system 96

body slowly and resume tlie upright position with both legs straightened, at the same time inhaiing. Rirnain thus for a moment, commencing exhalation, then lean the trunk sideways over the straight left leg, bending tlie right knce, w bile finishing the exhalation. Again rise whilst inhaiing, stretching the right leg; pause in the upright position while commencing the exhalation, and for the second time bend over the right leg while completing it. Continue with intermittent pauses these swaying movements, making in all li trunk-bendings to the two sides altemately, during T2 complete respirations. Keep the face and breast to the front the whole time. It is a common fault to bend the trunk obliquely forward instead of sharply to the side. Remcmber, also, always to bend over the stretched leg; but the weight of the body should be thrown upon the bent leg, hcnce you should be able, in the correctly bent posturo, to lift the foot of the stretched leg an inch from the floor and keep it there without losing the balance (see Fig. 74).

Thk Rubbing

On bending to the left you place both palms firmly on the outer side of the left leg as far down as you can reach without bending forward (Fig- 75)- Then while resumiug the upright position, slide the palms upwards over the thigh, hip and half-way up the side of the trunk (Fig.

76) . Here the left hand should be kept vcrtical under the right, which has bcen turned horizontal: the two forming the letter Now press hard across the abdomen with the hands still in the " T ” position, the right " pulling " above the navel, the left " pushing " below it (Fig.

77) . Having stroked right across the front (Fig. 78), the hands are taken off and then slapped down on the outer side of the right leg whilst bending the trunk to the right side and bending the left knee (Fig. 79), whereupon the whole moeemeut is continued in the same way as des-cribed above, only with substitution of the word " right ” for " left,” and vice versa. Óf course, the left hand is now uppermost (Fig. 80), and the stroking of the abdomen is now performed in the opposite direc-tion. Beginners are prone to cross their hands when bringing them up from one of the legs, which, of course, is wrong : the hand which is undermost upon the leg should rernain undermost also when moved across the abdomen.

Persons suffering from digestive troubles ought to relax or soften the abdominal muscles, so that the massage becomes as deep inwardly as possible. The same concems persons with weak and distended abdominal wali. On the otlier hand, those with layers of fat on top of strong abdominal muscles should contract these (without holding the breath!) so that the superfluous fat gets squeezcd between the palms and the hard muscles, and so loosens. In persons with a big " tummy,” the abdomen ordinarily feels soft to the touch, both standing, sitting and lying. To ascertain whether the casc is one of ” distension " or just excessiv-e fat, one lies fiat on the back and lifts both straightened legs a few inches off the floor. Then feeling the stornach with the fingers, this part appears hard and swelling like a well-pumped football, or else you will find a fiat muscular wali covered with soft fat. A distended thin abdominal wali will, of course. be strengthened and thickened by its possessor doing my exercises correctly ; and will ultimately cease to give way to the pressure from the heavy bouels and liquid inside, and so