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Old 06-21-2011, 03:48 AM   #15
Jauch
 
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Dojo: Shinji Dojo/Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Re: Learning to Relax

Quote:
Brian Kelley wrote: View Post
I don't agree with this part.

Breathing can help you relax, but relaxing should not be dependent on exhaling. You should be able to relax and move during any part of the breath cycle. Artificially trying to complete a technique during one exhale could end up with the opposite result, that is, making you more tense.

With that said, it does help to do certain things during the exhale. A kiai, for example works best exhaling. But you should be relaxed before, during, and after, regardless of where you are in the breath cycle.

It's fine to have a fixed ratio of time for the inhale and exhale if you are meditating or walking at a fixed speed and incline, or something like that, but otherwise it can and should vary to meet the demands of what you are doing.

Brian
I think the point is to learn to feel how it is to be relaxed.

Once you feel the difference between being tense and relaxed, becomes much more easy to put yourself in a relaxed state.

The major problem concerning "relax" that almost beginners have is exactly to feel this different. I have this problem and almost everybody that I see start too. On the beginning we do not know WHAT is to be relaxed.

The most common answer to my sensei when he said to one relax was: "But I'm relaxed!".
We're not, of course, but we don't know. And even when we know, we weren't able to understand how to put ourselves relaxed.

Sky,

The tip I can do is, at home, practice this:

0 - breath like they told you, very calmly
1 - then, put yourself in kamae
2 - feel\imagine that you are bounded to the ground
3 - feel\imagine that all of your weight is, initially, on your shoulders
4 - now feel\imagine that you weight is running from your shoulders to your hara (it's your center, a point little below your navel (while doing this, get your shoulders "loose" little by little) and then for your feet and finally passing to the ground
5 - feel\imagine that as the weight is going down, your upper side is getting more and more flexible, while your base is getting stronger, more and more bounded to the ground.

While doing this exercise, visualize something that make you calm. A beach, a waterfall, the sea, a forest, birds, a smile, etc. Anything that gives you joy and peace.

Practice this every day at home and soon you will be able to feel the difference between being tense and relaxed and more you practice more you will feel easy to put yourself in a relaxed way.

First, It's necessary to know how is to be really relaxed (paying attention to your body). But our mind set, our "mental state" is the key to achieve that

See you!
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