Chapter 14 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.