The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-14
Women May Take Jiu Jit.u Trainiu

Women May Take Jiu Jitsu Training, In childhood the bodily training of the Japanese maid begins. The Japs have reduced physical culture for the feminine sex to such system that in their country a fat or clumsy woman I is almost unknown. Fat upon a wo- | man is considered a disgrace. The | preliminary jiu jitsu exercises prevent adipose accumulation.
 It is a becoming fad for American | women to learn jiu jitsu. but unfortu- nately it will be merely a fad with | else worth while. jiu jitsu perfection can only be attained by hard work and self-denial. both continued throurh iyears.
 |, Is the result worth the cost? We'll, is it worth while to 44ave perefct health. to have your mind. temper, passions. | appetite and every muscle of your | body under control? Is it worth while to get rid altogether of that silly, crazy impulsiveness which made many men look on the old time woman | as an Irresponsible semi-idiot? Is 1t worth while to be strong, resourceful and so clear-headed that you can use your mind faculties as readily as you can your muscles? Every woman must settle this for herself.
 The basic jiu jtsu training is noth. | ing more than what ninety-nine wo- men out of a hundred already know, but what hardly one woman out of a
 hundred practices. Plenty of baths, plenty of fresh air, seasoning the body
 to extremes of temperature that one may not take cold" eating moderate ly-this is the beginning. But among the Japs the mental element enters
 more largely into all physical exercises than Is the case with us. The Jap
 girl fixes her mind on the muscular
 training she is engaged in and knows
 what the result will be. That result
 she sees mentally as already accom-. plished.
 Breathe deeply is one of the first
 principles of jiu jitsu. Stand erect,
 with no clothing upon you that inn pedes or burdens you. Place your
 hands upon the hips and breathe up-
 ward from the lowest part of the body,
 taking in a great gu1p of the purest mir you can find. Let the breath out
 slowly and gradually.
 Everybody knows that? Well here Is something that everybody has not
 heard: Many wise individuals believe that In the air. in all living creatures,
 in all space, is the veritable principle
 of life itself. It is in the air, but 1t is
 not the air. The Hlndoo calls this life
 principle "prana"; western people
 sometimes call it ce1estial ether. As
 you take the deep breaths of pure air
 think that you are drawing in and
 sending through your spinal marrow | to the nerve centers this same celestial
 ether. After practicfng the deep, slow
 breathing awhile you can actually feel vibration thrilling from the lowest
 part of the spinal cord upward
 through it into the brain. Try it and see. Indeed. I heard a Hindoo teach CT say recently that perfect health can he attained through learning perfect breath control. Another point in preliminary jiu jitsu Is that every woman may achieve for herself perfect cleanliness of the skin. The poorest laborer among the Japs has at least one bath daily. The pupil must walk not less than f1ve miles daily. It is best to walk part or all of this distance before breakfast. When you walk, step out from the waist, not from the knees, and hold your spine straight.
 An excellent exercise for reducing fat: Place hands on hips, inhale deep ly; then, with heels together. bend ! over forward as far as possible. next backward in the same way. Repeat many times.
 MARY GOULD LYTLR.