CULT OF BEAUTY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1932, Page 4 (Supplement)

CULT OF BEAUTY.

CARE OF THE HEALTH,

YOU MUST RELA\.

(By A BEAUTY SPECIALIST.)

To learn how to relax is important, few realise how important. Only the high strung who get so tense, they can't let go and rest when they have a chance, know how tortured they are. Theirs is a special hell. I think people of this sort have more intense moments of happiness than the calmer, more phlegmatic people, but they also have more intense suffering. And they needn't have. That is the point of my story. We can learn how to reJax. Even if yoq have been taut as a fiddle' string 'for ever so long, you can learn to relax. You can rest, you can sleep, you can be happy, you can look years younger. This maddening tension that holds thousands in bondage is due to any one or all of the following causes in varying combinations: —Faulty diet that sets up auto-intoxication; some part of one's bony structure out of position, such as a twist or curve in the spine; a nervous system that is easily over-stimulated; some local infection that is poisoning your system. Of course, there are the twin enemies, overwork and worry. But if you will look about, you will observe that most of the people who get tense from these causes are the ones who ars easily overstimulated. Most people know when they have done enough and quit. The nervous ones don't. Some of us seem always to have a tendency to go too fast. Seem to Go Slow. Everyone needs rest, of course, but those of us who are easily stimulated, and tend to overdo, get so tired that heavy exercise only adds to our fatigue. It seems that when we get too tired the body produces fatigue poisons in too large a quantity, or when we are poisoned by auto-intoxication.. Not on'.y do these poisons contract our muscles, but they also contract the ligaments that hold the vertebrae together. This contraction pinches the nerves that come out between the vertebrae. So, you see, this

state of tension we get into can upset our bodily functions, which arc controlled by chose nerves, just a 6 much sometimes as they would be if the vertebrae were out of place. Learn, then, to go slo\v. Keep "from getting so tired that you poison your body from fatigue, i Remember every day, "Easy does it." Exercises Which HelpThere are many exercisas and postures to stretch and relax the muscles and ligaments. They will be of great help to you. The first exercise is on'e to twist and pull those, tight ligaments along the spine. The whole series of postures take about 15 minutes. Practise this exercise night and morning. Lie on your back on tho floor, with your feet pointing straight up on the wall. Bend knees, place feet flat against the wall. Then crawl up the wall until the weight of your body is on your shoulders. Now begin swinging your .body right to left, left to right, like a hammock, as your feet walk down the wall an inch at a time. Crawl up the wall again, swinging the body as you go. Repeat this exercise a few times. You will be surprised to find your spine sore in places, perhaps. This exercise gets mucli-needcd motion between the vertebrae, and stretches some of the contracted ligaments that are very difficult to get at in any other way. It's the fulcrum and lever you see. Try this; it gives.relief. However, it docs not do anything to relieve tension in the neck. Here are several ways to help that:—Stand by the bed, boijd forward until your head rests on the bed firmly, then rotate your head round and round. Clasp your hands behind your head and pull it down, and to each side. Lie on your back on the bed with your head hanging off just a -little, then - more and more. This stretches the ligaments on the inside of the vertebrae in the neck. Now follow with these exercises: With your fists, 1 ead your back between the waist and shoulder blades while you say "Ah-h-li-h." Twist the body from side to side at the waist while you say "Ah-h-h-h.' 5 Knead the abdomen while you say "Ah-h-h-h." Knead up on the

right side, down on the left, round and round this way a dozen times. Then try some general stretching and relaxing exercises: Stand straight, and touch the floor with your hands several times. Stretch from side to side several times, letting your head drop so that its weight will stretch the neck muscles at the side. Sit on the floor, feet straight out, extend your arms, bend forward as flat as you can, stretch feet and hands as far forward as possible—stretch, stretch, stretch.

It's a good thing to contract the abdomen sharply several times. Do this when you get into bed at night. This gives all the organs in the abdominal cavity a push back into place. They tend to fall if you're not in a good physical condition. Lifted back to normal, they can get better : circulation. So why not give them this chance to recover their tone while you sleep? Wonders have been accomplished by this simple lift that gives Nature a chance overnight. If you like, you can give yourself a final shakeup by taking the "knee chest" position on the bed, contracting the abdominal wall several times.. This gives the abdomen a push up and forward, j-elieving any backward sag against the spine.

In conclusion, let me say that" diet, stopping work before you get tired and relaxing exercises that release tension and permit natural circulation will help you to get as fit as possible. Did you ever watch' a handsome, well-fed cat, and envy him? So supple, so quickly on the alert, yet in a moment relaxing into such luxurious ease, such delightful naps. That is the way our bodies should be. And remember, "Easy doe 6 it" all day long.