SIX years ago the question which is the theme of this book was of vital interest to me. Now it is settled, and I owe its satisfactory solution to Mr. Eeman. It is, therefore, with the greatest pleasure that I express my gratitude to him and my appreciation of his system.

By a gradual accumulation of different factors I had reached a condition in which it required three or four hours of effort every night before I was able to sleep.

Naturally, I did my best to investigate the subject and I tried all the orthodox methods of overcoming my difficulty. None of them seemed to be of any lasting use, and when I met Mr. Eeman I was in a state of unwilling resignation, and some apprehension about the future.

Several readings of Mr. Eeman's first book, Self and Superman, left me in bewilderment; parts of it seemed obviously to be of great importance and others appeared improbable, unreasonable, and unacceptable.

I, therefore, approached the author, frankly stated my opinion of his book, and demanded a full statement of his system and the theories underlying it. He replied most generously and we began a relationship of alternating battle and agreement which has continued ever since.

My particular difficulty of being unable to sleep he tackled immediately, and I soon discovered for myself that the practical part of his system worked very satisfactorily. After doing the necessary exercises and obeying the instructions, I found, to my surprise and delight, that not only was I able to sleep without difficulty for the first time for years, but that the consequent improvement in health and working capacity functioned like a beneficent circle. Better sleep brought better health, and better health enabled me to work the Eeman system with more and more efficiency. I was soon convinced that whether or not Mr. Eeman's explanations of the effects of his exercises were sound, the exercises themselves were so valuable that they had to be made a part of my daily life.

After six years of experience, I am able to state that the system is a practical success in my case, and, to my knowledge, in that of many others, and that with its aid I am able to maintain health, vitality, and working power in a way which was impossible without it.

For the sake of the general reader, let me say that although the various exercises described in this book seem complicated when read, they are, in fact, quite easy to perform, and moreover, their habitual performance is an excellent training in mental concentration. Anyone who feels the need of acquiring better sleeping habits seriously enough to be prepared to put some work into an attempt at improvement, can learn them, and no kind of previous training is necessary.

Many of the effects claimed by Mr. Eeman sound astonishing, and I was violently sceptical of all those described in Chapter VIII until some of them had been demonstrated to me in my own person. Whatever science may finally conclude about the nature of the " force " in question, it seems to me impossible to deny that something is at work; my own physical sensations when the circuit is " wrongly " applied are too insupportably uncomfortable to be ignored.

Mr. Eeman is a pioneer; so far he has worked alone, without support, recognition, or encouragement from authorities in any of the sciences to which his experiments are related.

Physicists are needed who will collaborate to repeat his experiments, to ascertain whether there is at work the "force" he suggests, and, if so, to measure it and establish it on the basis of experiments performed in suitably equipped laboratories.

When this method has been applied to Mr. Eeman's findings, facts may emerge which will throw new light on the nature of sleep. Doctors ought to be willing to co-operate in working out his method of dealing with insomnia and other forms of ill-health, so that its permanent value can be properly assessed, and its benefits made available to everyone as a part of modern therapeutics.

As a doctor, I have no hesitation in expressing my opinion that Mr. Eeman's methods can be learnt and followed by anyone, with confidence that only good will result from their faithful practice.

Helena Wright, M.B., B.S. (Lond.)

Foreword

There are some things we cannot do without: Sleep, Drink, Food, Work.

Three days without Sleep bring us closer to complete collapse than three days without Drink, three weeks without Food, or three months without Work.

A few bad or short nights incapacitate us. Not only do we need Sleep, but we need good Sleep and enough of it; and we need the power to command it at any moment. Half-an-hour of good Sleep at the very moment of great fatigue does more good than hours of it later.

This book aims at giving you the command of perfect Sleep at any time. It gives you theory on many points of importance and suggests practice based on this theory.

Where the theory completely satisfies you, you will not hesitate to put it into practice, and will reap its benefits. But if on some particular point it fails to convince you, for your own sake, do not reject it without a thorough trial.

L. E. Eeman.