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Chapter X: The Yogi Theory and Practice of Prana Absorption from Food.1815
tongue being moved through it. The babe drawing the milk from the nipple
of either the breast or the bottle, of course, does so by a sucking motion,
which moves the tongue and cheeks, and produces a flow of fluid from the
glands, which liberates the food-prana and has also a chemical digestive
effect upon the milk itself, notwithstanding the fact that true saliva is not
secreted in the young babe, and does not appear until the teeth show
themselves.
We advise our students to experiment with themselves along the lines
just pointed out. Choose an opportunity when you have plenty of time,
then, masticating slowly, allow the food to gradually melt away, instead of
making a deliberate attempt to swallow. This “melting-away” of the food
can only be possible when the food is masticated into a cream-like paste,
thoroughly saturated with saliva, and the particles thereby converted into
a semi-digested state, and having had the food-prana extracted therefrom.
Try eating an apple in this way, and you will be surprised at the feeling of
having eaten a fair-sized meal, and at the sensation of increased strength
which has come to you.
We understand fully that it is quite a different thing for the Yogi to take
his time and eat in this way, and for the hurried Western man of business to
do the same, and we do not expect all of our readers to change the habit
of years all at once. But we feel sure that a little practice in this method
of eating food will cause quite a change to come over one, and we know
that such occasional practice will soon result in quite an improvement in the
every-day method of masticating the food. We know, also, that the student
will find a new delight—an additional relish in eating—and will soon learn
to eat “lovingly,” that is, to feel loath to let the mouthful of food pass away. A
new world of taste is opened up to the man who learns to follow this plan,
and he will get far more pleasure from eating than ever before, and will have,
besides, a much better digestion, and much more vitality, for he will obtain
a greater degree of nourishment, and an increased amount of food-prana.