Page:Hatha yoga - or the yogi philosophy of physical well-being, with numberous excercises.djvu/70

70 tongue and cheeks, and produces a flow of fluid from the glands, which liberates the food-prana and has also a chemical digestive effect upon the milk itself, notwithstanding the fact that true saliva is not secreted in the young babe, and does not appear until the teeth show themselves.

We advise our students to experiment with themselves along the lines just pointed out. Choose an opportunity when you have plenty of time, then, masticating slowly, allow the food to gradually melt away, instead of making a deliberate attempt to swallow. This "melting-away" of the food can only be possible when the food is masticated into a cream-like paste, thoroughly saturated with saliva, and the particles thereby converted into a semi-digested state, and having had the food-prana extracted therefrom. Try eating an apple in this way, and you will be surprised at the feeling of having eaten a fair-sized meal, and at the sensation of increased strength which has come to you.

We understand fully that it is quite a different thing for the Yogi to take his time and eat in this way, and for the hurried Western man of business to do the same, and we do not expect all of our readers to change the habit of years all at once. But we feel sure that a little practice in this method of eating food will cause quite a change to come over one, and we know that such occasional practice will soon result in quite an improvement in the every-day method of masticating the food. We know, also, that the student will find a new delight—an additional relish in eating—and will soon learn to eat "lovingly," that is, to feel loath to let the mouthful of