“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Now, he realizes this much more than he did, but the mental and muscular habit of cautiousness carries over. Now this can be handled in several ways. The mental feelings have caused mental images that in turn hamper physical motion. The body is therefore affected physically, since certain portions of it are not normally used or exercised, and other portions are kept in a state of strain.

Some of these mental habits can be cured rather easily, comparatively speaking. When he felt joyful yesterday, the sense of release was translated, as it should be, into physical expression – he sang, for example. This automatically released, exercised and relaxed areas of the chest, shoulders and back. He felt like running, and made a halfway respectable attempt to do so.

Feelings of spontaneity therefore automatically release the body mechanisms when they are allowed expression. When this occurs and he sees himself for example running, to some extent this makes the mental image of a nonrunning self less vivid. The body and mind are so connected that the mind remembers, say, muscular spontaneity as the muscles remember mental spontaneity. And the will, now, can be used to initiate a series of actions that will be spontaneous; and the motions now, the physical motions, in turn set up mental images of spontaneity that become self-generating. Do you follow me?

Give us a moment. When he feels mentally happy, and he does often, have him in his imagination translate the feeling into spontaneous physical motion. We are trying to initiate some small exercises that will encourage freedom, both mentally and physically.

One reason, you see, that I suggest the running is that any running at all prevents him from projecting into the future a nonrunning self. Once he runs he can improve on the running, but he can no longer consider himself someone incapable of running. This is extremely important from both a mental and physical standpoint.

Now the same applies to getting down on the floor, and up from it. He thinks of himself as someone who cannot. Doing so will prove him wrong, and break up still another annoying mental image. At the same time—I do not mean simultaneously—in spare moments, playfully and not seriously, he should see himself performing any number of activities on the floor—from painting as he used to, to talking or reading. These are simply practical but important sideline exercises that will help break down specific detrimental images that he has. Many from the past have been completely destroyed.

Now. Each time Ruburt finds himself making a movement that he thought he could not perform, then one of the blocking mental images loses strength.

It is true, again, that an initial corresponding inner freedom makes the motion possible, and that the motion itself already means that the mental image of new motion is replacing the old one. The physical motion is obviously the materialization of inner willingness, but you must also set up the opportunity for this to happen. Do you follow me here?

Hence the suggestions I have given. The session itself, with these suggestions, automatically will set Ruburt’s imagination going along these lines, you see, and the idea of freedom is generated both mentally and physically.

The specific exercises I gave are to break up lingering habit patterns, both mental and physical, and to encourage spontaneity. Give us a moment. Underline the following sentence: It is safe for him to let go completely now. (Pause.) There is more here that I am trying to get at. It is not a matter of Ruburt blocking, necessarily. I do want him to initiate some fast, quick physical motion, you see, so that the muscular memory is imprinted in this direction.

He is at a point where they are ready to break up entirely. I want to see that he takes advantage of this. The mental patterns are beginning to break up, and I want to be sure that this is translated into physical behavior, completely. The spring and the recent good news are having an effect, and the knowledge he gained this afternoon has given him a conscious understanding that he did not have before; and this will automatically minimize the symptoms, in a way that is not at once apparent.