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THE PHYSIOLOGY OF YOGAM
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breathe deeper and more rapidly. According to the standard text-books of physiology, the amount of air respired in 24 hours by a person at rest is 686,000cubic inches; the average amount for a hard working laborer in the same time is 1,568,390 cubic inches.. From these figures we find that a person at rest con. sumes about three gallons of oxygen an hour; but we may persume that a Yogi who makes a regular science of rest would need very much less, and excrete a proportionately less quantity of carbonic acid. He adopts a seat, or pose, which takes all strain off the muscles. The Padma Asanam, in which the legs are crossed as seen in images of Buddha, is a good instance of this: the thighs extending outwards and forwards from the buttocks form a broad and firm base, so that the body will not easily topple over if all the muscles become relaxed, as I believe they do, for a friend of mine who tried some mild experiments in Yogam found that he had not the muscular strength to hold a watch to time his breathing. Secondly, he performs his exercises on an empty stomach, so that no oxygen is required for digestion, which must make a considerable difference in the amount consumed. Thirdly, the circulation during Yogam, after the first. minute or two, is very slow, so that the expenditure of energy by the heart is much lessened; and the fact of the slowness of the circulation shows, that the tissues require very little oxygen brought to them by the blood. At the commencement the force of the heart's action is generally increased and a profuse perspiration is
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