ertain decisions and exert
firmness and resolution.

Science has carefully explained the stretch, but men seem to refuse to
take the lesson. The stretch extends the body so that the veins, where
congestion is most liable to take place and where pressure of blood is
weakest, are so elongated that the blood flows more easily from the
arteries, where the pressure is strongest, through the veins back to the
heart and circulation is equalized and stimulated.

The beneficial effects of the stretch can be felt by anyone who will
take the pains on waking up in the morning to stretch easily, for a few
minutes, then rest a few moments and note the effect. He will feel a
great exhilaration all through the body. He will feel a sense of
harmony. Thanksgiving seems to arise from every cell at the fresh blood
and life.

The yawn is similar to the stretch. The yawn is a stretch of the lungs
as the stretch is a yawn of the muscles. Both of these exercises express
a hunger for oxygen. Whenever anyone is sitting in a cramped position or
even in one position for a long time, the stretch or yawn is
instinctive. The extension of the muscles of the body as illustrated in
the stretch is one of the most necessary steps in normal adjustment. To
speak of only one point: when a man sits his knees are bent, and the
muscles in front of the leg are elongated and the muscles back of the
knee are shortened. A stretch means simply the extension of these
shortened muscles.

All over the body we find a tendency to elongate certain muscles too
much. This is true in the chest; true also of the face, at the corners
of the mouth. The active use of the too elongated muscles will produce
extension in those that are too much shortened. By doing this we bring
about certain normal conditions and relations of parts.

Again we find that the stretch is activity of the extensor muscles. It
is the action of the extensor muscles upon which health especially
depends. At any rate, the extensor muscles are much more important to
bring about the right relation of all parts and the right balance of
sensitive muscles and the equalization of circulation than the activity
of the flexor muscles. Normal emotions, as we shall find later, are
expressed through activity of the extensor muscles. Abnormal emotions,
such as anger, affect the flexor muscles of the body more.

Since nature has provided the stretch seemingly as the antidote for
abnormal position, and especially abn