Exercise
No. 3. Neck & Upper Spine.
In the standing position, feet together, arms at your side. While keeping your
left foot on one spot, bring your right foot forward about 15 inches. Place
your entire weight forward on your right foot, and extend your right arm
forward. Bend your right knee, and bring your head and body down toward the
floor as far as possible. Place your right hand on the floor in front of you to
maintain your balance. Attempt to touch the floor with the top of your head. Of
course, it will be impossible to do so, but try to bring your head as close to
the floor as you can. Do not lift your left leg, and keep it straight. Return
to the original position. Perform the same exercise with the position of the
legs reversed. Do each exercise ten times.
Exercise No. 4. Neck & Arms
In the standing position, arms by your side. In one smooth movement, raise your
heels so that you are standing on your toes, and swing both arms toward the sky
as high you can possibly extend your arms. Hold this position, with your arms
extended straight up and reaching even higher and higher. While in this
position, bend your neck and head backward as far as possible. Hold this
position for a few seconds before returning to the starting position. Perform
this exercise ten times.
Exercise No. 5. Abdomen, Middle Spine and Legs.
In the standing position, feet about 12 inches apart, hands on hips. Raise the
right hand, bend forward from the waist without bending the knees, and attempt
to touch your left toes with the right hand, while keeping the left hand on
your hip. If you can not touch your toes, do not be disappointed as you should
be able to achieve this after two or three weeks. Perform the same exercise
with the left hand and attempt to touch the toes on your right foot. Alternate attempts with the left and right hands to touch the toes
on the opposite foot. Perform this exercise twenty times, alternating
hands each time. Remember, the purpose of this exercise is to stretch, so do
not be lazy. Try to come as close as possible to touching your toes.
Exercise No. 6. Abdomen and Lower Spine.
This is similar to Exercise No. 5 with the difference being that you are
performing this exercise in the sitting position, and thus you will be
stretching a different portion of the body. Sit on the floor, legs stretched
forward, hands on hips. Bend forward, with arms stretched forward and try to
touch your toes. You may not achieve this right away, but as with the previous
exercise, you soon will. Repeat this exercise 5 times, with both hands, and
then spread your feet slightly apart and with alternate hands, one at a time,
try to touch the toes on the opposite foot. Repeat this 5 times with each hand.
Exercise No. 7. Middle & Lower Spine
In this exercise, you will have to use your own judgement about the positioning
of your body so you can obtain the maximum benefit. Sit on the floor, with your
knees bent and the soles of your feet flat on the floor. It is preferable to
have your feet spread apart, and your knees bent. as
little as possible, the degree of bend, and the distance apart will depend on
you. Clasp your hands together, behind your head, and extend your elbows
forward. Lean forward, and touch your left elbow to your right knee. If you can
perform this movement with little or no exertion, your knees are bent too much
and your legs are not spread wide enough apart. The correct posture for this
exercise is when you can barely touch your elbow to your knee. After continued
practice, you must reduce the degree of the bent knee, and spread the legs
wider. After you touch your elbow to the knee, return to the original position,
and touch your other elbow to the opposite knee. Repeat the exercise, 5 times
with each elbow. Alternate elbows with each touch.
Exercise No. 8. Lower Spine and Legs
Lie flat on your back on a firm surface, and not on a
soft mattress. Place your hand palms down underneath your buttocks and rest
your weight on your hands. Without bending your knees, lift both legs straight
up, and spread them apart as far as you can. Continue this motion back and
forth, first spreading the legs as far apart as you can, and then bringing both
legs back in the other direction, crossing them, as far as possible. Perform
this exercise 10 times, rest your legs, and perform it another 10 times.
Exercise No. 9. Legs & Ankles
49
Lie flat on your back, on a firm surface, arms
stretched towards your toes. Place your palms flat on the floor. Keeping both
feet together, raise them upwards and bring them over your head until your toes
touch the floor behind your head. Use the palms of your hands on the floor for
extra leverage to lift your legs up and over your head, and to help raise your
hips off the floor. The first few days you perform this exercise, it is not
absolutely necessary to have your toes touch the ground. However, without over?exerting yourself, bring your
toes as close as possible to the ground. Pause when your toes touch the floor,
and slowly bring your legs back to the original position. Perform this exercise
5 times.
Exercise No. 10. Spine & All Joints
Many years ago, physicians discovered that many body disorders were caused by
pressure of the spinal vertebrae upon specific nerves. This discovery resulted
in the widely practiced and accepted treatment of chiropractry.
One of the most common treatments consists of body suspension in which the
patient is suspended by use of a strap fastened to the upper part of the torso.
When suspended by this strap, the weight of the lower body stretches the spine
and reduces the pressure between the vertebrae, thus eliminating the pressure
on the affected nerves and curing the disorder. This same procedure can be used
to stretch and straighten your spine, and we recommend the following exercise,
which requires high vertical bars. If these are not easily available, try to
improvise with a door or overhanging ledge. Grasp the bar firmly with both
hands and hang as long as you possibly can. The bar should be at least 7 feet
off the floor, so that your body is swinging free of any support from the
ground. Swing your body forward and backwards. When your hands become tired,
allow yourself to drop softly to the floor, landing on your feet. Repeat this exercise several times, being extra careful not to overexert
yourself
