Well, what most people experience at this point in the story is a great rush of saliva. I hope you did too! (Or the rest is not going to be very meaningful.) So what? Well the point is that you were not out there in the heat of the August afternoon, you were not getting serious sunstroke and suffering dehydration, and yet you got wrapped up in the story, you started, probably unconsciouly, to feel thirsty and dry, and to feel the frustration of not being able to find anything to drink. And then, the very idea of sinking your teeth into a lemon sent your saliva production into overdrive. That is a definite, demonstrable physiological effect created entirely by your imagination. It shows, in a simple kind of way, that you can use the power of your imagination to influence your body, your actions and of course, your mind. So you can use it to shape the outcome of your performances, to prepare for them, and to help learn your pieces in the first place.   And in case you were wondering, everything in the story is true. Except for the lemon.

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