The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
IL. I low
be -ax Beautifu
o ar a Greek Godder.
.A Wobkmi s Interesting New Theory
of " Tensions," That Enables You
to Remodel Your Own
Body into the Like-
neSS of the Ancient
Masterpieces
of Classic Art
Mrs. Watts in the Position of the
Goddess Fortune, Drawn Up on
the Extreme Point of Iter Toes,
the "Very Essence of Force, Able
o Rise Abore Things Earthly."
HAS tho secret of perfection
of body and soul held by the
Greeks beon found? Is It
within the power of a modem woman
to equal the beauty ascribed to the
goddessos of the Greeks and realised
by their women, if she will work in
the light of this socrot?
Mrs. Diana Watts, an accomplished
English woman, claims that she has
not only found this secret but real
ized it in herself. She has much
proof on her side and Is about to
mibllsh a larce volume, with hun
dreds of plotures illustrating her
It is a connection of tho farthest
outposts with hoadquartorB, tho con
tro of the main weight If any part
of tho body is slack it moans lust so
much doad woight to bo carried and
Just by so much drag upon tho
movement will tho rhythm be dislo
cated. Dislocation means strain and
fatlguo owing to tho dlsturtmnco ot
proportion ot tho forcos In activity.
Tho sllmness ot tho hips ot tho
Greeks In men and women was duo
to this condition of tension. Th
waist muBclea having boon properly
dovelopod aa well as thOBO ot tho
back, tho upper part of tho body was
lifted from tho nockot ot tho polvls
and did not sag down on it.
Tlha preliminary position nece
nary to attaining this full stretch la
thus doflned by MrB. Watts:
"Begin jby placing tho foot oloso
togothor so that tho heels and tho
wholo of tho inBldoHIno of tho foet
are touching, tho woight of tho body
well forward over tho ball of the
feet. Although the IiooIb may lust
touch the ground, there must bo no
weight upon them.
method of attaining this ideal
of the ancient Greeks. This
work will appear almost as
onco from the press of Fred
erick A. Stokes Company, Now
York.
All tho world admits, after
studying the sculpture and vase
paintings or ancient Greece,
that the Greoks were undoubt
'edly the physical superiors of
ot all races that existed
' before or since. There was
some great principle by which the
Greeks were guided and Mrs. Watts
believes that this secret consists in
a condition of the musclos totally
different from any realized by ath
letes since the time of the Greeks, a
condition of tension, which trans
forms dead weight into a living
force, and which made the Greek as
different from the modern human
being as a stretched band differs
from a slack one.
While the Greek child did not go
to the gymnasium until It was five
years old, the training of the babies
began in the home. The two most
important things with which the
Greek child began Its physical train
ing were; The cultivation In its
musclos of a condition that
made possible tho maximum
amount ot activity, and tho
mastering ot the laws ot
balance, which enabled that
activity to be controlled with
the smallest expenditure ot
force.
The weight was thrown
chiefly upon the ball of tho
foot, the heel bolng almost en
tirely dispensed. with, and this
helped to give the Greek foot
its perfect form. This helps
to give that appearance of fly
ing to tho Greek, and he
really is possessed of a won
derful elasticity in this way.
Mrs. Watts claims that tho
modern foot can bo brought
back to somothing of this
Greek perfection If proper
shoes are worn. All shoes
should have thin, pliable
soles, to enable the springs
of the foot to work freely,
the movement thus pro
moted, together with a soft
felt Inside sole for cold
weather, ensures more
warmth than a thick bard solo
can ever do. Tho heel need not bo
more than three-quarters of an inch
high, nor need the shoe be square
and ugly, but It should have the
graceful curves of tho natural foot.
The Position
of the
Statue
Reproduced
by
Mrs. Watts,
Proving
Tension
nnd
Balance
as Its
Secrets.
The Statue of the Youth of Subiaco, Showing the Spring
Held in Abeyance, a Striking Instance of Perfect Balance.
by tie Greeks. It is only when there
Is complete connection, through
"stretch" of all the musclos with
Tho word tension, according to
this author, means "elasticity," the
condition of "stretch" being tho pre
liminary essential for the muscles In
all exercises of training performed
the centre of gravity, that any move
ments can bo executed without strain.
i
How Wild Beasts Kill More Human Beings Than War
WE are not yet civilized. The
world has not freed Itself
from the savage beasts that
prey upon human beings. Statistics
prove that thousands are destroyed
annually by tigers, Hons, snakes,
crocodiles, etc. Man must still de
fend himself from the hordes of wild
beasts that rango the forests of the
world.
India is perhaps the groatest suf
ferer, for, ccordlug to statistics of
the year 1011. the latest collated,
tigers on the peninsula of Hindustan
devoured seven hundred and sixty
seven human being. But this Is a
email part of all tho victims of wild
beasts atd venomous serpents, for
they TVJChtJ He awful tota' of
twenty)' tuvjatui, two hundrod
and tvrty-two la that year.
The records of the last ten years,
from 1002 to 1011, show that the
wild beasts of India exacted the ter
rible toll of 243,314 human lives. Of
course, during this same period more
than a million domestic cattle have
been killed by these beasts of prey in
India.
But India has no monopoly in
this slaughter. Thero are no avail
able statistics of the enormous num
ber of natives that nre slain by these
beasts In Af rlcA every year, but there
is enough to Indicate that the num
ber of the victims ot linns, leopards
and buffalo are tens ot thnusauds.
These figures have no relation to
the Immense number of natives not
employed by Europeans, nnd an of
ficer of the Xarobl estimates the loss
there at live hundred a year,
Sudden, Uftctm Uut-opnnnti wero
torn or tramnjfd bj rhinoceroses nr.
elephants, and thirty-two natives
met death by the same beasts.
In 1007 the Rhodeslan Hons killed
one hundred nnd nineteen, and
Portuguese East Africa chronicled
ithe loss of two hundred persons,
among whom were threo European
hunters.
China, which una tried to annihi
late wild beasts from its territories
theso many centuries, still loses at
least a thousand Inhabitants a year
by the claws of tigers, wolves and
bears. Even little Cores has not
succeeded In exterminating the long
haired ferocious tigers with which
that country is infested, more than
two thosand of its inhabitants dis
appearing through their agency every
year.
The most formidable type of tigers
Js the majestic Siberian tiger (Tigris
Xmurlensls), and no exact statistics
ot his ravages are available, nut he
"pyrlght, 1914,
ranges the forests of the Amur River,
where Russia Is only nominally s'ov
erlgn, and during three months of
1000 tho tigers of ono province killed
twelve natives and twenty-seven Rus
sian, subjects, of whom two wero of
ficers and eight wero soldiers, and
one hundred nnd thirty-two Chlneso
Immigrants, or a total of one hun
dred nnd seventy-one victims. This
province Is only one-fifth ot the ter
ritory whore these tigers range, s.
their victims must run into tho thou
sands annually.
The bears and wolves of Slborla
help tho tigers in their war against
man, and, according to the figures
of the Department of Water and
Forests of Siberia G.234 persons, na
tives and convicts, were killed by
wild beasts In ono year. '
On the Russian steppes bears and
wolves tight for possession, slaying
as many as ono hundred and twenty-
by the Star Comoany. Great Britain nights Reserved.
human being a year. Tho wild
beasts of Europe, not counting
snakeB, causo the death of some 1,200
human bejngs each year.
Tho mnu-eatcr is usually nn old,
more or less descroplt Hon or tiger,
thnt Is too slow or weal' to get
tho usual wild game, and, having
onco tasted human flesh, finds It
easier to slink around a settlement
nnd grab Its prey, than to hunt.
One of theso tigers has the bloouy
record of having eaten thirty-two
human beings In forty-flvo days, be
ing killed at last by an English of
ficer. In another district not, far re
moved a man-eater terrorized a dozen
vlllagos for inoro than three months,
nnd although huntod by tho two
thousand natives nil this time, ho
managed to kill and devour fifty of
them. Ho finally killed himself,
Jumping over a picket fence and im
paling himself on the plckota.
"The arms should bo drawn down
to their full length at the sides, with
fingers prossod together but fully
extended. Now, lift tho chin (but
without pushing tho neck too far
back on the spine), and raise the
head well up from the shoulders by
drawing tho neck musclos up to their
full strotch.
"This movement is followed by the
pulling up of tho waist muscles with
a simultaneous downward stretch of
tho arms to prevent hunching up tho
shoulders. Great care must bo taken
not to contract the diaphragm un
naturairy by holding tho breath while
stretching it.
"The pulling up of tho waist mus
cles really constitutes a drawing up
of tho body away from tho legs, as It
were, which should make tho coun
ter stretch down wnrds."
The middle ot the diaphragm Is
held to be tho centre of grnvlty and
from it all tho currents of tension
should go out to tho rest of the body.
Mrs. Watts haa devoloped series
ot movements, starting from this
first position, by which the body acta
easily, gracefully and In perfect ac
cord. In order to secure diagrams
of the preclso course of tho action
of the body sho has had a largo num
ber of moving-pictures taken ot her
self while exercising, and these ap
pear in the book explaining her sys
tem. In order to show how the feet
describe certain mathematical fig
ures on tho floor she' had electric
lamps attached to her heels, and
then with a camera suspended over
her head, the room being darkened,
exact diagrams of each exerclso
were made.
Taking, for example, Exercise
vni., of whlh the diagram appears,
the preliminary position having been
A Photograph of n "Tension" Pot
tern Traced by Electric Lights
on tho Feet of Mrs. Watts and.
Below It the Snmo Pattern in
Geometrical Form.
takon, a short step back with tho
loft foot is tho first move, tho too ot
tho right foot touching tho floor, both
kneos porfoctly straight. Carry tho
uplifted arms and shoulders round
to tho loft until tho arms form a
right anglo to the direction ot tho
foot.
Then tho right foot comes around
and back in a swooping Inward curvo,
until in lino with tho loft toot. As
tho right foot touches tho ground, tho
kneo should bend, lowering tho body
about five inches. Tho loft foot
should now bo touching tho ground
with tho extreme point of tho big
too, and although tho heel will bo
well raised, the direction of tho
wholo foot should bo exactly tho
snmo ns it was when having taken
tho first stop backward.
Tho diagram makes it easy to carry
out what would otherwlBo appear a
complicated movement, but it Is by
this and tho othor oxorctBcs thnt the
author has succeeded in obtaining
this tension of tbo body which is tho
secret ot it all.
Mrs. Watts claims that when, per
fectly tonso tho body is In conscious
connection with soma oxternnl force,
to which It responds by vibration. Sho
asserts that it is even possible for n
human being In tho highest state of
tonslon to lose all consciousness of
bodily woight, having as It were,
como In touch with Borne other force,
nnd become part of It, to tho extent
of being ablo to mnko use ot its
power.
When thus attuned wo realize life
nt its maximum, and gain an insight
into tho almost llmltloss possibilities
of a perfectly trained will power, and
to visunllzo tho result of n brnln
mechanism so porfoct structurally
that It neither distorts nor obstructs
tho stream of consciousness which
flows through each human mind from
tho "Mother Sen."
To tho old Greeks tho training of
that particular musclo which was ot
nil possessions tho highest," formed
tho secret of tho marvellous unity of
their development.
Mrs. Watts says "Tho definite re
action of this diaphragm upon tho
Bplrlt Is proved in moments of Joy
when ono takes deep, expanding
broathB which lift ono up; while in
dopression ono's head falls forward,
one's 'heart sinks,' as tho snylng Is,
and there Is a general feeling of col
Inpse." By tho practlco of tense uplifting
movements, you may Induce its cor
responding state of mind, it is this
which explains how the basic prin
ciples ot aesthetic law are India
solubly connected with tho dynamlo
instinct, for In finely balanced, tenso
movement lies the solution of the
problem of this law, and a clear
answer Is given to tho reason "why"
of our perception of beauty in what
ever form it may bo expressed,
either through muslo or painting or
sculpture.
This answer is tho power of Hfo,
physical and mental, nnd, rightly
understood, the exhortation of the
Psalmist In the words "Lift up your
hearts" comes to have a literal moro
than a figurative meaning.
It Is the contention that "On the
strength of tho diaphragm depends
tho strength ot tho spirit, thnt un
quenchable flame of conscious will
power, tho energising fire that Arts
totlo "called 'the reality, energela'
in contradistinction to tho tempor
ality of mere brain mechanism.
"The power to respond Is the
highest desire of the human being.
Without it man is lost; with this
power developed to Us utmost limits,
tho road Is clear, and nothing can ob
struct or discourage."
To tho human being whose organ.
Ism has boon trained to recognize and
respond to the highest laws comes
reward in tho shape of a power to
discern and accept the inevitable
without wasting energy and strength
in useless combat, at tho same time
realizing how few conditions are in
evitable with a will strong enough to
overcomo and dominate clrcum
stanco rather than bo moulded by it.
This, result, onco achloved, is for
ever; there Is no slipping back, no
growing Btlffness of knee-joints to bo
remedied, no slackening muscles to
bo worked up, no aching spine that
requires longer hours ot couch repose
each month or yoar, no nervous
strain or Irritability or uncertainty,
only calm confidence In tho power to
envisage unshaken every eventuality.
Everything works in harmony, nnd
the physical disintegration, Inevitable
under tho law, becomes almost Im
perceptible from Its unity ot chan-
