Article Surfing Archive

It will be necessary to first train the body to obey the commandsof the mind. I want you to gain control of your muscularmovements. The following exercise is especially good in assistingyou to acquire perfect control of the muscles.

Exercise 1

Sit in a comfortable chair and see how still you can keep. Thisis not as easy as it seems. You will have to center yourattention on sitting still. Watch and see that you are not makingany involuntary muscular movements. By a little practice you willfind you are able to sit still without a movement of the musclesfor fifteen minutes. At first I advise sitting in a relaxedposition for five minutes. After you are able to keep perfectlystill, increase the time to ten minutes and then to fifteen. Thisis as long as it is necessary. But never strain yourself to keepstill. You must be relaxed completely. You will find this habitof relaxing is very good.

Exercise 2

Sit in a chair with your head up and your chin out, shouldersback. Raise your right arm until it is on the level with yourshoulder, pointing to your right. Look around, with head only,and fix your gaze on your fingers, and keep the arm perfectlystill for one minute. Do the same exercise with left arm. Whenyou are able to keep the arm perfectly steady, increase the timeuntil you are able to do this five minutes with each arm. Turnthe palm of the hand downward when it is outstretched, as this isthe easiest position. If you will keep your eyes fixed on thetips of the fingers you will be able to tell if you are keepingyour arm perfectly still.

Exercise 3

Fill a small glass full of water, and grasp it by the fingers;put the arm directly in front of you. Now fix the eyes upon theglass and try to keep the arm so steady that no movement will benoticeable. Do this first for one moment and then increase it tofive. Do the exercise with first one arm and then the other.

Exercise 4

Watch yourself during the day and see that your muscles do notbecome tense or strained. See how easy and relaxed you can keepyourself. See how poised you can be at all times. Cultivate aself-poised manner, instead of a nervous, strained appearance.This mental feeling will improve your carriage and demeanor. Stopall useless gestures and movements of the body. These mean thatyou have not proper control over your body. After you haveacquired this control, notice how "ill-at-ease" people are thathave not gained this control. I have just been sizing up asalesman that has just left me. Part of his body kept moving allthe time. I just felt like saying to him, "Do you know how muchbetter appearance you would make if you would just learn to speakwith your voice instead of trying to express what you say withyour whole body?" Just watch those that interview you and see howthey lack poise.

Get rid of any habit you have of twitching or jerking any part ofyour body. You will find you make many involuntary movements. Youcan quickly stop any of these by merely centering your attentionon the thought, "I will not."

If you are in the habit of letting noises upset you, justexercise control; when the door slams, or something falls, etc.,just think of these as exercises in self-control. You will findmany exercises like this in your daily routine.

The purpose of the above exercises is to gain control over theinvoluntary muscular movement, making your actions entirelyvoluntary. The following exercises are arranged to bring yourvoluntary muscles under the control of the will, so that yourmental forces may control your muscular movements.

Exercise 5

Move your chair up to a table, placing your hands upon it,clenching the fists, keeping the back of the hand on the table,the thumb doubled over the fingers. Now fix your gaze upon thefist for a while, then gradually extend the thumb, keeping yourwhole attention fixed upon the act, just as if it was a matter ofgreat importance. Then gradually extend your first finger, thenyour second and so on until you open the rest. Then reverse theprocess, closing first the last one opened and then the rest, andfinally you will have the fist again in the original positionwith the thumb closed over the finger. Do this exercise with theleft hand. Keep up this exercise first with one hand and then theother until you have done it five times with each hand. In a fewdays you can increase it to ten times.

The chances are that the above exercises will at first make you"tired," but it is important for you to practice these monotonousexercises so you can train your attention. It also gives youcontrol over your muscular movement. The attention, of course,must be kept closely on each movement of the hand; if it is not,you of course lose the value of the exercise.