Course XVIII - Teaching 16: Final Instructions

With exercises given by the previous teaching the part related to Cafh’s Gymnastics ends, which as a whole is sufficient to keep agility, strength and elasticity in the gymnast who persists in it in order to face with relative facility demands of daily life, and also helps the passage of prana from one to other center by giving flexibility to sinews during exercises usually practiced.
The great number of exercises described, which include every part of the body, allow varying frequently; this keeps the interest ever awake, and impedes automatism, which is the main annihilator of whatever benefits any exercise might give. This is why, to get the best results, it is convenient to practice these exercises lovingly and with as much attention as possible.
Once one learns every exercise, it is quite recommended to begin again with Preparatory Exercises I and, after the practice of each series of 12 exercises during one week, to follow progressively until Very Difficult Exercises III. This cycle can be repeated indefinitely. So, after highest efforts meant by both Difficult and Very Difficult Exercises, the body is given a quite convenient rest, being unnecessary to abandon the exercises.
According to the climate, it is good to practice these exercises, as much as possible, with the body exposed in the open and in the sun, since this makes the body absorb more ethereal matter from the environment. Use good soap with vegetal oils, and brush properly the whole body with abundant lather, and pay much attention to a conscientious cleaning of groins and armpits. The skin benefits remarkably if you are using bristles gradually harder and if you smear your body with vegetal oil. Some few drops are enough; they do not stain clothes as you could assume. This procedure restores the fatty matter removed by soap and prevents from skin dryness and loss of skin defenses. Also this thin oil covering preserves in a better way and longer the earthly magnetism recovered during the sleep time.
Gymnastics practiced as a means of spiritual perfection replaces advantageously ascetic austerities, penances, et cetera, which every religion considers necessary to induce in the soul the idea about effort.