The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-10
SUGGESTIONS ABOUT BREATHING
Some Things That Are of Interest to
Women

w omen.
BROOKLYN, N, Y, March s.-The term
''theosophical breathing" is a new one TO
me, but think understand, though some
what dimly. perhaps, what 'Baltimoreann
means by his question. There is BREATH
ing exercise taught in Boston particularly,
which is said by prominent theosophists to
be one at least of the physical preparations
| employed by the eastern magicians who, to
all appearances, die and are burisd the same
as real corpses, remaining uuder ground
/ for days and even weeks. Whether there is
| any truth in this, am sure l do not know.
l am, however. sure of this, that the most
successful magicians in all time have been
those whose spirits dominated every organ
| of their bodies. That these spirits were
/ imbued with wisdom is also fact, for we
find them eating only what is proper, some
| times abstaining from food altogether, and
always "breat hing deeply through the
nostrils, as one of our ancient writers tells
US, and Giving and exercising variedly in
the open air. That these strange men
were buried for days and finally were IN
| earthed and las good as new" is as well an
authenticated fact as any other in history.
So we can start squarely on these two
| points. But that is about as far as we can go.
| To be a disciple of Mime. Blava sky,
| or a believer in her theories of
|
magicians, requires more credulity or more
| wisdom than | possess. l hope my the)-
Sophical friends will observe my modesty.
| But to come to this especial breathing ex-
erclse which l suppose my correspondent
refers to. The pupil must stand with the
weight of his body resting upon the balls of
his feet, the abdomen and shoulders both
| thrown backward, which by the way is the
only natural and healtbful position. Then
fba lUnrs ho rua1 fllpd clio uylvy
enptied After this the lungs must be slowly
filled while the pupil mentally counts four,
| and this breath must be held while four is
again counted. Then the lungs must be
| emptied still counting four, and the breath
held out as this number is repeated. The
| counting must be regular, but 1t takes con-
siderable practice to attain true accuracy.
! 10 hold the breath out is not easy at first
| but it becomes so after a while. This is
called the square of four. When this has
been learned the number is increased to five
| and six and so on. There are said to be
classes in our modern Athens" so well
drilled in this especial breathing exercise as
| to be able to manage a square of twenty
| four. These pupils are instructed to con-
centrate toelr thoughts upon their fore
| heads, and the effect of such concentration
is said to be qulckening of the intellectual
powers, general fabrication of the
whole mental machinery, and a
consequent healing of any part
of the body which happens to be disturbed
or diseased. Now, to be thoroughly prac-
teal as well as perfectly honest let me say
that l have tried this breathing exercise
until felt very queer in the head, but my
firm impression is that there was nothing
In the least occult or spiritual about the
| sensation. / practiced too long and was
dizzy. Nine. Bavatsky would doubtless
put another construction upon what was to
me the direct effect of a perfectly plain
cause. And here let me warn my readers.
| Never try the square of four more than
four times, or any other of the squares, and
not oftener than once IN three hours to be-
gin with. l can testify from a personal
| experience that such practice is valuable if
not carried to excess.
AT the risk of seeming disagreeably per-
sistent, repeat that no breathing exercise
should be practiced unless the body is as
lightly clothed as is possible for it to be. If
the petticoats are attached to the waist and
there is no band or compression about the
| waist, and the dress has gown-form or
princess foundation, bringing what weight
| there is upon the shoulders, not only these,
but the more active gymnastic drill can be
| INDUCED in with the best results. Women
who do not go much into society get an idea
from the plates of certain fashion maya
zines that the best dressed and most fash
ionable women are those VINO still pull cor
set strings and go about the streets and
| their own houses loaded down with
heavy skirts and heavier trimmings
But this is not the case. At the
| Nineteenth Century Club the other even
ing, where Thomas Nelson Page and Maude
| Howe Elliott and Richard w. Glider spoke,
| | counted in the refreshment room i'll my
| immediate vicinity fifteen costumes that
had the foundation gown-form. These
| dresses were lovely in design, because loose
| and simple and consequently artistic, and
wish to add that they were worn by the
most intellectual and the most charming
women in New York society. The dresses
| on this occasion were not all ideal in their
| construction, but women of brains are now
| giving their attention to this important
| subject. The wife of one of our most pop
| ular metropolitan editors designs all her
| costumes and her gown on the occasion
| alluded to was the prettiest in the room. 1t
was mauve silk with white and gold
| trimmings, beautiful corsage and petit
coat of white and gold, with an edge of fur
| upon the latter. There was very little
weight to this gown, and what there was
| the shoulders sustained.
Another prominent woman whom knew
| very well and who was dressed very beauti-
| fully in a silver gray crepe de chene, told
me in our general talk about the demands
of fashion that her costume for that even
| ing dld not Welgh an ounce over nVe POUNDS,
and / can assure my readers that there was
no scantiness observable in her dress, not
\ even about the shoulders and bust, as is far
| too of en- the case in SOC called first society,""
Five years ago this woman was never seen
at party without the fullest Of full dress,
radical train, and pounds upon pounds of
trimmings. 1t is an astonishing fact that
she also was sent abroad for her health, re-
ceived her first lesson in common sense and
American independence from an English
woman. "My doctor told me that all l
needed was Change of air." my companion
informed me dirty, but my English friend
informed me that all needed was change
of clothes" She was right.
| ELEANOR KIRK