Page:Hatha yoga - or the yogi philosophy of physical well-being, with numberous excercises.djvu/182

182 manifest. They haven't themselves well in hand mentally, and the result is physical prodigality.

In the Orient, where the Yogi gurus, or teachers, have classes of chelas, or students, who receive their instruction not from books, but from the words of the teacher, many object lessons from nature and illustrations are given in order that the idea may be associated in the mind of the student, with some material object or living thing. The Hatha Yoga gurus, when teaching the lesson of Relaxation, often direct their student's attention to the cat, or animals of the cat-tribe, the panther or leopard being a favorite illustration in lands where these animals are found.

Did you ever notice a cat in repose, resting? And have you ever watched a cat crouching before a mouse-hole? In the latter case do you recall how the cat crouched in an easy, graceful attitude—no muscular contraction, no tense attitude; a beautiful picture of intense vitality in repose, but ready for instant action. Still and motionless remains the animal; to all appearances it might be asleep or dead. But wait till it moves! Then like a flash of lightning it darts forward. The repose of the waiting cat, although absolutely devoid of movement or tense muscles, is a very live repose—a very different thing from "laziness." And note the entire absence of quivering muscles; of nerves "on edge"; of beaded perspiration. The machinery of action is not strained with waiting. There is no waste motion or tension; all is in readiness, and when the moment of action comes the prana is hurled into fresh muscles and untired nerves and the action