(There is no need to blow your nose prior to or after this method
of drying.)
- The neti practice should be implemented in the morning, before
meditating, and therefore before eating. When you are trained,
you complete it in 2 or 3 minutes, including the drying.
Practise every morning for about one or two years, and then wait
a few years before resuming another year of practice. - Neti has a sharp invigorating action. It makes you feel acutely
aware, awake and refreshed. It strengthens the third eye in a
conspicuous way and stimulates clairvoyant vision. If you can be
brave enough to overcome the discomfort of the first attempts,
you will soon enjoy it very much and gain substantial benefits
from it. - Once you have mastered neti, you become able to suppress any
cold if you happen to catch one. You gain the capacity to adjust the
energy at the back of your throat in a way that will stop any
nasal discharge. (The trick works better if you take the cold at its
onset.)
However I strongly advise you not to do so! Respect the little
discharges of the body, do not suppress them. They are a natural
elimination: they play a role in maintaining the general balance of
your system. So please put up with the cold and according to one
of our mottos, ‘let it flow’. The modern habit of rushing to a
health practitioner every time we have a little symptom is childish
and based on a misunderstanding of the body's economy. In many
cases minor ailments should be allowed to follow their course.
Treating minor diseases can sometimes end up creating major ones
in the long run.
16.2 The use of rhythms
In section 11.8 we discussed how the astral body is lacking a sense
of rhythm. The following suggestions aim at strengthening this
weak side of your astral body.
The first advice is to practise your exercises every day at exactly
the same time. The results of this measure will be out of
proportion with the effort it will take you to implement it. After
all, if you devote some time every morning to your meditation,
does it make such a difference to you whether you start exactly at
seven, for instance, instead of any time between a quarter to and a
quarter past? And yet, as far as the results go, it does make a very
significant difference. Every day your system will automatically