A course of practical psychic instruction.

  • Psychic Research Co.
Date:
1901,
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A course of practical psychic instruction. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    268/328 page 48
    -4s- conducted according to the plans here laid down, will he other than a benefit to your patient. A New System of Exercise.—Having now attended to the refreshments, so to speak, of the body, let us complete the direc- tions by taking up the necessary consideration of the Third Arm of the Tripod upon which the health of the body rests. This is summed up in what is known as Exercise. An invalid's idea of exercise is usually fraught with severe fatigue and some pain. The ideal form of Exercise which I recommend to you, and which carries with it no sense of fatigue whatever, is one which a few men have had the sense to copy from the animal kingdom. Stretching.—If you have ever watched a cat stretch- ing its limbs, and sharpening its claws, you will under- stand exactly what I mean by Pleasurable Exercise. I do not require you to go for long walks or to fatigue yourself by lift- ing heavy weights. You are only required to relax and contract the muscles of the whole body, beginning with the hands and ending with the feet. The special beauty of this form of exercise is that it can be performed just as well when you are lying down in bed as if you were standing up. It is as easy for an invalid to take this form of exercise as for a well person. First Exercise on Waking.—The first exercise in the morning for you when you are practicing your long deep breath- ing is to throw your arms over your head while lying in bed, grasping the head of the bed and stretching arms and shoulders sufficiently to influence the heart's action to a marked degree during the intaking of the deep breath. You will notice the effect upon the pulse and upon the circulation at once. Then stiffen the muscles of the arms for a few moments and suddenly relax them; so with the abdomen and the legs; so with the feet. Practice this contracting and relaxing of the muscles, and prac- tice the stretching of the body, especially from side to side during the day-time, taking a deep breath and bending over as far as you can bend on one side, then exhaling, taking another deep breath and bending over as far as you can bend on the other side. The effect will be to repair wasted tissue in the body, to bring about a quicker and healthier circulation, and to tone, up the system to a better degree than would occur if you were taking outdoor exercise. The System of Muscular Contraction.—The impor- tance of exercise of a mild and invigorating type to the in-
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