Have a look before downloading it, see if you are looking for these ideas and concepts.

brain, control, patients, sensations, treatment, exercises, symptoms, feelings, mind, suffering, willpower, re-education, physicians, cerebral control, psychoneurosis.

Preface by Dr. David Halimi In today's modern world, most human societies are rapidly evolving.

This evolution goes hand in hand with scientific discoveries being made in the areas of technology, sociology, human behavior, and...

An unfortunate side effect of all this progress is a marked increase in the level of STRESS.

Stress has almost become a dirty word nowadays!

Hans Selye, who coined the term, used it to describe the psychological reactions of an organism when adapting to all forms of aggression.

He hardly imagined the importance of his discovery.

Present day societies are both the authors and hostages of their own evolution, which has become an inexhaustible source of mental destabilization.

Worry, fear, anxiety, anguish, depression, discomfort in short a host of forms of physical and mental suffering - are directly related to stress.

At the same time as concepts like New Age, New Medicine, New World Order, New Man, and so one are being invented, we must admit that whole sections of the edifice of classic socio-psychology have been shaken and even destroyed.

But since the dawn of humanity, we have been posing the same anguished questions about our origins, and the purpose of our lives.

We are exposed to them every day, in the course of our normal day to day exchanges.

We are constantly being heckled and battered by the same doubts, the same anxieties, the same sufferings and the same hopes.

We are therefore the inheritors of an immense emotional and energetic deficiency, which binds us to our past, and to our fellow man.

And most of us remain more or less unconscious of the programming we have been conditioned with!

By reuniting us with the primary elements of our material being - i.e. the functions and mechanisms of our own brain - the method developed by my colleague, Dr. Roger Vittoz offers a collection of practical exercises aimed precisely at re-establishing that fundamental and existential equilibrium which we have lost.

Our understanding of neuro-physiological processes has increased dramatically over the last ten years.

Far from contradicting these insights, the advice offered by Dr. Vittoz, when skillfully and intelligently applied, provides us with the keys for achieving mental control.

The mind is difficult to define, situated as it is on the border between the psyche and the body, the organic, the functional and the existential.

Based on his day to day therapeutic practice, Dr. R. Vittoz is able to enlighten us by presenting his theories in a comprehensible way, stripped of any arduous intellectualizations, while remaining completely integral and accurate.

Even if we do not agree with all the conclusions he has drawn, we must admit that modern neuro-physiology does seem to back them up.

We are convinced that anyone who puts these theories into practice, and who perseveres, will be able to overcome any of the psychobehavioral or organic disorders they are suffering from.

Over the last few years, a number of works of this kind have appeared, and my adding a stone to the edifice was above all a response to the needs of my patients; I also wished to enlighten people as to the cause of these nervous disorders, known under various names such as neurasthenia, psychoneurosis or psychasthenia; and finally to develop my personal point of view on the subject of treatment.

So it is above all the patients, suffering from these disorders, whom I am addressing, and that is why I tried, as much as possible, to simplify anything in this study which seemed too abstract.

Before beginning our study of cerebral control, it is very important that you understand how the brain functions, as far as perception, developing ideas, sensations and actions are concerned.

There are a number of modern theories, but let's look at the simplest one, which accepts the existence of two different functional centers, called the conscious or objective brain, and the unconscious or subjective brain.

The unconscious self is the primitive, primary brain; the conscious self evolved from this primary self and led to the formation of reason, judgment, in short of all conscious faculties.

There has been an attempt to associate certain psychoneuroses with the subconscious brain; but it seems to me to that we are more likely to find a cause in the imbalance and disharmony between the two parts of the brain; it is the link between them which creates a healthy, normal person, and the more or less pronounced separation between the conscious and subconscious brains which leads to disease.

At first glance, it may appear that a perfect balance of the conscious and subconscious minds depends on the equilibrium of each of the parts, but in reality this is not very important.

We can define cerebral control as an inherent faculty of normal persons to balance the functions of the conscious and subconscious parts of the brain.

Carried away by every impulse, vulnerable to all kinds of phobias, unable to reason or judge, forced to accept all the impressions received by the subconscious mind...

Fortunately, complete lack of control is an extreme case which is rarely encountered in the patients we treat; what we usually find in cases of psychoneurosis is an insufficiency or instability of control.

In cases of insufficiency, control exists as a faculty, but either it has not reached full development, or it is defective in some way, or its influence is not adequate.

Now let's try to determine what effect insufficient control has on ideas, sensations and actions.

To do this, we must look at what happens in an individual's brain to mix up ideas and controlled or uncontrolled sensations.

It seems that even if the insufficiency is only slight, patients feel a vague sense of unease that some of their ideas are escaping them, or cannot be sufficiently defined.

They are also often troubled by a feeling of being only half awake, as if they were living in a kind of semidream state which they cannot break out of, a condition which can cause significant anxiety.

If the insufficiency is more serious, symptoms will increase proportionally; patients no longer suffer from a vague sense of unease, but rather from a very pronounced sense of confusion, where ideas become all mixed up, and have no logical sequence or direction.

An uncontrolled idea is always less defined, less precise; left to itself, it can repeat itself indefinitely, or become fixed in the brain (in other words it can become an obsession) to the point where willpower has no effect on it whatsoever.

In other cases, ideas can undergo veritable distortions; they become exaggerated, are modified or transformed, without the individual being aware of it.

So the major effects of insufficient control are a lack of precision or clarity, and exaggeration or distortion of ideas.

As for sensations, we find the same symptoms; they are rarely clear, often bizarre, and tend to be grossly out of proportion.

Patients are undecided, and their actions are rarely thought out or may even be partly unconscious.

Since the idea preceding an action is too confused, patients forget what they wanted to do, or are incapable of completing something they started.

All these effects of insufficient control on ideas, sensations and actions are not clearly perceived by patients, who accept them without realizing that they are the basis of the most severe symptoms associated with their illness.

Despite their importance, we will only outline these symptoms briefly here, since we will be encountering them at every step of the way in the course of this study.

We said earlier that cerebral control dominates an individual's psychology, and also his or her physiology.

This statement is supported by the fact that neurasthenics suffer from all kinds of organic problems, which demonstrates that the superior (or cerebral) functions directly influence so-called psychosomatic pathologies.

It is quite natural to accept the fact that organic and cerebral equilibrium are united, or that they are at least interdependent.

It is also certain that a mechanism exists which controls the organs, assuring their regular function, just as a mechanism of cerebral control exists, and that both are subject to the same laws, governed by the same causes, and produce the same effects in their respective areas.

Therefore, any defect in cerebral control will have repercussions on the organic level; at times, the organic symptom will even replace the psychological symptom as the primary indication of illness, and the psychological symptoms will become of secondary importance, or even go completely unnoticed.

An insufficiency can therefore affect a particular organ like the stomach or intestines for example (nervous dyspepsia, enteritis, etc.) or an entire system (vascular, nervous, muscular, etc.).

In almost all cases, the vascular and nervous systems are affected to some degree: every psychasthenic patient suffers from vasculomotor problems and some pain.

The sense organs are also affected; troubles with hearing and vision are frequent.

And the genital organs often exhibit tenacious symptoms as well.

As soon as an organ is affected and modified by insufficient control, the purely psychological symptoms seem to diminish, and patients tend to transfer the cause of their problem to the organ in question.

We will now apply this information to the treatment of psychoneurosis.

In cases of hysteria, for example, which is certainly characterized by obvious modifications of this kind, we would not know how to tell whether or not the disorder was uniquely a problem of mental control.

In psychasthenic cases, on the other hand, even the most inexperienced observer can recognize in each symptom and each step in its development, an obvious insufficiency, so that it would be hard to refute the fact that "all cases of psychasthenia are caused by a lack or an insufficiency of mental control."

From a cerebral point of view, we can say that the effect of heredity is either to inhibit the progressive development of cerebral control, which would otherwise occur completely naturally starting at a certain age, or to instill patients with a kind of instability or insecurity.

3. We can also include a periodic or intermittent form, which is nevertheless well defined.

This form of neurosis is often the result of some emotional or moral shock, which is why it appears so suddenly.

The onset of the disorder occurs fairly rapidly; in just a few weeks, and for no apparent reason, patients exhibit serious symptoms which last for weeks or months.

This period of remission may last for several months, or even years; then once again, patients undergo another crisis, with little or no warning beforehand.

Psychological symptoms can be grouped into two main classes: the first includes initial symptoms which appear during the latent phase of the disorder, when cerebral control is already insufficient, but not permanently so.

The second class includes those symptoms which appear when the disorder reaches its active phase, and the insufficiency is more stabilized and complete.

At this stage, the role of education is primordial, and if doctors had more opportunity to intervene, they could at least detect the symptoms, warn the patients' parents, and save many an unfortunate child from years of suffering.

Although the individual symptoms do not have any obviously distinguishing characteristics, hardly differing from those observed in cases of simple nervous disorders, when taken as a whole, they become easily identifiable to even to the inexperienced observer.

The first symptom is exaggerated impressionability: its distinguishing characteristic is that it is not permanent, as in cases of simple nervousness - the patient's character is unstable, sometimes gay, sometimes morose, sometimes gregarious and outgoing, sometimes totally self-centered, and all this for no apparent reason.

Interrogate a patient and s/he will not be able to explain the condition, ascribing it to a lack of morale, or some indefinite vague fear, or even to a loss of memory.

The longer this state lasts, the more pronounced the symptoms become: apathy, fatigue, and a general disinterest in life soon take hold and refuse to let go.

It is easy to understand how, during the active phase, one symptom leads to another, this being nothing more than the result of the progression of unstable control towards permanent insufficiency.

There is, in addition, an added phenomenon, one which differentiates the first phase from the second, which is that patients become more and more aware of their mental state; the feeling, which is often hard to define, causes patients to exhibit very characteristic signs of fear and anxiety.

This phenomenon is also a symptom which, while tolerable during the first phase, becomes unbearably frightening in the second.

This explains how even insignificant facts or events take on enormous importance, and often result in a crisis of severe depression or despair - patients lose sight of their real, objective point of view, and are only concerned with their insufficiency of control.

When considered from this angle, all the symptoms exhibited by psychasthenics can be explained and easily understood.

These are no imaginary symptoms: they are quite "real" and are the result of an abnormal functioning of the brain.

We can therefore say that all symptoms which occur during the active phase of psychasthenia are partly the result of unstable control, and partly the result of how the patient feels about his/her instability.

Now let's take a look at what aggravates symptoms during the latent phase.

Take patients in the dream state, who live in a kind of semi-con-sciousness.

There's nothing harmful about this in itself, since everyone drifts off into a daydream from time to time - it's the brain's way of relaxing.

But in normal persons the state is voluntary - they can choose whether to dream or not to dream.

At the beginning of the latent phase, this is also true of psychasthenics, but little by little, because of mental laziness, they get into the habit, they seek out the dream state, and are soon unable to get out of it, reluctant even to try since the effort becomes so difficult.

They start living more and more inside themselves, distancing themselves from the outside world; and this results in a kind of unhealthy, self-centered egoism, which affects their entire behavior, and makes them such a burden on other people.

They lose all contact with the people and things around them, they cannot see farther than the thick veil which clouds their minds; they have no sense of "self," and often end up hating themselves, without being able to escape from their own mental prison.

We have said that they will suffer as they attempt to break out of this negative state, and their suffering is very real; the return to normalcy can only be achieved after a kind of painful rupture has taken place, and patients are fearful of the process.

On the other hand, they are also aware that this dream state cannot go on indefinitely, and that it leads inevitably to despair, depression and anxiety; they are torn between the two alternatives, lacking willpower, lacking strength, lacking courage.

The inability to concentrate their thoughts, which we have called mental wandering, does not represent a major inconvenience at the outset of the disorder, except as far as work is concerned.

But as the state persists and eventually becomes permanent, things soon change.

Because they are so numerous, and also because of fatigue, thoughts lose any value and clarity; confusion sets in, and is soon followed by panic.

This is because the mind is constantly active, with no rest or respite.

It is also symptomatic for cerebral activity to be more intense in the morning than at night, when hyperactive thinking is replaced by the sensation of being overexcited, which is less severe.

Proof that the sensation of fatigue is caused by a lack of cerebral control lies in the fact that the fatigue always disappears during periods of normal control.

The slightest change in their habits, or the simplest thing they are asked to do, can bring on a crisis of anxiety, because they feel inferior and incapable of coping.

A direct result of feeling inferior is continual anxiety.

The state is very hard on patients, and has the same cause as feeling inferior patients see their lives as a series of tragedies.

They are never calm, never happy; they live in continual fear of the present and of the future.

This kind of suffering can destroy the strongest mind - it is the kind of pain the mind fears the most, and is least able to deal with.

Some patients transfer the problem to an organ, and the disorder becomes psychosomatic; anxiety can affect the precordium, stomach, intestines, etc.

We can say that all psychasthenic patients suffer from abulia, and in fact there is a large grey area between what can be considered simple indecision and complete abulia.

The sense organs exhibit certain peculiarities which merit our attention here.

All abnormalities related to vision are aggravated in cases of noncontrol; like thoughts, images can be less clear, confused, and this without any physical alteration of the organ itself.

We have seen in the preceding chapters that the essential cause of most cases of psychoneurosis is an instability or insufficiency of what we call cerebral control.

However, as far as re-education of cerebral control during the hypnotic trance state is concerned, I have only seen very temporary results, the problem being that patients tend to rely more on the hypnotist than on themselves, and prefer obeying easy suggestions to struggling to overcome the problem themselves.

This form of treatment is therefore more palliative than curative, and cannot be recommended except in cases of instability, where patients are able to regain their mental equilibrium themselves.

As for other methods of pure psychotherapy, such as the re-edu-cation of the will developed by Dr. Dubois, they have the same aim as our own method, and have opened new horizons in the treatment of these disorders, providing results beyond all expectations.

Any treatment that is based only on reasoning with patients, or trying to persuade them to do the right thing, cannot replace a program of re-education.

There is more to it than that: the various changes we observe, which are the result of insufficient control, force us to admit that it is not only ideas which are modified, but the cerebral functions themselves - there is something abnormal about the way the organ itself is functioning.

In demonstrating the necessity for the re-training of cerebral control, we said that patients must be shown what to do.

How to achieve this is, in fact, the tricky part of the problem, and will be of special interest to physicians who are directly involved in treatment.

However, before beginning our study of the training itself, we should explain the procedure we will be using, i.e. how we will show patients precisely what they should do.

Direct control of the brain, at the present stage of scientific development, is beyond our control.

This means that there are few means at our disposal to verify what patients report in terms of what is actually happening in the brain.

Struck by this gap in our scientific knowledge, I tried to find some simple method of verification.

It seemed to me to be quite amazing that symptoms which are sometimes extremely intense could not be perceived (i.e. verified) objectively.

The cerebral pulse (electroencephalograph) provided some indication of what was going on, but was not practical enough, and required the use of highly sensitive instruments.

My own personal experience showed me that, contrary to current opinion, the hand, when placed on the forehead of a patient, and when sufficiently trained, can provide a fairly accurate indication of what is happening in the brain.

It is very likely that the entire body vibrates in unison with the brain, a sensation which is clearly felt by persons suffering from certain disorders.

This vibration is not limited to the forehead, but is more perceptible in that region.

It is completely different from the cerebral pulse, and is caused by a contraction of the skin and skin muscles.

The intensity of the contraction corresponds to the patient's intensity of concentration.

Therefore, perceiving this vibration is not a question of having some kind of special gift or having especially sensitive hands; for years, many patients have been able to perceive it just as well as I can.

I am well aware of how skeptical people will be about this, because it is difficult to admit that the brain's activity can be detected through the skull; I cannot explain how it works - all I can say is that there is an exterior effect, and this effect can be felt by the hand; it appears as a series of repeated shocks, creating the sensation of a wave or particular kind of vibration.

For those who wish to try it, here's how to proceed: Ask someone to concentrate on the ticking of a metronome, or better still to mentally repeat the ticking sound.

Place your hand on the person's forehead, either flat or cupped, and you will feel a subtle shock or beating which is more perceptible on either the right or left side, depending on where the metronome needle is.

If you increase the metronome's speed, the beating will become more rapid; decrease the speed and the beating slows down accordingly.

If the subject is distracted, you will not feel any beats - the sensation in your hand will change, or stop altogether.

There is, therefore, a correlation between what the subject is thinking and the sensation you experience in your hand.

It is possible that your sensation will not be precise enough the first time you try the experiment, but if you are patient, the sensation gradually becomes clear.

We are presenting this phenomenon as a simple hypothesis, although later on we will provide more complete and scientific proof of its accuracy.

For the moment, lets us assume that the sensation which is perceived does relate to cerebral activity, and that it is modified according to the state the brain is in.

It then becomes easy to perceive the difference between a calm brain and one which is agitated, as well as the difference between a controlled idea or thought, and one which isn't.

With a little practice, you can begin to recognize certain different sensations, perceived through the hands, which correspond to different states of the brain.

3. The state of tension almost always causes pain, either piercing pain in the nape of the neck, or pressure on the temples.

It is easy to detect this kind of cerebral tension through direct examination: the vibrations are very tense, like a wire vibrating very quickly; waves have hardly any amplitude, and are so faint they are hardly perceptible.

There are also differences in amplitude and strength.

Also, as soon as willpower comes into play, it is easy to detect an immediate increase in vibratory speed and/or amplitude.

Despite these variations, all normal vibrations are fairly rhythmic and regular; this is what differentiates them from abnormal vibrations, which are always irregular.

If you question the patient, s/he may tell you that the change was due to a thought or a distraction, or s/he may not have been conscious of the change at all.

These various modalities constitute the major forms of the state of cerebral non-control; as soon as they are detected, a physician may proceed with the training program we referred to earlier on.

If we accept the fact that abnormal vibrations, which correspond to particular states of cerebral non-control, exist, then we can conclude that any insufficiency modifies brain function.

When treating neurasthenia, we will have to take this new element into account, since it guides us towards the development of an effective training program: the re-education of cerebral control cannot be considered complete until the abnormal brain function has been replaced, and abnormal vibrations are replaced by normal vibrations.

The first question we have to ask then is how can we change the vibrations?

Patients have to be sufficiently conscious, concentrated, and able to exercise willpower, in order to modify an abnormal vibration.

These two objectives are actually inseparable, and we are only making the distinction for the sake of clarity.

Learning to control actions is the first step in re-educating the brain; it the simplest way to achieve this and, although it may often seem almost childish at first, it does provide appreciable results.

If we observe the way psychasthenic patients carry out their daily activities, we notice a remarkable lack of clarity and precision.

It is as if their thoughts were elsewhere most of the time, or they were incapable of thinking about what they are doing while doing it.

This makes their actions hesitant - you get the feeling they lack any kind of determination.

Let's look at an example: A psychasthenic wants to get something from his room, but by the time he gets to his room, he often forgets what it was he came for; if the object is in a locked drawer, he will take it out and then forget to close the drawer, or lock it, and so on.

All actions are carried out in an altered state of consciousness, without purpose or determined will; the patient is not able to retain the initial impulse, which was to retrieve such and such an object, and see it through to the end.

You can imagine how inconvenient this is in everyday life; in addition, all these semi-conscious acts have repercussions on the brain; the mind tires of trying to remember what it is supposed to be doing; the constant uncertainty troubles the patient, and leads to a loss of self confidence.

We do not begin by asking patients to control all their daily activities - this would be impossible - but simply to perform a certain number of predetermined actions every hour.

In a relatively short time, the constant repetition of predetermined, controlled actions creates a kind of cerebral pattern which patients find very useful.

Before we proceed to the re-education of actions, we must first understand what it is we are asking of patients.

A controlled action must be "conscious," which means that patients must be absolutely present and concentrated on what they are doing.

This should exclude all distractions from interfering.

The second important point is the following: during a conscious act, the brain must be uniquely receptive; its function is to record precisely what is taking place; the brain must "feel" the action and not think it.

This distinction between feeling and thinking clearly distinguishes a controlled, conscious act from a non-controlled one.

Thinking an act means emitting energy, while feeling it means receiving energy.

By developing this receptivity, sensations become accurate instead of distorted, as is often the case with neurasthenic patients.

Patients must get into the habit of looking clearly at what they're seeing, of listening to what they hear, and of feeling what they do.

Vision becomes conscious when you simply allow the vibrations of the object you are looking at to penetrate your eyes.

You should feel as if you are absorbing the object without making any effort to do so, without having to stare hard at it.

You are not looking for details; your mind should grasp the object in its entirety, and create an image which becomes very clear with a little practice.

The same goes for hearing: you have to allow the sound you're listening to to penetrate you, and learn to open your ears without making any forced effort.

You could listen to the ticking of a clock for a moment, or the noise of a moving tram, to reinforce your awareness of hearing.

Perceiving sounds in this way makes patients less irritable, since they can become indifferent even to unpleasant noises, when they perceive them consciously.

The first sensation which is perceived, whether cold or hot, hard or soft, will be the most conscious.

For example, to lock a drawer, you have to realize that turning the key completes the action; or if you put a coin into your wallet, you have to understand that it is really there.

Walking merits special attention because it allows for the frequent application of conscious activity, despite the complexity of the movement involved.

We consider voluntary acts as a special class, slightly apart from other actions, and very useful as far as training is concerned.

We naturally agree that all conscious acts are at the same time voluntary, since they are carried out by choice, but we do make the following distinction.

When we ask patients to perform an act consciously, we are asking them to simply concentrate on the sensations produced by the act, for example the sensation of bending an arm or touching a light switch.

Making this distinction may seem overly subtle, but it does have its uses, since it is the first step in re-educating the faculty of willpower.

And there is a difference in cerebral vibration which can be detected when using the technique of hand application.

As far as sensations are concerned, control teaches patients to receive impressions as they are, without distorting them by thinking too much; it heightens receptivity, and in so doing helps patients exteriorize more easily.

This means that patients must be aware of their thoughts; awareness, which is so natural in normal minds, is only partial in cases of non-control.

It must be remembered that psychasthenics suffer from mental confusion most of the time; thoughts are unconnected, and occur so rapidly that patients simply cannot be aware of everything that goes through their mind.

This self examination may be carried out mentally or, in some cases, written down so that it can be analyzed by the treating physician.

They must understand the way their mind works, and become aware of the abnormal ways in which they modify certain thoughts and impressions; they must also learn what thoughts or ideas provoke anxiety.

Physicians have a very important role to play - they must show patients their errors, and also what to look for; they will also discover a host of indications for further treatment.

The passive state refers to all varieties of cerebral non-control.

The mind may be conscious, but it is never voluntary, i.e. it is not directed by the person's will.

Psychologically speaking, this state is characterized by extreme receptivity, as if the mind were exposed to all kinds of deficiencies, obsessions and phobias.

These psychological symptoms only arise in the passive state, which is therefore perfectly representative of a pathological state of the mind.

To give patients an idea of what the passive state is, we can describe the main forms it assumes, starting with the one closest to the active state: 1.

Each case represents a special type - one person will suffer more from excess excitation or confusion, while another will succumb to depression or anxiety.

But almost all will experience some degree of all the symptoms associated with the passive state.

Each variety has is particular vibration, which can be easily distinguished through hand contact.

An experienced therapist will be able to differentiate the dream state from excess excitability, or simple wandering of the mind from real anxiety.

This classification aims to facilitate our understanding of the passive state which, once it is recognized, can then be modified.

We are convinced that the greatest difficulty in curing psychasthenia consists of the fact that patients do not know what is wrong with them they do not understand the problem, or even if they do, they don't know how to go about changing it.

Therefore, it is up to us to provide them with the tools they need - i.e. regaining awareness through reeducation - so that they can cure themselves.

Now that we have defined the states of conscious thought and action, let's move on to the second essential quality of control - concentration.

Concentration is the faculty of being able to fix thoughts on a given point, to develop an idea without getting distracted, to be able to lose oneself in a book, in some kind of work, etc.

The faculty is completely lacking in neurasthenic patients.

We will now outline the exercises we use to help patients acquire the ability to concentrate.

At first, trying to concentrate on an idea is too difficult.

So the first exercise consists of mentally following a curved line, for example a figure eight or the geometric sign of infinity.

It is hard to imagine that such a simple exercise can present any problems, yet many patients are incapable of doing it correctly.

If the exercise is carried out properly, a double regular wave pattern will be felt through hand contact; if done incorrectly, you will feel interruptions in the wave pattern, almost always occurring as the patient reaches the outer edges of the curves.

Patients will become aware of this themselves with a little effort.

Ask your patient to follow the swinging pendulum of a metronome, while mentally repeating the ticking sound.

Start with 10 to 15 repetitions, and then progressively increase the duration of the exercise.

Concentration on a point in the body: in this exercise, patients are asked to mentally determine the exact sensations they are experiencing, first in their right hand, then the left hand, then the right foot, left foot, and so on.

After a few days, concentrating on a given part of the body will produce a particular sensation which patients can easily recognize, for example a feeling of pins and needles, or a slight shock, or the feeling that blood is flowing into the designated area.

Hand application will show more accentuated vibrations on the right side of the forehead when patients concentrate on their right hand or foot, and on the left side when concentrating on the left hand, foot, elbow, etc.

If the patient is able to concentrate, the doctor will feel a slight muscular contraction under his finger.

The exercise consists of writing and mentally saying the number 1, three times in succession, without allowing any other thoughts to interfere.

In addition, between each written and mental repetition, there should be a pause of between half a second and a second.

In this way, patients have to concentrate on sight, words, and mental hearing (since the word is heard in the mind as it is spoken in the mind) as well as on the act of writing, which also occupies the brain.

As soon as a patient is able to do the exercise correctly, increase the number of repetitions to 4, 5, 6, 7 etc.

This is certainly more difficult to achieve; patients should practice ignoring distractions, at first in solitude, and finally when surrounded by people, noise, etc.

This series of exercises cannot be directly controlled by the attending physician (except the one which involves concentrated reading, where hand application will produce a series of regular wave vibrations).

For the rest, we have to depend on what patients tell us, and leave them to judge their own progress.

We ask patients to try and establish a sensation of mental calm, of psychological and physical tranquility in their minds.

Objective verification is simple - as soon as the sensation of tranquility is established in the brain, the hand perceives a modification of vibrations, which become slower and stronger.

Patients are asked to try and feel the energy and strength pulsing through their own body, by remembering occasions when they were really energetic.

The ultimate aim of concentration is to regularize what we call "cerebral emissions" which are continually disturbed in the non-con-trolled state.

Regular cerebral emissions are necessary to concentrate thoughts on a given object, and to digest or classify that object; without regular emissions, no useful work can be done, since the mind wanders aimlessly, and is disturbed by all kinds of distractions.

Concentration directs the thought process, and is the antidote for fighting obsessions and phobias.

The effects of concentration are not limited to the mind, since it can act on the physical body.

The physiological effects of concentration are worth mentioning here.

To understand these effects, it must be assumed that concentrating on any fixed point results in an influx of nervous energy, originating at that point.

This nervous influx is proof that concentration does produce cerebral emissions which have a very special regularizing and healing effect, which we will now look at in light of a few sample cases.

Mrs. V, 45 years old, suffered from almost complete paralysis of her lower limbs for close to ten years.

She could stand up for a moment, but could not walk; as soon as she tried, she felt as if her legs were collapsing; she had no conscious control of the muscles in her legs, although she could move her upper body and arms normally.

She had no problems with perception, nor did she complain of any particular pains.

But she did experience a sensation of intense fatigue, which her immobility only aggravated.

Aside from these primary symptoms, she clearly exhibited symptoms of cerebral instability, although these she all but ignored, preoccupied as she was with her paralysis.

She was obsessed with the fear that she would never recover, since all treatments up to that point (electric shock, showers, massage, injections, etc.) had had no effect.

It was not difficult to prove to this woman that her pseudo-pa-ralysis was the result of her brain not sending adequate nervous emissions to her lower limbs, and that prescribing appropriate exercises would soon alleviate the condition.

This case was relatively easy, since a diagnostic error was hardly possible.

However, when patients suffer from contractures, it is sometimes difficult to be certain of the results.

The following case, on the other hand, proves that we should never give up hope unless a lesion has been absolutely identified as the cause of the disorder.

Mrs. W was bedridden for 14 years because of generalized contractures.

Here are two very revealing cases: Mrs. X came to see me about her angina attacks; she had suffered from acute dilation of the heart (muscle), accompanied by generalized edema and cyanosis.

Her treating physician had concluded that cause of the disorder was an organic lesion, complicated by nervous problems.

An example: Miss X had been suffering from attacks of hyperchlorhydria and vomiting for a number of years.

If we had enough space, we could cite many more such cases whose origins appeared to be organic, but which were cured through re-education.

However, since space is limited, we will conclude this chapter with a description of how nervous currents affect pain.

Pain is a common symptom of neurasthenia, and can be easily influenced by nervous currents.

This can be proved by the following simple experiment: Pinch a person's body hard, and ask the person to concentrate on the painful point: if the person can concentrate well, the pinching sensation will clearly disappear as soon as the current is directed at the point in question.

If the exercise was done correctly, the patient will be left with a mental image of a blank sheet of paper, devoid of objects.

After a number of repetitions, the brain becomes accustomed to eliminating unwanted objects (or thoughts) from its mental image, an ability which is very useful.

If you ask a patient to mentally write the numbers 3 and 5, for example, you will feel a vibration on the left side when s/he writes the first number, 3 (since people write from left to right) and a vibration on the right side when s/he writes the number 5.

It is interesting to note that nervous persons do the opposite of what they are supposed to do and, at the beginning of their training, it is always the object or number which they want to eliminate that they fix in their brain.

Once patients can eliminate numbers, they move on to letters, then to words, and finally to sentences.

Words are first erased letter by letter, then as whole words.

Sentences are first erased as words, then as whole sentences.

We use another procedure of elimination which we call "de-con-centration."

1. Patients can mentally write the number in smaller and smaller characters, until it disappears completely.

2. They can also imagine that the number is getting farther and farther away, until it becomes invisible.

Willpower is the crucial point of the training, since it is the force which will allow neurasthenic patients to regain the faculties which their illness has caused them to lose.

The first thing we notice is that a kind of intrinsic willpower exists as a force in all individuals, whether normal or neurasthenic, and even in persons suffering from abulia.

The effort of will, which can also be called an expansion of willpower, can be compared to opening the tap of an energy reserve; the energy that flows out can be applied to an action, or to a thought or feeling.

This is the simplest way of describing how willpower works.

The force of willpower acts like a whip.

It is temporary, but can be renewed.

Its intensity is regulated by a normal individual's need at the moment it is brought into play, since an individual can control his/her emission of willpower, just as s/he can control all other aspects of cerebral activity.

In cases of insufficient control, we have to work not only on the faculty of willpower, which is weakened by inaction, but also on the way it is used, which is always defective.

The reservoir of energy may have some leaks, or a patient may not know how to use the energy reserve at all.

What conditions are necessary for bringing willpower into play?

They are, of course, the same in for persons suffering from insufficient control as they are for normal persons, and can be considered from two points of view.

First let's look at the phenomenon of willpower from a mechanical point of view, which is the less important of the two, but which should be understood.

This is what happens whenever willpower is used: 1.

An effort of will is never possible when persons are exhaling.

It always happens during the pause after inhaling, as if the brain were looking for a physical point of reference in the air contained in the chest cavity.

2. There is a more or less pronounced increase in pulse rate, and accelerated cerebral circulation.

3. An effort of will is almost always accompanied by a muscular contraction.

These three points describe the mechanical side of the effort of willpower.

To get patients to reproduce the same conditions, we make them do the following exercise: They are told to inhale, and then hold their breath for 2 to 4 seconds while mentally repeating the phrase "I want" and clenching their fists.

This fulfils the mechanical requirements for making an effort of will: retaining air in the chest cavity, which also increases pulse rate and circulation; repeating "I want" in relation to an act or decision that has to be made (or simply saying "I want to want...").

Too much emphasis should not be placed on the importance of this little scenario.

All that is required is that patients become familiar with the process through repetition, until it becomes almost unconscious.

Now let's look at the psychological conditions, without which there is no emission of willpower.

2. The possibility of getting what you want.

3. The sincerity and truth of wanting.

We have to be precise about the nature and the goal of wanting.

We often believe we know what we want, without realizing that the idea we have in mind is too vague and imprecise.

These repeated failures, where trying to exert their willpower was synonymous with fatigue and anxiety, eventually annihilated any vestiges of willpower they might have originally had, to the point where these people cannot even comprehend its existence in other people.

Now let's look at how we can use them to re-educate the faculty in problem cases.

The first step consists of getting patients to experience the actual sensation of making an effort of will.

The physician's role is to make sure that any voluntary act or decision a patient makes is within the limits of his or her capabilities.

In all doubtful cases, or in cases where a patient experiences some difficulty, the physician should proceed in the following manner: The first question patients should ask themselves is: a.

People have affinities for different things (as the saying goes: Different strokes for different folks!).

In describing the major factors involved in making an effort of will, we have already inferred some of the errors patients tend to make, such as a lack of sincerity, expressing ideas which are not well defined, not realizing the impossibility of a given desire, and so on.

We must draw our patients' attention to the frequent confusion between willpower on the one hand, and desire, impulsiveness and intention on the other.

The difference between desire and real willpower is particularly subtle, since for many persons desire is the only reason for wanting something.

Only willpower is an active form of energy, and only willpower expresses freedom of choice; desire is passive, subjecting persons to blind attraction/repulsion reflexes.

Intention is all the more dangerous in that it satisfies a person's conscience to some extent - people are content with defining an objective, but do not make any real effort to attain it.

The major issues are obscured behind a host of secondary considerations, which in turn prevent patients from exercising any kind of clear and objective judgment.

Willpower plays a capital role in the re-education of cerebral control.

When used properly, it can make all the difference.

The exercise of willpower instills patients with a sense of self mastery, and forces their subconscious to remain within normal limits.

In short, almost anything can be accomplished through a concentrated effort of will, including the re-establishment of cerebral control.

Psychologically speaking, all passive and uncontrolled thoughts become active when they are controlled by an exterior force or influence.

All mental symptoms of illness disappear as soon as the influence of willpower becomes possible.

Anxiety which is produced voluntarily cannot last; even the strongest phobias make no impression against an effort of will.

We could therefore say that a patient who is able to exercise his or her willpower is all but cured.

As soon as patients get used to exercising their willpower, the faculty becomes almost automatic, especially in instances of insufficient control, and constitutes what we call Mental Recovery.

It would be hard for psychasthenic patients to recover if they had to make a real mental effort every time they tended to act passively, without sufficient control.

A well trained brain makes the effort on its own, with hardly any conscious participation on the part of the patient.

By simply being aware that s/he is falling, the patient will make the necessary adjustments to remain upright, without any conscious effort - balance is recovered so to speak.

Although unconscious, this mental recovery is the result of an effort of will, and can be monitored in the intensity of vibrations felt through hand contact.

For some patients, mental recovery feels like a mechanical effort.

One will find the sensation stimulating, another disturbing.

What is curious to note is that these patients do not think they are exercising willpower, and see the change as simply a defense against passivity.

When mental recovery assumes this mechanical quality, it may not last very long.

There is a danger that such patients will resume their old bad habits.

Real mental recovery, on the other hand, is a guarantee that control is stable, and that the habit of exercising control is firmly established.

Re-education the faculty of willpower completes the functional, mechanical part of the process of retraining the brain.

Patients now have the tools to heal themselves.

They know how to modify an abnormal vibration.

They can concentrate, and they can exercise their willpower.

All they have to do now is create new mental habits by keeping an eye on their level of control.

In many simple cases, treatment can be limited to the functional level.

This second part of the training is concerned with ideas, with the way thoughts are conceived, and with the various modifications patients make in their minds which distort ordinary facts, thoughts and feelings.

We are not going to talk about generalities here, but instead maintain a therapeutic point of view, and we must remind the reader of our stated intention to keep this work as simple and practical as possible, so that it can be used by patients as well as doctors.

We will therefore limit ourselves to mentioning certain facts, certain anomalies which are useful to know about, since they arise in almost all cases of psychasthenia.

These modifications can be easily detected by physicians and patients during the functional treatment stage, by analyzing the various determining causes of recurring symptoms.

For example, fear of a certain kind of pain can immediately bring on the pain.

The inexplicable cause of such a symptom is actually an ancient impression, crystallized in the brain so to speak, which always produces the same symptom through an unconscious mechanism.

It was this incident, buried in her subconscious, that was causing her nausea: once the cliché was identified, the symptom disappeared.

The first time he took a walk after recovering, he developed the symptoms, which persisted, although there was no organic reason.

The cliché symptom will usually disappear as soon as patients become aware that it is only a reaction to a past impression, and has no relation to the present moment.

In this section, we will try to determine what constitutes an abnormal vibration from a psychological point of view, i.e. what peculiarities can be associated with thoughts, sensations and emotions emitted in a non-controlled or passive state.

Patients can easily recognize their own obsessive behavior, and usually try to combat it.

However, thoughts or ideas which are dominant, but which have not reached the obsessive stage, often go unnoticed.

Thoughts are rarely sustained and carried through to their logical conclusion; instead, patients get caught up in any thought that arises; these supplant the original thought, and are in turn supplanted by new distractions, and so on.

The original thought or idea is completely forgotten, or recalled with difficulty.

Normal persons can easily follow the progression of their thoughts.

In the non-controlled state, a part of the mind is usually unconscious, and patients draw conclusions which are opposite to what they intended.

I am not exaggerating when I say that a neurasthenic patient can come up with a statement like, "I am in perfect health, therefore I'm sick!"

and this with the total assurance of being logical and correct.

All we have to do to understand what they mean is to add the patient's unconscious deductions.

"I am in perfect health, but I may get sick" may be what they mean.

Patients only recall that in their minds they followed a plausible progression of ideas, so their conclusion must be correct.

It would be impossible to explain how patients manage to produce certain symptoms if this fact were not taken into account.

Another abnormal cerebral function is the constant analysis patients perform in their minds.

Every thought is dissected, scrutinized and weighed to the point where patients invariably become lost in a labyrinth of deductions and doubts.

They cannot reach any satisfactory conclusions which would be capable of dispelling their doubts and calming their minds, nor can they accept any proof that a given idea is valid.

They end up doubting everything, including their own sensations and feelings, as well as their thoughts.

You can understand the extent of the mental torture such persons undergo.

Unfortunately, the intervention of another person only seems to aggravate things.

Patients think it is their superior intelligence which enables them to analyze their thoughts and feelings so extensively, and cannot accept things any other way.

They do not realize that this involuntary, unconscious analysis deprives their mind of being able to perceive any valid sensations or emotions, which they immediately distort instead of accepting as they are.

They do not see that what they take for reason and judgment are really faculties which are not controlled by their "superior self" and that the doubts they entertain are only proof of their own blindness.

A succession of non-controlled ideas, which is the result of abnormal cerebral function, also leads to characteristic states of morbidity and depression.

It begins with a sensation that may be normal and not exaggerated.

Then a painful memory, or some kind of fear or sad thought - in fact almost anything - becomes a pretext for developing this form of harmful thinking.

The state is characterized by the following behavior: the painful memory (or whatever the pretext is) spreads progressively and indefinitely to everything the patient remembers, instead of remaining limited to the specific event which caused it in the first place.

Such incidents are not caused by abnormal cerebral function, but rather by a reduction, or even total absence, of the brain's reactive faculties.

This can be explained by the fact that an intense disturbance is strong enough to awaken their reactive faculties, while a minor one is not, and therefore leaves them defenseless.

All the little incidents that occur during the course of a normal day, including changes in the weather and atmospheric pressure, be they hot, cold, wet or dry (each patients has his or her specialty) has a detrimental effect on both the mind and body.

This seems absurd to persons who react with normal cerebral control; their brain tends to automatically get rid any harmful influences, like a rubber ball that bounces back to its original form after absorbing the shock of a disturbance.

First of all, they must be conditioned to accept the following axiom: "No exterior influence has an absolute effect on the brain."

This means that although we naturally perceive outside influences, both strong and weak, we must always consider ourselves capable of controlling our reactions and overcoming them.

It would be useless to talk about control if this were not true.

And as absolute as this axiom may seem to patients, they must use it as a basis for defending themselves.

This is the only way they can awaken their normal reactive faculties, increase their resistance and self confidence, and cease being a slave of all and any exterior impressions.

If patients refuse to accept this truth, they will be sure to suffer a relapse.

They will never be able to defend themselves, since they believe that the sensations and symptoms they experience, although caused by exterior influences, are logical and cannot be combated.

The following case history is a clear example: Mr. C left the treatment center fully confident that he was cured.

The disappearance of symptoms may be temporary, and cannot be considered as absolute proof of recovery.

The section on psychology has been condensed a minimum, since our treatment in this area does not differ from traditional psychotherapeutic methods, which have already been amply described by authors more qualified than ourselves.

Insomnia is one of the most persistent and depressing symptoms of psychasthenia.

Patients suffer through sleepless nights, followed by bad days, and are so tired they don't have the courage or will to react - their constant fatigue gives them an excuse to succumb to their illness.

They place so much importance on sleep, and especially on how long they sleep, that sleep itself often becomes the main symptom of their disease.

We've heard so many patients say, "If only I could sleep, I'd get better."

This belief is more illusory than real.

Certainly insomnia does make patients less capable of defending themselves, and more passive.

But many patients sleep 10 or 12 hours a day, and still remain ill!

We must accept the fact that getting rid of insomnia, as difficult as it is to put up with, does not guarantee a cure, and that it is the quality of sleep, more than the quantity, that is the essential point.

Sleep returns naturally as soon as there is some degree of improvement of other symptoms.

However, since general improvement is sometimes slow in coming, we must look for ways to restore this essential function as soon as possible, in order to help patients to a more speedy recovery.

We will therefore explore the causes and describe the various forms of insomnia, and indicate possible forms of treatment.

The basic, primordial cause is most often insufficient control, which takes on different aspects.

Some patients can't stop the flow of their thoughts; others suffer from some kind of phobia, for example an exaggerated sensitivity to noise, or even a fear of not being able to sleep.

These do not prevent patients from falling asleep, but instead wake them up in the middle of the night, interrupting their sleep.

We have seen patients suffer attacks of palpitations at the same hour every night.

Sometimes, the memory of having been awakened on a previous night will repeat itself and keep them awake for hours.

All these causes can be corrected through re-education.

Partial insomnia is characterized by a kind of light somnolence which unfortunately does not give patients the feeling that have slept well.

In such cases, we advise patients to wake up completely, even a few times a night if necessary, and then to try and fall into true, deep sleep by practicing the exercises we will describe a little later on.

Another form of partial insomnia is when patients sleep deeply for one or more hours, but then wake up suddenly for no reason, and remain awake for a certain time.

This is almost always due to a cliché, which must first be discovered, after which patients can concentrate before falling asleep in order to mentally set a more reasonable waking hour.

When patients succeed in doing this, their insomnia is all but cured.

Hypersensitive hearing or phobias about noise interrupt sleep, but patients usually fall back to sleep as soon as the noise stops.

In some cases, however, the phobia is strong enough to prevent patients from sleeping at all - they are so anxious about being awakened they can't get to sleep in the first place.

The most radical treatment for this consists of desensitizing patients to noise.

Another form of complete insomnia is when patients do not sleep because they aren't tired; they are not suffering from any phobias or clichés, their brain is calm but very awake, and they can rest without actually sleeping.

We will not be talking about cases of insomnia caused by various organic problems, or by physical pain, since insufficient control does not affect these types.

The great disadvantage of narcotics is that patients are invariably in a passive state the following day, not to mention the dangers of addiction and harmful side effects.

We could not carry out a program of re-education if patients were ignorant of the causes of their illness.

And it usually isn't difficult to pinpoint the faults in their cerebral mechanism, and the way insufficient control affects their behavior.

So we begin by explaining passivity in its different forms, and then go on to the treatment - conscious and voluntary actions.

10. These stages constitute the first part of the treatment.

When they are completed, i.e. when patients are able to modify their cerebral functions through the exercise of willpower, concentration and/or conscious action, the real struggle begins.

As a follow-up to the initial concentration exercises, we proceed with the various exercises on elimination and de-concentration, and then on concentrating on the concept of thought itself.

Lastly, we search for abnormal thoughts, abnormal cerebral functions, and clichés.

The more progress we make, the more we are convinced that insufficient control can, and must be cured, even in cases which seem hopeless, and even for people who have been sick for years.

The exercises that comprise the Vittoz method should be practiced while sitting down on a comfortable chair or couch, with your back towards the light source, and your eyes closed.

The main advantage of the Vittoz method - and the main complaint made by intellectuals who seem to enjoy complicating things is that it is so simple.

The images and designs it uses are simple.

The more you practice this method, the simpler your life will become.

You reduce complicated issues to their essential simplicity.

Due to your improved perception, you discern the truth behind appearances.

You will be able to accept criticism without having to justify yourself, and stop attributing responsibility for what happens to you to exterior events and the people around you.

You are not doing these exercises to please me or anyone else, but for yourself.

No one but you knows what is going on in your brain.

Therefore, it is essential that you be sincere with yourself.

Do them sincerely, and they will work for you.

The more sincere you are with yourself, the more you will be sincere with others.

And you'll soon realize that sincerity makes for much more solid and true relationships than those based on lies and attempts at pretending to be what you are not.

An accurate measure of your progress is simply the way you feel about life.

You may suffer setbacks or relapses during your treatment, but on the whole you should feel better and better about yourself and about life in general.

A text found in an old Baltimore church in 1692 may shed some light on the question: "In addition to maintaining a healthy discipline, you have to be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have the right to be here, and whether it is clear to you or not, the universe is no doubt unfolding exactly as it should.

"Be at peace with God, whatever your conception of God may be.

And whatever your accomplishments or dreams, make sure to maintain peace and tranquility in your soul, amidst the chaos of life.

"Develop your ability to feel your oneness (with God), and you will overcome useless fears and fantasies.

This will lead you back to the joy of living."

Thinking is emissive, while consciousness is receptive.

Let the waves simply penetrate your consciousness.

Instead of focusing your gaze and moving from one point to another, embrace the totality of an object, with all its nuances and colors.

Visualize the image in your mind, but without thinking about it.

Recall just the image, the visual impression it made on your retina.

Practice developing instantaneous and total perception of images, in all their detail, like a still camera as it snaps a picture instead of like a video camera which pans across the scene, centering on one point after another.

Instead of listening with your thoughts, let the sound waves pass through your body without stopping them.

Instead of tensing up and feeling your muscles quiver whenever an unpleasant or sudden sound reaches your eardrums, accept it.

Keep them closed throughout the exercise, in order to concentrate on your sense of touch.

Concentrate on perceiving your body from head to foot.

Take some food that is salty or sweet, bitter or acidic, and savor it without trying to transform your sensations into words.

The exercise we're talking about is conscious walking.

Feel the amazing mechanism that is your body as it moves in perfect harmony, on a simple command from your brain.

When you are used to doing the exercise, you can make it even more effective by adding conscious breathing.

Whenever you feel stressed or start thinking negative thoughts, your respiratory rhythm changes; you take shorter breaths, leaving some of the tainted air in your lungs, thus providing your body with less oxygen, which in turn makes you even more tense.

By becoming conscious of your breathing, you can control your respiration and free yourself from this harmful cycle, so that your lungs expand more fully and remain more flexible.

You may even go through periods where you feel you have absolutely no willpower left, and can't seem to deal with anything at all.

Start with very simple actions like drinking a glass of water, getting out of bed, arranging the objects in a room, getting the mail, turning the TV on or off, phoning someone, paying a bill, etc.

Then move on to more complex actions like preparing a project, going out, meeting people and so on.

Finally, set goals for yourself and use the same process to achieve them.

Dr. Vittoz recommended performing twenty such voluntary actions every day.

You will have to reproduce the following graphic figures in your mind - in other words you will have to "visualize" them.

You can create a mental support for yourself in the form of a blackboard on which you write with chalk, or a computer screen or a TV screen, or any other device which will make visualizing easier.

If you find visualizing too difficult, don't persist.

Remember that these exercises should be treated like games - they are not meant to make you tense or add to your stress.

If necessary, start by actually drawing the figures on a piece of paper.

Then redraw them in your mind, with your eyes closed.

3. The infinity symbol Don't try to draw it perfectly - the aim here is concentration, not artistic skill!

Practice drawing the infinity symbol in various positions.

5. Straight lines Randomly place two points on your mental screen, and then join them with a straight line.

Keep all the lines you have already drawn fixed in your mind throughout the session.

In this second series, you draw two lines simultaneously, as if you were using both hands.

As Dr. Vittoz put it, the aim of the exercises is to teach the brain to first set aside troublesome thoughts, and then to eliminate them completely.

This will prevent you from being overwhelmed by worries, and help you eliminate negative thoughts or obsessions.

Place 3 to 5 objects on an empty table.

Observe them carefully, then close your eyes and draw a mental image of them.

Now open your eyes and remove one of the objects from the table.

Look at the empty space, then close your eyes and once again create a mental picture of the table, this time without the missing object.

Open your eyes, remove another object, and so on.

Repeat the exercise until there is no remnant of any of the objects in your visualization.

Repeat the above exercise, only this time do not physically remove the objects from the table.

Imagine that you are removing them, and visualize them disappearing.

The physical objects, however, remain on the table.

Make sure you terminate the exercise by imagining the table covered by a white tablecloth, devoid of any objects.

First choose a drawing: Then eliminate parts of the drawing one after the other.

Visualize a series of letters that have no special significance.

Write them on your mental screen, then erase the last letter, the next to last letter, and so on.

You can start with upper case letters, and then use lower case ones.

a Do the exercise again, after changing the order in which you eliminate the letters.

You can imagine that you're using chalk to write the words down on a blackboard, and then erase them with a piece of cloth.

Draw these graphics in your mind, moving from the largest elements to the smallest.

Write the word "agitation" under the arc of the curved line: Now erase the word "agitation" and reject the feelings associated with it completely.

This is one of the most difficult exercises in the Vittoz Method, which is why we saved it for last.

After a few weeks of practicing these exercises, you will find you have developed a powerful tool for maintaining cerebral control, which you can use under any circumstances.