DANISH HEALTH EXERCISES.

Lake County Press, Issue 977, 29 August 1901, Page 2

DANISH HEALTH EXERCISES.

Two schools for the teaching of Danish health exercises have been established in London, writes the London ‘Daily Telegraph/ It is the system to use no appliances whatever, but to train the muscles on a common sense and absolutely practical plan. In a large room, with at least one wide open French window, are assembled a class of pupils. They can be taken privately if that i is desired, but as a rule they prefer to practise in company, and emulation has much to 'do with success. The puils are vastly different in age and build. Here is a tall girl and lean, a little inclined, one would think, to be narrow chested. There is a lady, not tall, but decidedly broad, possessed of the prettiest of feet and neatest of ankles, things I which prove that her breadth of body is abI normal, and due to an unnatural condition jof existence. Again, a small, dainty, agile lady, who looks as if she could jump over the moon, yet she assures one she never walks, never rides; and until she began her health exercises slept far too little. Another pupil is afflicted with one of the worst [ burdens of feminine life, too much flesh, or i rather fat, to use the more brutal but more i correct term; another has had rheumatism very badly, and been sent by a great doctor to work the affected muscles. The teacher, whose good figure, fine poses, and free, graceful walk —she is in ordinary dress, but, she tells us, corsetless—are all creditable to the system, says at once that gymnastic exercises develop muscles not useful, and not always becoming for a woman to have developed, such as those in the arms and shoulders. Her attention is primarily devoted to the trunk of the body, and to the muscles which ought to govern it. First of all the pupils just stand. It sounds so easy, and most of us have imagined that he always stood; some of us have gone so far as to think we stood well. Nothing of the kind; novices hardly ever stand straight, letting the whole weight of the body rest where it should —on the great bones. Some of us find, to our surprise, that even in the com- I mon attitude of standing we have been putting pressure upon some organ which could ill boar it. j Space does not permit of explanation of each exercise as it takes place ; suffice it to say that every set of muscles is taken in turn, and exercised gently, quietly, and on common-sense principles. Each pupil is told what muscles she is working, and why. There is a little appreciative twinkle in some eyes when it comes to the one useful for making the waist smaller. Small waists are said to bo unfashionable now, but no eagerness to possess a large one is yet to be observed. ! This exercise is followed by one calculated i to make the waist round and supple, j Another simple matter to which attention is ' devoted is breathing. Health exercises are j devoted to teaching the proper system of in- j spiration through the nose gently, and re- j spiration through the lips. In this way the i natural filter is brought into use, and impurities kept out of the lungs. There are other things about breathing which are pointed out, all on broad, common-sense lines. For one hour, with intervals of a minute or so for rest, the pupils work their muscles under orders. They are advised to do so for a. few minutes each day by them- . selves, but one or two exercises are best ' under direction, lest inadvertently they should ; be taken wrongly alone. All the more im- | portant muscles, however, could be kept in | good working order at home by a quarter of j an hour’s practice each day, and pupils ■ should be qualified for this after a course of j tuition. The pupils find it hard work at j first, and perspire most freely, but they say that, for the rest of the day they arc cool, and suffer from no after-fatigue.