Wilhelm Reich, his exercises, chamber and orgone energy. What is Pulsation? Psychopathology of the ordinary state of man

Gurdjieff's technique

This technique was developed by Gurdjieff seventy years before Carlos Castaneda described it in his book as coming from don Juan, a Yaqui Indian shaman. Its essence is very simple. The object on which you focus your attention does not matter, it is only important that it be familiar to you. In this case, it's your hands. During the day, do not forget to look at them repeatedly, and at any free moment, close your eyes and imagine their mental image. The more often you do this, the better. In the evening, lying in bed and waiting for sleep to come, remember what you did all the previous day, and again imagine the mental image of your hands. Keep it until you fall asleep, and tell yourself that you will see your hands again when you sleep, eh. when this happens, you become aware that you are dreaming. In essence, this is a simple procedure, the purpose of which is to form the habit you need. Of course, it takes a certain amount of time to get a result, but of all possible it is the most effective mechanism that turns on consciousness. Gurdjieff's students noted that it takes from three to four months of exercises until at least some effect appears, but this method works one hundred percent. In order to increase the effectiveness of the visualization method, you can try to perform the preparatory exercises described below. However, they will benefit you no matter what method of inducing dreams you choose. They will help you learn to shift the center of your consciousness to different parts of the body and will give a more complete picture of your own body, which is important when working with guided dreams. First of all, calm your mind and relax your body. Then imagine that you have a pair of invisible hands. Try to simulate the sensations that should arise in them, because you are familiar with the feeling of your real hands. Stroke your body with these imaginary hands - from the feet, down the legs and further all over the body. Try to really feel how the hands created by your imagination relax and calm you. Now use them in relaxation exercises, while imagining how your invisible hands penetrate directly into the muscles, tensing and relaxing them. Move the center of your consciousness into these imaginary hands and stroke all the muscles of your body with them. Simultaneously with their movement, your attention will be focused on the areas where they are at the moment. When you learn to effortlessly imagine invisible hands, start using them to draw energy into yourself with them and direct it through your feet and legs into energy body centers called chakras. Imagine that you capture energy flows with them and direct them through your body with some effort. It is useful to synchronize this work with the respiratory cycle: during inhalation, you draw energy into yourself, and during exhalation, you store it in your body. Repeat this exercise for at least a few minutes before going to bed and your level of dream awareness will increase significantly.

From the point of view of Body-Oriented Psychotherapy, our entire body is conditionally divided into seven segments . And in each of these seven segments, muscle blocks lurk. Muscle block is a combination of clamps on the muscles that prevents the flow of free energy through the body.

Muscle blocks are of two types.

When the muscles are inadequately tense, compressed.

When the muscles are inadequately relaxed, loose (less common).

Muscular shell - this is the body of a person, which is “contorted” by seven blocks - where more, where less.

The muscular shell consists of seven segments:

Ophthalmic;

Maxillary;

Throat;

Thoracic;

Diaphragmatic;

Abdominal;

Pelvic.

Wilhelm Reich (practical exercises)

“Body-oriented psychotherapy is especially effective in the treatment of psychosomatic diseases, neurosis, post-traumatic conditions, stress disorders, and depression. Body-oriented psychotherapy is also indicated for solving problems of personal growth, increasing personal effectiveness, self-realization and communication, expanding self-awareness, and improving overall well-being. This is short and almost clinical))))))

Reich's exercises "dissolve" the muscle shell with the help of two things:

Direct impact on a tense muscle (compression - before the onset of transcendental inhibition);

With the help of acceptance and conscious experience once again of that emotion that was hidden and hidden in a muscle clamp.

Reich's exercise for acquiring deep abdominal breathing

All the exercises I offer are designed for the client to work independently and do not require working with a psychotherapist in pairs. In no case would I post such exercises in the public domain, since performing them at home without a specialist is either very dangerous or simply useless. I prefer those exercises that a person can perform alone, sometimes even sitting at work. All of them are safe. Although, let's remember the proverb: "Make the bad one pray to God..." I ask you not to be like this bad one from the old proverb. Rare exercises (but wonderful ones!) require pair action - that is, an assistant, which can easily be your relative or friend.

This is the same exercise that is performed alone. So...

Lie on your back. Place both hands on your stomach. (The little fingers lie just above the navel). Breathe in and out. Then, throughout each breath, begin to press hard with your hands on your stomach. As if resisting the breath. The muscular shell in this place opens up, and soon you will “learn” abdominal breathing. That is, it will appear by itself as soon as your muscular shell opens up, which did not allow you to breathe normally.

And remember: "Nothing is too much." Especially when it comes to body-oriented psychotherapy.

Exercise of body-oriented psychotherapy from Reich's vegetotherapy to remove a muscle block from the eye segment (opening of muscle blocks in the eye segment)

For starters - quite a bit of theory. The theorist of body-oriented psychotherapy, Wilhelm Reich, taught: the muscular shell is not formed immediately and not randomly, but purposefully - from the bottom - exactly up. That is, in childhood, the first blocks in a person appear in the lower segments of the body. And when a person grows up, blocks form already on the overlying segments of his body. This roughly happens, like petrification or transformation in fairy tales or "Metamorphoses" by the ancient poet, collector of folklore - Ovid. Remember? A person turns into a stone, rock or tree, starting from the feet. Then it turns to stone to the waist. Then only the lips move. Then it becomes all wood or stone. And when a person is disenchanted by younger brothers, Perseus and other knights? First, the pupils begin to move, then the lips, then the whole person thaws.

So it was with Reich, although he was hardly fond of fairy tales, he was not a "fairytale" psychotherapist. The child is shackled in a neurotic muscular shell from below. Down up. Unchained already by an adult, on the contrary - from top to bottom.

And why?

But because children's blocks on the muscles are always associated with deep intimate traumatic experiences. It is the most difficult thing to untie them, they are like chthonic monsters, mysterious, live in Tartarus, incomprehensible and hundred-headed. Try to fight them without training.

And adult blocks on the muscles (upper) are always associated with social trauma. They are not deep or intimate and are the easiest to heal. That is why they are cured first. And so we always start with the eyes. (If we want to practice body-oriented therapy exercises).

Here is one such exercise.

"Gymnastics for the eyes" - Reich's body-oriented therapy exercise

Request Sit comfortably in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. grounding This is the first requirement of body-oriented psychotherapy. Don't cross your legs! Loosen tight fasteners! Do all the exercises of body-oriented psychotherapy in a ventilated room!

The exercise consists of six parts. All parts of the exercise are performed until pain symptoms appear - otherwise the block will not break. However!

When performing the exercise, you may begin to feel dizzy, nausea may appear. This suggests that you have a very strong block in the eye segment. Therefore, start this exercise with only the first part of it, gradually adding the rest. You will NOT be able to do everything at once, you will just faint. But do not be afraid, accumulate all parts of this exercise gradually. Do it very slowly and smoothly, but with force. And, of course, regularly. It is better if you start doing it yourself at home, because when you come to a body-oriented therapist, you will simply lose time and money if you are so unprepared to fully complete all the tasks. This exercise is for you for a month.

The first part of the Reich exercise

Close your eyes with all your might and massage a little (with tapping and pressing movements) the eyelids and the skin around the eyelids, temples. Relax this area. Close your eyes with all your might (until pain) for five to six seconds. Then, also with maximum tension, goggle your eyes. Also for five or six seconds.

Do this exercise three or four times. (One time to start)

The second part of the Reich exercise

In this and subsequent exercises, only the oculomotor muscles work, and not the head. You can't turn your head. Move your eyeballs to the left as far as they will go. Then to the right. Then again to the left. Do this as slowly and smoothly as possible. This exercise is performed ten times (ideally).

The third part of the Reich exercise

Make the same movement (to the limit) with the eyeballs, but in the direction of "top-down-up again." Ten times. Ideally. The head again stands still, the oculomotor muscles work. I remind you that the exercise is done to the point of pain in the muscles - approximately, like a ballet exercise at the barre.

The fourth part of the Reich exercise

Smoothly, around the entire circumference of the orbit, turning the eyes to the eyelids as much as possible, rotate the eyes. We do this exercise ten times clockwise and the same number of times - counterclockwise.

The fifth part of the Reich exercise

We repeat the first exercise (“squinting-gouging” the eyes.

The sixth part of the Reich exercise

We sit with our eyes closed and observe our feelings. Relaxation. Five minutes.

It's not only normal to feel dizzy for this exercise. It is also considered normal if you feel some discomfort (tension) in the jaws (in the jaw segment) or in the throat. This is because all muscle clamps are interconnected and, breaking one, we affect others. This exercise - purposefully affects specific muscle blocks and clamps. Otherwise, getting rid of them is almost impossible.

The road will be mastered by the walking one!

Wilhelm Reich - a scientist who lived in the XX century, the creator of vegetotherapy. This is a direction of psychology that solves the psychological problems of a person by influencing the physical body.

In this article

Personality and biography of Wilhelm Reich

Wilhelm Reich lived a rich and difficult life, full of adversity and disappointment. He was not just a psychologist, but a talented scientist who tried to help humanity.

W. Reich - one of the founders of the European school of psychoanalysis

Wilhelm Reich was born in c. Dobryanichi in 1897 on the territory of Austria-Hungary. The parents were Jews, but raised their son in German traditions, introducing them to the culture of the West.

Wilhelm's mother committed suicide after the future scientist caught her in bed with her lover and told his father about it. The father did not long survive his wife. Three years later he died of tuberculosis. Reich blamed himself all his life for the tragedy.

Shortly after his father's death, Wilhelm entered the military service. The First World War was on. After serving, he moved to Vienna, where he became a medical student at the University of Vienna. It happened in 1918. During his studies, he became interested in the then fashionable psychoanalysis.

In 1922, Reich became the first assistant to Dr. Sigmund Freud. After the conflict in 1927, their paths parted, and Reich created his own direction in psychology. The reason for the conflict with Freud was the difference in political views: W. Reich was an ardent Marxist.

The following years, Wilhelm Reich was engaged in science and politics. He joined the Communist Party and opened clinics in Germany. His innovative ideas caused disapproval among the communists, and psychologists blamed him for his political views.

Soon Reich was expelled from the Communist Party and the association of psychoanalysts. Here are the ideas of the scientist for which he was condemned:

Conducting sex education classes as a measure to combat venereal diseases.
Permission for abortion.
Divorce resolution.
Free distribution of contraceptives for birth control.

Reich moved to Denmark. And soon - to Norway, where he became interested in bioenergy.

In 1939, the scientist left at the invitation to America. In New York, Reich developed the idea of orgone, the life energy that drives all living things.

In the middle of the 20th century, Reich created an orgone accumulator, with the help of which it was possible to cure patients with cancer and epilepsy.

One of the first prototypes of a working orgone accumulator

But, despite this, the scientist was denied a license to produce an orgone accumulator. In addition, V. Reich was forbidden to engage in the production and development of the device, but the scientist disobeyed the authorities and was arrested. He died in prison in 1957.

The authorities failed to suppress the development of a new trend in body-oriented psychotherapy - vegetotherapy. After Reich's death, his ideas were further developed by hundreds of other scientists, among whom were students of W. Reich himself.

The modern scientific community does not recognize vegetotherapy and considers it pseudoscience.

Muscular shell

Reich was an observant person. While practicing with Dr. Freud, Wilhelm observed his patients and noticed that people with similar problems had physical similarities.

These observations led him to the conclusion that the character of a person depends on the structure of the body. Character, according to the scientist, is not only moral principles and thoughts, but also habitual postures, gestures, movements.

Every person during his life is forced to suppress anger, fear and sexual arousal. This leads to muscle clamps in certain areas of the body. The muscular shell, according to Reich, is a set of chronic muscle clamps in the human body. Such a shell is a way to protect yourself from the outside world.

Like Freud, Reich emphasized human sexuality in his research. But unlike the mentor, Wilhelm believed that between morality and instincts lies a huge abyss, in which repressed sexuality lies. He believed that life in society is to blame for the fact that people develop psychological diseases. After all, many topics for society are banned, including the topic of sex.

Every person is born free, the scientist believed. But over the years, freedom is limited more and more. This is due to the installation and rules:

morality;
religion;
education.

It is impossible to challenge them, and the violator is subjected to public oppression and censure. Because of this, many live, guided by the rule that you can’t stand out, you need to be like everyone else, otherwise punishment cannot be avoided.

Seven segments of the muscular shell

When negative emotions are suppressed, a muscle clamp occurs in the human body. If the problem is not solved and the suppression continues for a long time, then there are many clamps. The human body turns into a cell. But people begin to respond to problems only when muscle clamps lead to the development of diseases: postural deformities, the appearance of a hernia or tumor.

To be cured, the patient needs to gradually dissolve the seven segments of the muscular shell. Reich called this process psychological growth.

The muscular shell consists of segments, including:

Eyes and forehead. For the clamping of these muscles, vision problems are characteristic. They arise when a person suppresses fear, not wanting to see what is around him.
Jaws, chin, back of the head. The emotion that is suppressed is anger or sexual arousal. Occurs when suppressing screaming or crying.
Neck, tongue. Suppressed anger means that a person was not allowed to express himself, to speak out.
Chest, shoulders, arms. Clamping occurs when all major emotions are held back.
Diaphragm. Strong anger is held back.
Back and belly. Suppressed fear and anger.
Legs, hips, pelvis. Suppressed sexual arousal.

A visual representation of the segments of the muscle shell

Removing the clamps should start from the eyes and go down to the pelvis. In this case, the patient's body will be filled with vital energy, which Reich called orgone.

orgone energy

This is the life force. Reich believed that the whole world was saturated with it. Its basis is what Freud called libido and sexuality. It freely circulates through the human body, but only if there are no muscle clamps in the body. In this case, the natural flow is disturbed, which leads to illness and loss of sensitivity.

The scientist argued that a sure sign that the flow of orgone in the body is disturbed is the inability to experience an orgasm with the whole body.

The character of man, according to Reich, is unfreedom. Character is a set of stereotypes and patterns imposed from outside. A free man does not have:

anxiety;
fears;
aggression;
sexual perversions;
explosive anger.

Reich was inspired to create the orgone accumulator by the discovery that the world around him is full of orgone energy. It exists even in a vacuum. The scientist was able to find it due to the fact that orgone creates an electromagnetic glow, visible in the blue spectrum of color.

Orgone discovered by W. Reich in a vacuum

Orgone energy accumulates in structures made in the form of pyramids, hemispheres and onions. Cult religious buildings are either made in this form, or have such details in their design.

V. Reich planned to accumulate useful energy from the outside with the help of a battery and direct it to the patient's body. The scientist managed to cure many people. He believed that the device is able to extend a person's life.

Unfortunately, Reich died long before man first went into space and was able to take pictures of the earth, where the radiance of orgone energy in the Earth's atmosphere is clearly visible. Wilhelm believed that the universe was created by orgone. At the end of his life, in addition to treating people, he was developing miniature aircraft that would run on a free and endless fuel: orgone.

W. Reich proved more than once during his life that he was ahead of his time. Perhaps humanity will only have to deal with the legacy of the great scientist in the future.

Vegetotherapy: how to dissolve the muscle shell

The main techniques that will help achieve recovery:

massage;
respiratory;
psychoanalytic.

The massage technique consists in squeezing, twisting and squeezing the clamped muscles. To act on the internal muscles that are inaccessible to deep massage, the patient must scream, cry, and pretend to vomit.

When the muscle spasm passes, it is possible to release a large amount of orgone energy. In the memory of patients, long-forgotten episodes arise that led to muscle stiffness.

Breathing technique is an alternative to massage. Using deep breathing, the patient saturates the body with orgone energy, and it breaks through muscle clamps.

The technique of psychoanalysis is to discuss negative and traumatic memories with the therapist. In their work, psychotherapists usually combine all techniques. But besides them, the independent work of the patient and his desire to be cured play a huge role.

Exercises

In addition to the orgone accumulator, Reich created a set of exercises that will help anyone who wants to learn how to control the flow of orgone in the body. Before you get started, you need to relax.

Reich's set of exercises:

Starting position: squat down.
Get up and open your eyes.
Move your eyes around, rotate, and then squint.
Picture sobs.
Pull out the lips with tension.
Shaking your mouth, recite a poem.
Smile, then feign surprise and disgust.
Depict vomiting spasms.
Scream or hiss for a long time.
Squat down and stick your tongue out far ahead.
Climb. Move your head, imagining that a thin spring has replaced your neck.

“Look back at the hour that has just passed, as if it were your last hour on earth, and you have just realized that you have died. Ask yourself Are you satisfied with the last hour of your life? George Gurdjieff asked his students. Quotes and aphorisms belonging to him make us think about how we live.

Does a person understand why he lives at all? One can hardly be satisfied or dissatisfied about this without having a concrete idea of what life really means to him. Is it really the vanity of the vanities of everyday life with its demands of the struggle for a "place under the sun" - this is life in the human sense? Look at yourself and your surroundings. How many people want the meaning of their existence to be different from the meaning of the existence of plants and animals? There are a number of reasons why this excites you, and does not excite anyone from your usual environment.

The fourth way is an esoteric teaching about the evolution of a human being from the level of satisfying the unusual desires and interests of the “white crows of the human flock” to the level of the formation of higher bodies in a person capable of living after the death of the physical body.

Accidentally or intentionally, an indefatigable desire to understand the meaning of human life, formed by someone in Gurdjieff's childhood, resulted in the years of his travels in the East in search of knowledge that would answer this question. Gurdjieff's path required complete dedication and superhuman efforts.

After many years of wandering, he returned to Europe to convey to people the teachings belonging to esoteric schools. At the same time, according to Gurdjieff, “The Fourth Way is impossible without some kind of work of a certain significance, without some kind of undertaking, around which and in connection with which it only exists. When this work is completed, i.e. the goal is achieved, the fourth way disappears, i.e. disappears in a given place, disappears in a given form, perhaps continuing in another place and in another form.

What does the Fourth Way according to Gurdjieff mean?

George Gurdjieff believed that a person is not able to evolve as long as he uses only crumbs of his capabilities, being in an ordinary state, similar to "sleep". A person's attention is constantly attracted by various little things, and he cannot control himself. Therefore, plans are constantly changing - either he wants to really live, and not function in the form of an animal, then he suddenly forgets, or even if he remembers, he doesn’t want anything, then suddenly desires wake up in him again and he is ready to set goals for himself, etc. .d.

And therefore it is impossible to understand the essence of Gurdjieff's teaching without a deep study of oneself and gaining control over oneself.

To start moving towards this understanding, he offered his students special exercises, including movements - the sacred dances of Gurdjieff, explained the ideas of the esoteric teaching with practical examples, not allowing them to be turned into mere material for reflection.

"Man-machine" according to Gurdjieff

According to the teachings of George Gurdjieff, man is a mechanical "machine" that operates on the principle of stimulus-response.

That is, when a person is “sleeping”, he cannot control himself, let alone his life, since life is completely controlled by internal or external random mechanical stimuli. And thus, each of our actions is caused not by our Will, but by mechanical, often random reactions to these mechanical stimuli.

The weather deteriorates - and our mood deteriorates, they shout at us - and we immediately begin to shout back.

We do not live, but simply go with the flow, continuing to mechanically respond to external randomly generated stimuli.

At the same time, in a normal state, a person is unable to see and realize the mechanism of formation of these stimuli and reactions. Therefore, the work of change begins with the study and observation of oneself, gradually forming the ability to really realize oneself.

Only a complete awareness of the nature of one’s mechanical reactions, the stimuli that trigger them, and impartial observation of the present moment allow a person to see the full picture of what is happening and make a conscious choice of his reaction and, ultimately, live, and not function according to the stimulus-response principle. This is the beginning of Gurdjieff's technique.

When you spill your morning coffee, argue with your loved ones over trifles, and make mistakes at your job, you are not self-aware—you are asleep. All your attention is focused on one “subject” and you do not see the full picture of what is happening.

When you are here and now, even spilling your morning coffee, being aware of yourself, you notice the beauty of the early morning, do not be late for important meetings and know how to achieve your goals - you are no longer a machine, you are no longer sleeping.

Gurdjieff: Development Techniques

All esoteric, unlike religious teachings, strive for the same goal as the Fourth Way - the evolutionary development of a human being, but they work on a different principle.

George Gurdjieff allegorically compared man to a wagon. He believed that a person is divided into parts.

According to Gurdjieff's system, there are four centers in man: intellectual, emotional, motor and instinctive. They have to fulfill their functions, but often they try to take on other people's duties.

For example, we often try to evaluate works of art only with the mind, although this must be done with the mind and feelings. Gurdjieff's exercises help to establish a connection between different parts of a person.

In various teachings, people work with only one center, being fully aware only of its work, and then they have to do the same work with other centers.

For example, a real monk can develop his emotional center through sincere faith, gaining unity and will that dominate his emotions.

But his physical body and mental faculties may remain undeveloped. And in order to use for his evolution what he has achieved, he will have to develop his body and the ability to think. At the same time, the monk's attitude to his body changes in a diametrically opposite way - from the idea of him as the reason for the desire to fall into sin to the idea of a divine vessel bestowed by God, in which the soul can blossom.

The fourth way is the way of the cunning

To explain the idea of centers, Gurdjieff compared man to a wagon. The driver is an intellectual center, the horse is emotional, the wagon is instinctive-motor.

Now they don't work together. The horse does not understand what the coachman is saying to him, and there is no proper care for the wagon. Similarly, the emotional center does not obey the mind, because it does not understand ordinary language. We must observe the work of the centers in order to connect them with each other.

Gurdjieff's teaching

“A beginner pianist can never learn otherwise than little by little. If you want to play without prior practice, you will never be able to play authentic music. The melodies that you will play will turn out to be a cacophony, will make people suffer and hate you, ”said Gurdjieff. Path 4 also begins with small exercises.

Gurdjieff's system helps a person to be here and now. You should work on small things first, and gradually increase the load.

You should start with simple exercises: for example, do not cross your legs while eating, try to make eye contact with the person who is talking to you, then the level of difficulty increases.

By making small efforts, and gaining the first victories, gradually we become able to give up useless thoughts, give up bad habits, work hard for days and weeks.

We kind of pump up the muscles of attention and awareness, preparing our body and mind for stronger exercises.

George Gurdjieff and the Enneagram

G. I. Gurdjieff believed that our entire life proceeds under the influence of cosmic laws. To explain them, he used an ancient symbol called Gurdjieff's Enneagram. Deciphering this figure gave his students an understanding of the laws of the world.

According to ancient esoteric literature and archaeological excavations, it is known that the Enneagram existed in the Middle East at least 2500 years ago.

This sign is found in Christianity, Judaism and bondage, Sufism, among ancient Greek philosophers and mathematicians.

Hydrogens and octaves in the Gurdjieff system

The octave is the line of development of any process in the Universe: from the birth of a new planet to the appearance of the human soul. In order for the processes to proceed intentionally, you need to know that in any business there are points that change the direction of movement. In order for the business started to be successfully completed, you need to make additional efforts. Gurdjieff's theoretical lessons included these topics.

Sometimes, in order to successfully complete an octave, we need a special kind of subtle matter, which the author of the system called hydrogen. It is not hydrogen in the scientific sense of the word.

In order for subtle matters to form in our bodies, we will have to stop the leakage of energy and provide pleasant impressions.

Practice and exercises of Gurdjieff

Gurdjieff's method is based on self-remembering. This means that we must be aware of our actions every second, and, as it were, see ourselves from the outside.

Without impartial self-observation, when we do unconscious things, some part of us rearranges the present to justify itself and thus takes us out of actual reality into imagination.

Talk in turn with two ordinary people after a quarrel. Surely, each of them will present a point of view in which he will be right, and the other is wrong. When we observe ourselves, it is more difficult for our machine to perform this trick, so we perceive the present more adequately and more objectively.

Self-remembering will not work right away, so Gurdjieff's practice begins with small exercises that require some effort. For example, when we sit in an uncomfortable position or do new things for us, it requires more concentration and constantly reminds us of ourselves.

In Gurdjieff's system, a special place is given to the division of attention into several parts. For example, we can hold the body in a certain position and listen carefully to music. Try it, it's not as easy as it seems.

School of Gurdjieff

The main center for work on the system during George Gurdjieff's lifetime was the Institute for the Harmonic Development of Man, which he founded in France.

In addition, there were groups of Gurdjieff in America. The life of students was subject to a strict schedule. Everyone was assigned to do hard work. When a person mastered it, he was moved to a new position.

After the master's death, Gurdjieff's followers organized groups in different parts of the world to pass on the knowledge. There are now several schools in the Fourth Way tradition. Despite the different emphases in teaching, they all pursue the same goal - to know oneself.

It is almost impossible to approach awareness without the support of other people. In the classroom, students do exercises and discuss ideas, trying to stay in the present as much as possible.

Previously, it was not easy to get into Gurdjieff's club: he immediately forced him to make huge efforts, which many beginning students could not stand.

It is easier to get into the school now, but its methods are such that if you do not work at the proper level and make efforts in working on yourself, you will not be able to advance on the 4th path.

The school is not some Gurdjieff sect. The members of the group control each other, and resemble a research group, not religious people. Students do not have the ultimate truth, only points of view, supported by personal experience, which they share with each other in order to collect a single picture of the world and the position of a person in it.

Groups associated with the Fourth Way exist in almost every major city on every continent. Among them there are those who practice only Gurdjieff dances, there are those who approach ideas mainly from the intellectual side, there are also groups that form a single whole all over the world. The Gurdjieff Center in Moscow is one of them.

Literary works of Gurdjieff

Gurdjieff's three books are best known: "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson", "Meetings with Remarkable People" and the unfinished book "Life is Real Only When I Am".

G.I. Gurdjieff suggested mastering the “Everything and Everything” cycle in exactly this order, reading each text three times in order to understand what was written.

Usually we read books almost automatically, so we quickly forget their content, but when studying this literature, maximum efforts must be made.

Gurdjieff's philosophy becomes practical only if we try to apply it, the study of theory alone is not enough.

Georgy Gurzhiev, a quote that many pseudo-esoteric schools now use, created a simple and at the same time the greatest system for human development. But we won't be able to use this method if we don't make enough effort. The simplest rules are the hardest to follow. Therefore, if we want to try to work with the system, we need the support and help of like-minded people.

To understand what Gurdjieff meant, the statements from his books will have to be tested in practice. Many of the metaphors are taken from the ancient esoteric knowledge that Gurdjieff studied. He learned about the wagon from the Sufis.

Only in practice will you be able to perceive the ideas of the system as real things, and not abstract philosophical concepts.

For beginners, it's best to start with In Search of the Miraculous. It was written by P. D. Uspensky, a student of Gurdjieff, who had no equal in the skill of expounding the principles of the system. Subsequently, he founded his school in the tradition of the Fourth Way in England.

If you want to know more about the practical side of the system, read books and articles about Gurdjieff. Much material for reflection is presented in the works of J.G. Bennett, Ch.S. Notta, M. Anderson.

Paying for Mindfulness: Gurdjieff on Money

Once Gurdjieff said about money: “Nothing shows a person so well as his attitude towards money. People are ready to spend as much as they like on their personal fantasies, but they do not appreciate the work of others at all. Payment, whether it be money or giving up pleasant habits, allows you to develop further.

“People don’t appreciate a thing they didn’t pay for.”

“Pay is the principle. The payment is necessary not to the school, but to the students themselves, because without payment they will receive nothing. The idea of a fee is very important, and it must be understood that a fee is absolutely necessary. It is possible to pay one way or another, and everyone must find out for himself. But no one can get something they haven't paid for. Things cannot be given, they can only be bought. It's magical, not simple. If someone has knowledge, he cannot give it to another person, for only if a person pays for it can he have it. This is a cosmic law."

“Pay is the most important principle in the work, and this must be understood. Without payment, you can't get anything. But, as a rule, we want something for nothing, and that's why we have nothing. If we really decided to strive for this kind of knowledge - or even for a very small thing - and we would strive for it, not paying attention to everything else, we would get it. This is a very important question. We say we want knowledge, but we don't really want it. We will pay for something else, but we are not ready to pay for this, and therefore we get nothing as a result.”

Gurdjieff's letter to his daughter

Dushka Howarth, the daughter of Georgy Ivanovich, did a lot to pass on her father's archives to future generations and preserve his musical works. At 70, she learned to use a computer to publish a book of memoirs about him.

Gurdjieff's advice helped her all her life. 63 short instructions that can change the life of anyone if applied correctly.

Concentrate your attention on yourself.
Be aware at any moment of what you think, feel, desire or do.
Always finish what you started.
Do what you do as well as possible.
Don't get attached to things that can later destroy you.
Show your generosity without witnesses.
Treat everyone as if they were your next of kin.
Fix everything you messed up.
Learn to receive and give thanks for every gift.
Stop your self-protective behavior.
Do not cheat, do not steal - in doing so, you will cheat and steal from yourself.
Help those around you without making them dependent on you.
Don't take up too much space.
Don't make noise or make unnecessary gestures.
If you don't have faith yet, imitate it.
Do not be easily impressed by the influence of strong personalities.
Don't grab anything or anyone.
Distribute fairly.
Don't tempt.
Eat and sleep exactly as much as necessary.
Don't talk about your personal problems.
Don't judge or discriminate until you know all the basic facts.
Don't make useless friendships.
Don't follow general trends.
Don't sell yourself.
Respect the agreements you sign.
Be punctual.
Do not envy someone else's property and achievements.
Talk only about what is necessary.
Do not think about the benefits that your actions can bring you.
Don't threaten.
Keep your promises.
In an argument, always put yourself in the place of others.
Recognize when someone is superior to you.
Get over your fears.
Help others to become able to help themselves.
Get over your feelings of dislike and be close to those you wish to reject.
Change your pride into self-esteem.
Change your anger into creativity and creation.
Change your greed into a reverence for beauty.
Change your envy into admiration for the virtues of others.
Change your hatred into mercy.
Do not praise, but do not insult yourself.
Take care of what is not yours as well as your own.
Don't complain, don't complain to yourself.
Develop your imagination.
Do not give orders to others just for the pleasure of submission.
Pay for the work and services you get.
Do not promote your work and ideas.
Do not try to awaken in others in relation to yourself such feelings as: pity, sympathy, admiration, complicity.
Don't try to stand out with your appearance.
Never contradict, just remain silent.
Do not get into debt, buy and pay immediately.
If you offended in public, apologize publicly.
When you notice your mistake in a conversation, do not insist on being right out of a sense of pride and immediately abandon your previous intentions.
Do not defend your old ideas just because you have already proclaimed them.
Don't keep useless things.
Don't decorate yourself with other people's ideas.
Don't take pictures with celebrities.
Be your own judge.
Don't characterize yourself by what you have.
Realize that everything belongs to you.
If you meditate and the Devil comes to you, make the Devil meditate too.

Practicing the Fourth Way Today

If you decide for yourself:

that you don't want to be a mechanical machine,
that you want to live and not function on the stimulus-response principle,
want to know yourself, your functions and the world around you deeper and more objectively,
bring the light of consciousness and awareness into your existence,

then you have the opportunity to start learning the Fourth Way in a practice group today.

The practical group of the Fourth Way is students who practice Gurdjieff's teaching about the Fourth Way, an objective picture of the world and the position of a person in it.

They share perspectives on Fourth Way ideas, backed up by personal experience, for the purpose of self-discovery and awakening from sleep, putting the pieces together.

“You don't understand your position. You are in jail. All you can want - if you can feel - is to run, to break out of it. But how can you run? It is necessary to dig a passage under the wall. One person cannot do anything. But suppose there are ten or twenty such people - if they work in turns and if one covers the other, they will be able to complete the passage and escape.

“No one will be able to escape from prison without the help of those who escaped before. Only they can tell how it is possible to arrange an escape, only they can hand over the tools - files or something else that may be needed. But one prisoner will not be able to find these people, to come into contact with them. Organization needed. Nothing can be achieved without organization.”

This technique is designed to liberate a person, gain a sense of confidence, develop elegance in movements. The technique is based on the ideas of body-oriented psychotherapy by Wilhelm Reich. It includes thirty mini exercises.

Wilhelm Reich believed that every characteristic relationship of a person to anything has a corresponding physical posture. The character of a person is manifested in his body in the form of muscular rigidity or even a muscular shell.

The relaxation of such a shell unchains a person, makes him more balanced and confident. The liberated body allows, as it were, to dump excess emotional stress into the environment. The manifestation of emotions in movements allows you to control both the first and second. Emotions become more controlled. Movements acquire expressiveness and elegance.

The main effect of mastering this technique in this way is the formation of a strong connection between the internal and external state.

Each of the mini-exercises should take about a minute. In general, 30 minutes are allotted for the technique.

It can be used both in the program of group psychological training, individual training. You can learn on your own.

It is useful to use the technique in self-expression development programs, including acting skills, personal growth trainings, emotional self-regulation trainings, and various image trainings.

Develops: Qualities. Confidence. Liberation. Elegance

Description of technology

The technique includes 30 mini-exercises, each of which takes a minute. Do not rush or, on the contrary, delay the implementation of each exercise. You should strive to keep within exactly thirty minutes. Confident alternation of exercises is the key to a good mastering of the technique of the so-called opening of muscle shells, that is, relieving tightness.

We will be working on muscle shells in seven areas:

1. In the eye area. The protective shell in this area is manifested in the immobility of the forehead and inexpressive, inactive eyes that look as if from behind a carnival mask. The eyes can be, on the contrary, too mobile, "running". The eye shell holds back manifestations of love, interest, contempt, surprise, and in general, almost all emotions.

2. In the mouth area. This shell consists of the muscles of the chin, throat and occiput. The jaw can be both too compressed and unnaturally relaxed. This segment holds the emotional expression of crying, screaming, anger, grimacing, joy, surprise.

3. In the neck. This segment includes the muscles of the neck, the tongue. The protective shell keeps mainly anger, screaming and crying, passion, languor, excitement.

4. In the chest area. This protective shell consists of the broad muscles of the chest, shoulders, shoulder blades, as well as the chest and arms with hands. The shell holds back laughter, sadness, passion. Breath control, which is an important means of suppressing any emotion, is largely carried out in the chest.

5. In the area of the diaphragm. Includes diaphragm, solar plexus, various organs of the abdominal cavity, muscles of the lower vertebrae. This shell holds mostly strong anger and general excitement.

6. In the abdomen. This shell includes the broad muscles of the abdomen and the muscles of the back. The tension of the lumbar muscles is associated with the fear of an unexpected attack. The protective shell on the sides creates a fear of tickling and is associated with the suppression of anger, hostility.

7. In the pelvic area. The seventh shell includes all the muscles of the pelvis and lower extremities. The stronger the protective shell, the more the pelvis is pulled back, as if sticking out. The gluteal muscles are tense to the point of soreness. The pelvis is "dead" and not sexy. The pelvic shell suppresses excitement, anger, pleasure, coquetry.

Before exercising, it is advisable to change into light clothing that does not restrict movement. Or at least take off the excess: jacket, tie, shoes, etc. Some exercises require you to lie down.

If there are any discomfort, then stop the exercise for a few seconds, then continue. During each exercise, you can do several such pauses.

Exercises

1. Squat down. Calm your breath. Tell yourself: “I am calm. I am completely calm. I look to the future with confidence. I like new sensations. I am open to change."

Try to achieve such a state of calm, which you have on the morning of the weekend, when you don’t have to rush anywhere.

EYES

2. Open your eyes as wide as possible.

3. Move your eyes from side to side: right-left, up-down, diagonally.

4. Rotate your eyes clockwise, counterclockwise.

5. Look askance at different things around you.

6. Depict a strong cry.

7. Blow kisses to different things around, while pulling your lips strongly and with tension.

8. Draw a mumbling mouth: pull your lips inward, as if you have no teeth. Read a poem with a mumbling mouth.

9. Alternate between sucking, smiling, biting and disgust.

10. Depict gagging. Try and don't be shy.

11. Shout as loudly as possible. If you absolutely cannot scream, then hiss like a snake.

12. Squat down. Stick out your tongue as far as possible.

13. Touch your head lightly with your finger. After that, your head should dangle like a light balloon, and your neck should feel like a thread. Repeat several times.

BREAST

14. Squat down. Take a deep breath. In this case, the stomach swells first, and then the chest expands. Deep breath. Again, the stomach is first deflated, then the chest is already contracting.

15. Pretend that you are fighting with only your hands: pounding, tearing, scratching, pulling, etc.

16. Inhale and try to raise your chest as high as possible, as if trying to touch the ceiling with it. You can even stand on tiptoe. Exhale, rest a little and repeat.

17. Dance, actively moving your chest, shoulders, arms. Try to keep the dance passionate and sexy.

DIAPHRAGM

18. Sharply contracting the diaphragm, exhale shortly through a wide open mouth. The diaphragm relaxes to inhale. Inhale-exhale should take one second. About one-fifth of a second is a sharp exhalation, four-fifths is a smooth inhalation.

19. Breathe with your stomach: it should swell as much as possible, and then go inside and, as it were, stick to the spine.

20. Lie on your back. While exhaling, raise your torso and try to grab the soles of your feet with your hands. Hold your breath. Return to starting position. Repeat.

21. Lie on your stomach. As you inhale, raise your body and tilt your head back as far as possible.

STOMACH

22. While punching with the belly, hit various objects around you with it.

23. Put your hands behind your head. With your sides, keep hitting objects around you.

24. Ask someone to hold your waist. Lean back as far as you can. If you are doing the exercise alone, just put your hands on your belt and bend back.

25. Get on all fours and do different cat movements.

26. Draw a kicking horse.

27. Lie on your back. Hit the pelvis on the mat.

28. Standing, place one hand on the lower abdomen. Put your other hand behind your head. Make obscene movements with your pelvis.

29. Spread your legs as wide as possible. Shift your weight alternately to your left and right foot.

COMPLETION

30. Free dance. Try to dance something original.

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