How To Put The Subconscious Mind To Work
	How To Give Treatments - Continued <  Previous Contents Next  >

The chronic invalid is not only treated for immediate relief from pain or mental disturbance but for complete restoration to health and such a patient may require as you would naturally expect, systematic and educational treating to break the old sick habits so that the health habits may be firmly established and grounded. One of the most successful healers I know, says: As a rule, I do not treat patients for any special thing, but rather treat them for perfect health and harmony, because it is difficult, many times, to diagnose a person's disease and locate exactly the physical organ that is out of harmony with the rest of the body. Less than ten per cent of the practicing physicians are always right in their diagnosis of a patient's trouble and that is one reason why so many of them fail to "make good" in their profession.

Another mode of healing used by some practitioners is first to have the patient tell the healer what are the symptoms or what seems to be the matter ? Then to have the patient sit in a reclining position in a morris chair or rocker tilted back, relax, close the eyes, remain quiet and let the mind drift indifferently.

You will notice this differs from some other methods. While some require the patient to think with the operator and others want the patient to be relaxed and think of nothing, there are those who suggest to the patient that he let the mind go as it pleases and then again to become absolutely indifferent to what the mind does.

Then in a few minutes, say three or five minutes, the operator gives audibly in a low tone of voice suggestions pertaining to the cure of the particular disease or symptom saying that the symptoms are disappearing and they will disappear, that they are becoming less and less noticeable or gradually leaving, leaving, leaving.

My own opinion is that, before the patient is dismissed, such an affirmation should be followed by strong positive suggestions for a decided improvement. I believe the very best way is to make suggestions that the body is well, whole and complete, harmonious, strong and normal in all functionings.

Then again it is well after the suggestions for healing have been given, to sit silently by the patient, thus telepathically continuing the treatment free from audible vibrations. Some healers have great power this way and many sensitive people receive healing treatment with more force given in this manner.

If this kind of a treatment is given, the audible suggestions should probably be repeated three or four times during the half hour's treatment, each one followed by a silent treatment. If not each one, then at least the last.

The same method with suitable affirmation may be used to demonstrate success, prosperity or anything one desires.

It has long been recognized that there is an out- going, subtle force from each individual, and this out-going force will be of course strong in any one who has developed the power of healing.

Jesus and his disciples recognized this. Christ said, "I perceive that virtue is gone out of me."

At another time he said, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest awhile." This indicates that in the impact of one individuality upon another through the agency of physical touch, some force or power leaves the healer, which has a tendency to deplete his vitality.

We all know the dragging effect of certain personalities and if the fluidic radiations of the body could always be seen it would not be so difficult to understand why this occurs. There are, unfortunately, human vampires, unconscious though they be, and very little is to be gained in permitting an absorption of one's energies by such sponges. It is all very well to claim an inexhaustible supply of strength, but we have not yet arrived at the point where this can be wholly demonstrated, and it is therefore necessary, especially in giving magnetic treatment, to observe some precautions and use it with care.

Or as Thomson Jay Hudson says:

Some healers fancy that "they take on the conditions of the patient," as they phrase it. That is, they feel the symptoms which afflict the patient. There is no question but that those who enter upon the treatment of a case with that idea firmly fixed in mind will experience the anticipated sensations, often to a marked degree. But late scientific experiments disclose the fact that such phenomena are always the effect of suggestion. The physical exhaustion which some healers feel after the treatment of a case is also largely due to suggestion. These effects may always be counteracted by a vigorous autosuggestion; and, moreover, the same means may be effectively employed to produce exactly the opposite effects upon the operator. That is to say, the mental healer, by whatever method he does his work, may always cause his treatment of a patient to redound to his own benefit, as well as to that of the patient, by the exercise of the power of autosuggestion.

You may be so happy in your healing as to want to go out and tell others about the joy you have and so do your bit in healing others. You may follow any one of the methods which we have outlined in this series. You may be of great service to some other sufferer, perhaps heal him, and then feel a strange sensation yourself. In fact, you may take, for the time being, the very conditions and pains of the person you have helped. Sensitive and sympathetic practitioners sometimes temporarily suffer thus, but remember there is no danger that you will take on the condition of another, UNLESS YOU THINK SO.

You may have the identical pain, you may act as a human magnet and draw from the patient the precise pain into the same organ, in which the patients' distress is located, but remember this is only temporary, unless you become frightened and allow your fears to take possession of the sub- conscious. Then you may get sick, but let me repeat, there is no danger if, when you take on the condition of the patient, you instantly take a health affirmation.

The healer very often feels the identical pain in the same region or organ of his own body as that of the one whom he is treating. The more sensitive and the more intuitive the healer the more is he prone to take on the conditions of the patient he is treating. He acts as a human magnet, he actually extracts and draws from the patient the pains his subject is experiencing.

Not only is the healer a magnet drawing the actual pains from the patient, but the patient who is throwing off the thing he does not want is, in turn, drawing strength, energy, vital force and power from the healer.

Nevertheless, a positive affirmation, a positive healer and positive formulae prevent much of this taking-on-the-condition-of-the-patient.

Therefore, if the healer is positive in all of his statements, formulae, thinking and practice, he will save himself many an unpleasant experience.

Suppose the practitioner does feel the same pains as the patient, there is nothing to fear if the healer dismisses the thought at once. If the healer allows his subconscious mind to cling to the thought pains which he has extracted from the patient, he may, indeed bring those conditions into his life, but by taking instantly such a thought as this, "I cleanse myself from all negative thoughts. I am and I know I am and nothing is greater than I am" he is using a positive antidote so that the sick conditions of the patient will not remain in his consciousness.

This affirmation, "I cleanse myself from all negative thoughts. I am and I know I am and nothing is greater than I am" should also be accompanied by a physical suggestion such as placing the right hand on the left breast and making a gesture with the extended arm as though throwing away from the body something that may cling to it. This gesture may be taken two or three times as the affirmation is repeated. Then place the left hand upon the right breast and with the same full arm gesture as though throwing or expelling something from the body, take again the same affirmation with the same gesture. This having been done, there is no danger of the healer's taking on the permanent pains of the patient.

This personal fluid, or human electricity, or vital force, whatever we may call it, is put to excellent use by some successful healers, as "Magnetic Treatment."

If one has a vivid imagination, or is a good visualizer, he may use the method which has equipped some healers with additional force. This is effected by adding to their verbal or silent treatment, a mental picture or image of the thought currents actually leaving their minds, traveling toward the patient, and then enveloping and surrounding him.

In giving a mental treatment, remember that no two patients are of equal receptivity. One patient will be able to take a simple statement from you that his pain will cease from this hour, and it actually will. Another will be required to sit down, or lie down in a reclining position, have his forehead stroked, work out his vasomotor nerves and explain that you are doing this to help his nervous vibrations and treat his heart and liver and stomach, and this will quiet him and he will take the suggestion. In other words, you have to rub the suggestion in.

A most helpful method of healing, both for healer and patient, is for the healer, just before he goes to sleep, to take up his patients, one by one, or collectively, get a mental image of each or all, and send them such messages of health, comfort and good cheer as they need.

Many healers will find, unless they have set their mind not to drop to sleep before finishing the list, that they will go to sleep while sending messages to others. But the Subconscious Mind, which is all wise and has perfect memory, will, as you drop to sleep, continue sending the messages. Such a habit will react in inestimable good to the percipient--sender--as well as to the recipients.

KEEP-AT-IT-IVENESS, persistence in suggestion and auto-suggestion, is the one big thing to bear in mind. Many will succeed where others fail, because some will keep at it while others give up. Stick to your healing treatments!

In the second place mental conditions differ. Some will find that their subconscious minds respond more readily than others, who will have to exercise more patience and be more persistent in their efforts.

Third, some types are more highly sensitive than others. Mental telepathy, or spiritual communication, can be exercised by some people without any previous training. Some get the impressions more readily than others, all however, can reach a high degree of efficiency in helping others, curing themselves, etc., if they will yield obedience to the laws of physical and mental hygiene and keep forever at it.

There is still a fourth thing to bear in mind, and that is, not to be discouraged or disheartened if you fail to get immediate results from your treatments. As intimated, above, results are not infrequently long delayed but if you are faithful and persistent they come at last. A great philosopher has said: "God does not always refuse when he delays. He loves persistence and grants everything."

Remember the parable of the woman who repeated her request until finally it was granted because of her importunity. She got what she wanted by hanging on. The successful healer must do likewise and the wise patient ditto.

If you have relapses and set-backs in your progress toward health, do not let them dis- courage you or dishearten you. There is a rhythmic swing in growth everywhere. This has been discovered by Professor Bose of the University of Calcutta in studying the laws of growth in plants. He invented an instrument by which he could measure this growth which was wholly imperceptible to the eye. He discovered that plants grow upward for five seconds, shrink downward for five seconds, remain stationary for ten seconds, then start upward again and repeat the same round. But notice this great law: in shrinking downward the motion is slower than in pushing upward. The five seconds of slipping backward or downward do not take the plant back as far as its starting point, so that on the whole it gains in growth and stature. Then note, that the five seconds of shrinkage and the ten seconds of remaining stationary, are as three to one to the upward push. Practically this amounts to three steps backward as compared with one step forward. But in terms of growth the forward step outranks the three backward steps. So, in seeking health, if your progress seems to be one of going forward, slipping backward, remaining stationary and then starting all over again; going forward, and slipping backward and again remaining stationary, do not complain. You are getting ahead, you are gaining ground.

It is therefore very important for everyone who is trying to apply these principles to understand that all progress and all growth is forward a little, backward a little, then marking time; forward a little, backward a little, marking time. All progress is vibratory and uneven.

The heights are reached only through a long series of "ups and downs."

To the careless observer, and to one who has not been trained to note that he is going forward a little, slipping back a little, and staying where he is a little, it may appear that he is retrograding in conscious, physical growth instead of gaining ground. He may think he is back at the starting point. Back in so far as outward signs indicate, but in reality he has gained.

I know of nothing the practitioner should so seriously impress upon the patient and the patient should bear in mind so sedulously as this: that the law of growth is up a little, down a little, forward a little, back a little, then stationary.

And this will be true in development of higher consciousness as it is in the physical growth. You will feel Oh, so much better today in mind and spirits and then, ah, me, how bad you feel tomorrow. Up in the mountain tops of ecstasy today, down in the valley of the dumps tomorrow. But, decide not to stay dumped, and, if you continue to hold your thought or your affirmation, you won't.

By continuing to hold your thought or affirmation, you are remaking yourself as surely as the plant grows to maturity, even though in the process, it slips down in its upward climb. The better side of man is bound to triumph. The lower and false self will fight like "all get out," with the desperation of demons, but will finally yield if the better self insists upon claiming health, success and happiness.

Remember then, our mental and spiritual growth also is up a little, down a little, ahead a little, back a little, stationary, but meantime, very surely climbing upward. The better part of man prevails in the end. The better part of you is bound to triumph.

In a tug of war, there often comes a time when both sides are about "licked." It is sometimes only a matter of a little twitch of muscle that swings the winning side into victory. That is the way with a man's mental, spiritual and physical development. There is that conflict within the individual the conflict of the lower self with the better self. The tug of war Of the two personalities within the individual is on. Especially is this felt and seen when the better self determines to assert for health, for spiritual or mental development; when we are determined that we shall climb to the mountain tops of ecstasy and remain there. At this time, one feels the tug of war more than ever before. The fight is on. The lower and false element in man makes its last struggle to maintain the upper hand. It does not give way without a desperate struggle and this is felt very appreciably by the person who is going upward.

So, when you feel that you are slipping back a little you are being given the best evidence in the world that you are making progress. The Dunce does not know that he is a Dunce--sometimes. The cabbage-head does not know that it is a cabbage-head. But when the better part of man begins to pull he soon catches the vibration that he is not what he ought to be; that he is not where he should be; that he is not making the progress that he ought to make. May I repeat with all of the emphasis at my command that when you feel you are not getting ahead the way you ought, the great struggle is on. The tug of war has reached its climax. You are at the critical point of your experience. You are making progress because you feel that you are not. That's the best evidence ever. Hang onto your thought a little longer, and the better side will surely win. The count is on your side. Victory is yours.

When you feel that you're not going forward, that is the time you are actually making the greatest progress.

The purifying fire seems to burn us, but in reality it destroys only "the wood, hay, and stubble" which claim our selfhood. With all its threatenings it only cleanses, polishes, and brings out in high relief, the beauty of the divine humanity. All so-called evils and disorders are existent as conditions, but have no reality as entities. Conditions and educational experiences serve their purpose and come to an end, but all true verities are eternal, because they are divine.

Whether it be a new experience for the subject or not, the organism within resents, at times, innovations or changes of habit. Consequently the patient, although he has been healed of other troubles may experience a reaction from the first few treatments, or he may get a reaction at the very start. But do not be discouraged, these symptoms are indicative of good. In fact, you may now be better and then a little worse, again better and then a little worse, for a considerable time, but will gradually improve until at last, if you are faithful, you will arrive. Be strong and of good courage, for the crown is to the victor. Let your motto be "I can and I will."

The rise and fall of the effects of the treatments is with some types natural. It can be explained by the state of mind of some people who are sick. It indicates merely a rebound from low mental and physical states. Protracted sickness, for instance, is inclined to make some people depressed. Even when they get better gloominess may creep over them and the physical condition being weak, one reaction may play upon the other. The patient should remember, however, that each little slump is going to be followed by a higher rebound for health than before. In fact each ascent after each slump will actually be a little higher and better than the one previous. If the patient understands this, there is no occasion for discouragement. Knowing this to be the natural tendency, he can fortify himself against despair and raise his courage to the mount of transfiguration of health, success, prosperity and achievement.

Sometimes former patients will ask leave to come back occasionally to sit in the chair or be in the room where they have received treatment. There seems to be holy associations in the room near the healer or around the healers, association which gives added confidence to the one-time patient, for offering expressions of thanksgiving and gratitude and to go forward with a positive assurance that everything is well for them in the future. That tomorrow holds nothing but success, health and happiness for them.