The Practice of Concentering
Exercises in the concentering - Shutting out outside
impressions - Conquering inattention - Cultivating will power -
Training the body to obey the will - Volitional control of muscular
movements - Not so easy of acquirements - Sitting still exercises -
Controlling muscles of the arm – Exercises - Steadying the muscles –
Exercises - Cultivate equanimity and mental and physical ease -
Examples-Getting rid of ugly habits of motion - Volitional attention
- Exercises developing same - Direction for additional exercise -Concentered
attention upon outside object - General explanation - Miscellaneous
exercises.
The fist requisite of concentering is the ability to shut out
outside thoughts, sounds and sights; to conquer inattention; to
obtain perfect control over the body and mind. The body must be
brought under the direct control of the mind; the mind under the
direct control of the will. The Will is strong enough, but the Mind
needs strengthening by being brought under the direct influence of
the Will. The Mind, strengthened by the impulse of the Will, becomes
a much more powerful projector of thought vibrations, than
otherwise, and the vibrations have much greater force and effect.
In these exercises I will begin with training the body to readily
obey the commands of the Mind.
The first exercise, and one which must be mastered before the
succeeding exercises are undertaken, is the control of the muscular
movements. This, at first sight, may appear very simple, but a few
experiments will convince you that you have much to learn. The
following exercises will be of great benefit to you in acquiring
perfect control of the muscles.
1. SIT STILL. This is no easy task. It will at first try your
powers of concentering, to refrain from involuntary muscular
movements, but by a little practice you will be able to sit still,
without a movement of the muscles, for fifteen minutes or more. The
best plan is to place yourself in an easy chair, assuming a
comfortable position, then relax all over, and endeavor to remain
perfectly quiescent for a period of five minutes. Continue this
exercise until you can accomplish it with ease, and then increase
the time to ten minutes. After you have mastered the ten minutes
exercise, increase the time to fifteen minutes, which is about as
far as you need pursue the exercises. You should not tire yourself
with this, or any of our other exercises. The better plan is to
practice a little at a time, but as often as possible. Bear in mind
that you must not sit in a rigid position; there must be no strain
on the muscles; you must relax completely. This plan of relaxing
will prove valuable to you when you wish to get a good rest after
fatiguing physical exertion. It is an ideal "rest cure," and may be
taken either sitting in a chair or lying down on a couch or bed.
2. Sit erect in your chair, with your head up and your chin out,
and shoulder thrown back. Raise you right arm until it is level with
your shoulder, pointing to the right. Turn your head and fix your
gaze on your hand, and hold the arm perfectly steady for one minute.
Repeat with the left arm. When you are able to perform this feat,
perfectly, increase the time to two minutes, then to three, and so
on until you are able to maintain the position for five minutes. The
palm of the hand should be turned downward, this being the easiest
position. By keeping the eyes fixed on the tips of the fingers; you
will be able to see whether you are holding your arm perfectly
steady.
3. Fill a wine glass full of water, and taking the glass between
the fingers, extend the right arm directly in front of you. Fix the
eyes upon the glass, and endeavor to hold the arm so steady that no
quiver will be noticeable. Commence with one-minute exercises, and
increase until the five-minute limit is reached. Alternate right and
left arms.
4. In your everyday life, endeavor to avoid a tense, strained
conditions of the muscles, when you should be at ease. Endeavor to
acquire a self-poised attitude and demeanor. Cultivate an easy,
self-possessed manner, in preference to a nervous, strained,
over-anxious appearance. Mental exercise will help you to acquire
the proper carriage and demeanor. Stop beating the "devil's tattoo"
on the table or chair. Such actions indicate a lack of self-control.
Don't tap on the floor with your foot, nor swing your feet backward
or forward while talking or sitting. Don't rock backward and forward
in a rocking chair, as if you were working a machine at so much an
hour. Don't bite your nails, nor chew your lips or cheek, don’t
wiggle your tongue around in your mouth, whilst reading or studying,
or writing. Don't wink or blink your eyes. Get rid of any habit of
twitching or jerking of any part of the body, which may have become
second nature to you. You can stop it easily by "carrying the
thought" and practicing concentering. Train yourself to bear with
equanimity and composure, noises which have been startling you
heretofore, such as the banging of a suddenly closed door, the
dropping of a book or other object, etc. In other words, keep
yourself well in hand. The above exercises will be of great
assistance to you in getting yourself just where you want.
The above exercises were given to teach you the art of
controlling involuntary muscular movement, thus bringing your body
under the control of the voluntary functions. The following
exercises are designed to enable you to bring you voluntary muscular
movements under the direct control of the Will, in other words, to
train the mental faculties producing voluntary muscular movement.
1. Sit in front of a table, placing your hands upon the table,
the fists clinched and lying with the backs of the hands on the
table, the thumb being doubled over the fingers. Fix your gaze upon
the fist for a while, and then slowly extend. Then reverse the
process, closing first the little finger and continuing the closing
until the fist is again in its original position, with the thumb
closed over the fingers. Repeat with the left hand. Continue this
exercise five times at a sitting, and then increase it to ten times.
This exercise will make you "tired," but you must persevere as it
is of importance to you in the directions of training your attention
by directing it to trivial and monotonous exercises; in addition, it
will give you direct control over all of your muscular movements.
You soon will feel the benefit accruing from these simple and
apparently unimportant exercises. Do not fail to keep the attention
closely upon the closing and unclosing of the fingers. That is the
main point, if you neglect it; you lose the entire benefit of the
exercise.
2. This exercise is nothing more or less than the old trick,
often observed among our country cousins, known as "twirling the
thumbs." Place the fingers of one hand, leaving the thumbs free.
Then slowly twirl the thumbs one over the other, with a circular
motion. Be sure to keep the attention firmly fixed upon the ends of
the thumbs.
3. Place the right hand on the knee, the fingers and thumb
closed, with the exception of the first finger, which must be
pointed out in front of you. Then move the finger slowly from side
to side, keeping the attention firmly fixed upon the end of the
finger.
These exercises may be extended indefinitely, and you may
exercise your ingenuity in supplying additional one under this head.
The main idea is that the exercise shall consist of some trivial,
familiar, momentous muscular movement, and that the attention must
be kept firmly fixed upon the moving part of the body. Your
attention will revolt at the slavery enforced upon it, and will
endeavor in every possible way to escape its thralldom. This is
where the training comes in, and you must insist that your attention
does its work, from beginning to end, and not wander away to more
congenial scenes or occupations. Think of yourself as a strict
schoolmaster, and of your attention as a playful, fun loving boy who
tires of looking at his book and wishes to steal sly glances out of
the window and door at the more attractive sights on the outside.
Your business is to keep the boy at his book, knowing that it will
be better for him, although he cannot see it just that way now.
Before long, you will notice that you have much better control over
your muscular movements, carriage and demeanor, and will also
observe an increased power of attention and concentering in your
everyday affairs, which will be of considerable advantage to you.
This class of exercises is intended to aid you in concentering
your attention upon some material object not connected with
yourself. Take some uninteresting object, such as a pencil, and
concenter your entire attention upon it for five minutes. Look at it
intently; everything of it; turn it over; consider it; think of its
uses; its objects; of the materials of which it is made; the process
of manufacturing, etc. Think of nothing else but the pencil. Imagine
that your chief object in life is the study of that pencil. Imagine
that there exists nothing else in the world but you and the pencil.
"Only one world, and but two things in it, the pencil and I." Do not
let your attention get away from the pencil, but keep it down to its
work. You will realize what a rebellious creature your attention is
when you try this exercise, but don't let him get the upper hand of
you. It is very tiresome to him, but it is for his own good, so
stick to it. When you have conquered the rebellious attention you
will have achieved a greater victory that you now realize. Many a
time in after life, when you need the closest attention upon some
matter before you, you will thank me for "putting you on" to this
exercise.
This exercise can be varied each day, always choosing some
uninteresting and familiar object upon which to concenter the
attention. Don't select an interesting object; for it requires no
effort to concenter upon that. You need something that will seem
like "work" to the attention. The less interesting the object - the
more the work - and the better the exercise. The trouble with this
exercise is, that you will soon run out of material, as the
continued concentering of the attention upon uninteresting objects
will, in the end, cause the attention, in self defense, to take an
interest in the things upon which it concenters. However, when you
have reached this stage, you will have but little further need of
the exercise, as you then will be able to concenter your attention
upon anything, or anybody.
The above exercises will be sufficient for your purpose, it being
understood that you will extend the several exercises by material
supplied by your own invention and ingenuity. You may practice upon
something occurring in your everyday world. You will not be at a
loss for material upon which to practice, now that you have the main
idea impressed upon you memory.
The exercises given in the preceding lessons can be practiced
more intelligently, now that you understand the advantage to be
gained by concentering. You will be able to "carry the thought"
better, to direct more energy into suggestions, and into the
projection of thought vibrations. Your eye exercises will take on a
new phase, and so will the exercises in Telepathic Volation, etc.
You will be able to overcome bad habits, and acquire good habits in
their place. In short, by the acquirement of the art of concentering,
you will be able to do everything better than formerly. You will
have acquired a firm control over body and mind, and will find that
you are now the master of your inclinations, not their slave. The
power gained over yourself will manifest itself in the power to
control others. The man, who conquers himself, has no trouble in
impressing his will upon others. Continue the practice of
concentering and developing the amenability of the Mind to the Will,
and you will become a giant, compared to men who have not acquired
this power. Try your will power on yourself in different ways, until
you feel confident that you have won the mastery of self. Be
satisfied with nothing else. When you have gained that, the mastery
of others is already yours.
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