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The Physiology of Yogam. T is a matter of pretty general belief amongst the
for most part
religious ascetics, who, after taking a few deep breaths, pass into a trance state and remain in it for several hours without breathing. I have not personally witnessed this performance; but I have met people who allege that they have, and I have no reason to doubt their varacity. At first sight the physical phenomena seems a monstrous impossibility, utterly opposed to all we know of the human constitution. However, after thinking the matter out on the accepted physiological principles of the present day, I have arrived at the conclusion that it is theoretically possible, after a long course of regular preparatory raining extending over a period of years, for a man to remain alive for several hours without breathing by the lungs ; but that he must minimise during that time the expenditure of energy by the combustion of oxygen in his muscles and in his vital organs. The very conditions which the Hatta Yogi is said to seek are arguments in support of my belief. In the first place, there are, as far as I am aware, no records of any such practices being adopted in cold, damp countries. Southern Asia and Egypt have always been the special home of the Yogis, where the atmosphere is for the most part pure and dry, and of a temperature very near that of the human body. To this subject of atmospheric conditions we shall revert later on.
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