Massage and Music Integration, Copyright 2009, Linda Gertrude Means

By Linda Gertrude Means, Ph.D., CMT

Peacehope Healing Arts, Monroeville, PA

www.peacehope.com

Background music is a traditional element in most massage practices; in fact, for many of us, it would seem strange to give or receive a massage in the absence of music.  And music therapy is a much-studied field, with decades of clinical research in contexts ranging from physical rehabilitation to childbirth.  Music has been proven to have measurable therapeutic effects for pain management, learning, immune response, blood pressure, respiration, depression, and many other medical conditions.

So why not use our massage music intentionally to support the therapeutic effect of our bodywork treatments?  We can use music in specific ways to produce desired energetic effects, slow the brainwaves to induce deep relaxation, captivate the attention to quiet the mind, open the client’s emotional and spiritual body, and inject a musical experience kinesthetically into the body.  Happily, current MP3 technology liberates us from the constraint of predetermined playlists burned onto CDs, enabling us to customize the musical selections track by track for each individual session.  Let’s take a look at a variety of principles and strategies for integrating music therapy with massage therapy.

Resonance and Vibrational Healing 

 Because we are made of energy, everything in our organism is in constant vibration, and the vibrational pattern determines our experience of health and wellness.  The vibratory effects of listening to music influence our energy patterns through the phenomenon of resonance.  Energetic resonance is the process that occurs when the vibrational frequency of one energy field changes to match another vibrational field, for example when a tuning fork is struck and another tuning fork tuned to the same frequency begins to vibrate in the same room.  Music is a powerful vibrational input which shifts our energy patterns through the process of listening.  One well known example is the Mozart Effect, based initially on research done by French scientist Alfred Tomatis, who reported experimental research results indicating that Mozart’s music promotes learning and healing of mental imbalances.  Another simple example is the effect that listening to rock and roll has on our driving; I’ve personally been pulled over by the police while unknowingly speeding under the influence of high-speed music!

One specific vibrational effect that can be produced by music is the slowing of brainwaves.  Brainwaves are the vibrational patterns occurring in the brain, which shift at different times in response to our thoughts, our emotions, our physical activity, our state of consciousness, as well as external influences.  Brainwaves are classified according to the speed of vibration in hertz, which are cycles per second:

·         Beta waves occur at >12 Hz, and typify our normal walking-around brain activity throughout our waking hours.

·         Alpha waves occur in the frequency range of 8-12 Hz, a pattern which is associated with daydreaming and hypnotic trance states.  In the alpha state, we are awake and lucid, in a state of detached, relaxed awareness.  The alpha state bridges the consciousness of the beta state with the subconscious access that occurs at slower brainwave frequencies.

·         Theta waves occur at 4-8 Hz, and have been measured in dreaming sleep and in the extremely deep meditation of advanced meditators.

·         Delta waves are the slowest brainwave patterns, occurring in the range of 1-4 Hz.  Delta waves have been measured in non-REM sleep.

The slower-than-beta brainwave frequencies are all associated with healing states of consciousness.  Hypnosis is an effective process for healing because the alpha brainwaves of a hypnotic trance take us to a state in which our organism is receptive to positive change.  Healing may also occur more readily in slow brainwave states because the conscious mind, which maintains beliefs about our diseases and limitations, may take a backseat to the subconscious, which maintains memories of how everything functions optimally in our bodies.  Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School has spend decades studying the relaxation response -- the physiological opposite of the fight-or-flight response – marked by decreases in heart rate, blood pressure, rate of breathing, and muscle tension.  The relaxation response only occurs at brainwave frequencies of alpha or lower.

The Monroe Institute pioneered the scientific development of music composed to entrain the listener’s brain into slow brainwaves states.  Many other composers have continued to develop slow brainwave music, including Jonathan Goldman and Dr. Jeffrey Thompson.  Music with a tempo of 60 beats per minute has been found to shift brainwaves from beta to alpha frequencies, and shamanic drumming is known to produce theta brainwaves.  In a massage session, alpha wave music may improve the overall therapeutic effectiveness of the bodywork through the client’s relaxation response. 

In the context of massage, the music played during a session will invariably create a shift in the vibrational frequency of the client and of the therapist.  As therapists, the energetic contact that we make with our clients also creates an experience of resonance.  So our vibrational pattern becomes our client’s vibrational reality.  When we use music for its vibrational effect, we can embody the music ourselves as therapists, and because we are in close energetic contact with the client, our vibrational embodiment of the music creates another stimulus for our client’s experience of resonance with the energy of the music.

Instrumental vs. Vocal

 

The vocals occurring in music affect our consciousness in two primary ways: vibrationally and semantically.  The vibrational effect is the result of resonance with the energetics of the specific sounds, syllables and intonations, combined with the sound of the singer’s voice as an instrument, independent of any meaning attached to the lyrics.  The semantic component of the vocals contains the meaning of the lyrics, if we understand them. 

Conventional wisdom in the massage industry seems to indicate that vocal music is a no-no for massage.  It’s certainly true that the lyrics of much popular music are not supportive of a healing experience, love lost and all that stuff.  But sacred music is a different matter.  The vocals can be emotionally uplifting and inspiring, and may also produce a vibrational healing response. 

In languages like Sanskrit and Hebrew, each word is believed to have a specific energetic effect, and the prayers and chants of these languages have been used as medicine for millennia.  Many of these prayers have been set to beautiful melodies with gorgeous instrumentation by artists such as Deva Premal, Rasa, and many others.  These chants can also be used to cleanse the energy of your healing space.  I like to keep chanting playing in my massage room for a few hours after a session has ended as a method of musical smudging.

When we listen to music sung in a language which is foreign to us, we only experience the vibrational effect, because we have no linguistic  comprehension of the lyrics.  Although you can’t always know precisely which languages your client understands, beautiful soothing music sung in foreign languages may often be a safe choice, and the beauty of the voice adds another dimension to the non-vocal instrumentation.  I love using the Brazilian CD Cançoes de um Mar Infinito sung in Portuguese, because the songs are vocalized by the healers at the Padre Pio House, a spiritual healing center in Rio de Janeiro, and the music was recorded as spiritual medicine.

Semantic comprehension of lyrics is a big factor in music sung in a language which we do understand, and fatuous lyrics are certainly not valued for healing.  One December I walked into the massage room in a spa that pipes music into the therapy rooms, where the owner is enamored of all things pertaining holidays, so the spa was featuring Christmas music that month.  When I heard “Yes, we need a little Christmas, right this very minute, it hasn't snowed a single flurry, but Santa, dear, we're in a hurry” cheerily chirping from the speaker in the massage room, I swallowed my initial reaction of dismay, turned off the room speaker, and switched on my portable Ipod speaker for my upcoming session. 

On the other hand, comprehension of sacred lyrics in our native language can create a positive experience for the client.  Familiar prayers set to music and other spiritual songs can have a comforting effect, particularly when you know the client’s spiritual and religious background well enough to guess whether this kind of lyric will be welcome.  Sophia’s Prayer of St. Francis/I am Sustained  from her Emergence CD, for example, is extremely beautiful musically and spiritually, and I like to use it strategically with clients who have expressed a need for spiritual support in their session.  The songhealer Sophia has many tracks sung in English which are not obviously associated with any specific religion, but rather express universal spiritual sentiments, and her sweet voice and melodies combined with the inspirational lyrics produce an angelic listening experience.  The lyrics of Sophia’s song Sweet Surrender can create a beautiful opening for a session:  “I am opening in sweet surrender,” expressing our intention for the client at the start of the massage.

Sometimes a particular song can have an unexpected personal impact for a client.  The first time I met C., she was suffering from a series of life events which left her in a state of emotional turmoil.  Her intention for our first massage session was to get grounded, take the edge off of her emotional distress, and gain some clarity to make decisions about her future.  I happened to include the Over the Rainbow track from Israel Kamakawiwo'ole’s Alone in Iz World CD in the playlist for the session, just because of its sweetness and innocence.  After the session, C. expressed her relief and appreciation, and she mentioned Over the Rainbow specifically, telling me that the song touched her deeply.  So I made a note of this on her chart, and made sure to include it in her second session.  After the second session, C. told me that she had doubted the validity of the profound spiritual opening that she had experienced our first time, and she came back hoping to validate that first impression of our work together.  And when she heard Iz singing Over the Rainbow again, it brought back the original feeling, reinforcing her confidence in our healing work.  In a session months later, I forgot to add C.’s favorite song to the playlist.  At the end of the session, after I released the final touch, I quietly raced over to the laptop, and moved Over the Rainbow into the playlist to the next position.  The song began to play while C. laid wrapped in the sheet, basking in the afterglow of her massage.  After she got off the table, she commented on how amazing the timing of the music was, her song started playing just at the very end when she could simply lie still and soak it in!

Iz’s rendition of Over the Rainbow is also an example of how a song can be used strategically to captivate the client’s attention.  Everyone knows the Judy Garland version of this song, but Iz tweaks the melody in an interesting way, his sweet voice is so touching, and his little vocal riff in the last twelve seconds makes people smile.  So the listening experience may be delightfully surprising to someone who has not heard the Iz version before, keeping the client’s attention riveted to the music for three and a half minutes, helping to release other thoughts or worries.

Yin Massage, Yang Massage 

Music targeted for massage is traditionally intended to be used as background music, and thus is characteristically quiet, relatively unstructured, and often not terribly melodic, which keeps it from drawing the client’s primary attention.  The energetic effect of this type of music is primarily yin: calming and sedating, slowing bodily processes, quieting energy flow.  This is very good medicine for a client who has a deficient yin or excessive yang condition.  However, not all clients fit this profile.  Sometimes the opposite type of medicine is more suitable: stimulating yang energy to revitalize a sluggish body.

Similarly, our massage techniques themselves can be performed with yin energy or yang energy, producing corresponding therapeutic results.  When we work rhythmically, we stimulate energy flow, and when we work deeply, slowly and non-rhythmically, we provide a sedation effect energetically.  When we match the music to the work energetically – or match the work to the music – we can boost the desired energetic outcome.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, all natural processes move back and forth between a yin state and a yang state in a never-ending cycle.  Our life processes like sleeping/waking, activity/rest, inhalation/exhalation, diastolic/systolic are examples of the constant yin/yang cycles in the human organism.  Yin energy is always moving toward yang, and yang is always moving toward yin.  Optimal health is a reflection of yin/yang balance and flow.  So it makes sense that a massage session should also cycle back and forth between yin and yang activity.  A music playlist that includes yin and yang components enables us to create an balanced experience for the client’s energy body. 

Depending on the client’s specific condition, the session may be designed to provide either predominantly yin or predominantly yang effects, with a playlist matching the energetic objective.  Indications for a primarily yang session may include yin conditions such as fatigue, depression, lethargy, sluggish metabolism, muscular stiffness, edema, poor digestion, or coldness felt in the body.  A yin-dominant session may be indicated in the presence of yang conditions such as restlessness, anxiety, inflammation, hypersensitivity, or headache.

Even in a session which intends to promote primarily yin or yang energy, both energies play a role in releasing energy blockages, stimulating energy flow, and creating balance.  In a session which is designed to energize the body, we may choose yang music which has a lot of movement and a definite rhythm to work with.  But the playlist should also include tracks which support yin work, to facilitate deep tissue work done in a slow non-rhythmic manner, and quiet work done on sensitive areas such as the face, neck, and belly.

Emergency Response Massage International uses reggae music with chair massage to provide an energizing effect for fatigued rescue workers.  However, it’s arguable that there is not a one-size-fits-all music energy solution for all rescue situations; clients who have experienced trauma in the field may benefit more from a calming, soothing yin approach to their massage session.

For a client with a yang condition, it may be useful to begin the session with yin music that supports slow, calming touch.  After sedating the excessive yang state, we can promote a strong clear flow of energy throughout the body by working with music that moves with a definite rhythm.  The session might end with yin music, matched with calming, grounding bodywork, to help the client go back out into the world in a quiet energetic state.

For shiatsu sessions, I make sure that every track is rhythmic.  Songs may vary according to tempo, enabling me to vary the pace of the work during the session, but shiatsu relies on rhythm, whether fast or slow.

Kinesthetic Musical Experience

          Music therapy has traditionally been delivered in an auditory way, so the therapeutic effects are produced by listening to music.  In a massage session, we have the opportunity to add to the auditory experience of music with bodywork techniques that inject the music directly into the client’s body, producing a kinesthetic input as well.

When we match the rhythm of the work to the rhythm of the music, the musical rhythm is felt kinesthetically, allowing the body to experience the effects of the rhythm in a direct fashion.  In my Massage/Music Fusion  workshops, we experiment with the feel of performing the same massage move to clips of songs with varying rhythms.  Each time the music changes, we pause to feel the new rhythm in our own bodies, then resume the massage move, now matching the new rhythm.  When non-rhythmic music comes on, it becomes difficult to impose a distinct rhythm in the bodywork, which demonstrates the naturalness of using rhythmic music for rhythmic massage moves, and reserving unstructured music for deep non-rhythmic work.

How many times do you repeat a particular move during a massage?  I’ve asked this question of massage students and received various responses.  “Until it feels like I’m done,” was one response, and a very good one.  “The Rule of Four” was another response.  The student elaborated, “Four seems like a good number.”  Hmmm.  Here’s another idea:  try matching the phrasing of the massage to the phrasing of the music as it is playing.  When you become familiar with favorite pieces and you can anticipate the changes of phrasing in the music, you become able to use the music to guide the changes in the bodywork itself.  This enables the client to feel the music in the body, as the rhythm and phrasing of the work is synchronized with the music.  I’ve watched the recognition on the faces of clients as they begin to realize that the massage is choreographed with the music, and they react with delight.  This works especially well with songs that have phrasing which changes at fairly short intervals, such as tracks 2, 3, and 4 on Deva Premal Sings the Moola Mantra.

Bringing the work to a stillpoint at the end of each track is another way of choreographing the bodywork with the music.  Wait, hold, breathe, listen until the next track begins, then allow the new music to lead the way for the next segment of the massage.  The stillpoints punctuate the session with kinesthetic silence, providing an opportunity for the client to integrate the work.

          Some songs have a musical form which synchronizes well with alternating movements in the bodywork, such as Jiv Jago from Rasa’s Devotion CD, or Mary Youngblood’s Walk With Me from Beneath The Raven Moon.  Other melodies have a shape that seems to support circular movements, such as Celestial Meditation on Joseph Nagler’s Dreams CD, or Sophia’s Prayer for the Warriors on her Return CD.  Play around with your favorite music to find moves that complement the feeling of the music in your client’s body, and bring those massage techniques into the work when that music is playing.

          Moving your whole body with the music enables you to embody the music kinesthetically yourself, which translates to your client’s energy body as you maintain contact via touch.  Singing with the music is another way of embodying the music energetically as a therapist, and the vibrational effect of your singing helps you to inject the music’s energy into your client’s field.  

          Drumming on the client’s body is another method of creating a direct kinesthetic musical experience for the receiver.  Drumming has been used as medicine for thousands of years in virtually every culture on the planet, and modern-day music therapists study the healing effects of rhythm on the body.  Rhythm has been found to have a strong entrainment effect, facilitating motor coordination, brain organization, and speech articulation.  By drumming directly on the body, we can amplify the auditory effects of listening to the rhythm of music.  Plus extensive body drumming can help the client move her attention out of the head and into the body, to quiet the mind and enter a slower brainwave state.  David and Steve Gordon have several CDs full of music featuring drums in energetically balanced compositions.  Try drumming along with an entire track to provide an extended, ecstatic body drumming experience for your client. 

Putting it All Together in a Session 

MP3 technology is a godsend for the 21^st-century massage therapist.  We can store and transport thousands of songs to use in our work, and quickly adapt playlists on the fly.  Laptop computers and MP3 players with portable speakers are two technologies which travel easily and allow maximum flexibility in music selection.  With my laptop, I like to plug in external speakers for better quality and easier volume control during massage sessions.  For my MP3 player, I’ve found small and affordable portable speaker systems which work equally well.  With either of these technologies, it is easy to compose a playlist in a minute or less, and add, delete, or reorder tracks in seconds.  And of course the technology enables us to mix tracks from favorite CDs to create the perfect musical experience for each client.

Development of the playlist may be based primarily on the energetic motif needed to create an energy wave that ebbs and flows in a natural way, plus additional factors that provide for further customization.  How well do you know the client’s attitudes and preferences?  For regular clients, I like to vary the playlist from one session to the next, so that the music and the bodywork that accompanies it stays fresh and interesting.  With a first-time client, I prefer to err on the conservative side, with primarily instrumental music, avoiding tracks with overtly religious connotations, like yoga chants.  In a spa setting, I’ll sneak a peak at the client as he checks in at the reception desk, scoping out age, manner of dress, energy and posture.  All of these impressions provide clues as to the probable energetics and possible musical adventurousness of this stranger.  The intake discussion provides more information, so when I enter the massage room after the client has gotten on the table, I may make further adjustments to the playlist based on intake information. 

          I often like to begin the session with a piece that starts with slow quiet energy, then builds into a more melodic, moving song.  This enables me to spend the first minutes of the session making quiet, still contact, helping the client to acclimate to my touch and open to my energy field, then initiating massage movement as the movement of the music sets in.  Some songs that work nicely in this way include Hare Om Namo on Deva Premal’s Essence CD, Water on Daniel May’s Feng Shui: Music for Easy Listening CD, Body of the Goddess/I Am and Return on Sophia’s Return CD, The Prayer of St. Francis on Miten and Premal’s Trusting the Silence CD, and Sri Guru on Rasa’s Union CD.

          Some music can be used strategically to tap into the emotional body.  When I have a client who expresses a desire to release a stuck emotional pattern, I may include one or more tracks on the playlist that tend to have a strong emotional charge, such as Joseph Nagler’s Rain Forest Meditation on his Dreams CD.  When I want to help my client surrender to sheer pleasure, I may put on Sophia’s Shakti/Universal Lover/Goddess Prayer from Spirit Healing Chants, and just dance its stunning potpourri of energies into the client’s body for 19½ minutes, alternating from peaceful to jazzy to wild abandon.

During the massage session itself, I let the music lead the way for the work.  As each track comes on, I fill my body with the feeling of the music, and let it guide me to the areas of the body that require that energy.  I make sure that I’ve allowed for enough variety in the music to help me cover the whole body with musical energy that facilitates all of the work that I’ll need to do.  And I make sure that I’ve included music that I love listening to and dancing with, because the session is also a music therapy treatment for me!

After the session, I include music notes on the client’s chart.  Did the client comment on likes or dislikes regarding the music?  I’ve had clients express preferences relating to volume, vocal vs. instrumental music, and specific artists or songs.  I’ve known people who are annoyed by hearing foreign language lyrics simply because they are foreign. 

          Most of all, music brought into the forefront of a bodywork session can introduce an element of fun and excitement into the massage.  It also creates an opportunity to introduce clients to some of the beautiful, fascinating, sacred healing music that they may not find in their daily exposure to mainstream music.  It provides a canopy of healing energy that infuses the session with inspiration and spirit, for the therapist as well as the client.  

Source: http://peacehope.com/Massage_and_Music.html

The Formula of Success

 

"One ship drives east, and another drives west,
   With the self-same winds that blow.
 ’Tis the set of the sails, and not the gales
   Which tells us the way they go.

"Like the waves of the sea are the ways of fate
   As we voyage along thru life.
 ’Tis the set of the soul which decides its goal
   And not the calm or the strife."

                —Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

What is the eternal question which stands up and looks you and every sincere man squarely in the eye every morning?

"How can I better my condition?" That is the real life question which con-fronts you, and will haunt you every day till you solve it.

Read this chapter carefully and I think you will find the answer to this important life question which you and every man must solve if he expects ever to have more each Monday morning, after pay day, than he had the week before.

To begin with, all wealth depends upon a clear understanding of the fact that mind—thought—is the only creator. The great business of life is thinking. Control your thoughts and you control circumstance.

Just as the first law of gain is desire, so the formula of success is BELIEF. Believe that you have it—see it as an existent fact—and anything you can rightly wish for is yours. Belief is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

You have seen men, inwardly no more capable than yourself, accomplish the seemingly impossible. You. have seen others, after years of hopeless struggle, suddenly win their most cherished dreams. And you've often wondered, "What is the power that gives new life to their dying ambitions, that supplies new impetus to their jaded desires, that gives them a new Start on the road to success?"

That power is belief—faith. Someone, something, gave them a new belief in themselves and a new faith in their power to win—and they leaped ahead and wrested success from seemingly certain defeat.

Do you remember the picture Harold Lloyd was in two or three years ago, showing a country boy who was afraid of his shadow? Every boy in the countryside bedeviled him. Until one day his grandmother gave him a talisman that she assured him his grandfather had carried through the Civil War and which, so she said, had the property of making its owner invincible. Nothing could hurt him, she told him, while he wore this talisman. Nothing could stand up against him. He believed her. And the next time the bully of the town started to cuff him around, he wiped up the earth with him. And that was only the start. Before the year was out he had made a reputation as the most daring soul in the community.

Then, when his grandmother felt that he was thoroughly cured, she told him the truth—that the "talisman" was merely a piece of old junk she'd picked up by the roadside—that she knew all he needed was faith in himself, belief that he could do these things.

The Talisman of Napoleon

Stories like that are common. It is such a well-established truth that you can do only what you think you can, that the theme is a favorite one with authors. I remember reading a story years ago of an artist—a mediocre sort of artist—who was visiting the field of Waterloo and happened upon a curious lump of metal half buried in the dirt, which so attracted him that he picked it up and put it in his pocket. Soon thereafter he noticed a sudden increase in confidence, an absolute faith in himself, not only as to his own Chosen line of work, but in his ability to handle any situation that might present itself. He painted a great picture—just to show that he could do it. Not content with that, he visioned an empire with Mexico as its basis, actuallyled a revolt that carried all before it—until one day he lost his talisman. And immediately his bubble burst.

I instance this just to illustrate the point that it is your own belief in yourself that counts. It is the consciousness of dominant power within you that makes all things attainable. You can do anything you think you can. This knowledge is literally the gift of the gods, for through it you can solve every human problem. It should make of you an incurable optimist. It is the open door to welfare. Keep it open—by expecting to gain everything that is right.

You are entitled to every good thing. Therefore expect nothing but good. Defeat does not need to follow victory. You don't have to "knock wood" every time you congratulate yourself that things have been going well with you. Victory should follow victory—and it will if you "let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." It is the mind that means health and life and boundless opportunity and recompense. No limitation rests upon you. So don't let any enter your life. Remember that Mind will do every good thing for you. It will remove mountains for you. 

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

Bring all your thoughts, your desires, your aims, your talents, into the Storehouse—the Consciousness of Good, the Law of Infinite supply—and prove these blessings. There is every reason to know that you are entitled to adequate provision. Everything that is involved in supply is a thing of thought. Now reach out, stretch your mind, try to comprehend unlimited thought, unlimited supply. 

Do not think that supply must come through one or two channels. It is not for you to dictate to Universal Mind the means through which It shall send Its gifts to you. There are millions of channels through which It can reach you. Your part is to impress upon Mind your need, your earnest desire, your boundless belief in the resources and the willingness of Universal Mind to help you. Plant the seed of desire. Nourish it with a clear visualization of the ripened fruit. Water it with sincere faith. But leave the means to Universal Mind.

Open up your mind. Clear out the channels of thought. Keep yourself in a state of receptivity. Gain a mental attitude in which you are constantly expecting good. You have the fundamental right to all good, you know. "According to your faith, be it unto you."

The trouble with most of us is that we are mentally lazy. It is so much easier to go along with the crowd than to break trail for ourselves. But the great discoverers, the great inventors, the great geniuses in all lines have been men who dared to break with tradition, who defied precedent, who believed that there is no limit to what Mind can do—and who stuck to that belief until their goal was won, in spite. of all the sneers and ridicule of the wiseacres and the "It-can't-be-done’rs."

Not only that, but they were never satisfied with achieving just one success. They knew that the first success is like the first olive out of the bottle. All the others come out the more easily for it. They realized that they were a part of the Creative Intelligence of the Universe, and that the part shares all the properties of the whole. And that realization gave them the faith to strive for any right thing, the knowledge that the only limit upon their capabilities was the limit of their desires. Knowing that, they couldn't be satisfied with any ordinary success. They had to keep on and on and on. 

Edison didn't sit down and fold his hands when he gave us the talking machine. Or the electric light. These great achievements merely opened the way to new fields of accomplishment.

Open up the channels between your mind and Universal Mind, and there is no limit to the riches that will come pouring in. Concentrate your thoughts on the particular thing you are most interested in, and ideas in abundance will come flooding down, opening up a dozen ways of winning the goal you are striving for.

But don't let one success—no matter how great—satisfy you. The Law of Creation, you know, is the Law of Growth. You can't stand still. You must go forward—or be passed by. Complacency—self-satisfaction—is the greatest enemy of achievement. You must keep looking forward. Like Alexander, you must be constantly seeking new worlds to conquer. Depend upon it, the power will come to meet the need. There is no such thing as failing powers, if we look to Mind for our source of supply. The only failure of mind comes from worry and fear—or from disuse. William James, the famous psychologist, taught that "The more mind does, the more it can do." For ideas release energy. You can do more and better work than you have ever done. You can know more than you know now. You know from your own experience that under proper mental conditions of joy or enthusiasm, you can do three or four times the work without fatigue that you can ordinarily. Tiredness is more boredom than actual physical fatigue. You can work almost indefinitely when the work is a pleasure. 

You've seen sickly persons, frail persons, who couldn't do an hour's light work without exhaustion, suddenly buckle down when heavy responsibilities were thrown upon them, and grow strong and rugged under the load. Crises not only draw upon the reserve power you have, but they help to create new power:

“It Couldn't Be Done”

It may be that you have been deluded by the thought of incompetence. It may be that you have been told so often that you cannot do certain things that you've come to believe you can't. Remember that success or failure is merely a state of mind. Believe you cannot do a thing—and you can't. Know that you can do it—and you will. You must see yourself doing it.

"If you think you are beaten, you are;
   If you think you dare not, you don't;
 If you'd like to win, but you think you can't,
   It's almost a cinch you won't;
 If you think you'll lose, you've lost,
   For out in the world you'll find
 Success begins with a fellow's will—
   It's all in the state of mind.

"Full many a race is lost
   Ere even a race is run,
 And many a coward fails
   Ere even his work's begun.
 Think big, and your deeds will grow,
   Think small and you fall behind,
 Think that you can, and you will;
   It's all in the state of mind.  "If you think you are outclassed, you are;
   You've got to think high to rise;
 You've got to be sure of yourself before
   You can ever win a prize.
 Life's battle doesn't always go
   To the stronger or faster man;
 But sooner or later, the man who wins
   Is the fellow who thinks he can."

There's a vast difference between a proper understanding of one's own ability and a determination to make the best of it—and offensive egotism. It is absolutely necessary for every man to believe in himself, before he can make the most of himself. All of us have something to sell. It may be our goods, it may be our abilities, it may be our services. You've got to believe in yourself to make your buyer take stock in you at par and accrued interest. You've got to feel the same personal solicitude over a customer lost, as a revivalist over a backslider, and hold special services to bring him back into the fold. You've got to get up every morning with determination, if you're going to go to bed that night with satisfaction.

There's mighty sound sense in the saying that all the world loves a booster. The one and only thing you have to win success with is MIND. For your mind to function at its highest capacity, you've got to be charged with good cheer and optimism. No one ever did a good piece of work while in a negative frame of mind. Your best work is always done when you are feeling happy and optimistic.

And a happy disposition is the result—not the cause—of happy, cheery thinking. Health and prosperity are the results primarily of optimistic thoughts. You make the pattern. If the impress you have left on the world about you seems faint and weak, don't blame fate—blame your pattern! You will never cultivate a brave, courageous demeanor by thinking cowardly thoughts. You cannot gather figs from thistles. You will never make your dreams come true by choking them with doubts and fears. You've got to put foundations under your air castles, foundations of UNDERSTANDING and BELIEF. Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your BELIEF in yourself.

Are your surroundings discouraging? Do you feel that if you were in another's place success would be easier? Just bear in mind that your real environment is within you. All the factors of success or failure are in your inner world. You make that own inner world—and through it your outer world. You can choose the material from which to build it. If you've not Chosen wisely in the past, you can choose again now the material you want to rebuild it. The richness of life is within you. No one has failed so long as he can begin again.

Start right in and do all those things you feel you have it in you to do. Ask permission of no man. Concentrating your thought upon any proper undertaking will make its achievement possible. Your belief that you can do the thing gives your thought forces their power. Fortune waits upon you. Seize her boldly, hold her—and she is yours. She belongs rightfully to you. But if you cringe to her, if you go up to her doubtfully, timidly, she will pass you by in scorn. For she is a fickle jade who must be mastered, who loves boldness, who admires confidence.

A Roman boasted that it was sufficient for him to strike the ground with his foot and legions would spring up. And his very boldness cowed his opponents. It is the same with your mind. Take the first step, and your mind will mobilize all its forces to your aid. But the first essential is that you begin. Once the battle is started, all that is within and without you will come to your assistance, if you attack in earnest and meet each obstacle with resolution. But you have got to start things.

"The Lord helps them that help themselves" is a truth as old as man. It is, in fact, plain common sense. Your subconscious mind has all power, but your conscious mind is the watchman at the gate. It has got to open the door. It has got to press the spring that releases the infinite energy. No failure is possible in the accomplishment of any right object you may have in life, if you but understand your power and will perseveringly try to use it in the proper way.

The men who have made their mark in this world all had one trait in common—they believed in themselves! "But," you may say, "how can I believe in myself when I have never yet done anything worth while, when everything I put my hand to seems to fail?" You can't, of course. That is, you couldn't if you had to depend upon your conscious mind alone. But just remember what one far greater than you said—"I can of mine own self do nothing. The Father that is within me—He doeth the works."

That same "Father" is within you. And it is by knowing that He is in you, and that through Him you can do anything that is right, that you can acquire that belief in yourself which is so necessary. Certainly the Mind that imaged the heavens and the earth and all that they contain has all wisdom, all power, all abundance. With this Mind to call upon, you know there is no problem too difficult for you to undertake. The knowing of this is the first step. Faith. But St. James tells us—"Faith without works is dead." So go on to the next step. Decide on the one thing you want most from life. No matter what it may be. There is no limit, you know, to Mind. Visualize this thing that you want. See it, feel it, BELIEVE in it. Make your mental blue-print, and begin to build!

Suppose some people DO laugh at your idea. Suppose Reason does say—"It can't be done!" People laughed at Galileo. They laughed at Henry Ford. Reason contended for countless ages that the earth was flat. Reason said—or so numerous automotive engineers argued—that the Ford motor wouldn't run. But the earth is round—and the twelfth or fifteenth million Ford is on the road.

Let us start right now putting into practice some of these truths that you have learned. What do you want most of life right now? Take that one desire,concentrate on it, impress it upon your subconscious mind.
Psychologists have discovered that the best time to make suggestions to your subconscious mind is just before going to sleep, when the senses are quiet and the attention is lax. So let us take your desire and suggest it to your subconscious mind tonight. The two prerequisites are the earnest DESIRE, and an intelligent, understanding BELIEF. Someone has said, you know, that education is three-fourths encouragement, and the encouragement is the suggestion that the thing can be done.

You know that you can have what you want, if you want it badly enough and can believe in it earnestly enough. So tonight, just before you drop off to sleep, concentrate your thought on this thing that you most desire from life.

BELIEVE that you have it. SEE YOURSELF possessing it. FEEL yourself using it.
Do that every night until you ACTUALLY DO BELIEVE that you have the thing you want. When you reach that point, YOU WILL HAVE IT!   

Source: http://www.sacred-texts.com/nth/tsoa/tsoa18.htm

See Yourself Doing It

VI

See Yourself Doing It

You say big corporations scheme
To keep a fellow down;
They drive him, shame him, starve him, too,
If he so much as frown.
God knows I hold no brief for them;
Still, come with me to-day
And watch those fat directors meet,
For this is what they say:
   "In all our force not one to take
   The new work that we plan!
   In all the thousand men we've hired
   Where shall we find a man?"
                       —St. Clair Adams. *

You've often heard it said that a man is worth $2 a day from the neck down. How much he's worth from the neck up depends upon how much he is able to SEE.

"Without vision the people perish" did not refer to good eyesight. It was the eyes of the mind that counted in days of old just as they do today. Without them you are just so much power "on the hoof," to be driven as a horse or an ox is driven. And you are worth only a little more than they. 

But given vision—imagination—the ability to visualize conditions and things a month or a year ahead; given the eyes of the mind—there's no limit to your value or to your capabilities.

The locomotive, the steamboat, the automobile, the aeroplane—all existed complete in the imagination of some man before ever they became facts. The wealthy men, the big men, the successful men, visioned their successes in their minds’ eyes before ever they won them from the world.

From the beginning of time, nothing has ever taken on material shape without first being visualized in mind. The only difference between the sculptor and the mason is in the mental image behind their work. Rodin employed masons to hew his blocks of marble into the general shape of the figure he was about to form. That was mere mechanical labor. Then Rodin took it in hand and from that rough hewn piece of stone there sprang the wondrous figure of "The Thinker." That was art!

The difference was all in the imagination behind the hands that wielded mallet and chisel. After Rodin had formed his masterpiece, ordinary workmen copied it by the thousands. Rodin's work brought fabulous sums. The copies brought day wages. Conceiving ideas—creating something—is what pays, in sculpture as in all else. Mere hand-work is worth only hand wages.

“The imagination,” says Glenn Clark in “The Soul's Sincere Desire,” “is of all qualities in man the most God-like—that which associates him most closely with God. The first mention we read of man in the Bible is where he is spoken of as an 'image.' 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.' The only place where an image can be conceived is in the imagination. Thus man, the highest creation of God, was a creation of God's imagination.

“The source and center of all man's creative power—the power that above all others lifts him above the level of brute creation, and that gives him dominion, is his power of making images, or the power of the imagination. There are some who have always thought that the imagination was something which makes-believe that which is not. This is fancy

—not imagination. Fancy would convert that which is real into pretense and sham; imagination enables one to see through the appearance of a thing to what it really is.”
 

There is a very real law of cause and effect which makes the dream of the dreamer come true. It is the law of visualization—the law that calls into being in this outer material world everything that is real in the inner world. Imagination pictures the thing you desire. VISION idealizes it. It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own.

Make your mental image clear enough, picture it vividly in every detail, and the Genie-of-your-Mind will speedily bring it into being as an everyday reality.

That law holds true of everything in life. There is nothing you can rightfully desire that cannot be brought into being through visualization.

Suppose there's a position you want the general managership of your Company. See yourself—just as you are now—sitting in the general manager's chair. See your name on his door. See yourself handling his affairs as you would handle them. Get that picture impressed upon your subconscious mind. See it! Believe it! The Genie-of-your-Mind will find the way to make it come true.

The keynote of successful visualization is this: See things as you would have them be instead of as they are. Close your eyes and make clear mental pictures. Make them look and act just as they would in real life. In short, day dream—but day dream with a purpose. Concentrate on the one idea to the exclusion of all others, and continue to concentrate on that one idea until it has been accomplished.

Do you want an automobile? A home? A factory? They can all be won in the same way. They are in their essence all of them ideas of mind, and if you will but build them up in your own mind first, stone by stone, complete in every detail, you will find that the Genie-of-your-Mind can build them up similarly in the material world.

“The building of a trans-continental railroad from a mental picture,” says C. W. Chamberlain in “The Uncommon Sense of Applied Psychology,” “gives the average individual an idea that it is a big job. The fact of the matter is, the achievement, as well as the perfect mental picture, is made up of millions of little  job, each fitting in its proper place and helping to make up the whole.

“A skyscraper is built from individual bricks, the laying of each brick being a single job which must be completed before the next brick can be laid.”

It is the same with any work, any study. To quote Professor James:

"As we become permanent drunkards by so many separate drinks, so we become saints in the moral, and authorities and experts in the practical and scientific spheres, by so many separate acts and hours of working. Let no youth have any anxiety about the upshot of his education whatever the line of it may be. If he keep faithfully busy each hour of the working day he may safely leave the final result to itself. He can with perfect certainty count on waking some fine morning, to find himself one of the competent ones of his generation, in whatever pursuit he may have singled out.…Young people should know this truth in advance. The ignorance of it has probably engendered more discouragement and faintheartedness in youths embarking on arduous careers than all other causes taken together."

Remember that the only limit to your capabilities is the one you place upon them. There is no law of limitation. The only law is of supply. Through your subconscious mind you can draw upon universal supply for anything you wish. The ideas of Universal Mind are as countless as the sands on the seashore. Use them. And use them lavishly, just as they are given. There is a little poem by Jessie B. Rittenhouse * that so well describes the limitations that most of us put upon ourselves that I quote it here:

"I bargained with Life for a penny,
 And Life would pay no more,
 However I begged at evening
 When I counted my scanty store.    .      .      .      .      .      .
"For Life is a just employer;
 He gives you what you ask,
 But once you have set the wages,
 Why, you must bear the task.
"I worked for a menial's hire,
 Only to learn, dismayed,
 That any wage I had asked of Life,
 Life would have paid."

Aim high! If you miss the moon, you may hit a star. Everyone admits that this world and all the vast firmament must have been thought into shape from the formless void by some Universal Mind. That same Universal Mind rules today, and it has given to each form of life power to attract to itself whatever it needs for its perfect growth. The tree, the plant, the animal—each one finds its need.

You are an intelligent, reasoning creature. Your mind is part of Universal Mind. And you have power to say what you require for perfect growth. Don't be a niggard with yourself. Don't sell yourself for a penny. Whatever price you set upon yourself, life will give. So aim high. Demand much! Make a clear, distinct mental image of what it is you want. Hold it in your thought. Visualize it, see it, believe it! The ways and means of satisfying that desire will follow. For supply always comes on the heels of demand.

It is by doing this that you take your fate out of the hands of chance. It is in this way that you control the experiences you are to have in life. But be sure to visualize only what you want. The law works both ways. If you visualize your worries and your fears, you will make them real. Control your thought and you will control circumstances. Conditions will be what you make them.

Most of us are like factories where two-thirds of the machines are idle, where the workmen move around in a listless, dispirited sort of way, doing only the tenth part of what they could do if the head of the plant were watching and directing them. Instead of that, he is off idly dreaming or waiting for something to turn up. What he needs is someone to point out to him his listless workmen and idle machines, and show him how to put each one to working full time and overtime.

And that is what YOU need, too. You are working at only a tenth of your capacity. You are doing only a tenth of what you are capable of. The time you spend idly wishing or worrying can be used in so directing your subconscious mind that it will bring you anything of good you may desire.

Philip of Macedon, Alexander's father, perfected the "phalanx"—a triangular formation which enabled him to center the whole weight of his attack on one point in the opposing line. It drove through everything opposed to it. In that day and age it was invincible. And the idea is just as invincible today.

Keep the one thought in mind, SEE it being carried out step by step, and you can knit any group of workers into one homogeneous whole, all centered on the one idea. You can accomplish any one thing. You can put across any definite idea. Keep that mental picture ever in mind and you will make it as invincible as was Alexander's phalanx of old.

"It is not the guns or armament
 Or the money they can pay,
 It's the close cooperation
 That makes them win the day.
 It is not the individual
 Or the army as a whole
 But the everlasting team work
      of every bloomin’ soul."
                     —J. Mason Knox.

The error of the ages is the tendency mankind has always shown to limit the power of Mind, or its willingness to help in time of need.

"Know ye not," said Paul, "that ye are the temples of the Living God?"

No—most of us do not know it. Or at least, if we do, we are like the Indian family out on the Cherokee reservation. Oil had been found on their land and money poured in upon them. More money than they had ever known was in the world. Someone persuaded them to build a great house, to have it beautifully furnished, richly decorated. The house when finished was one of the show places of that locality. But the Indians, while very proud of their showy house, continued to live in their old sod shack!

So it is with many of us. We may know that we are "temples of the Living God." We may even be proud of that fact. But we never take advantage of it to dwell in that temple, to proclaim our dominion over things and conditions. We never avail ourselves of the power that is ours.

The great Prophets of old had the forward look. Theirs was the era of hope and expectation. They looked for the time when the revelation should come that was to make men "sons of God."

"They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
 

Jesus came to fulfill that revelation. "Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."

The world has turned in vain to matter and materialistic philosophy for deliverance from its woes. In the future the only march of actual progress will be in the mental realm, and this progress will not be in the way of human speculation and theorizing, but in the actual demonstration of the Universal, Infinite Mind.

The world stands today within the vestibule of the vast realm of divine intelligence, wherein is found the transcendent, practical power of Mind over all things.

"What eye never saw, nor ear ever heard,
 What never entered the mind of man—
 Even all that God has prepared for those who love Him."

Source:  http://www.sacred-texts.com/nth/tsoa/tsoa13.htm