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Hatha Yoga: The Yogi Philosophy of Physical Well-Being1810
tests of modern chemistry, although future investigators will scientifically
prove their existence. Once liberated from the food, this food-prana flies
to the nerves of the tongue, mouth and teeth, passing through the flesh and
bone readily, and is rapidly conveyed to numerous storage-houses of the
nervous system, from whence it is conveyed to all parts of the body, where
it is used to furnish energy and “vitality” to the cells. This is a bare statement
of the theory, the details of which we will endeavor to fill in as we proceed.
The student will probably wonder why it is necessary to extract this foodprana,
as the air is heavily charged with Prana, and it may seem like a waste
of effort on the part of Nature to use so much energy in order to extract
the Prana from the food. But here is the explanation. Just as all electricity is
electricity, so is all Prana simply Prana—but just as there are several forms
of the electric current, manifesting widely different effects upon the human
body, so are there several manifestations or forms of Prana, each of which
performs certain work in the physical body, and all of which are needed
for the different kinds of work. The Prana of the air fulfills certain offices;
that of the water others, and that derived from the food still a third set of
duties. To go into the minute details of the Yogi theory would be foreign
to the purposes of this work, and we must rest content with the general
statements here given. The main subject before us is the fact that the food
contains food-prana, which the human body needs, and which it can extract
only in the manner above stated, i.e., by mastication of the food, and the
absorption of the prana by the nervous system by means of the nerves of
the tongue, mouth and teeth.
Now, let us consider Nature’s plan in combining two important offices
in the act of masticating and insalivating. In the first place, nature intended
every particle of food to be thoroughly masticated and insalivated before
it was swallowed, and any neglect in this respect is sure to be followed by
imperfect digestion. Thorough mastication is a natural habit of man which
has been neglected owing to the demands of artificial habits of living which
have grown up around our civilization. Mastication is necessary to break up