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Excerpts from Hatha Yoga, by Yogi Ramacharaka
This book was published in 1904. You can find it on the web as a free PDF download, and on KIndle, both by itself and in several William Walker Atkinson collections, including The Ultimate William Walker Atkinson Collection, and William Walker Atkinson Ultimate Collection.
from chapter five
The first bit of the human machinery of digestion to be considered by us are the teeth. Nature has provided us with teeth to bite our food and grind it into fine bits, thus rendering it of a convenient size and consistency to be easily acted upon by the saliva and the digestive juices of the stomach, after which it is reduced to a liquid form that its nourishing qualities may be easily assimilated and absorbed by the body. This seems to be merely a repetition of an oft-told tale, hut how many of our readers really act as if they knew for what purpose their teeth had been given them? They bolt their food just as if teeth were merely for show and generally act as if Nature had provided them with a gizzard, by the aid of which they could like the fowl grind up and break into small bits the food that they had bolted. Remember friends that your teeth were given you for a purpose, and also consider the fact that if Nature had intended you to bolt your food she would have provided you with a gizzard instead of with teeth. We will have much to say about the proper use of the teeth, as we go along, as it has a very close connection with a vital principle of Hatha Yoga, as you will see after a while.
The next organs to be considered are the Salivary Glands. These glands are six in number, of which four are located under the tongue and jaw, and two in the cheeks in the front of the ears, one on each side. Their best known function is to manufacture, generate or secrete saliva, which, when needed, flows out through numerous ducts in different parts of the mouth, and mixes with the food which is being chewed or masticated. The food being chewed into small particles, the saliva is able to more thoroughly reach all portions of it with a correspondingly increased effect. The saliva moistens the food, thus allowing it to he more easily swallowed, this function, however, being a mere incident to its more important ones. Its best known function (and the one which Western science teaches is its most important one) is its chemical offices, which convert the starchy food matter into sugar, thus performing the first step in the process of digestion.
Here is another oft-told tale. You all know about the saliva, but how many of you eat in a manner which allows Nature to put the saliva to work as she had designed? You bolt your food after a few perfunctory chews and defeat Nature's plans, toward which she has gone to so much trouble, and to perform which she has built such beautiful and delicate machinery. But Nature manages to "get back" at you for your contempt and disregard of her plans -- Nature has a good memory and always makes you pay your debts.
We must not forget to mention the tongue -- that faithful friend who is so often made to perform the ignoble task of assisting in the utterance of angry words, retailing of gossip, lying, nagging, swearing, and last but not least, complaining.
The tongue has a most important work to perform in the process of nourishing the body with food. Besides a number of mechanical movements which it performs in eating, in which it helps to move the food along and its similar service in the act of swallowing, it is the organ of taste and passes critical judgment upon the food which asks admittance to the stomach.
You have neglected the normal uses of the teeth, the salivary glands and the tongue, and they have consequently failed to give you the best service. If you but trust them and return to sane and normal methods of eating you will find them gladly and cheerfully responding to your trust and will once more give you their full share of service. They are good friends and servants, hut need a little confidence, trust and responsibility to bring out their best points.
After the food has been chewed or masticated and then saturated with saliva it passes down the throat into the stomach. The lower part of the throat, which is called the gullet, performs a peculiar muscular contraction, which pushes downward the particles of food, which act forms a part of the process of “swallowing.” The process of converting the starchy portion of the food into sugar, or glucose which is begun by the saliva in the mouth, is continued as the food passes into and down the gullet, but nearly, or entirely ceases, when the food once reaches the stomach, which fact must be considered when one studies the subject of the advantage of a deliberate habit of eating, as, if the food is hastily chewed and swallowed, it reaches the stomach only partially affected by the saliva and in an imperfect condition for Nature's subsequent work.
The stomach itself is a pear-shaped bag with a capacity of about one quart or more in some cases. The food enters the stomach from the gullet on the upper left-hand side, just below the heart. The food afterwards leaves the stomach on the lower right-hand and enters the small intestine by means of a peculiar sort of valve, which is so wonderfully constructed that it allows the matter from the stomach to pass easily through it, but refuses to allow anything to work back from the intestine into the stomach. This valve is known as the “Pyloric Valve” or the “Pyloric Orifice,” the word
“Pyloric” being derived from the Greek word which means “gatekeeper” -- and indeed this little valve acts as a most intelligent gatekeeper, always on the watch, never asleep.
The stomach is a great chemical laboratory in which the food undergoes chemical changes which allow it to he taken up by the system and changed into a nourishing material which is converted into rich, red blood which courses all over the body, building up, repairing, strengthening and adding to all the parts and organs.
The “inside” of the stomach is covered with a lining of delicate mucous membrane, which is filled with minute glands, all of which open into the stomach and around which is a very fine network of minute blood-vessels with remarkably thin walls, from which is manufactured, or secreted, that wonderful fluid, the gastric juice. The gastric juice is a powerful liquid acting as a solvent upon what is called the nitrogenous portions of the food. It also acts upon the sugar or glucose which has been manufactured from the starchy food by the saliva, as above described. It is a bitter sort of liquid, containing a chemical product called pepsin, which is its active agent and which plays a most important part in the digestion of the food.
In a normal, healthy person the stomach manufactures or secretes about one gallon of gastric juice in twenty-four hours, and uses same in the process of digestion of the food. When the food reaches the stomach the little glands, before mentioned, pour out a sufficient supply of the gastric juice, which mixes up with the mass of food in the stomach. Then the stomach sets up sort of a churning motion, which moves the pulpy food round and round, from end to end, from side to side, twisting and turning it, churning and kneading it, until the gastric juice penetrates every part of the mass and is well mixed up into it. The Instinctive Mind does some wonderful work in the stomach movements and works like a well oiled machine.
And if the stomach has been treated to properly prepared, well chewed food, properly insalivated, the machine is able to turn out a fine job. But if, as so often happens, the food is of a quality not fit for the human stomach -- or if it has been but half chewed, or bolted -- or if the stomach has been “stuffed” by a gluttonous owner -- there is going to be trouble. In such a case, instead of the normal process of digestion being performed, the stomach is unable to do its work and fermentation results, and the stomach becomes the holder of a fermenting, putrefying, rotting mass -- an "yeast pot" it has been called under such circumstances. If people could but form an idea of what a cesspool they maintain in their stomachs they would cease to shrug their shoulders and look bored whenever the subject of rational and sane habits of eating are mentioned.
This putrefying ferment, arising from abnormal habits of eating, often becomes chronic and results in a condition which manifests itself in the symptoms of what is called “dyspepsia,” or similar troubles. It remains in the stomach for a long time after the meal, and then when the next meal reaches the stomach the fermentation continues until the stomach actually becomes a perpetually active “yeast pot.” This condition, of course, results in an impairment of the normal functioning of the stomach, the surface of which becomes slimy, soft, thin and weak. The glands become clogged and the whole digestive apparatus of the stomach becomes impaired and broken down. In such event the half digested food passes out into the small intenstine, tainted with the acids arising from fermentation, and the result is that the whole system becomes gradually poisoned and imperfectly nourished.
The food-mass, saturated with the gastric juice which has been poured upon it and kneaded and churned into it, leaves the stomach by the Pyloric orifice on the lower right-hand side of the stomach and enters the small intestine.
The small intestine is a tube-like canal ingeniously coiled upon itself so as to occupy but a comparatively small space, but which is really from twenty to thirty feet in length. Its inner walls are lined with a velvety substance, and through the greater part of its length this velvety lining is arranged in transverse shelf-like folds, which maintain a sort of “winking” motion, swaying backward and forward in the intestinal fluids, retarding the passage of the food and providing an increased surface for secretion and absorption. The velvety condition of this mucous lining is caused by numerous minute elevations, something like the surface of a piece of plush, which are known as the intestinal “villi,” the office of which will be explained a little further on.
“hairs”
As soon as the food-mass enters the small intestine it is met with a peculiar fluid called the bile, which saturates it and is thoroughly mixed up with it. The bile is a secretion of the liver and is stored up ready for use in a strong bag, known as the gall bladder. About two quarts of bile per day is used in saturating the food as it passes into the small intestine. Its purpose is to assist the pancreatic juice in preparing the fatty parts of the food for absorption and also to aid in the prevention of decomposition and putrefaction of the food as it passes through the small intestine and the neutralization of the gastric juice which has already performed its work. The pancreatic juice is secreted by the pancreas, an elongated organ situated just behind the stomach, and its purpose is to act upon the fatty portions of the food and to render them possible of absorption from the intestines along with the other parts of the food nourishment. About one and one-half pints is used daily in this work.
The hundreds of thousands of plush-like “hairs” upon the velvety lining of the small intestine (above alluded to), and which are known as “villi,” maintain a constant waving motion, passing through and in the soft, semi-liquid food which is passing through the small intestine. They are constantly in motion, licking up and absorbing the nourishment that is contained in the food-mass and transmitting it to the system.
The several steps whereby the food is converted into blood and is carried to all parts of the system are as follows: Mastication, insalivation, deglutition, stomach and intestinal digestion, absorption, circulation and assimilation. Let us run over them again hastily that we may not forget them.
Mastication is performed by the teeth -- it is the chewing process -- the lips, tongue and cheeks assisting in the work. It breaks up the food into small particles and enables the saliva to reach it more thoroughly.
Insalivation is the process of saturating the masticated food with the saliva which pours into it from the salivary glands. The saliva acts upon the cooked starch in the food, changing it into dextrine and then into glucose, thus rendering it soluable. This chemical change is rendered possible by the action of the pytaline in the saliva acting as a ferment and changing the chemical constitution of those substances for which it has an affinity.
Digestion is performed in the stomach and small intestines and consists in the conversion of the food-mass into products capable of being absorbed and assimilated. Digestion begins when the food reaches the stomach. The gastric juice then pours out copiously, and, becoming mixed up with and churned into the food mass, it dissolves the connective tissue of meat, releases fat from its envelopes by breaking them up and transforms some of the albuminous material, such as lean meat, the gluten of wheat and white of eggs, into albuminose, in which form they are capable of being absorbed and assimilated. The transformation occasioned by stomach digestion is accomplished by the chemical action of an organic ingredient of the gastric juice, called pepsin, in connection with the acid ingredients of the gastric juice.
While the process of digestion is being performed by the stomach the fluid portion of the food-mass, both that which has entered the stomach as fluids which have been drunken, as well as the fluids liberated from the solid food in the process of digestion, is rapidly taken up by the absorbents of the stomach and is carried to the blood, while the more solid portions of the food-mass are churned up by the muscular action of the stomach, as we have stated. In about a half-hour the solid portions of the food-mass begin slowly to leave the stomach in the form of a grayish, pasty substance, called chyme, which is a mixture of some of the sugar and salts of the food, of transformed starch or glucose, of softened starch, of broken fat and connective tissue, and of albuminose.
The Chyme, leaving the stromach, enters the small intestine, as we have described and comes in contact with the pancreatic and intestinal juices and with the bile, and intestinal digestion ensues. These fluids dissolve most of the food that has not already been softened. Intestinal digestion resolves the chyme into three substances, known as (i) Peptone, from the digestion of albuminous particles; (2) Chyle, from the emulsion of the fats; (3) Glucose, from the transformation of the starchy elements of the food. These substances are, to a large extent, carried into the blood and become a part of it, while the undigested food passes out of the small intestine through a trap-door-like valve into the large bowel called the colon. of which we shall speak bye-and-bye.
Absorption, by which name is known the process by which the above-named products of the food, resulting from the digestive process, are taken up by the veins and lacteals, is effected by endosmosis. The water and the fluids liberated from the food-mass by the stomach digestion are rapidly absorbed and carried away by the blood in the portal vein to the liver. The peptone and glucose
from the small intestine also reaches the portal vein to the liver through the blood vessels of the intestinal villi, which we have described. This blood reaches the heart after passing through the liver, where it undergoes a process which we will speak of when we reach the subject of the liver. The chyle, which is the remaining product of the food-mass in the intestines after the peptone and glucose have been taken up and carried to the liver, is taken up and passes through the lacteals into the thoracic duct, and is gradually conveyed to the blood, as will be further described in our chapter on the Circulation. In our chapter on the circulation we will explain how the blood carries the nutriment derived from the digested food to all parts of the body, giving to each tissue, cell, organ and part the material by which it builds up and repairs itself, thus enabling the body to grow and develop.
The liver secretes the bile, which is carried to the small intestine, as we have stated. It also stores up a substance called glycogen, which is formed in the liver from the digested materials brought to it by the portal vein (as above explained). Glycogen is stored up in the liver, and is afterwards gradually transformed, in the intervals of digestion, into glucose or a substance similar to grape sugar. The pancreas secretes the pancreatic juices, which it pours into the small intestine, to aid in intestinal digestion, where it acts chiefly upon the fatty portions of the food. The kidneys are located in the loins, behind the intestines. They are two in number and are shaped like beans. They purify the blood by removing from it a poisonous substance called urea and other waste products. The fluid secreted by the kidneys is carried by two tubes, called ureters, to the bladder. The bladder is located in the pelvis and serves as a reservoir for the urine, which consists of waste fluids carrying with it refuse matter of the system.
Before leaving this part of the subject we wish to call the attention of our readers to the fact that when the food enters the stomach and small intestines improperly masticated and insalivated -- when the teeth and salivary glands have not been given a chance to do their work properly -- digestion is interfered with and impeded and the digestive organs are overworked and are rendered unable to accomplish what is asked of them. It is like asking one set of workmen to do their own work in addition to the work which should have been previously performed by another set of men -- it is asking the railroad engineer to perform the duties of firemen as well as his own -- to keep the fire going on an up grade and run the locomotive on a dangerous bit of road at the same time. The absorbents of the stomach and intestines must absorb something -- that is their business -- and if you do not give them the proper materials they will absorb the fermenting and putrefying mass in the stomach and pass it along to the blood. The blood carries this poor material to all parts of the body, including the brain, and it is no wonder that people complain of biliousness, headache, etc., when they are being self-poisoned in this way.
from chapter 10
Nature’s shrewdness in combining several duties into one, and also in rendering necessary duties pleasant (and thereby likely to be performed) is illustrated in numberless ways. One of the most striking examples of this kind will be brought out in this chapter. We will see how she manages to accomplish several things at the same time, and how she also renders pleasant several most necessary offices of the physical system.
Let us start with the statement of the Yogi theory of the absorption of Prana from food. This theory holds that there is contained in the food of man and the lower animals, a certain form of Prana which is absolutely necessary for man's maintenance of strength and energy, and that such form of Prana is absorbed from the food by the nerves of the tongue, mouth and teeth. The act of mastication liberates this Prana, by separating the particles of the food into minute bits, thus exposing as many atoms of Prana to the tongue, mouth and teeth as possible. Each atom of food contains numerous electrons of food-prana, or food energy, which electrons are liberated by the breaking-up process of mastication, and the chemical action of certain subtle chemical constituents of the saliva, the presence of which have not been suspected by modern scientists, and which are not discernible by the tests of modern chemistry, although future investigators will scientifically prove their existence. [Hatha Yoga was first published in 1904] Once liberated from the food, this food-prana flies to the nerves of the tongue, mouth and teeth, passing through the flesh and bone readily, and is rapidly conveyed to numerous storage-houses of the nervous system, from whence it is conveyed to all parts of the body, where it is used to furnish energy and “vitality” to the cells. This is a bare statement of the theory, the details of which we will endeavor to fill in as we proceed.
The student will probably wonder why it is necessary to extract this food-prana, as the air is heavily charged with Prana, and it may seem like a waste of effort on the part of Nature to use so much energy in order to extract the Prana from the food. But here is the explanation. Just as all electricity is electricity, so is all Prana simply Prana -- but just as there are several forms of the electric current, manifesting widely different effects upon the human body, so are there several manifestations or forms of Prana, each of which performs certain work in the physical body, and all of which are needed for the different kinds of work. The Prana of the air fulfills certain offices; that of the water others, and that derived from the food still a third set of duties. To go into the minute detail of the Yogi theory would be foreign to the purposes of this work, and we must rest content with the general statements here given. The main subject before us is the fact that the food contains food-prana, which the human body needs, and which it can extract only in the manner above stated, i. e., by mastication of the food, and the absorption of the prana by the nervous system by means of the nerves of the tongue, mouth and teeth.
Now, let us consider Nature's plan in combining two important offices in the act of masticating and insalivating. In the first place, nature intended every particle of food to be thoroughly masticated and insalivated before it was swallowed, and any neglect in this respect is sure to be followed by imperfect digestion. Thorough mastication is a natural habit of man which has been neglected owing to the demands of artificial habits of living which have grown up around our civilization. Mastication is necessary to break up the food that it may be more easily swallowed, and also that it may be mixed with the saliva and the digestive juices of the stomach and small intestines. It promotes the flow of saliva, which is a most necessary part of the process of digestion. Insalivation of food is part of the digestive process, and certain work is done by the saliva which cannot be performed by the other digestive juices.
Physiologists teach most positively that thorough mastication and proper insalivation of the food are prerequisites of normal digestion, and form a most nenessary part of the proces. Certain specialists have gone much further and have given to the process of mastication and insalivation much more importance than have the general run of physiologists. One particular authority, Mr. Horace Fletcher, an American writer, has written most forcibly upon this subject, and has given startling proofs of the importance of this function and process of the physical body; in fact, Mr. Fletcher advises a
particular form of mastication which corresponds very closely to the Yogi custom, although he advises it because of its wonderful effect upon the digestion, whereas the Yogis practice a similar system upon the theory of the absorption of food-prana. The truth is that both results are accomplished, it being a part of Nature's strategy that the grinding of the food into small bits; the digestive process attending the insalivation, and the absorption of food-prana, are accomplished at the same time -- an economy of force most remarkable.
In the natural state of man, mastication was a most pleasant process, and so it is in the case of the lower animals, and the children of the human race today. The animal chews and munches his food with the greatest relish, and the child sucks, chews and holds in the mouth the food much longer than does the adult, until it begins to take lessons from its parents and acquires the custom of bolting its food. Mr. Fletcher, in his books on the subject, takes the position that it is taste which affords the pleasure of this chewing and sucking process. The Yogi theory is that while taste has much to do with it, still there is a something else, an indescribable sense of satisfaction obtained from holding the food in the mouth, rolling it around with the tongue, masticating it and allowing it to dissolve slowly and be swallowed almost unconsciously. Fletcher holds that while there remains a particle of taste in the food, nourishment is there to be extracted, and we believe this to be strictly correct. But we hold that there is that other sensation which, when we allow it to manifest itself, gives us a certain satisfaction in the non-swallowing, and which sensation continues until all, or nearly all, the food-prana is extracted from the food. You will notice if you follow the Yogi plan of eating (even partially) that you will be loth to part with the food, and that, instead of bolting it at once, you will allow it to gradually melt away in the mouth until suddenly you realize that it is all gone. And this sensation is experienced from the plainest kinds of food, which do not appeal particularly to the taste, as well as to those foods which are special favorites of your particular taste.
To describe this sensation is almost impossible, for we have no English words coined for it, as its existence has not been fully recognized by the Western races. The best we can do is to compare it by other sensations at the risk of being accused of presenting a ridiculous comparison or illustration. Here is what we mean: You know the sensation which one sometimes feels when in the presence of a highly “magnetic” person -- that indescribable feeling of the absorption of strength or “vitality.” Some people have so much Prana in their system that they are continually “running over” and giving it out to others, the result being that other persons like to be in their company, and dislike to leave it, being almost unable to tear themselves away. This is one instance. Another is the sensation which one obtains from being close to another whom one loves. In this case there is an interchange of “magnetism” (thought charged with Prana), which is quite exhilarating. A kiss from the loved one is so filled with “magnetism” that it thrills one from head to toe. This gives an imperfect illustration of what we are trying to describe. The pleasure that one obtains from proper and normal eating, is not alone a matter of taste, but is largely derived from that peculiar sensation of the absorption of “magnetism” or Prana, which is very much akin to the examples above mentioned, although, until one realizes the similar character of the two manifestations of energy, the illustration may evoke a smile, or possibly ridicule.
When one has overcome the false Appetite (so often mistaken for Hunger) he will masticate a dry crust of whole-wheat bread and not only obtain a certain satisfaction of taste from the nourishment contained within it, but will enjoy the sensation of which we have spoken very keenly. It takes a little practice in order to get rid of the false appetite habit and to return to nature's plans. The most nourishing of foods will yield the most satisfaction to the normal taste, and it is a fact to be remembered that food-prana is contained in food in direct proportion to its percentage of nourishment -- another instance of Nature’s wisdom.
The Yogi eats his food slowly, masticating each mouthful so long as he “feels like it;” that is, so long as it yields him any satisfaction. In the majority of cases this sensation lasts so long as there remains any food in the mouth, as Nature's involuntary processes gradually causes the food to be slowly dissolved and swallowed. The Yogi moves his jaws slowly, and allows the tongue to caress the food, and the teeth to sink into it lovingly, knowing that he is extracting the food-prana from it, by means of the nerves of the mouth, tongue and teeth, and that he is being stimulated and strengthened, and that he is replenishing his reservoir of energy. At the same time he is conscious that he is preparing his food in the proper way for the digestive processes of the stomach and small intestines, and is
giving his body good material needed for the building up of the physical body.
Those who follow the Yogi plan of eating will obtain a far greater amount of nourishment from their food than do the ordinary persons, for every ounce is forced to yield up the maximum nourishment, while in the case of the man who bolts his food half-masticated and insufficiently insalivated, much goes to waste, and is passed from the system in the shape of a decaying, fermenting mass. Under the Yogi plan nothing is passed from the system as waste except the real waste matter, every particle of nourishment being extracted from the food, and the greater portion of the food prana being absorbed from its atoms. The mastication breaks up the food into small particles, allowing the fluids of the saliva to interpenetrate it, the digestive juices of the saliva performing their necessary work, and the other juices (mentioned above) acting upon the atoms of food in such a way as to liberate the food-prana, thus allowing it to be taken up by the nervous system. The motion imparted to the food by the action of the jaws, tongue and cheeks in the act of mastication, causes it to present new atoms to the nerves ready to extract the food-prana. The Yogis hold the food in the mouth, masticating it slowly and thoroughly, and allowing it to be slowly swallowed by the involuntary process above alluded to, and they experience to the full the enjoyment attendant upon the extraction of Prana. You may get an idea of this by taking into the mouth some particle of food (when you have plenty of time for the experiment), and then slowly masticating it, allowing it to gradually melt away in the mouth, as you would a lump of sugar. You will be surprised to find how thoroughly this work of involuntary swallowing is performed -- the food gradually yields up its food-prana and then melts slowly away and reaches the stomach. Take a crust of bread, for example, and masticate it thoroughly, with the idea of seeing how long it will last without being “swallowed.” You will find that it will never be “swallowed” in the usual way, but will gradually disappear in the manner we have just mentioned, after being reduced to a pasty, creamy mass by degrees. And that little mouthful of bread will have yielded you about twice as much nourishment as a piece of equal size, eaten in the ordinary way, and about three times the amount of food-prana.
Another interesting example is hid in the case of milk. Milk is a fluid and, of course, needs no “breaking-up,” as does solid food. Yet the fact remains (and is well established by careful experiments) that a quart of milk simply allowed to flow down the throat yields not over half the nourishment or food-prana that is derived from the same quantity of milk sipped slowly, and allowed to remain in the mouth a moment until it “melts away,” the tongue being moved through it. The babe drawing the milk from the nipple of either the breast or the bottle, of course, does so by a sucking motion, which moves the tongue and cheeks, and produces a flow of fluid from the glands, which liberates the food-prana and has also a chemical digestive effect upon the milk itself, notwithstanding the fact that true saliva is not secreted in the young babe, and does not appear until the teeth show themselves.
We advise our students to experiment with themselves along the lines just pointed out. Choose an opportunity when you have plenty of time, then, masticating slowly, allow the food to gradually melt away, instead of making a deliberate attempt to swallow. This “melting-away” of the food can only be possible when the food is masticated into a cream-like paste, thoroughly saturated with saliva, and the particles thereby converted into a semi-digested state, and having had the food-prana extracted therefrom. Try eating an apple in this way, and you will be surprised at the feeling of having eaten a fair-sized meal, and at the sensation of increased strength which has come to you.
We understand fully that it is quite a different thing for the Yogi to take his time and eat in this way, and for the hurried Western man of business to do the same, and we do not expect all of our readers to change the habit of years all at once. But we feel sure that a little practice in this method of eating food will cause quite a change to come over one, and we know that such occasional practice will soon result in quite an improvement in the every-day method of masticating the food. We know, also, that the student will find a new delight -- an additional relish in eating -- and will soon learn to eat “lovingly,” that is; to feel loath to let the mouthful of food pass away. A new world of taste is opened up to the man who learns to follow this plan, and he will get far more pleasure from eating than ever before, and will have, besides, a much better digestion, and much more vitality, for he will obtain a greater degree of nourishment, and an increased amount of food-prana.
It is possible for one who has the time and opportunity to follow this plan to its extreme limit, to obtain an almost unbelievable amount of nourishment and strength from a comparatively small amount of food, as there will be practically no waste, as may be proven by an observation of the waste matter which is passed from the system. Those suffering from malnutrition and impaired vitality will find it profitable to at least partially follow this plan.
The Yogis are known as small eaters, and yet they understand fully the necessity and value of perfect nutrition, and always keep the body well nourished and provided with building material. The secret, as you will readily see, is that they waste practically none of the nourishment in the food, as they extract practically all that it contains. They do not burden their system with waste material, which clogs up the machinery and causes a waste of energy in order that it may be thrown off. They obtain a maximum of nourishment from a minimum of food -- a full supply of food-prana from a small amount of material.
While you may not be able to follow this matter up to the extreme, you may work a great improvement in yourself by following the methods above given. We merely give you the general principles -- work the rest out for yourself -- experiment for yourself -- that is the only way to learn anything, anyway.
We have stated several times in this book, that the mental attitude aids materially in the process of absorbing Prana. This is true not only of the Prana absorbed from the air, but also of the food-prana. Hold the thought that you are absorbing all the Prana contained in a mouthful of food, combining that thought with that of “Nourishment,” and you will be able to do much more than you can without so doing.
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