(4) Exhale through the nostrils in a long, restful, sighing
     breath.

     (5) Practice Cleansing Breath.

CHAPTER XIII.

VIBRATION AND YOGI RHYTHMIC BREATHING

All is in vibration.  From the tiniest atom to the greatest sun, everything is in a state of vibration.  There is nothing in absolute rest in nature.  A single atom deprived of vibration would wreck the universe.  In incessant vibration the universal work is performed.  Matter is being constantly played upon by energy and countless forms and numberless varieties result, and yet even the forms and varieties are not permanent.  They begin to change the moment they are created, and from them are born innumerable forms, which in turn change and give rise to newer forms, and so on and on, in infinite succession.  Nothing is permanent in the world of forms, and yet the great Reality is unchangeable.  Forms are but appearances—­they come, they go, but the Reality is eternal and unchangeable.

The atoms of the human body are in constant vibration.  Unceasing changes are occurring.  In a few months there is almost a complete change in the matter composing the body, and scarcely a single atom now composing your body will be found in It a few months hence.  Vibration, constant vibration.  Change, constant change.

In all vibration is to be found a certain rhythm.  Rhythm pervades the universe.  The swing of the planets around the sun; the rise and fall of the sea; the beating of the heart; the ebb and flow of the tide; all follow rhythmics laws.  The rays of the sun reach us; the rain descends upon us, in obedience to the same law.  All growth is but an exhibition of this law.  All motion is a manifestation of the law of rhythm.

Our bodies are as much subject to rhythmic laws as is the planet in its revolution around the sun.  Much of the esoteric side of the Yogi Science of Breath is based upon this known principle of nature.  By falling in with the rhythm of the body, the Yogi manages to absorb a great amount of Prana, which he disposes of to bring about results desired by him.  We will speak of this at greater length later on.

The body which you occupy is like a small inlet running in to the land from the sea.  Although apparently subject only to its own laws, it is really subject to the ebb and flow of the tides of the ocean.  The great sea of life is swelling and receding, rising and falling, and we are responding to its vibrations and rhythm.  In a normal condition we receive the vibration and rhythm of the great ocean of life, and respond to it, but at times the mouth of the inlet seems choked up with debris, and we fail to receive the impulse from Mother Ocean, and inharmony manifests within us.