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THE PHYSIOLOGY OF YOGAM
Whilst sitting at rest I have myself found, after a little practice, that I could reduce my breathing from about 15 inspirations and expirations a minute to 12 Inspirations in 15 minutes, holding the breath about 45 or 50 seconds between each inspiration and expiration; and at the end of the time I felt no unpleasant symptoms, but rather a feeling of exhilaration. If my blood had become abnormally charged with carbonic acid, I should have become livid and felt a strong desire for rapid and deep breathing to make up for lost time.
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Taking into consideration all these circumstances, I am of opinion, that it is possible for a man, who has for years trained himself to it, as an acrobat has trained his limbs to all sorts of unnatural actions, to develop sufficient cutaneous respiration to supply the needs of the body under suitable conditions for considerable periods of time. It is, I believe necessary to begin with great care and to increase the periods very gradually, as I have heard of young enthusiasts who got congestion of the lungs and haemorrhage from them, and other dangerous forms of disease, by commencing the process immoderately or pursuing faulty methods.
Stories are told of Yagis who remained in a state of trance for months. Such a thing is not unthinkable; for we have an analogy in the hybernation of certain of the vertebrata, and exhumations have revealed the fact that in temperate countries, where
burial is
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