YOGA AND THIS AGE

The Yoga system of health is a culture that has been practised by the yogis in India for thousands of years.

Its roots lie buried deep in the past, but its message is ad-dressed no less surely to the people of to-day, living in the restless atmosphere of the modern world.

Yoga lays stress on bodily and mental poise and produces an equanimity of spirit that is most beneficial to the whole nervous system.

It trains the student in the basic principles of health, and creates a true placidity of nature that allows great intensity of activity of both mind and body, when such activity is necessary.

The question is whether the Western world needs Yoga and is ready to attach to it the significance the East at-taches.

The Westerner must perforce admit that the modern world is one of agitation and nervous tension.

Does he get along satisfactorily or does he just ' muddle through’?

Life expectancy has certainly gone up in the last hundred years, but this has not been due to an innate development of resistance to disease, but rather to the increase in medical knowledge.

Sir Farquhar Buzzard, Physician in Ordinary to the King, maintains that in England one person in every fourteen suffers from nerves to such an extent as to warrant treatment, whether it is given or not and that one million weeks of working men's time are lost every year because of nervous disorders alone.

We have further his authoritative statement that one-third of all the ills that man is heir to in these days are due to nervous disorders, and are not organic breakdowns.

The need for Yoga therapy, which deals so exhaustively with nerves and their effects, is thus seen to be very real, for ill-nourished and uncontrolled nerves sap the vitality of a nation, and affect its physical condition and its mental outlook.

Yoga is not advocated to teach the Western city dweller the Indian rope-trick or any other abnormal practice (and among these false ideas must be included the use of Yoga to effect indefinite prolongation of life), but to expand his own latent powers, physical, mental, and spiritual, to their fullest possible extent.

The life of the average man, and by that I mean the majority, is a biological span that he inherits from his parents and grandparents, but many people, by paying too little attention to the fundamentals of living, literally fail to get the most out of life, and die before the completion of their inherited life span.

Yoga, as taught in this book, will show how the longest life may be attained.

Few of us so conduct our lives as to exhaust our span of years, and most of us are ignorant of what treatment of the body is conducive or detrimental to the prolongation of the inherited tissues.

To-day only one person in a hundred thousand lives to celebrate his or her hundredth birthday, and of those the greater proportion are women, who, because of their sex, are spared the more arduous occupations that fall to the lot of the male.

The reader has an even chance of seeing just over sixty years, and his chance of survival is double what it was a hundred years ago.

Yoga builds stamina, not strength, and calls for modera¬tion in eating, drinking of alcohol, and especially in smoking, and above all demands a happily balanced frame of mind.

Statistics show that long-lived people are those of contented mind, for the mind does not grow old with the body if the right precautions are taken and if the blood-supply to the brain is maintained.

This is common know¬ledge to every doctor, and the Yoga system allows for this and has exercises for keeping the brain supplied with blood.

There is nothing strange or unnatural in this.

In the dim past, when the progenitor of man trotted about using his hands as supports, much as apes do, his head was lower than his heart, and gravity sent the blood rushing to the brain with comfortable ease, and kept it healthy and re-sponsive during the process of evolution.

Walking up-right, as we do now, gravity does not send this blood to the brain, and the heart pumps up a reduced quantity through the carotid arteries.

The outflow is through the jugular veins, which are larger and take off more than the carotid can get up with ease.

The heart thus has demands made upon it that it cannot adequately fulfill, and Yoga teaches the obvious remedy, i.e. an exercise that puts the student standing on his head.

This, however, is only one of many important exercises, and Yoga must not be con-sidered as specializing in an adaptation of the individual to the gravitational pull.

Hatha Yoga, in fact, re-educates the abdominal muscles, buttocks, and lumbers to resist the gravitational pull, keeping the body in a correct posture and the intestines in the pelvic cavity.

As to standing on the head, what at first sight would seem to be a childish exercise is really an obvious method of countering an inadequate blood-supply to the brain.

Such an inadequate supply results in de¬generation of the brain tissues, and in a loss to the men¬tality of the alertness necessary to cope with the trying conditions of modern civilization.

Experiments to prove that the blood-flow to the brain affects mental output have been successfully carried out, and it is common knowledge that when the stomach is overfed the blood is drawn from the brain and rushes to the abdominal regions to cope with the overtaxed stomach.

A light meal for the mental worker means less blood for the stomach and more for the brain, with a consequent improvement in mental effi¬ciency.

It is in fact probable that the Sunday dinner, de¬flecting blood from the brain to the stomach, leaves it ‘fagged out’, and produces the well-known 'Monday morning feeling'.

Yoga has exercises stimulating the whole of the ab-dominal muscles, the spine, and the lungs.

That attention should be given to these parts, instead of to building up firm muscles on biceps and legs, is not an Eastern fad, but is based on medical common sense.

Doctors studying old age in Prague saw that in the aged there is the deteriora-tion of just those parts of the body that the yogic exer-cises keep virile and supple.

Yoga has taken elementary scientific knowledge and adapted it to a specialized sys-tem, and in this light it is realized that there is nothing mysterious in Yoga.

The brain and the spinal cord also have every attention from the yogi, because the yogi knows them as the two great centres of the whole nervous system of the body.

The effect of the nerves on the body cannot have its im-portance exaggerated. Dr. G. E. Hall, of Toronto, explains that a stimulated nerve fibre oozes a secretion called acetylchaline, which, in excess, is poisonous and has been proved by experiment to create ulcerated stomach and some diseases of the heart.

Anger, which is a strong emotion, sends its messages from the brain, down the nerves, and stimulates the nerve endings to discharge acetylchaline in excess.

This poisons the body, and the result of anger is low spirits and misery.

Is it, then, the absurd invention of a weird cult to insist on the composed body and mind?

It is nothing more than the practical ap-plication of common sense.

The reader may consider himself composed, but might this not be due to nervous reactions being repressed in his conscious life?

When he is asleep the conscious is off duty, the guard is gone.

The average sleeper, without knowing it, of course, changes his position between twenty-five and fifty times a night.

That is no composure of body and mind.

The rhythm of the breathing exercises is reflected to some extent in the accepted scientific fact that the brain generates electricity under the influence of rhythmic chemical action, whereby the thinking process is carried on, and other bodily functions.

Dr. T. J. Case, of Chicago, says that the nerve-cells pulse electrically at about ten beats per second, and a break of rhythm means that there is some affliction at the area where the rhythm is broken.

That rhythm is fundamental to life is indicated in many ways, as for instance in breathing and in the love of music and dancing.

Dr. Rex B. Hersey has charted a man's emo-tions, and finds that they run in cycles of crests and de-pressions over an average period of four to five weeks.

Yoga recognizes nature's demand for rhythmical living and trains the student accordingly.

That Yoga believes so strongly in the potentialities of the mind can readily be understood when it is realized that the subconscious, while giving evidence of phenome-nal powers, is not yet by any means understood.

Hypno-tism, one method of exploring the subconscious, has revealed that the subconscious absorbs things we have never dreamt came within our ken, and when stimulated it will reveal them in the most minute and accurate details.

Working through the conscious, however, its hidden knowledge is often revealed in distorted shape, to the individual's confusion, much as dreams juggle with the impressions left by the day.

The hidden mind profoundly influences the conscious mind, so Yoga strives to understand the subconscious.

The effect of the mind on the body is being established with increasing force by the progress of medical science, and many statements in this book are corroborated by authoritative statements of fact made in "The Force of the Mind" by Dr. A. T. Schofield, M.D., M.R.C.S., an admirable work.

As to the influence of the mind on the body, we have Sir James Paget writing to Sir Henry Acland in 1866 that one of his patients might surprise the whole medical pro-fession by being relieved of her maladies were there some force of assertion which would create the will to bear, forget, or suppress the turbulences of the patient's nervous system.

Modern medicine can no longer afford to ignore those potentialities of the mind that Yoga has always recognized, and that it has harnessed in a course of real thera-peutics.

Yoga recognizes that man is psychical and physical, and intermingled as these two aspects are, endeavors to systematize and establish the psychic laws in relation to the physical.

It is dawning on the East that to impress the West she must systematize her knowledge; for the Westerner, unlike the Eastern student, will not blindly follow in faith and rely on intuition that he is in the hands of the right teacher.

It may be this lack of intuitive per¬ception that has prevented the West assimilating much the East is ready to give, but which it cannot give if the West questions its authority.

Now that the knowledge of the East is being formulated on Western lines, Western science feels more inclined to accept and understand, and even to adapt Eastern wisdom to its own needs.

This continuity of mind and body is shown in ways which we tend to pass over, but Sir B. W. Richardson indicates for us the common association of the emotion of love with the heart, irritability with the liver, and, significantly enough, the highest point of mental insight with the stomach—the solar plexus of the sympathetic system.

Significantly, the great cosmic energy of the yogi, called Kundalini, is described as resting in the abdominal regions, and, when stimulated, gives supermental powers.

Hack Tuke, in his classic on the subject, gives us figures in respect of the power of the mind on the body, stating that 56 per cent of the effects on the vascular system comes from the intellect; 56 per cent on the glands and organs of the body comes from the emotions 5 and 8 per cent on the so-called voluntary muscles comes from the will.

Yoga is a science confident in its knowledge that no mechanical system could adjust itself to the constantly changing environment of the body unless there were a flexible centre such as the mind in control.

This is confirmed by Professor Clouston's statement to the Royal Medical Society in 1896 that the mental aspect is a factor for good or evil in any disease.

Religion, calling for ethical living, links up with natural science, for if the mind and body are so linked that the mind can influence the body, it is equally probable that the body can affect the mind, and immoral use of the flesh or its abuse can warp the mind.

Medical men have com¬piled frightening lists of diseases influenced or created by the mind, from cancer and heart diseases to simple stomach-ache.

The mind can induce paralysis, and death may be caused either by a natural physical reaction in the body, or by hysteria where non-existent diseases or conditions are imagined.

Just think of the power of the mind! It holds agony and death in its grasp, and yet science is only just taking it seriously as a factor in therapeutics, whereas Yoga has been striving after an understanding for two thousand years.

Does not this demand that the West should seri-ously consider a culture with such a tradition?

The mind also has a curative effect when directed and applied in the right channels, and we have only to think of hypnotism, faith, hope, prayer, confidence, will-power, auto-suggestion, and religious mysticism to realize the power of mind over matter.

These aspects of the mind have in practice saved people from years of prostration, pain, and from death, and they cannot be ignored.

Yoga sees this as an indication of the power of the mind, and directs it accordingly by a system based on knowledge from prolonged study over centuries.

The yogi endeavors to create a life force within himself, and Western science itself acknowledges something much akin in the vis medicatrix naturae, a natural inherent combative force in function against disease, de¬scribed by Dr. A. H. Carter as a ‘working out of the balance of nature’, that harmonious system of life referred to earlier in the chapter.

Captain J. A. Hadfield, M.A., M.B., in his contribution to that excellent work, The Spirit—God and His Relation to Man, states: 

Whatever their ultimate origin, there are resources of power whose existence we do not ordinarily recognize but which can be made available for the pur-poses of our daily life.

He instances genuine cases of feats done by people under unusual circumstances and strong emotions which could not be done afterwards in the ordi¬nary course of living.

Case after case is quoted, revealing in all that the subject has made access unconsciously, or rather subconsciously, to hidden sources of power, and afterwards suffered no fatigue from his extraordinary ex¬penditure of energy.

Under hypnosis cases before Captain Hadfield exhibited abnormal feats of strength.

This leaves no alternative but to see the will as a power in itself gov¬erning the whole body, and the emotions as providing im¬petus to the will.

A governing law seems to be that progress comes from the adaptation of the individual, with all his special powers,to the prevailing social life, and it is this that forms the basis of the moral outlook, for as Captain Hadfield points out, power used to the detriment of the community is eventually reflected back on the individual who abuses it, with unhappy consequences to himself.

I shall end my chapter with another quotation from this interesting book: ‘This art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is prob¬ably one of the secrets of energy in our great men/

That is worth a thought in an age that saps mental energy and nervous strength when it is most needed.

YOGA THERAPY

Yoga is an ancient and extended system of psycho-therapy.

The points of difference between the psycho-therapy of the East and that of the West are the emphasis laid by the East on body poise, breathing, and the objectification of the body.

The spiritual aspect of Yoga is only in part frowned upon by psycho-analysts, as there is a school of psycholo-gists who accredit their cures to the establishment in their patients of a renewed sense of well-being and of confidence in God.

That Yoga is a system of psycho-therapy created over two thousand years ago and successfully practised ever since, with amazing results, is a fact that brooks no argu-ment that Yoga's system should be dissected and adapted for the Western world and practised by Western psycho¬logists is my fervent hope.

The ground that can be covered by a psycho-analyst in respect of his patients includes all anti-social habits, such as acute timidity, temper, hysteria, depression, sex complexes, etc., and physical disorders such as constipation, indigestion, and irregular functioning of the processes of excretion and menstruation, and mild skin diseases.

That patients come eventually to the psycho-analyst is because medical science has failed to eradicate what are, in so many cases, fundamental ills.

This is not to infer that the medical profession never achieve satisfactory results in such cases.

On the contrary, the doctors cure with consum¬mate skill the majority of sufferers, but they fail lamen¬tably with some who apparently suffer from the same functional disorders as the majority they have cured.

Medical science, with its present curative devices, must then step aside for the psycho-analyst, a man whose spe-cialized knowledge is ever becoming more frequently sought by those who are in danger of succumbing to the unnatural circumstances of modern life.

All this, though it is well in the domain of psycho-therapy, does not constitute the main urge for the exis-tence of Yoga-therapy.

The main urge is one that Western psycho-therapy fights shy of absorbing, yet it is more general than any functional disorder; it is the urge for that knowledge whereby the individual may be brought to a full realization of his true self and his vast potentialities.

Few people can have the sincere conviction that they are exploiting to the full their physical and mental attri-butes, and the knowledge of this works insidiously through¬out all they endeavour to accomplish in life.

Half the sterile lives in the world are due to the unconscious (or sometimes conscious) realization of the inadequacy of the individual to reconcile his life with what he feels should be the true method of living.

The result is a sense of frus-tration, for the individual wants something which he can-not identify.

A knowledge of what a man wants is gained only after searching self-analysis, and the true Self is only revealed when its potentialities are made apparent.

The postures, breathing exercises, and objectification of the body induced by Yoga-therapy automatically bring into being a state of mind perfectly attuned to the world around. In other words,

Yoga makes the patient his own psycho-analyst, and it is from the study of Yoga-therapy itself that a satisfactory system is cultivated, with its con-sequent poise and peace of mind.

The nervous diseases reflected in so many disorders of the body and mind are the outcome of straining and ten-sion of the faculties in a conscious or unconscious effort of the individual to adapt himself to his environment.

The psycho- and Yoga-therapeutists endeavour by their own particular methods to relieve this tension and substitute a true relaxation of the mind and body disciplined to work harmoniously.

The psycho-therapeutist discriminates from the flowing thoughts and ideas released in the main from the subconscious and applies those that will affect bene-ficially the ailment of the patient.

In the majority of cases the application of these thoughts is the means of bringing about relief from repression in the subconscious.

The Yoga-therapeutist believes, not without reason, that, as his own psycho-analyst, he is better qualified to apply the most effective method for his own betterment.

The psy-cho-therapeutist, on the other hand, condemns a system whereby the cure of a diseased mind has to be undertaken by that same mind.

It is here that the ways divide, for the yogic student believes in a special quality of the mind whereby he can objectify it and rectify its prevailing weakness.

The objectification of the mind is made possible by the mind's functioning on varying levels of consciousness.

Three of these levels are clearly differentiated—the physi-cal (cognition of the world around us) the emotional (passion, anger, greed, etc.); and the mental (intellectual).

Freud, the great psycho-analyst, has mapped out the mind into three levels—conscious, pre-conscious, and sub-con-scious.

The Indian mind accepts with ease, as an axiom, the extension of planes of consciousness; the Westerner in the majority of cases has difficulty in accepting so alien a conception.

The yogi does not postulate a different mind for each level of consciousness, but one mind capable of working at different levels.

To retain consciousness of the mind at one level and see it working on another allows, if necessary, mental observation of any distorted activity.

It is obvious that one cannot get accurate powers of mental perception from the lowest level of a mind working on a higher plane, so the yogi raises his mind to its highest level in order to study its activities on lower levels of consciousness.

Yoga aims at that command over the body and mind that is the state of individual existence in which the mind, working smoothly in a physically fit body on a high level of consciousness, can observe and control all mental activi¬ties on the lower levels.

It must be remembered that although there are dif-ferent levels of consciousness, the mind is one, pervading all, but working through different levels of consciousness, its activity restricted by the limitations of each receding level or plane.

That is what makes this idea so difficult to assimilate in the West—that a mind pervading and acti-vating all levels of consciousness can on a high level rectify the working of itself on a lower level.

Yoga must be recognized for what it is and not for what so many think it is—a mysterious, unhallowed religion linked with extreme mortification of the flesh, sitting on nails, the Indian rope-trick, fire-eating, and bloody sacri¬fices at midnight in the jungle.

Yoga is a system devised and practised for over two thousand years, with a thera¬peutic basis for its physical and mental objective.

Much of it has been disguised by the symbolism so beloved by the East, but stripped of this it stands revealed as a rational system of culture, both physical and mental, and as such warrants attention by the Western world.

The writing of this book is intended to bring to some sections of the Western peoples a realization of Yoga's great value to the individual, and, through the individual, to the nations.

The extraordinary powers of mind and body have long compelled recognition by scientists, and in many cases these powers, not being understood, have been condemned as clever trickery.

Fortunately, to-day, as never before, the East and West are meeting, and earnest workers on both sides are striving for a common ground on which to develop research for mutual advantage.

Yoga is making slow but steady progress into the minds of Western men of science, and is providing adequate answers to many of the marvels and miracles of the East.

The yogi sees in man the conjunction of the gross world with the world of supreme power, knowledge, and Divine Essence that lies beyond.

Man is for ever seeking his true position as a co-ordinate between these two spheres, and knowledge of self is the realization of the co-ordination between the gross and spiritual planes.

This knowledge is attained with the greatest speed, under the prevailing conditions of living, by means of Yoga.

Yoga is not a religion, but it advocates the acceptance of some divine source in which to bathe the ailing mind and to stimulate the necessary element in the student of adoration for the Divine.

Yoga does not ask the student to prepare a scheme of supplication to a deity, for it is felt that then the independence of the individual is lost and a precious gift of God thrown away.

Rather does Yoga re-veal the God in man and put the responsibility of spiritual awakening on the individual, who must seek Him for him¬self by a practical and scientifically worked out method.

The schoolboy never progresses when he continually asks his father to do his homework, and it is of far more value to that boy to work out one simple sum himself than have his father work out six.

Yoga asks for no blind belief, but offers an accumula-tion of attested facts for observation—not of external things but of the things of the mind from which true experience is born.

It calls for a concentration in a healthy body of the mind on itself, and seeks to destroy desires, the seeking after which causes the striving and unhappiness of the world.

With the mind's light concentrated, in-stead of diffused over a variety of irrelevant and oft-times useless desires, the bright light focused and turned inward reveals the true Self, and gives the yogi a destined path of true living and a calm clear outlook on all things, and that much sought after adaptation to life.

Yoga asks for no pursuit of extremes, but a logically worked-out middle course, which, with application and a fervent desire for knowledge, it is possible for all men to tread, irrespective of race or creed.

Yoga carried out ac-cording to the rules, with sincere and sustained effort, brings physical and mental repose, with a renewed sense of optimism, efficiency, and self-control.

It calls for no ab¬negation of the things of life, as so many tend to believe, and looks upon the indulgences of smoking and drinking with a tolerant eye, considering that progress in Yoga automatically destroys the need of what after all are drugs occasioned by nervous instability.

Yoga is common sense applied by system to meet the bodily and mental ills of mankind, and as such earns the serious consideration of every intelligent individual.

PHYSICAL CULTURE, WITH EXERCISES

Before starting to practise any of the exercises given here there is one thing of great importance that must be re-membered by a student of the ancient yogic system of physical training, and that is that the correct attitude of mind must be brought to bear on this system if appre-ciable headway is to be made.

The student should have the utmost confidence in what he is doing, and should realize fully that he is an exponent of the world's finest culture for maintaining a healthy spine and abdominal area—for toning up the abdominal muscles, lumbars, and buttocks.

It is a culture that de¬mands poise and carriage, which are essential for healthy nerves, the mainspring of a harmoniously working body.

Sitting in chairs has relaxed the abdominal muscles, which demand attention if their strength and elasticity is to be regained.

Know this, that the exercises here given cater for every need of the body, and that systematically practised and made a habit, a great improvement in the constitution of the student will result, making for a renewed outlook on life generally, of optimism, confidence, and happiness.

These things will come if the student plays his part well.

Not more than three or four of the exercises should be practised at first, at any one time, but when proficiency is gained in all they may be practised in a series, systemati-cally.

The Inverted Posture, although given later in the book, may be taken first when the student has mastered them all.

Halāsana: The Plough Pose

The name of this pose is taken from its likeness to the Indian plough.
The student lies flat on his back.

The legs are extended, the toes pointing up, and the arms lying straight at the sides, hands palm downwards.

(The exercise is sectioned off with slight variations as to posture, having marked differences on the regions of pres¬sure.)

SECTION 1. The legs, kept straight, knees never being allowed to bend throughout active exercise, are raised from the hips 50 degrees from the ground, and held in that position for five seconds, influencing the contracting power of the abdominal muscles by reason of the lumbars being pressed against the floor.

SECTION 2. The legs are raised again until the angle to the ground is 60 degrees, and held for five seconds.

SECTION 3. The legs are raised now so that they point straight up in a vertical position. There is another short pause. It is important that the entire trunk should be pressed to the floor when raising the limbs.

SECTION 4. The legs are swung slowly over the head, only the hips and lower spine bending, until the toes easily touch the ground beyond the head.

The toes are kept as near as possible to the head, without effort, with the legs straight, the toes pressing firmly on the ground.

The hands and arms are still extended. Pressure will be felt now on the lower part of the spine.

In the next stage of this exercise the toes should reach farther and farther from the head, the strain coming on the upper part of the spine. This should only be done slowly, and with care, to avoid overstraining.

For the completion of this exercise the hands and arms dissociate themselves from the levering process which swings the legs over the head.

They are placed with locked or intertwined fingers against the back of the head, for¬cing pressure on the upper section of the spine near the neck.

As the hands go behind the head the toes, which have been gradually sliding away from the head, are drawn in again towards the head.

This movement of the toes is very slight, but the stu-dent will readily note the different areas of the spine af-fected by each position of the toes when in the Plough position.

At the close of the exercise the student reverses the posture steadily to regain the position he had prior to the commencement of the exercise.

The beginner should do this exercise three times, but a proficient student, after systematic practice, ten times.

As may readily be understood, this exercise done smoothly is of great benefit to the spine, and an elastic spine means a young body at any age, the lumbars also receive attention, the abdominal muscles are strengthened, and the neck in every way benefits.

The exercise is also conducive to a correct standing pos¬ture and to reducing the surplus weight of the body.

It may alternate with the Posterior-stretching Pose for increased beneficial results.

Pashimatāsana: Posterior-stretching Pose

The student sits on the floor, fully extending his legs in front of him. He then bends forward to catch hold of the right big toe with the right hand, and the left big toe with the left hand.

The student then pulls on the toes, stretch¬ing the muscles at the back of the legs.

Next, he bends farther forward, until the head rests on the knees, the hands still holding the toes, and, if pos-sible, the elbows resting on the ground outside the legs.

The exercise is similar to that common exercise of the West called ‘touching the toes', except that in that the student stands up and bends his trunk down for the hands to touch the toes.

There is, however, one vital thing that the two exercises have in common—the legs must be kept straight.

If a student is stiff in the knee-muscles, their elasticity being poor, he should do this exercise grasping the ankles, or even the legs below the knees if the muscles are very stiff.

The important thing is to keep the legs straight. Practice will bring the elasticity required for the complete posture.

It is sufficient to give three minutes to this exercise, which benefits the ham-string muscles behind the knees, the abdominal muscles, and the nerves of the pelvic region.

Sarvangāsana: Whole-body Pose

The aim of this exercise, which affects the thyroid gland, is to rejuvenate the whole body.

The thyroid is a gland in the neck discharging a secre-tion into the blood-stream materially influencing the nerve system and the human body generally.

If this gland holds up the secretion the body is thrown out of balance and various parts affected.

The student lies flat out on his back with his muscles relaxed and his arms at his sides.

The legs are then raised slowly, making an angle of 50 degrees with the ground. They are held there for three seconds, then raised another 50 degrees, held, and then raised again, until they are perpendicular with the floor.

The body is then raised, still keeping the legs straight, the weight being thrown on the arms.

When this exer¬cise is done well there is little weight on the arms and hands, the body balancing itself when the legs reach up¬ward.

The chest is against the chin, and to increase the pressure the arms are bent at the elbows and the hands push the back.

The neck lies flat on the ground.

When doing this with other exercises, never give more than five minutes to its practice in the early stages of training; with proficiency ten minutes may be allotted.

This exercise promotes general health by its healthy reaction on the thyroid gland, and in addition it benefits the sex glands of both sexes, countering sexual disorders. For women, it is a good exercise for a displaced uterus.

Sarvangāsana:  Whole-body Pose

It is also efficacious for those suffering from dyspepsia, con¬stipation, and hernia.

It may be described as an all-round exercise for improv¬ing metabolism (the balancing and harmonious process of cell-destruction and cell-building in the body) and for de¬veloping the disease-resisting power of the blood.

Bhujangāsana: The Cobra Pose

The semblance of a snake with its head raised ready to strike gives this particularly fine health-giving pose its name.

The student lies straight on the floor, face downwards.

The soles of his feet are turned up, and his elbows are bent, with the hands level with the chest and the palms downwards.

The exercise starts with the head being lifted and the neck stretched upward.

At this stage the chest is still kept as close to the ground as possible, with the trunk and out¬stretched legs motionless and the toes in contact with the floor. The legs are kept together throughout, and not splayed.

As the chest begins to rise from the floor the pressure of support is felt by the hands, but proficiency in this exer¬cise throws less weight on the hands and arms, and the tension is felt in the back muscles.

The gradual bending of the back, with the rest of the lower part of the body still, involves the raising of the vertebrae (the sectional pieces of the spine) one by one, and the contraction of the buttocks.

The student should feel the pressure on the spine work down section by section as he exerts it by raising the fore¬part of the body up and backwards.

At first the bend achieved will throw pressure on the thoracic section of the spine. As proficiency is gained the pressure is extended to the lumbar region.

An adept at the exercise can bend the back till pressure is experienced at the sacrum region at the base of the spine.

When the student feels the pressure there he can reckon on having achieved the maximum results from this exercise.

It must be remembered that all this time the legs have been outstretched and still.

The pressure should be withdrawn and the chest low-ered to the floor as at the beginning, just as slowly and steadily as it was exerted.

Allow the breath to flow evenly during this exercise, which should be performed from three to six times.

The Cobra Pose gives a blood flush to the spine, the sympathetic nerves and cells, and all the muscles of the back, and the spine gains that elasticity so essential to a vigorous and healthy body.

Intra-abdominal pressure is increased, the stomach muscles developed, and flatulence averted.

An important rule to be remembered is that if a person is not supple before taking this exercise, the whole pro-cess should be done slowly and cautiously, and some time allowed to elapse before it is done with the complete spine exercised.

The thoracic pressure should be got without harmful strain before proceeding further.

It is an exercise that should not be neglected, for, in addition to the benefits stated, its contraction of the but-tocks allows them to perform more adequately their func¬tion of keeping the body well poised.

Salabhāsana: Locust Pose

There is a certain kinship in the position of the student doing this exercise and that of the locust with its reared abdomen.

The student lies stretched out on his face with the soles of his feet pointing upwards and his hands clenched at the sides, knuckles touching the ground. The chin is also rested on the ground.

The legs are raised quickly from the ground and kept stiff, pressure being felt on the arms and the lower part of the trunk.

This exercise may be done about half a dozen times with safety, but a point to be remembered is not to hold the breath and the posture too long—not until it be¬comes really uncomfortable.

After finishing the posture and the breath retention, breathing will be rather rapid, and the posture should not be repeated until the acceleration of breathing has di-minished.

The Locust Pose is the only posture in the whole of Yoga which calls for such sudden effort in raising the limbs.

It is a pose which might be described as the reverse of the Cobra Pose, for whereas in the Cobra the lower ex-tremities were passive, in this posture the upper part of the trunk remains still.

It is obvious that this exercise, done smoothly, has a good effect on the pelvis and abdomen. The muscles of the back are developed and the general circulation in the lower limbs improved.

Dhanurāsana: The Bow

This position resembles a bow when it is bent.

The student lies face downwards on the floor and bends his legs at the knees so that the portion of the leg com¬posed of the calf and foot is doubled back over the but¬tocks, allowing the hands to grasp the ankles.

The student then forces the grasped legs back, with the result that the top portion of the trunk is pulled up.

The whole effect is a curve made by the trunk and thighs, and pressure is felt at the abdomen.

After maintaining this position for five seconds, release the backward pull of the legs so that you can rest against the floor, then release the ankles and return to the prone position.

The movements to attain the position should be brisk but smooth, and the breath allowed to flow as usual.

When starting the exercise a better curve is got by spreading the knees, but, as practice increases the supple-ness of the joints, the legs should be drawn in together.

This exercise is a fine corrective for central curvature of the spine, and cures the gassy condition of the stomach, while the abdominal wall and muscles are greatly streng¬thened.

Ardha-Matsyendrāsana: The Twist

The student sits with his legs out in front of him. The left leg is then bent at the knee and the foot brought into the crutch, the heel being on the perineum.

The right leg is so placed that the foot rests on the floor outside the thigh of the bent leg.

The left arm goes outside the upraised right knee (that is, not between it and the body) and grasps the toes of the right leg, which are squarely on the floor.

The right arm is placed across the back at the waistline, palm outwards.

The head should be turned to the side (in profile), twisting the neck away from the upraised knee.

It is a pose that can be followed best from the illustra-tion. The twist, it is seen, comes on the body away from the locked legs and arms, and to exercise the other side of the body the position of the legs and arms is reversed.

The chest is kept erect and the position, for beginners, maintained for a few seconds only.

A healthy body, and one of vigour, must entail a healthy elastic spine, and that spine must be exercised in different ways, of which this is one—giving the spine a side-twist.

The sympathetic nervous system is toned up, as are the muscles of the shoulders. The abdominal muscles get mas¬saged, and the exercise is very good for the kidneys, liver and spleen, and for constipation.

Supta-Vajrāsana: Pelvic Pose

The student kneels down, placing the feet with the soles uppermost, outside but close against the thighs.

The back is kept upright and the posterior is firmly entrenched be¬tween the feet, so that one is almost sitting on them.

The student, in easy stages, lies on his back without moving the legs. The hands at first act as support for the novice, resting on the ground behind.

The arms bend at the elbows, and the weight rests on the arms, and as the student bends back still farther the shoulders touch the floor.

The arms and hands act as cushions folded behind the head when proficiency is gained. Alternatively the arms may be extended full length, palms up.

The student first finds his trunk bending at the waist-line, but, with practice, he will make his back quite straight, as it is stretched back over the folded legs.

There should never be more than normal pressure on the back, arms, and above all, the ankle joints.

Retain the position about two minutes, and regain the normal position by reversing the process.

With this exercise the abdominal muscles are stretched, the pelvic region benefits, the stomach generally is stimu¬lated, and the thighs are strengthened.

It has also a very fine effect on those suffering from constipation.

Mayurāsana: The Peacock

The student kneels and brings his elbows together in front of his body between the knees, the hands being flat on the floor and pointing backwards towards the legs and feet, which extend behind.

The elbows are placed pressing into the stomach and, acting as a support and a fulcrum, or balancing-point, the body is raised and remains parallel to the floor, supported on the forearms.

The position is like the letter T, with a short vertical line (the arms) and a long cross-piece (the body).

The head is raised and made to counterbalance the legs.

The position demands a great deal of energy.
By this exercise the blood is concentrated and sent to the digestive organs, which also get toned up by the intra` abdominal pressure.

It has a good effect on the expelling action of the colon, and is very beneficial for obesity, piles, constipation. It also develops the chest.
The whole exercise is regenerative and stimulative.

Sirshāsana: Inverted Posture

The Inverted Posture is a posture in Hatha Yoga that will recall to many the physical feats of their childhood.

The student kneels on a thick mat, making sure the mat will not slide on the floor. A cushion should be used.

Kneeling forward, knees close to the body, he rests his elbows on the ground and brings his hands together, in-terlocking the fingers.

The back part of the head is then placed into the cup formed by the joined hands, and the trunk is raised up, the weight being on the elbows and the hands.

When the student gets his sense of balance the legs are unbent and extended.
The student should do this slowly, as a sudden effort to extend the legs is apt to upset the balance.

If it is possible, get a friend to help you by holding your legs and informing you whether they and the spine are in a straight line.

Get the friend to establish the balance for you, and try to hold it.

If you have no one to help you, kneel facing a wall, so that as your back and legs are raised the wall offers some support in case of losing equilibrium.

Rest your upraised feet against the wall, then push off from the wall and es-tablish your balance for about ten seconds.

Try, however, to do the exercise without aid, and if you can hold your balance longer, do so, but make ten minutes a maximum.

This exercise should not be practised by people with bad ears, weak hearts, blood-pressure, nasal catarrh, or severe constipation, and never after any violent exercise.

The precautions may be many, but the beneficial results are proportionately good.

There is a generous blood flushing from this exercise to the brain and every vital organ of the head, creating there¬by increased efficiency for daily living.

The glands around the heart also benefit, and the digestive powers are im¬proved.

The nervous system is also toned up, and alto¬gether there is a remarkable improvement in general health.

As a pose it is invaluable for mental workers, for it sends an increased supply of blood to improve the func-tioning of the brain, pineal body, and pituitary gland.

An advanced student may adopt the inverted posture with foot-lock.