ormal position during sleep, in the
programme of exercises it would seem most necessary to centre around
some careful and scientific use of stretches.

Have you ever noticed a dog or cat wake up? Observe their instinctive
movements: the gradual but vigorous stretch in every direction, the deep
breathing, the sympathetic extension and staying of the limbs at the
climax, then the gradual giving up of the activity and the moment of
restful satisfaction.

Stretching in this way is one of the primitive instincts in all animals.
He who will observe the animals will feel that the time for practicing
the exercises is on awakening, and the primary exercise to be taken is
the stretch.

How can we best occupy a part at least of the half hour or more that is
usually wasted in worrying and fretting or in sluggish indifference,
between the time when we first awake and the time we begin to dress?
With all the knowledge of the human organism which has been revealed to
us by modern science, with our truer understanding of the nature of men,
of the effect of the mind upon the body, with our observation of the
instinctive actions of the animals at such an hour, why can we not so
occupy a few of these most precious moments of the day as to add to our
vitality and enjoyment?

At this moment of awakening, when your mind is free, you can so direct
your attention as to receive joy instead of gloom, love instead of hate.
You can exclude the thought of evil or you can yield and allow the
tempter to desecrate your shrine. Whichever choice you make, these first
moments of your day's living will color the whole course of the coming
hours. The feeling first accepted and welcomed will more or less
continue and form a background to all your ideas and determine your
point of view toward human events.

The chief aim of this book is to present a simple programme giving, not
only some exercises for this hour, but certain explanations which will
inspire a sense of the importance of this hour and these movements.

Most people have no conception of the possibilities of human nature, of
the fact that progress is the highest characteristic of a human being.
No matter how old we are, we can always begin to climb upward; the main
thing is our willingness to climb. Do we understand how to use the least
actions and the most neglected movements for the development of
character and the satisfactions of life?

The principles and exercises advocated in this bo