and were only borne by him by the expedient of constant flitting from one 
to another. 
     He is at ease; because, for the first time in his life, he has become 
really unconscious of the body. Life has been one endless suffering; and 
now, so far as this particular Asana is concerned, the plague is abated. 
     I feel that I have failed to convey the full meaning of this. 
     The fact is that words are entirely unsuitable. The complete and 
joyous awakening from the lifelong and unbroken nightmare of physical 
discomfort is impossible to describe. 
     21. The results and mastery of Asana are of use not only in the course 
of attainment of Yoga, but in the most ordinary affairs of life. At any time 
when fatigued, you have only to assume your Asana, and you are 
completely rested. It is as if the attainment of the mastery has worn 
down all those possibilities of physical pain which are inherent in that 
particular position. The teachings of physiology are not contradictory to 
this hypothesis. 
     The conquest of Asana makes for endurance. If you keep in constant 
practice, you ought to find that about ten minutes in the posture will rest 
you as much as a good night's sleep. 
     So much for the obstacle of the body considered as static. Let us now 
turn our attention to the conquest of its dynamics. 
     22. It is always pleasing to turn to a subject like Pranayama. 
     Pranayama means control of force. It is a generalised term. In the 
Hindu system there are quite a lot of subtle sub-strata of the various 
energies of the body which have all got names and properties. I do not 
propose to deal with the bulk of them. There are only two which have 
much practical importance in life. One of these is not to be communicated 
to the public in a rotten country like this; the other is the well-known 
'control of breath.' 
     This simply means that you get a stop watch, and choose a cycle of 
breathing out and breathing in. Both operations should be made as 
complete as possible. The muscular system must be taxed to its utmost to 
assist the expansion and contraction of the lungs. 
     When you have got this process slow and regular, for instance, 30 
seconds breathing out and 15 in, you may add a few seconds in which the 
breath is held, either inside or outside the lungs. 
     (It is said, by the way, that the operation of breathing out should last 
about twice as long as that of breathing in, the theory being that 
breathing out quickly may bring a loss of energy. I think there may be 
something in this.) 
     23. There are other practices. For instance, one can make the 
breathing as quick and shallow as possible. Any good practice is likely to 
produce its own phenomena, but in accordance with the general thesis of 
these lectures I think it will be obvious that the proper practice will aim at 
holding the breath for as long a period as possible—because that 
condition will represent as close an approximation to complete stillness of 
the physiological apparatus as may be. Of course we are not stilling it; we