Page:Hatha yoga - or the yogi philosophy of physical well-being, with numberous excercises.djvu/91



will not be a pleasant chapter to those of you who are still bound with the old notions of the impurity of the body, or any part of it—if there chance to be such among our students. Those of you who prefer to ignore the existence of certain important functions of the physical body, and feel a sense of shame at the thought that certain physical functions are a part of their everyday lives, will not relish this chapter, and may even regard it as a blot upon the book—a thing which we should have omitted—something which we should have ignored. To such we would say that we can see no use (and much harm) in following the policy of the ostrich in the old tale, who, dreading his hunters, would stick his head in the sand, and, shutting the hated things from sight, would ignore their existence until they overtook and captured him. We have such respect for the entire human body, and all its parts and functions, that we are unable to see anything impure or "un-nice" about it. And we can see nothing but folly in the policy which refuses to consider and discuss the functions referred to, or any others. The result of this conventional policy of dodging the unpleasant subjects, has been that many of the race are suffering from diseases and ill health brought about by this folly. To many who read this chapter, what we say