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OBSERVING DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN AND BEAST

Once in a rare while someone does stumble on the secret of relaxation without being taught. Napoleon is said to have been a master of it; he could actually sleep on horseback, with his eyes open—which simply meant he could withdraw from his surroundings and relax at will. Five or ten minutes later he could rouse himself, as refreshed as if he had slept for hours.

Consequently he was tireless and got along on no more than four or five hours' actual sleep a night.

Franklin D. Roosevelt had that same capacity. Churchill has it. During the most trying war years, when there was no time for rest, both of these men would switch off their energy at its source, give it a chance to replenish itself—and the whole world became the gainer. Most of us are not so skillful. Animals, on the other hand, possess the secret of complete relaxation from the day they are born. Not even contact with civilized man causes them to lose it.

As we have already mentioned, the Yogis, observing this difference between man and beast, began thousands of years ago to learn from it. They related the animal's total relaxation in sleep, in rest and especially during hibernation—that trance-like sleep or state of suspended animation which lasts the winter and makes it unnecessary to forage for food while none is available—to a capacity for retaining youth and vigor. Wisely they based a great many of their own practices on what they learned.

In fact, most of the Yoga exercises and postures, or asanas, derive from study of animal life. Many are even named for animals—the Cobra pose, the Lion pose. As for Deep Relaxation, during which you will learn to "let go" as many muscles as possible and as many thoughts as possible so that both brain and body may rest to the very core of your being, this is done in the most ancient of all basic Yoga postures, Savasana, which in Sanskrit means the "Death Pose." Fortunately, however, Savasana does not relate to death; only to hibernation, which has to do with prolongation of life.

As you embark on your first Deep Relaxation exercises, try to bear in mind that the object of what you will do is to quiet your nerves and rest your body by ridding yourself of all conscious tension and contraction. Perhaps you want to overcome that lethal habit, worry. Perhaps your problem is lack of vitality, fatigue, or poor concentration. You may be wearing yourself out by remaining constantly on the go and must learn to give yourself moments of respite; or you may need the respite because you never seem to gather enough energy for getting started on whatever it is you mean to do.

Related terms include free yoga and nude yoga.