Three Minutes Toward Relaxation

[Barkadion]

Everyone agrees that it's good to relax, no?

Our experience, however, is that few people know how to relax.

How does one relax? Taoists in China long ago became intrigued with this question. They studied babies and young children to see why they are the most relaxed - and energetic - of all people.

They also studied animals such as tigers that remain equally relaxed whether they move slow or fast. And they studied how people can best train to become as relaxed as babies or tigers.

Their findings are built right into the practices.

As a start, try the following little exercise. If you would like, you can listen to a 3-minute audio recording of this exercise.

https://www.towardharmony.com/3-minutes ... relaxation

Sit down and take off your shoes and, if you wear them, your glasses. Rest your palms in your lap, facing upward.

Gently curl your fingers and thumbs a little toward your palms and then uncurl them. Do these actions repeatedly in a slow, rhythmical fashion in which you never stop moving. Let the curl become the uncurl and the uncurl become the curl. Usually the slower you move, the better, but "pulse" at whatever speed feels most relaxing to you.

Now in unison with your fingers gently curl a little and uncurl your toes. Do this in such a way that you don't tighten your toes, even if this means that you barely move them.

Now gently close your eyes and partially open them as you curl and uncurl. Let them remain unfocused as you open and close them.

Continue to "pulse" your fingers, toes, and eyes this way for 2 minutes. If you find yourself wanting to inhale and exhale with the movements, do this too. If other parts of your body want to let go or move a bit as well, let them. Play with the speed of your pulsing, but err on the side of going slower and slower. In fact, how slow can you go and still keep moving?

When most people do this exercise, they find that all or parts of their body naturally begin to relax. This is consistent with Taoist findings and theory, which say that rhythmical movements relax, slow movements relax, moderate movements relax, and continuous movements relax the human body.

Further, Taoists found that if you relax your hands, feet, and face, then the whole of your body is likely to relax.

From: https://www.towardharmony.com/