Mind and Emotion

Keeping the Body Beautiful

Beauty is not a face. It is good health and the radiance of the soul pouring through the whole body and out past its edge. This short kriya works the spine, the blood, and the breath until that radiance has somewhere to go, and it sets the mind on Infinity so you meet the Cosmos in harmony. Practiced with attention, it can make you new, and it can make you enchantingly beautiful.

Pose 1

Sit on your heels and place your hands on the ground a little in front of your knees. Keep the spine straight and the head lifted. You are a Buddhist temple lion. Now flex the spine forward as far as it will go (1A) and back as far as it will go (1B), arms staying straight throughout. Breathe in powerfully as you flex forward, breathe out as you flex back, in one steady rhythm. The forehead will heat and the spine will sweat. Continue for 3 minutes. This purifies the blood, strengthens the whole nervous system, guards you against back aches, and dissolves pain in the shoulders.

Time: 3 minutes

Pose 2

Immediately bring your hands behind your back in venus mudra and, arms stretched, lift them behind you as high as they will rise. Hold for 1 to 2 minutes. Breathe in and relax. Rest for 2 minutes. This improves the bloodstream, and with it the beauty of the cheeks and lips, so cosmetics become unnecessary.

Time: 2 minutes

Pose 3

Stretch your legs out in front of you and set your hands on the ground behind you. Slowly lift the legs 60 degrees and hold them there. Lean back into your hands as little as you can. Stay 1 to 3 minutes. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. This stretches the sciatic nerve, and done as it should be done it leaves you fewer moments of headache. If the legs begin to tremble, know that it is better they tremble here, in the exercise, than later in life while you walk.

Time: 1-3 minutes

Pose 4

Immediately draw the knees to the chest. Keep the feet 15 cm off the floor and hold your balance as you did in exercise 3. Do Breath of Fire for 1 to 2 minutes. Breathe in and relax. Fifty powerful repetitions of the Breath of Fire cycle, the breathing never interrupted, are enough to purify the blood completely. It cleanses the lungs and stirs the life-force so that you keep your youth, your strength, and your power to work longer.

Breath: Breath of Fire
Time: 1-2 minutes

Pose 5

Stretch your legs and grab your toes. Keep the arms completely straight. Lengthen the back, pull the chin in, and pull on the feet, putting heavy pressure on the toes. Roll the eyes up and close the eyelids. Hold for 2 minutes.

Time: 2 minutes

Pose 6

Then, without changing the pose, begin to sing the mantra HAM, which means us. It frees you from your individual insignificance and from your tensions. Carry the mmmm sound out long. Exercises 5 and 6 stimulate the two master glands of the blood, the liver and the spleen.