Acharya Mahaprajna
Relaxation-technique
Do you sit quietly and at ease for ten or even five minutes or do you continually fidget, shift your legs, rub your neck and do a dozen other movements called 'nervous habits'? Every movement, no matter how slight, involves a nerve impulse and every nerve impulse brings on some muscular contraction. Thus there can be no mental relaxation without the physical and no physical relaxation without the mental.
Before we take up a discussion on actual technique of relaxation, let us be clear about what relaxation is not and what it is? Firstly it is not a change of occupation, a play or a pleasant hobby enabling you to indulge in likable occupation to get away from a tiring routine. Gardening, knitting, painting, reading etc. are called recreations. In a way they are steps in the right direction but they merely substitute one from of activity for another. Recreation cannot substitute true relaxation which is 'doing nothing' when mind does not tick and muscles do not work.
Tension is the main problem—it is a stumbling block in the way to achievement. Whether you are an average human being or champion in some field, regular relaxation will give you a better chance of success in life.
Technique of relaxation can certainly not be mastered in the first lesson. But if you are willing to learn and try, you will possibly master it one day. In fact the technique is quite easy to learn and not difficult to practise. Moreover, even if you are unable to master it for sometime, you will feel the benefits of your efforts and will make you more confident.
And now let us discuss the actual technique of relaxation and self-awareness.
It is essential to adopt a comfortable posture for performing the exercise or relaxation. The posture could be a standing, sitting or lying-down, but for beginners it is advisable to adopt a lying-down posture. Before lying down, however, create a suitable mental state and atmosphere for the exercise. Standing up, recite loudly: "It is essential for me to relax to get rid of the physical, mental and emotional tensions and I shall devote myself wholly to the exercise of relaxation." Having thus resolved, try to set aside your worries. Take a deep breath and stretch yourself fully, taking your arms above your head and standing on your toes. Do this three to four times. Then lie down and repeat the stretching operation again three to four times. Relaxation is an exercise of non-activity which is its basic principle. Don't think that you are going to do something, but let yourself go. This is essential. Now you are ready to start the practice of relaxation.
Lie down on a folded blanket on the floor on your back, legs slightly apart (about ten-twelve inches between the heels), arms gently alongside the body, palms turned up and eyes softly closed. The head must be laid very carefully on the floor so that there is no tension in the neck. If this is not comfortable, a folded towel may be kept under the neck. Later, do without it. It is essential that the head and neck be perfectly comfortable before proceeding further. Any cramping of neck may cause failure. Having achieved the position of maximum comfort, do not change it throughout the exercise. By following direction carefully, an intelligent adult can teach himself to relax by auto-suggestion. The breathing should become calm, slow and rhythmic but not necessarily deep. The stomach rises and falls rhythmically and silently without effort. Having regulated your breath forget it, and commence stage by stage relaxation of every muscle in each part of the body from the toes in the feet to the top of the head. The body itself will remain entirely motionless (except for the slight rise and fall of the abdomen) and the Conscious Will will slowly move over every part, patiently persuading it to relax. This is the age-old technique of auto-suggestion.
Proceed in small steps, beginning with the toes of the right foot, working systematically upwards in each limb, in turn. Relax the toes, instep, heel and upto the ankle joint of the right limb. Move upwards in small steps from joint to joint i.e. from the ankle to the knee, relaxing the calf muscles and then from the knee to the hip joint relaxing the thigh muscles and the buttocks. Now repeat the same process with the left limb. Both the limbs from waist downwards are now relaxed and lifeless. In the next stage, relax the muscles of the lower abdomen at the hip, around the waist and at the base of the spine; then abdominal walls in the front and back up to the hip. Now relax all the internal organs inside the abdominal cavity, viz. kidneys, intestines, spleen, pancreas, stomach and liver. Next, relax the chest muscles round the rib cage in the front as well as the back. The lungs and the heart inside the chest cavity have already been slowed down adequately. Having relaxed the whole trunk upto the top of the chest and collar bone, proceed to relax each arm in turn, first the right and then the left, from the fingers and thumb to the shoulder. Move upwards in small steps from joint to joint, first the thumb and fingers, then the palm upto the wrist, then from wrist to the elbow and from elbow to the shoulder and shoulder blades. This brings, upto the neck. In the next stage relax the muscles i.e., the top of the back the neck and the throat.
We have now come to a slightly more difficult part of the exercise. It is comparatively easy to relax the large skeletal muscles of the trunk and limbs, but because of our tight lipped posture, it is more difficult to relax the facial muscles. However, we have to proceed with the work with confidence and patience. Begin with relaxing the jaws; allow the lower jaw to fall without opening the mouth. Inside the mouth, the teeth must be unclenched and the tongue becomes limp. Next come to the facial muscles which surround the lips, mouth, nostrils and the cheeks. Then relax each ear in turn and come to the eyes. Eyelids are gently closed over the eyeballs without pressing them. Each eye is meticulously relaxed in turn. Now move over to the forehead and temples. Finally relax the whole scalp from right to left and back to front, upto the top of head. Having gone over the whole body, from feet to head, the operation may be repeated, as in the meantime some muscles might have recontracted. This second round will be much quicker than the first, followed by a third if necessary. It should be remembered that the auto-suggestion is followed by an experience of relaxation in each portion of the body. The next stage is to recognize the stage of relaxation. Having remained completely motionless, the first sign of relaxation is the sensation of gravity. Do not fight against the force of gravity, let it pull at your trunk and limbs which become heavier and heavier. Let the shoulders sink down. When the whole body has become relaxed, there is an acute perception of the stage of relaxation which is no longer autosuggestion but a real experience. Once this stage is reached, the body is forgotten and the consciousness reveals its separate existence.
When the relaxation exercise is over, you have to recall the muscles and nerves to their normal state of working. Do this by allowing your Conscious Will to go over each part of the body from head to feet, breathing regularly and consciously.
Duration
For relieving tension and fatigue, fifteen/twenty minutes of relaxation is sufficient. For a successful meditational session, no fixed duration can be prescribed. The practitioner has to look to his convenience and the purpose of the exercise. Sometimes it is necessary to continue the exercise for hours.
The physiological mechanism behind this feeling is the drastic reduction of the current flowing in the connecting motor nerves. While the muscles were being coaxed to relax, by auto-suggestion, less and less current flew in the connecting motor nerves. Ultimately, the whole motor mechanism became passive and reposed. This was followed by their counterparts, the sensory nerves which are responsible for transmitting sensation to the brain. Thus, while conscious self was quite wakeful and alert, the body—physical self—was gradually becoming bereft of consciousness, giving a realistic experience of the detachment of the non-material consciousness from its material counterpart. Total relaxation is characterized by an actual experience of floating outside one's body, and this definitely is not autosuggestion or hypnosis but realisation of a real fact.
Reverting to the physiological shell, almost all the nerve cells are revitalized. They are enjoying a much needed recess period, free from the burden of controlling the household chores of movements and transmission of sensations to the brain. No wonder, then, that a short period of relaxation can invigorate more efficiently than a long period of restless sleep. And this brings up a question of relationship between relaxation and sleep. It must be quite clear from the above that going to sleep while practising relaxation is quite contrary to the purpose of the exercise. Relaxation may, however, be practised before going to sleep ending in peaceful slumber.
