Relaxation

Today, we are going to talk about ‘Relaxation as a way of life’.

Most of us do not know how to relax. We think we can finish our work or household chores & set aside some time to relax. But even when we think we are relaxing, there are a million things running in our heads making it difficult for us to truly relax.

Do a quick scan of your body at this very moment. You will find that there are several muscles in your body that are unnecessarily tense. Muscles that are not contributing to the action you are performing at the moment. To release this tension you need to focus on this tensed muscle & mentally send it a message ‘to let go & relax’. These muscles will then automatically de-contract & relax. 

When you practice this ‘letting go’ while engaged in your everyday activities, you will have renewed energy & the ability to achieve more.

In yoga, the relaxation pose is called ’Shavasan’ or the corpse pose. While it looks very easy, it is actually very difficult to practice. In this pose, the yogi aims to achieve relaxation at 3 levels; starting from physical, moving to mental & finally spiritual. Shavasan relaxes the body, calms the brain, lowers blood pressure & rebalances the entire system. It is especially beneficial to those suffering from insomnia & other stress related ailments.

Practicing Shavasan for deep relaxation:

Achieving Physical Relaxation:

• Lie down on your back; feet about 2 ft apart; toes relaxed & falling out to the side; hands are relaxed with palms facing upwards; fingers slightly curled; eyes closed
• Breathing is abdominal; inhale, abdomen goes up; exhale, abdomen goes down
• Now start sending mental messages to your body to relax (essentially, telling each part of your body one after the other “to relax”)
• Mentally visualize a wave of relaxation slowly moving up your body starting from the toes. Send a message to each of your toes to relax, and then move on to the feet. Relax them completely
• Feel the relaxation moving up the legs, relaxing the calves, the knees, and the thighs. Feel the relaxation coming up into the hips and the abdominal region
• Mentally send out a message to all your internal organs to relax
• Relax the buttocks
• Feel the tension slowly releasing from every part of your back, relaxing all the back muscles
• As your body relaxes; feel as though you are sinking into the ground
• Feel the relaxation coming into the chest, relaxing the entire torso
• Bring your attention to the fingers, relaxing each one in turn. Then relax the hands. Feel the relaxation moving up the arms, relaxing the wrists & forearms, and then the upper arms
• Allow the shoulders to relax. Feel the wave of relaxation moving up the neck into the head
• Relax the face, chin, cheeks, then the eyes and the eyebrow. Relax the forehead, and the scalp
• Finally, relax the brain

Achieving Mental Relaxation:

Breathe slowly & rhythmically (duration of Inhalation equal to that of exhalation) for a few minutes. This will make the mind calm. You can practice this rhythmic breathing pattern whenever you are experiencing mental tension to calm your mind down.

Achieving Spiritual Relaxation:

Do not feel any identification with the body or mind. The source of all power, peace, & strength is in the Self, not in the body. Tune into this by asserting to yourself that “I am that pure consciousness or self". This identification with the Self completes the relaxation process.

Remain in this state for 5 minutes.     

You can practice this deep relaxation technique whenever you are feeling tired or fatigued to rejuvenate yourself. It is believed that 15 minutes of Shavasan can yield rest equivalent to 2-3 hours of deep sleep.

In addition to the yogic relaxation technique that you just learnt, you can also carry the philosophy of ‘letting –go’ into your daily life to stay calm & composed. A lot of times we have the tendency to control - events, people & situations that are really not in our control. We feel helpless & get stressed. At times like this, if we were to practice ‘letting-go’, we will realize that we can look at the issue facing us objectively & in a far more relaxed manner, giving us renewed energy to deal with whatever that is troubling us.