Q: Then how to teach new pupils to stop?
A: It is a brief reminder, a quick intention. You do get these people who are laboring and look as if they are laying an egg or something!
I explain that they need to be still so that I am able to work with them – so that my hands can work on them. I ask them to keep their eyes looking out and seeing something – looking out but being still within. It is the looking out that is important, not looking inwards.
I remind them that they can still be still inside and use themselves well – whatever they are doing – without stiffening and trying. So, they can be still and notice what’s going on without closing into themselves.
I’m sure that is what F.M. meant by “leave yourself alone.”
Peggy Williams (“Unsmudged. An Encounter with Peggy Williams” – p177)