Page:Hatha yoga - or the yogi philosophy of physical well-being, with numberous excercises.djvu/242

242 This transmutation of the reproductive energy gives great vitality to those practicing it. It fills them with great vital force, which will radiate from them and cause them to be known as "magnetic" personalities. The energy thus transmuted may be turned into new channels and used to great advantage. Nature has condensed one of its most powerful manifestations of prana into reproductive energy, as its purpose is to create. The greatest amount of vital force is concentrated into the smallest space. The reproductive organism is the most powerful storage battery in animal life, and its force may be drawn upward and used, as well as expended in the ordinary functions of reproduction, or wasted in riotous lust.

The Yogi exercise for transmuting reproductive energy is simple. It is coupled with rhythmic breathing and is easily performed. It may be practiced at any time, but is strongly recommended when one feels the instinct most strongly, at which time the reproductive energy is manifesting and may be easily transmuted for regenerative purposes. We give it in the next paragraph. The men or women doing mental creative work, or bodily creative work, will be able to use this creative energy in their vocations, by following the exercise, drawing up the energy with each inhalation and sending it forth with the exhalation. The student will understand, of course, that it is not the actual reproductive fluids that are drawn up and used, but the etheric pranic energy which animates the latter—the soul of the reproductive organism, as it were.