It is well to conclude your practice by taking a few deep breaths by yourself, and not in unison with the Transmitter. This destroys the Rapport Condition.
GENERAL DIRECTIONS.
The prime requisite for a successful demonstration of Mind Reading is the acquirement, or possession, by the Transmitter, of a clear idea of direction in his mind. The associated requisite is that the Transmitter be able to concentrate his will upon the mind of the Receiver, impressing upon him the Sense of Direction so strongly that he will move in accordance with the Will of the Transmitter. Remember the two points to be observed by the Transmitter.
Begin by having the Transmitter standing beside you in the centre of the room, you being blindfolded. Have him mentally select some one corner of the room, saying nothing to you of his choice. Then let him concentrate his mind upon that one corner, forgetting every other part of the room. Then have the Transmitter grasp your Left Hand with his Right Hand, you grasping his fingers in your hand and lifting the hand to your forehead. Hold the hand against your forehead, just above your eyes. Instruct him then to will that you go to the corner of the room that he has selected, shutting out all other thoughts from his mind, and concentrating his entire Attention upon the projection of his Will. He must not content himself merely forming a Mental Picture of the selected corner, but must think of the Direction of that corner, just as he would in case he were to wish to walk there himself. He must not simply think "That Corner"—he must think "There!" using the sense of Direction. He must will that you shall go there, carrying the words "Go There!" in his mind.
You, the Receiver, must place yourself in a perfectly passive and receptive state of mind, resigning your own Will for the time being, and being perfectly willing and desirous of being mentally directed or led by the Will of the Transmitter. He is the Active factor, and you the Passive. It is the strength of his Will, and the degree of your Receptivity that makes the demonstration a success.
Keep your eyes closed, even though you be blindfolded, for by so doing you induce a Passive state of mind, and even the stray glimpses that you may catch through the handkerchief will serve only to distract you. You must shut out sights, and even thought of sights.
Stand quiet a moment or two, awaiting impressions from the mind of the Transmitter, who is making the mental command: "Go there; go there, I say!" while at the same time he is willing that you follow his command.
After a moment or two of passive and receptive waiting, you will begin to feel an impulse to move forward. Obey this impulse and take the first step, which will often be in an entirely opposite direction from the selected corner. The idea of this first step is to "get started." While you are taking the first step or two, you will feel a clearer impulse toward the real selected corner, and will find yourself swinging around to it. Do not grow impatient, for you are but learning to receive the impressions. Advance one foot forward, hesitatingly, resting your weight on the ball of the other foot, and you will soon feel yourself being compelled to move in a certain direction, which will end in your moving toward the right corner. You will soon become conscious of being directed by the Will of the Projector, whose mind is acting upon yours and leading and directing you toward the right place.
It is difficult to describe to you the exact feeling that you will experience, but a little practice will soon make it clear to you. Follow the impulse, and you will soon begin to feel the mental command, "This way—this way—no, not that way but this way," until you will reach the desired spot, when you will feel the command: "That's right—stop where you are—this is the place." If you start to wander off in the wrong direction you will begin to feel the correcting impression: "This way—this way, I tell you," and if you will but passively receive and follow the mental telegraph message you will find the impulse growing stronger and stronger until you walk right into the corner selected, when you will feel that you have "reached Base," as the children say in their games. When you walk in the right direction you will feel the mental message, "Right, right you are"; and when you move in the wrong direction you will feel the mental message, saying "No, no, not that way—This way, I say, come along, come!" By practice you will soon become quite sensitive to these guiding thought-waves, and will act upon them almost automatically. Practice will soon so sharpen your perceptive faculties that you will often be able to move right off to the desired corner at once, sometimes actually running right to it, dragging the Transmitter after you.
You will soon begin to notice that there is quite a difference in the power of Concentration on the part of different people acting as the Transmitter. Some will be able to Concentrate so forcibly that they will send you the message clear and sharp, while others will send only a feeble and wavering message. The more Concentration the Transmitter has the stronger will be the message. It will be very advisable for you to experiment with a number of persons acting as the Transmitter, so that you may become familiar with the different degrees of Concentration, personal characteristics of people in Transmitting, etc. This will aid you when you begin your parlor performances.