Do not attempt to take all the above exercises at one and the same time. Take them several times in the day. Never exercise immediately after a meal or before it. Do not try to force development as you will be apt to suffer from re-action. Slow and steady wins the race. Gentle and persistent exercises are advisable. That will lead to permanent development.
EFFECT OF MIND AND BODY.
It has been proved conclusively even on the physical plane that a "a Man thinketh in his heart so is he." The great thing to avoid is Fear and Worry thoughts. These and all other undesirable thoughts are due to bad health partially but it is even a greater truth that physical degeneration is due to bad thinking. Fear affects the heart. During epidemics such as plague, cholera, etc., you generally first project the deadly germs of Fear-Thoughts upon yourself and thus by weakening your mind you weaken your body and expose yourself to disease influence. Again, if you have some hereditary disease and if you accept adverse suggestions from ignorant people and keep telling yourself that such and such a disease has taken shelter in you and your body as its "fixed abode" you simply hasten your own end. The body and mind are interrelated. Thoughts materialize themselves in your body. You should get as far away from the idea of disease and old age and weaknesses as possible and hold the health-thoughts steadily before your mind. The only way in which to be quite immune from Disease is to Deny the Power of Disease on yourself. Say "I cannot be ill," "I will not admit disease." Health and strength are in the unyielding will. De-hypnotise yourself of that superstition that God sends disease. Your body is yours to control and keep healthy. God will give you—(He has already given you rather)—the Power to control your body. Remember always; you alone can save yourself. All Power and Wisdom are potentially resident in you. Have confidence and set that thing in motion, exercise it constantly and persistently and it shall grow and unfold. God is in you and you are in God. When you pray you are simply, although often unconsciously, helping that Latent Power to uncoil itself. Remember again: God will grant you the opportunity, the means, the wisdom, the ability to accomplish a thing, but You Shall Have to do the work yourself. Hence, you see, the illumined mind is quite necessary for perfect health. Get rid of all weak thoughts. Have a strong mind. Remember lastly:
MIND ACTS UPON BODY IN ALL WAYS.
Make your mind positive to your body. I have told you how to do so. Physical exercise plus Mental Exercise will put you on the road to Power and Poise. And side by side with this follow health-laws. But bear in mind that if you assert your power on your mind and body confidentially, they cannot but obey your commands. The body has an intelligence of its own. This intelligence knows its work perfectly. It is what you call Instinct. It digests your meals; assimilates and eliminates; repairs wastes; works the heart and controls the circulation; heals wounds and presides over all other natural and involuntary processes in the body. This Instinctive mind knows its work perfectly. But, mark you, this intelligence in the cells and nerve-centres of your body is negative to the Central Intelligence in the brain—the controlling centre—the "I Am" and is affected by suggestions, beliefs and thoughts in your brain. All you have got to do is to avoid projecting negative thoughts from your mind and let it alone. But suppose you have by violation of the Laws of Nature disturbed the action of the Instinctive Mind, disease results. Disease is simply the effect of nature to throw off unnatural conditions and re-assert natural conditions. In such a case all you have got to do is to re-establish natural states. You can do so by simply increasing the general vitality of the body and by changing your Mental Attitude. For instance, if you somehow or other have accepted the "belief" that your stomach is weak or your heart is weak or your liver is slow or your circulation is bad or your vitality is low, etc., your instinctive Mind will take up your Beliefs and work them out in no time physically. The Instinctive Mind—which is the same as the sub-conscious Mind working in the body—never reasons. It is on the plane of Automatism. Therefore, if you have done any such negative thinking your first step is to wipe out these noxious mental weeds by the Positive Denial. Say "No, No, No, my body is strong; my stomach is strong, my heart is strong, etc." In this form of suggestion you use positive Denial as well as Positive Affirmation. The former is destructive of evil if rightly applied, the latter is constructive of good. Belief and confident expectation are mighty forces. Be sure you apply them wisely. The power of mind over matter is supreme and a Proven Reality.
RESERVE FORCE.
Here I should like to draw your attention to the Reserve Power existing in your body. Of course there are soul-powers existing potentially within YOU which leap into brilliant expression as you succeed in developing and expanding your brain to a state of perfect responsiveness to the touch of your will. For really and truly your will, forming as it does the divine part of yourself, is always strong and must unfold "as a rose" by exercising itself, in the field of matter, force and mind;—all of which are subordinate to YOU and the real aim of human evolution is actually to place in your hands the wand of power.
What is within your body is sure to find its correspondent outside in Nature. Control nature inside and you will move as a master out in this universe.
Now without going into details let me tell you—if you do not know it already—that mind is the finest form of matter, and matter the grossest form of mind, and there is a constant interaction between the two poles. But since mind represents the positive end and matter the negative, the former can dominate the latter. You can evoke states of consciousness by applying stimulus to the periphery and again mental states evoke corresponding vibrations in the cellular life of body and brain.
Hence you see your mind controls and forms your body. Also your body reacts upon your brain and affects that part of your mind which has to operate through the brain, which is matter pure and simple. So to keep aright the polarities of your brain and body a constant adjustment of forces is needed and thus you can establish POISE.