Page:Hatha yoga - or the yogi philosophy of physical well-being, with numberous excercises.djvu/81

Rh would remain in the body, poisoning it and bringing disease and death as a consequence. The repair work of the body is continually going on, the used-up and worn-out tissue being carried off and replaced by fresh, new material from the blood, which has absorbed it from the nutrition in the food. This waste must be cast out of the body, and Nature is quite particular that it shall be gotten rid of—she does not favor the storing up of garbage in the system. If this waste matter is allowed to remain in the system it becomes a poison and breeds diseased conditions—it serves as a breeding place and a feeding ground for germs, microbes, spores and bacteria, and all the rest of that family. Germs do not bother the clean and healthy system to any great extent, but let them come around one of these water-haters, and it finds his or her body full of uncast-off refuse and filth, and they settle down to business. We will have something more to say along this line when we come to the subject of Bathing.

Water plays a most important part in the everyday life of the Hatha Yoga. He uses it internally and externally. He uses it to keep healthy, and he teaches its value to bring about healthy conditions, where disease has impaired the natural functioning of the body. We will touch upon the use of water in several parts of this book. We wish to impress upon our students the importance of the subject, begging them not to pass it by as unimportant because it is so simple. Seven out of ten of our readers need this advice. Do not pass it by. .

Both perspiration and sweat are necessary, also,