YOU AND TENSION

Articles In This Section:

· GETTING RELAXED WITH YOGA

· YOUR BODY ISN'T MADE TO DILL WITH THE STESSES

· OBSERVING DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN AND BEAST

· YOU AND TENSION

· BEST YOGA POSITION FOR DEEP RELAXATION

· MASTERING THE BASICS OF YOGA

· yOUR BODY KNOWING WHAT YOU CAN HANDLE

Tension is your big problem. Tension is the enemy of achievement. "Easy does it" is not a meaningless saying—it is a basic truth whose meaning we too often ignore. Whether you happen to be an artist hoping to paint a masterpiece, an athlete on the way toward a championship or just an average human being who would like to live to the full potential of his capacity, you are much more likely to achieve your goal if you don't try too hard.

True, to learn to relax completely takes practice, and cannot be mastered in one easy lesson. But you will certainly learn how if you are willing to try. Moreover, from the very beginning, even while you are still unable to let go completely, you will begin to feel the benefits of what you are doing. And this, in turn, will make for more success: you will have started a benign instead of a vicious circle. Soon your nervous system will become like a complicated network of highly charged electric wires with the current turned off: no hum, no sparks, no vibrations, while the batteries that are the mainspring of energy recharge themselves.

We have mentioned that there are over four hundred muscles on each side of the human body—no fewer than twenty in the forearm alone. Most of the time we are not even conscious of using half of them. Moreover, we use them in groups and many of the small ones are beyond the range of our conscious feeling. Certainly we do not tense them consciously, nor would we know how to let go of them consciously.

And now for the actual techniques of Deep Relaxation, the step-by-step approaches:

Since routine is always helpful in acquiring good habits, do try, whenever possible, to do your relaxing exercises at approximately the same time each day. Early morning or late evening, for instance, might be a desirable time for several reasons: Early morning relaxation helps insure a good, serene day; a late evening period is a good preamble to a restful night's sleep. On the other hand, you might be one of those people who need to replenish their energies at the end of the working day. In deciding what is best for you, your guide should always be your own ease and comfort. Any sense of "must," of pressure, should be avoided.

Until you have become so adept at relaxing that you can, like Napoleon, shut out the world around you at any time and any place, your period of relaxation should be taken away from other people, in a room where you are alone, with the door closed. You will need quiet so as not to be distracted. If you are a city dweller you doubtless cannot avoid a certain amount of traffic noise, but try to control what sounds you can, since conversation, the radio, the ticking of a clock can be most distracting. Keep disturbance at a minimum.

Your clothes should be comfortable, too. In fact, the less you have on the better: Make certain you are not annoyed by a tight belt, a stiff collar, a girdle, a brassiere. Anything that might make you unduly conscious of being physically confined should be avoided. On the other hand you must not feel cold. Be sure there are no drafts in the room—it is impossible to relax properly while chilly.