Exercise

1. Whilst walking down the street, fix your attention upon someone walking just ahead of you. A distance of at least six to ten feet should separate you, and a greater distance is no obstacle. Fasten a firm, steady, earnest gaze upon your subject, focusing the gaze upon the back of the neck, just at the base of the brain. Whilst gazing firmly at this point, will that the subject shall turn his head and look around in your direction. A little practice is required to perfect yourself in this exercise, but after you once acquire the "knack" of it, you will be surprised at the percentage of people whom you can affect in this way. Women seem to be more highly susceptible to this mental influence than are men.
2. Fix your gaze upon some one sitting ahead of you in church, theater, concert, etc., focusing your gaze upon the same point as in the previous exercise, and will that the person shall look around. You will notice that the subject will fidget around in his seat, appear more or less uncomfortable, and finally half turn in his seat and direct a quick glance in your direction. This experiment will prove more successful with persons whom you know, than with strangers. The better you know the person, the quicker the influence will manifest itself. The two exercise just given can be indefinitely multiplied by the ingenuity of the student. The principle is the same in all cases, the concentrated gaze and strong, earnest, expectant willing or demanding the result, being the prime factors in producing the phenomenon. You, of course, realize that the concentrated will power can be developed by the practice of the exercises given in the lesson on Concentration. If you find difficulty in producing the above results, you will know that your powers of concentration are not sufficiently developed, and you will accordingly perfect yourself in this respect.
3. Select some person who may be seated on the opposite side of a streetcar from you, but several seats to the right or left of the point directly opposite you. You may look straight ahead, so as to appear as if you were not looking at the other party, but you will be conscious of his presence, and will see him out of the corner of your eye. Direct a strong mental demand toward him, willing and expecting that he will look in your direction. If you manage it properly, you will find that in a few moments the party will suddenly glance in your direction. Sometimes the glance will be directed in a seemingly unconscious manner, just as if the party had merely felt a passing fancy to look at you, whilst in other cases the glance will be shot at you, suddenly and sharply, as if the party had been conscious of a mental call. The person obeying the call often will look embarrassed, and somewhat sheepish, when he meets your full magnetic gaze, which you have directed upon him when he turned his eyes in your direction.
4. When talking with a person, and he seems to hesitate in the choice of a word, glance sharply at him and give a strong mental suggestion of a word. In many cases he will immediately repeat the word, which you have suggested. Your word must be appropriate, as otherwise his Passive mind may hesitate about using it, and his Active mind will step in and insert another word. Some students have tried this experiment in the case of a public speaker, preacher, etc., and have related many amusing instances in their experience. I remember reading a work, translated from a German writer, in which is mentioned the case of a youth whose powers of Concentration and Volation were most highly developed. He was a student at a leading college, and being more interested in athletic sports than in study, ran a great risk of falling behind in his work. Having discovered his powers, accidentally, he contrived a plan in the furtherance of which he would commit to memory but a few answers in each lesson. When the professor would start to quiz him he would send forth strong vibrations, willing the "professor" to select certain questions, the answer to which he had memorized, the result being that he stood up well in each class. The German writer, however, went on to say that his plan failed, the young man in his examination, as the final questions were being prepared by the faculty and submitted in writing, the student had no opportunity to try the "willing game" on the day of the examination.
5. An interesting experiment is that of willing the movement of a person in a certain direction. This can be tried when walking behind a person on the street, by focusing the gaze as instructed. When the person approaches another person walking in the opposite direction, you may will the subject to turn either to the right or left, in passing the other person. You may also try this experiment in the case of a person approaching you in the street. In this case you should walk straight ahead, turning neither to the right nor to the left, keeping your gaze fixed on the approaching party, and making a mental command that he turn to the right or left, as you will.
6. Stand at your window and fix your eyes upon an approaching person, at the same time willing that he turn his head and look at you whilst passing. You will find that he will obey your mental attraction, seven times out of ten, providing your powers of concentration are sufficiently well developed. Even without the practice of the Concentrations exercises, you will be able to influence passer by sufficiently often to satisfy you that there is "something in it." You will be able to obtain better results in this particular experiment, if you will stand at a first floor window rather than at a window higher from the ground. The motion of obeying the impulse and merely turning the head being so much easier than the motion of looking up to a second or third floor window, the percentage of results obtained by the first plan will greatly exceed those of the latter one. This exercise may be varied by the plan of compelling the attention of a person seated at a window, which you are passing, and so on. When you once begin to practice these exercises, you will find it so fascinating that you will invent new plans of testing your power, you being governed by the particular circumstances of the occasion.

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