63263 system 108

108

Then, keeping thc head still, facing mirror—and this is important— twist the trunk to the left, simultaneously sliding the right liand to the stornach, the left to the middle of the back, and then twist completely round to the right, sliding the left liand to the stornach (a little farther than shown in Fig. 101), and the right liand to middle of back. Do this slowly a few times, keeping the head still, remember. Now do it to the proper deep breathing. Begin by twisting left. right to inhalation, and the same to exlialation. That is, two in and two out. Then have a go at two twists inlialing and four cxhaling; and after a wcek or two try four in and six out, that is, ten twists to a breath. That should be enough in the preliminary stage. You cun also try this preliminary moeement, standing, with fcet very wide apart. toes in, knees braced back, as shown in Kigs. 102 to 104. Kace a mirror as usual, and slide the hands round the waist in the relatiee "hips-firm" position. The object to aim at is to bring altemate shoulders under the ehin and yet to keep head and hips facing the front. Do four fuli respirations a day.

Tul Rubbino

Stand, as shown in F'ig. 103, facing a mirror (if bandy), fcet very wide apart, toes m, knees straight, and place the palms on thc abdomen— one above the navel, thc other below it.

Ultimately this exercise, like Nos. 16 and 18, is done at a vory fast pace ; but start slowly, like you probably did in the preliminary movement. Therefore, whilst inhaling deeply, twist left and massage from abdomen to left side of trunk horizontally (Kig. 102), then twist to the right, and rub across abdomen to right side (Kig. 104). Exhaling fully, do four twists with the same massage from side to side. Repeat, with special attention being paid to keeping head still to front, toes turned in, knees kept straight, The hips musi not inove. If they move a lot it mcans you are not supple enough—and—back on the chair you must go ! The morę the toes are turned inwards, the less likely you are of moving the hips, becauso of the inward twist given to both legs, Omitting to keep the head still leads to dizziness.

Having got used to six moeements per breath. you ean go on to ten : four inhaling, six exhaling. Stick to ten for a fortnight, tlien try six inhaling and eight exhaling. After that. it is a qucstion of moeing as fast as you cau and breathing as deeply as possible. Kight inhaling and twelec exhaling—twenty per breath—is not impossible. My son, with his ten inches chest expansion, finds it possible. He is now 37 years old.

An inward pressure must be kept up by the hands all the time, as ccntrifugal force tends to movc them away from the stornach when the specd is increased.

Kat men can massage over tliree different paths across the abdomen. And uso them in successiee strokes. The middle path, with one palm above, the other below the navel. The lower path, with both palms below the naeel ; and the tipper, with both palms above it. This means a sort of ascending and descending zig-zag course. The morę a "tummy" is worried, the quickcr it will vanish.

Women should not perform this exercise. Tliey have their own No. 17 in My System for Ladies. But one part of their exercise is the abdominal indrawing of Exercise No. 11, described in this book on page 93.