The study and practice of yoga [antikvár]

Chapter IINTRODUCTIONSince the publication of About Yoga so many readers have expressed interest in an instructional book that my pub-lisher has been good enough to ask me to attempt another work that will take them one step farther into uncharted country.Frankly, I doubt my ability to do so. I am not a yogi. I do not profess to be an expert. I cannot levitate my body in space as somé profess to be able, nor can I teach others such tricks. I cannot tie myself into knots as contortionists, ballet girls and yogis can, who have given a lifetime to such practices. Never have I enjoyed a lunch composed of razor blades, two-inch nails and crisp bits of broken glass washed down with nitric or prussic acid. I can't wash my face in broken glass or hang by my neck from the limb of a tree as a gentleman in Hampstead does. I do not enjoy reclining on a bed of sharp nails and I am absolutely hopeless when it comes to gazing into the future and giving the name of the animal that will win the Derby, St. Leger or the Oaks.I confess it. I must be a dreadful disappointment to my friends, my readers and those who look to me for guidance. I don't even impress my wife. Not that I try toat least, not after a few unsuccessful attempts many years ago.But there seem to be a few simple things I can do and which lie within the power of all normál persons. These I shall try to explain. Somé readers will, I hope, benefit.7