10 



THE BARB AND THE BRIDLE. 



arms, turn the palms of the hands outwards, and lock the thumbs 

 together, the right thumb within the left (Fig. 10). 3. Keeping the 

 body, head, and neck perfectly erect, place the head between the 

 arms, the thumbs still firmly locked together. 4. Keeping the knees 

 perfectly straight, lower the hands, and bend the back gradually and 

 very slowly forward and downwards, until the points of the fingers 

 touch the instep (Fig. 11). 5. Raise the body and head (the latter 

 still between the arms), quietly up in the same slow time, bringing 



Fig. 9. 



Fig. 10. 



the hands again well above the head (Fig. 12). 6. Lower the hands 

 gradually (turning the palms upwards), first to the level of the 

 shoulders, making a momentary pause there, and then quietly to the 

 sides, carrying the hands in their descent from the shoulder as much 

 as possible to the rear, while the weight of the body is thrown entirely 

 upon the front of the foot. 



In this exercise aU depends upon keeping the knee joints perfectly 

 straight, and the head, in the bending-down movement, as much as 

 possible between the arms. 



