And then he tells about Rite Four…
“Now for Rite Number Four,” said the Colonel. “The first time I tried this it seemed very difficult, but after a week it was as simple to do as any of the others.”
“Sit on the ‘prayer rug’ with the feet stretched out in front. Then place the hands alongside the body. Now raise the body and bend the knees so that the legs, from the knees down, are practically straight up and down. The arms, too, will be straight up and down while the body, from the shoulders to the knees, will be horizontal. Before pushing the body to a horizontal position, the chin should be well down on the chest. Then, as the body is raised, the head should be allowed to drop gently backward as far as it will go. Next, return to a sitting position and relax for a moment before repeating the procedure. When the body is pressed up to the complete horizontal position, tense every muscle in the body.”
“This will have a tendency to stimulate Vortexes F, G, E, D, and C. After leaving the Lamasery,” continued Colonel Bradford, “I went to a number of the larger cities in India, and as an experiment conducted classes for both English people and natives. I found that the older members of either felt that unless they could perform a Rite perfectly, right from the beginning, they believed no good could come from it. I had considerable difficulty in convincing them that they were wrong. Finally I persuaded them to do the best they could and see just what happened in a month’s time. After a good deal of persuasion I was able to get them to do their best, and the results in a month’s time were more than gratifying.”
“I remember in one city I had quite a number of old people in one of my classes. With this particular Rite-Number Four-they could just barely get their bodies off the floor; they couldn’t get it anywhere near a horizontal position. In the same class were several much younger persons who had no difficulty in performing the Rite perfectly from the very start. This so discouraged the older people that I had to ask the younger ones to refrain from practicing it before their older classmates. I explained that I could not do it at first, either; that I couldn’t do a bit better than any of them; but that I could perform the Rite fifty times in succession now without feeling the slightest strain on nerves or muscles; and in order to convince them, I did it right before their eyes. From then on, the class broke all records for results accomplished.”