The Art of Relaxation Part 2

Often in my life and in my practice, I have realized that if we want to obtain something or a state of mind, we first have to define what that is. Such is the case with relaxation. In order to know if you are truly in a state of relaxation, we have to know what that state is.

Many of us think that relaxation is something that is very simply achieved, we can sit or recline, close our eyes, and all the tension and stress of the world will go away. Maybe even a good nights sleep or hot bath will relax us? Unless we are free from mental, physical and emotional tension, we are never truly relaxed. Often, after that good nights sleep, we wake up feeling more tired, or during that nice hot bath, our minds are racing a mile a minute.

Art of Relaxation

We all experience three types of tension in our lives, mental, emotional and physical tension, and all three are intrically linked together. We cannot be truly relaxed until we are totally in balance.

Physical tension relates to our physical body. We often "feel" this stress on the outside, but it is also very apparent on the inside, affecting our nervous system and indocrinal imbalances.

Mental tension is the result of excess mental activity in our daily lives, Our mental stress can often explode and affect our body, mind, behaviour and reactions in life.

Emotional tension, something we may not have given thought to, lies in the various dualities in life, love/hate, profit/loss, happiness/unhappiness. Often, these emotinal tensions are supressed and become deeply rooted because of our inability to commuicate our emotions freely.

These inner tensions can contribute to the psycological tensions, which may in turn manifest into unhappiness in life. In yoga, we learn how to relax and harmonize our body and our minds to reduce these tensions in all areas and become truly relaxed.

Through the practices of Restorative Yoga and Yoga Nidra our body, mind and emotions finds that place where we can bring all three into balance and release the tension. If you haven't experienced either of these practices, you should try one, and if you are feeling resistance to a practice where we slow down and go within, maybe spend sometime asking yourself why.