Page:Hatha yoga - or the yogi philosophy of physical well-being, with numberous excercises.djvu/230

230 people can do it after acquainting themselves with the facts regarding the action and functions of the lungs, is more than the thinking man can answer. Let us take a plain, common-sense, brief look at this subject.

You will remember that the lungs are constantly throwing off the waste matter of the system—the breath is being used as a scavenger of the body, carrying off the waste products, broken down and refuse matter from all parts of the system. The matter thrown off by the lungs is almost as foul as that thrown off by the skin, the kidneys and even the bowels—in fact, if the supply of water given the system is not sufficient, nature makes the lungs do much of the work of the kidneys, in getting rid of the foul poisonous waste products of the body. And if the bowels are not carrying off the normal amount of waste matter, much of the contents of the colon gradually works through the system, seeking an outlet, and is taken up by the lungs and thrown off in the exhaled breath. Just think of it—if you shut yourself up in a tightly closed room, you are pouring out into the atmosphere of that room over eight gallons an hour of carbonic acid gas, and other foul and poisonous gases. In eight hours you throw off sixty-four gallons. If there are two sleeping in the room, multiply the gallons by two. As the air becomes contaminated, you breathe this poisonous matter over and over again into your system, the quality of the air becoming worse with each exhaled breath. No wonder that anyone coming into your room in the morning notices the stench pervading it, if you have kept the windows