Practice of Autosuggestion

Harry Brooks C.

Description

Autosuggestion is a type of therapy that calls on techniques such as hypnotism. Subjects use autosuggestion on themselves with the aim of curing bad habits, inculcating positive ones, boosting willpower, and even assuaging the symptoms of physical health problems. This practical treatise represents one of the first American publications to deal with the subject; it was produced in cooperation with Emile Coue, who pioneered the technique.

Sujets

• Employabilité, métiers et formations

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781775562542
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE PRACTICE OF AUTOSUGGESTION
BY THE METHOD OF EMILE COUE
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C. HARRY BROOKS
 
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The Practice of Autosuggestion By the Method of Emile Coue First published in 1922 ISBN 978-1-77556-254-2 © 2013 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Preface to the American Edition Author's Preface Foreword I - COUÉ'S NANCY PRACTICE Chapter I - The Clinic of Emile Coué Chapter II - A Few of Coué's Cures Chapter III - The Children's Clinic II - THE NATURE OF AUTOSUGGESTION Chapter IV - Thought is a Force Chapter V - Thought and the Will III - THE PRACTICE OF AUTOSUGGESTION Chapter VI - General Rules Chapter VII - The General Formula Chapter VIII - Particular Suggestions Chapter IX - How to Deal with Pain Chapter X - Autosuggestion and the Child Chapter XI - Conclusion Endnotes
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"For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of the man which is in him?"
1 CORINTHIANS ii. 11.
To
ALL IN CONFLICT WITH
THEIR OWN IMPERFECTIONS
THIS LITTLE BOOK
IS DEDICATED
Preface to the American Edition
*
To my American readers a special word of gratitude is due for theirgenerosity to this little book. I hope that it has given them as muchencouragement and help as they have given me.
In America, the home of so many systems of mental healing, it isperhaps even more necessary than in Europe to insist on the distinctivefeatures of M. Coué's teaching. It is based, not on transcendental ormystical postulates, but on the simple and acknowledged facts ofpsychology. This does not mean that it has no relation to religion.On the contrary it has a very close one. Indeed I hope in a futurevolume to point out its deep significance for the Christian churches.But that relationship remains in M. Coué's teaching unexpressed. Thepowers he has revealed are part of the natural endowment of the humanmind. Therefore they are available to all men, independently ofadherence or non-adherence to any sect or creed.
The method of M. Coué is in no sense opposed to the ordinary practiceof medicine. It is not intended to supplant it but to supplement it.It is a new ally, bringing valuable reinforcements to the commoncrusade against disease and unhappiness.
Induced Autosuggestion does not involve, as several hasty critics haveassumed, an attack upon the Will. It simply teaches that during theactual formulation of suggestions, that is for a few minutes daily, theWill should be quiescent. At other times the exercise of the Will isencouraged; indeed we are shown how to use it properly, that is withoutfriction or waste of energy.
C. H. B.
19 October , 1922.
Author's Preface
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The discoveries of Emile Coué are of such moment for the happiness andefficiency of the individual life that it is the duty of anyoneacquainted with them to pass them on to his fellows.
The lives of many men and women are robbed of their true value bytwists and flaws of character and temperament, which, while defying theefforts of the will, would yield rapidly to the influence ofautosuggestion. Unfortunately, the knowledge of this method hashitherto been available in England only in the somewhat detailed andtechnical work of Professor Charles Baudouin, and in a small pamphlet,printed privately by M. Coué, which has not been publicly exposed forsale. To fill this gap is the aim of the following pages. They aredesigned to present to the layman in non-technical form the informationnecessary to enable him to practise autosuggestion for himself.
All readers who wish to obtain a deeper insight into the theoreticalbasis of autosuggestion are recommended to study Professor Baudouin'sfascinating work, Suggestion and Autosuggestion . Although in thesepages there are occasional divergences from Professor Baudouin's views,his book remains beyond question the authoritative statement on thesubject; indeed it is hardly possible without it to form an adequateidea of the scope of autosuggestion. My own indebtedness to it inwriting this little volume is very great.
My thanks are due for innumerable kindnesses to M. Coué himself. Thathe is the embodiment of patience everyone knows who has been in contactwith him. I am also indebted to the Rev. Ernest Charles, of MalvernLink, who, though disclaiming responsibility for some of the viewsexpressed here, has made many extremely valuable suggestions.
C. H. B.
MALVERN LINK, 21 February , 1922.
Foreword
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The materials for this little book were collected by Mr. Brooks duringa visit he paid me in the summer of 1921. He was, I think, the firstEnglishman to come to Nancy with the express purpose of studying mymethod of conscious autosuggestion. In the course of daily visitsextending over some weeks, by attending my consultations, and byprivate conversations with myself, he obtained a full mastery of themethod, and we threshed out a good deal of the theory on which it rests.
The results of this study are contained in the following pages. Mr.Brooks has skilfully seized on the essentials and put them forward in amanner that seems to me both simple and clear. The instructions givenare amply sufficient to enable anyone to practise autosuggestion forhim or herself, without seeking the help of any other person.
It is a method which everyone should follow—the sick to obtainhealing, the healthy to prevent the coming of disease in the future.By its practice we can insure for ourselves, all our lives long, anexcellent state of health, both of the mind and the body.
E. COUÉ.
NANCY.
I - COUÉ'S NANCY PRACTICE
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Chapter I - The Clinic of Emile Coué
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The clinic of Emile Coué, where Induced Autosuggestion is applied tothe treatment of disease, is situated in a pleasant garden attached tohis house at the quiet end of the rue Jeanne d'Arc in Nancy. It washere that I visited him in the early summer of 1921, and had thepleasure for the first time of witnessing one of his consultations.
We entered the garden from his house a little before nine o'clock. Inone corner was a brick building of two stories, with its windows thrownwide to let in the air and sunshine—this was the clinic; a few yardsaway was a smaller one-storied construction which served as awaiting-room. Under the plum and cherry trees, now laden with fruit,little groups of patients were sitting on the garden seats, chattingamicably together and enjoying the morning sunshine while otherswandered in twos and threes among the flowers and strawberry beds. Theroom reserved for the treatments was already crowded, but in spite ofthat eager newcomers constantly tried to gain entrance. Thewindow-sills on the ground floor were beset, and a dense knot hadformed in the doorway. Inside, the patients had first occupied theseats which surrounded the walls, and then covered the availablefloor-space, sitting on camp-stools and folding-chairs. Coué with somedifficulty found me a seat, and the treatment immediately began.
The first patient he addressed was a frail, middle-aged man who,accompanied by his daughter, had just arrived from Paris to consulthim. The man was a bad case of nervous trouble. He walked withdifficulty, and his head, arms and legs were afflicted with a continualtremor. He explained that if he encountered a stranger when walking inthe street the idea that the latter would remark his infirmitycompletely paralysed him, and he had to cling to whatever support wasat hand to save himself from falling. At Coué's invitation he rosefrom his seat and took a few steps across the floor. He walked slowly,leaning on a stick; his knees were half bent, and his feet draggedheavily along the ground.
Coué encouraged him with the promise of improvement. "You have beensowing bad seed in your Unconscious; now you will sow good seed. Thepower by which you have produced these ill effects will in futureproduce equally good ones."
The next patient was an excitable, over-worked woman of the artisanclass. When Coué inquired the nature of her trouble, she broke into aflood of complaint, describing each symptom with a voluble minuteness."Madame," he interrupted, "you think too much about your ailments, andin thinking of them you create fresh ones."
Next came a girl with headaches, a youth with inflamed eyes, and afarm-labourer incapacitated by varicose veins. In each case Couéstated that autosuggestion should bring complete relief. Then it wasthe turn of a business man who complained of nervousness, lack ofself-confidence and haunting fears.
"When you know the method," said Coué, "you will not allow yourself toharbour such ideas."
"I work terribly hard to get rid of them," the patient answered.
"You fatigue yourself. The greater the efforts you make, the more theideas return. You will change all that easily, simply, and above all,without effort."
"I want to," the man interjected.
"That's just where you're wrong," Coué told him. "If you say 'I wantto do something,' your imagination replies 'Oh, but you can't.' Youmust say 'I am going to do it,' and if it is in the region of thepossible you will succeed."
A little further on was another neurasthenic—a girl. This was herthird visit to the clinic, and for ten days she had been practising themethod at home. With a happy smile, and a little pardonableself-importance, she declared that she already felt a considerableimprovement. She had more energy, was beginning to enjoy life, ateheartily and slept more soundly. Her sincerity and naïve delighthelped to strengthen the faith of her fellow-patients. They looked onher as