In Search of the Miraculous

preserving the tension of the muscles in the various parts of the body exactly as it was, watching this tension all the time and leading so to speak his attention from one part

of the body to another. And he must remain in this state and in this position until

another agreed-upon signal allows him to adopt a customary posture or until he drops

from fatigue through being unable to preserve the original posture any longer. But he

has no right to change anything in it, neither his glance, points of support, nothing. If he cannot stand he must fall—but, again, he should fall like a sack without attempting

to protect himself from a blow. In exactly the same way, if he was holding something

in his hands he must hold it as long as he can and if his hands refuse to obey him and

the object falls it is not his fault.

"It is the duty of the teacher to see that no personal injury occurs from falling or from unaccustomed postures, and in this connection the pupils must trust the teacher

fully and not think of any danger.

"The idea of this exercise and its results differ very much. Let us take it first of all from the point of view of the study of movements and postures. This exercise affords

a man the possibility of getting out of the circle of automatism and it cannot be

dispensed with, especially at the beginning of work on oneself.

"A non-mechanical study of oneself is only possible with the help of the 'stop'

exercise under the direction of a man who understands it.

"Let us try to follow what occurs. A man is walking, or sitting, or working. At that moment he hears a signal. A movement that has begun is interrupted by this sudden

signal or command to stop. His body becomes immovable and arrested in the midst of

a transition from one posture to another, in a position in which he never stays in

ordinary life. Feeling himself in this state, that is, in an unaccustomed posture, a man involuntarily looks at himself from new points of view, sees and observes himself in a

new way. In this unaccustomed posture he is able to think in a new way, feel in a new

way, know himself in a new way. In this way the circle of old automatism is broken.

The body tries in vain to adopt an ordinary comfortable posture. But the man's will,

brought into action

by the will of the teacher, prevents it The struggle goes on not for life but till the

death. But in this case will can conquer. This exercise taken together with all that has been said is an exercise for self-remembering. A man must remember himself so as

not to miss the signal; he must remember himself so as not to take the most

comfortable posture at the first moment; he must remember himself in order to watch

the tension of the muscles in different parts of the body, the direction in which he is

looking, the facial expression, and so on; he must remember himself in order to

overcome very considerable pain sometimes from unaccustomed positions of the legs,

arms, and back, so as not to be afraid of falling or dropping something heavy on his

foot. It is enough to forget oneself for a single moment and the body will adopt, by

itself and almost un-noticeably, a more comfortable position, it will transfer the

weight from one foot to another, will slacken certain muscles, and so on. This exercise is a simultaneous exercise for the will, the attention, the thoughts, the feelings, and for moving center.

"But it must be understood that in order to bring into action a sufficient strength of will to keep a man in an unaccustomed position an order or command from the

outside: 'stop,' is indispensable. A man cannot give himself the command stop. His will will not obey this command. The reason for this, as I have said before, is that the

combination of habitual thinking, feeling, and moving postures is stronger than a

man's will. The command stop which, in relation to moving postures, comes from outside, takes the place of thinking and feeling postures. These postures and their influence are so to speak removed by the command stop— and in this case moving postures obey the will."

Soon after that G. began to put "stop," as we called this exercise, into practice in the most varied circumstances.

G. first of all showed us how to "stand stock-still" immediately at the command

"stop," and to try not to move, not to look aside no matter what was happening, not to reply if anyone spoke, for instance if one were asked something or even unjustly

accused of something.

"The 'stop' exercise is considered sacred in schools," he said. "Nobody except the principal teacher or the person he commissions has the right to command a 'stop.'

'Stop' cannot be the subject of play or exercise among the pupils. You never know the

position a man can find himself in. If you cannot feel for him, you do not know what muscles are tensed or how much. Meanwhile if a difficult tension is continued it can