Exercise «Relaxation»

The Relaxation exercise is one of the Distance exercises, a program of step-by-step personality development. Philosophy of the exercise: “Anything that can be relaxed, let it be relaxed. Only what is needed at the moment should be tense, and in the way that is needed at the moment.

A tense person is an unhappy and tired person. In a tense body live tense emotions. A tense body quickly gets tired, which makes it seem to a person that all life is sheer fatigue. Such a person feels tired all the time, even if he has just woken up. Plus, a tense body interferes with the normal flow of blood, which is why the metabolism is disturbed and the person falls ill and dies. And you want to live long. So you need a relaxed body.

What gives a person relaxation?

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​During the day, a person spends his strength on various things that theoretically should benefit him and those around him. In order to be able to do more of these necessary things, to do them better and not to fall down from fatigue by the evening, you need to use your strength with economy.

Example: you are going to go to the store by car. It takes about 10 minutes to get to it. Instead of going along a straight road, you made a detour that cost you two hours of time, a certain amount of gasoline and your own strength. What for? Wasted time, money and energy. We arrived home, and still need to relax, come to ourselves.

If in this example it is obvious that resources are wasted, then in everyday life people often do not notice their own wasted efforts.

Here the person decided to have a rest, the book to read. Sitting, reading. Let’s see: he sits askew, his back is tense (so as not to fall off completely), his neck is tense, his lips are compressed. What for? Is it necessary to read a book? But all these tensions take the energy of the body. Thus, after such a rest, you may have to rest again.

Relaxation is not just about relaxation. If, while working and doing things, you make sure that only the necessary muscle groups are involved, so that the rest of the muscles are as relaxed as possible, you will be less tired and more in time.

Let’s go back to the book example. After reading in an uncomfortable position, it is quite possible that your back and neck will ache (in such cases they say “neck is numb”). Back pain is also often associated with excessive muscle tension, which people out of habit no longer notice. Therefore, learning to relax is important for health.

A relaxed body is not afraid, does not worry, does not twitch over trifles (and why should it twitch, it is relaxed). Everyone knows: if the thoughts are tense, then the body is tense. But the opposite is also true: a tense body provokes tense thoughts and emotions. Relax the body — thoughts and feelings become calmer.

Stages of the exercise