When I was younger I did some experimenting with moderate success. Don't remember where I got the instructions, but Here's what I did.
Take a small piece of paper 3 to 4 inches square, and fold it from corner to corner, then open it back up. Fold it again from the other corner to corner so that you've folded an X pattern. When you unfold it you have a kind of shallow pyramid.
Balance the center of the X on a sharp point and then try to spin it with your mind. The sharper the point the easier it is to spin. I used a needle in a cork, sharp point up.
So the point is you now have a perfectly balanced object that will spin very easily. So easily, that if you just breathe on it you could set it spinning. I found a clear glass bowl that I covered it with to keep my breath from affecting it.
It's really pretty simple, but writing it out makes it sound complicated.
So I finally got to where I could spin it pretty easy, but then when I tried to stop it and make it spin the other way - that was much harder for some reason.