who have little or no imagination this will seem ridiculous; to others who have more, and can direct it usefully, this and similar ways will be very helpful.  After the arm is raised to a perpendicular position, let the force of gravity have it,—­first the upper arm to the elbow, and then the forearm and hand, so that it falls by pieces.  Follow the same motion with the other arm, and repeat this three times, trying to improve with each repetition.

Next, the head must be moved slowly,—­so slowly that it seems as though it hardly moved at all,—­first rolled to the left, then back and to the right and back again; and this also can be repeated three times.  After each of the above motions there should be two or three long, quiet breaths.  To free the spine, sit up on the floor, and with heavy arms and legs, head dropped forward, let it go back slowly and easily, as if the vertebrae were beads on a string, and first one bead lay flat, then another and another, until the whole string rests on the floor, and the head falls back with its own weight.  This should be practised over and over before the movement can be perfectly free; and it is well to begin on the bed, until you catch the idea and its true application.  After, and sometimes before, the process of slow motions, rolling over loosely on one side should be practised,—­remaining there until the weight all seems near the floor, and then giving way so that the force of gravity seems to “flop” it back (I use “flop” advisedly); so again resting on the other side.  But one must go over by regular motions, raising the leg first heavily and letting it fall with its full weight over the other leg, so that the ankles are crossed.  The arm on the same side must be raised as high as possible and dropped over the chest.  Then the body can be rolled over, and carried as it were by the weight of the arm and leg.  It must go over heavily and freely like a bag of loose bones, and it helps greatly to freedom to roll over and over in this way.

Long breaths, taken deeply and quietly, should be interspersed all through these exercises for extreme relaxation.  They prevent the possibility of relaxing too far.  And as there is a pressure on every muscle of the body during a deep inspiration, the muscles, being now relaxed into freedom, are held in place, so to speak, by the pressure from the breath,—­as we blow in the fingers of a glove to put them in shape.

Remember always that it is equilibrium we are working for, and this extreme relaxation will bring it, because we have erred so far in the opposite direction.  For instance, there is now no balance at all between our action and our rest, because we are more or less tense and consequently active all through the times when we should be entirely at rest; and we never can be moved by Nature’s rhythm until we learn absolute relaxation for rest, and so gain the true equilibrium in that way.  Then again, since we use so much unnecessary tension in everything we do, although we