Page:Hatha yoga - or the yogi philosophy of physical well-being, with numberous excercises.djvu/83

Rh carrier. It flows through the arteries and veins, and conveys the blood corpuscles and elements of nutrition to the various parts of the body, that they may be used in the building up process, which we have described. Without fluids in the system, the quantity of blood must decrease. On the return trip of the blood through the veins, the fluids take up the waste matter (much of which would be a rank poison if allowed to remain in the system), and carries it to the excretory organism of the kidneys, the pores of the skin, and lungs, where the poisonous dead material and waste of the system is thrown off. Without sufficient fluids this work cannot be accomplished as Nature intended. And (this a most important matter) without sufficient water the waste portions of the food—the ashes of the system—cannot be kept sufficiently moist to easily pass through the colon and out of the body, and Constipation, with all of its attendant evils, result. The Yogis know that nine-tenths of the cases of chronic constipation arise from this cause—they also know that nine-tenths of the cases of chronic constipation may be speedily cured by the returning to the natural habit of drinking water. We will devote a special chapter to this subject, but we wish to direct the attention of the reader to its importance, as often as possible.

Yes, a sufficient supply of water is needed to aid in the proper stimulation and circulation of the blood—in the elimination of the waste products of the system—and in the normal assimilation of nourishment by the system.

Persons who do not drink sufficient fluids almost