12 EXERCISES y Thos. Parker Boyd

Question—In practicing the Silence, the mind seems to flutter all about and there is great nervous tension. What is wrong?

Answer—Lack of concentration. This person ought to follow some simple exercise of concentration, such as given below, until the mind has control over the body. By practicing a few of the simple exercises given below, fifteen minutes a day, and then taking the Silence a few hours after these exercises have been practiced, the mind will begin to be under control.

The nervous tension is caused because of this lack of control, and in the effort to bring the scattering mind into one focus the reaction comes upon the nervous system which, in turn, reacts upon the body.

Practice and exercises for lack of concentration follow.

EXERCISES

(1) Select some part of the body, a foot or hand, with the idea of HEAT. While holding the mind in this attitude, breathe deeply and steadily, and, in from one to four minutes, you will feel the warm glow coming to the foot. In this way, you can soon master the entire body. Begin with the sense of feeling. If there is an itching of the body, make it stop by the force of your will. In from three days to three weeks, you can stop the itching sensation at will. Then try the habit of sneezing; stubbornly resist the inclination to sneeze, and you will soon have the mastery. Now try your will on coughing. When the tickling sensation comes, stop it by the exercise of your will. You can soon master it. Next try it on pain. When you feel a pain in the body, instead of rubbing on liniment, rub in a little will power; soon it will ease your pain as if by magic. With the fingers of one hand rub the skin on the back of the other hand, stroking toward the elbow, and will that all feeling shall disappear. In from one to three minutes, take a needle, and you can stick it through the skin on the back of the hand without pain. You may have to try it a dozen times, but persistence will bring success. Having mastered the sense of feeling, take up that of hearing.

(2) It may seem impossible at first thought, but you have seen people so absorbed in what they were reading or thinking that they heard nothing, although you addressed them directly. They are simply abstracted from all else, and are thinking of one thing—to the exclusion of everything else. They entered this state of abstractedness unconsciously. To

do so intentionally, you go by the law of indirectness. For instance, take sight; concentrate your vision and your whole attention upon some object, real or imaginary, until soon the sense of HEARING becomes dormant. A little practice will enable you to study, think or sleep, regardless of noise.

(3) Having mastered hearing, begin on SIGHT. You have known people who walked on the street, looked at you and passed by without recognition, although they knew you well. A person deeply thinking on some subject, neither sees nor hears, but uses the mental sense entirely. The method is to let the eyes be open, but concentrate the thoughts on hearing or feeling.

(4) After getting control of your sight, take up the TASTE.

Take some tasteless thing on the tongue, abstract the mind to something else until the taste becomes dormant. Then take something with more taste to it, abstracting the taste, until by this gradual process you can make the sourest pickle sweet.

(5) Finally take some light odor, and hold it before the nostrils, abstracting the attention from the sense of smell,

by hearing or seeing, etc., until by practice you can pass through the foulest odor without inconvenience or notice.

Sit or stand absolutely motionless, except your breathing, for one to five minutes at a time. Do this often.

Practice closing each finger in rotation; then, when all are closed, open one at a time very slowly, keeping the attention fixed on what you are doing. Keep all the other fingers still, save the one you are exercising with.

Inhale gradually for ten seconds, then exhale in the same way and time.

Look steadily at some point or object for a minute without winking the eye, keeping your attention fixed on the object.

Look at a picture critically, then close your eyes and mentally reconstruct it.

Close your eyes and construct the face of a friend, feature by feature.

Fix your attention on a hand or foot, hold on it the idea of heat and continue until the hand or foot feels warm. Then try cold; then try pain.

Will that the person in front of you shall turn around or put his hand on his head or neck.

Hold your hand on some one in pain and say, "I will the pain to depart." Repeat till the pain goes.

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