodox people who bathe twice and wash their hands hundreds of times in the day, but whose clothes are sticky with dirt, sweat and oil. Whatever else it may mean, Religion does not mean squalor, offensive odours in body and clothes and general neglect of external clean linen and dirt. The Yogi is a man of supreme REFINEMENT. Read that word and understand all it means. The clothes you wear in day-time should not be worn at night. Be clean internally as well externally. Be clean. Be clean. Be clean, within as well as without.