7rcTIX1xP

Chapter XXI: Pranic Exercises.1891
Chapter XXI: Pranic Exercises.
W
e have told you in other chapters of this book, how Prana may be
obtained from the air, food and water. We have given you detailed
instruction in breathing, in eating, in the use of fluids. There remains but
little more for us to say upon the subject. But before leaving it, we have
thought it well to give you a bit of the higher theory and practice of Hatha
Yoga, touching upon the acquirement and distribution of Prana. We allude
to what has been called “Rhythmic Breathing,” which is the keynote to much
of the Hatha Yoga practices.
All is in vibration. From the tiniest atom to the greatest sun, everything is
in a state of vibration. There is nothing in absolute rest in nature. A single
atom deprived of vibration would wreck the universe. In incessant vibration
the universal work is performed. Matter is being constantly played upon by
energy and countless forms and numberless varieties result, and yet even the
forms and varieties are not permanent. They begin to change the moment
they are created, and from them are born innumerable forms, which in turn
change and give rise to newer forms, and so on and on, in infinite succession.
Nothing is permanent in the world of forms, and yet the great Reality is
unchangeable. Forms are but appearances—they come, they go, but the
Reality is eternal and unchangeable.