The Pelman System of Mind and Memory Training - Lessons I to XII. Anon

or two, then stretch a little further still, even if it begins to produce a feeling almost of pain. Do not over-strain. Then, still keeping the leg stiff and the knee back, send the heel down as far away from you as it will go, and keep it there for a moment or two; then the toes down again; then the heel down again.

      Next, rest and relax with this leg and foot, and go through the exercise with the other leg and foot instead.

      Then go through it with both legs and feet together.

      This exercise has many advantages, one of which is that it serves as a means of curing and preventing cold feet. It also can cure certain kinds of headache, by removing the blood-pressure from the brain. And it improves the circulation generally; and has other capital effects.

       Exercise II.

      Now, still lying in bed, put your two hands over your abdomen, one higher up than the other. Close your mouth, and, as you inhale through your nostrils, send your abdomen up and out. Hold it up and out when you have finished inhaling. A second or two will be quite enough at first. Then exhale quietly, and empty your lungs well, while you draw your abdomen in; and, at the end of the drawing in, press downwards with your hands.

      This is one form of diaphragmatic breathing, and it is the kind usually taught in schools, as the first Breathing exercise. It has many advantages, including its good effects on the nerves and on the endurance. But I will not speak of these advantages here. I shall speak of them in a later Lesson.

      Repeat the exercise once or twice, but be sure not to strain. If it makes you at all giddy, don’t repeat it at once.

       Exercise III.

      Now, getting out of bed, practise skin drill, not in the elaborate way suggested by a Danish athletic instructor, but, if you like, with some underclothing on. Rub your skin all over with the palms of your hands, or, if you prefer, with a loofah, or a skin-brush, or skin-glove, or perhaps sometimes in one way, sometimes in another.

      This will improve your circulation, and of course will clean your skin of its dead particles, and will be good exercise in itself.

      You could go through the skin drill either before you have a bath, or afterwards, or, to some extent, during the bath.

      Having gone through the skin drill, close your eyes for a moment, and, keeping your hands and arms still, try to recall the movements and sensations of the skin drill—that is to say, go through the skin drill, not in reality, but in imagination. Be sure to do this immediately after the skin drill.

      It is generally agreed that the most effective way of remembering many kinds of things is to recall them directly afterwards, before they have faded from the mind.

      On the first day, do not give up too much time and energy to this skin drill. A minute may be quite enough. You could, if you like, keep on some of your clothing while you are massaging some parts of your body. Then cover these whilst you are massaging the other parts.

      It need not always be the mere rubbing of the skin; it could sometimes be slapping and pinching, etc.

      In the Second Lesson there will be some leg and arm stretching, a second Breathing exercise, and some gentle hopping anc skipping without a rope.

       PELMAN LESSON II.

      Success in any kind of enterprise—commercial literary, scholastic, social or political—require: Energy. This subject is dealt with in Lesson II where we show how well-directed Energy develops mental ability and formulates character

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      THE

      PELMAN SYSTEM

      OF

      MIND & MEMORY

      TRAINING

       LESSON II.

       CONTENTS

       LESSON II.

      THE MENTAL POWER HOUSE.

       I. HUMAN ENERGY

       II. MODELS OF ENERGY

       III. WHAT IS YOUR WORK?

       IV. IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENT

       V. DEFECTIVE ENERGY

       VI. HOW HUMAN ENERGY IS ORIGINATED

       VII. ENERGY DEVELOPS MENTAL ABILITY

       VIII. ENERGY FORMULATES CHARACTER

       IX. CAUSES OF LACK OF ENERGY

       X. KNOWLEDGE AND ENERGY

       XI. THE TESTIMONY OF PSYCHOLOGISTS

       XII. THOUGHTS ON FORCE

       XIII. A METHOD OF SELF-ANALYSIS

       XIV. QUESTIONS FOR SELF-DRILL

       XV. MEMORY TRAINING

       Supplement

      THE E.M. HEALTH EXERCISES

      THE PELMAN SYSTEM OF MIND AND MEMORY TRAINING.

      LESSON II.

      THE MENTAL POWER HOUSE.

      1. When taking up this Course of Training you were no doubt conscious of certain defects in the working of your mental machinery: perhaps you could not focus your attention easily; or you had contracted the habit of forgetting; or you lacked self-confidence, or will power. To use the language of electricity, something had gone wrong with the powerhouse, and irregularities of working were the natural result.

      In this lesson we shall first deal with the human power-house, describing it in detail and showing its relation