Relaxation

“ When I laid myself down to rest hoping to sleep, the same unearthly noises appeared to have followed me, and my mind for want of relaxation was failing, as the minds of the strongest men will fail, under such circumstances. ”

“ During sleep, the vital forces restore themselves to that healthy balance which the continuance of our being so much requires; all the cramped ideas and feelings, the overstrained actions which have troubled us through the day, are solved in the entire relaxation of the sensorium; the harmony of the motions of the mind are resumed, and the newly-awakened man greets the coming day more calmly. ”

“ In relaxation the muscles and nerves are at rest, and the prana is being stored up and conserved, instead of being dissipated in reckless expenditures.
Relaxation may be observed in young children, and among the animals. Some adults have it, and, mark you this, such individuals are always noted for their endurance, strength, vigor and vitality. The lazy tramp is not an instance of relaxation; there is a great difference between relaxation and "loaf." ”

“ And change is rest. There is nothing more wearying to a mind that is tired and yet strung up than for any man or woman to sit gazing moodily at the fire, fretting their nervous systems with the worries that should have been left behind. Recreation is as indispensable to health as food itself.
A fascinating novel, a pleasant game or an absorbing hobby will afford the wearied brain its much-needed relaxation. ”

“ I lay me down in peace to sleep.
Emma Willard. The unsatisfied longing for rest in all mankind will be attributed to different causes according to the way we look at life. The physical or animal man desires rest because of the relief it will bring to nerves and muscles wearied by the strain of activities; he feels that to relax will bring him some ease and that relaxation will help him to forget the bodily weariness. Recovering from weariness or pain is a pleasure in itself. The sigh of relief is really a sigh of pleasure. ”

“ Thus she finds the body on the strain through wakefulness, and devises relaxation for the strain by means of sleep, giving the perceptive faculties rest for the time from their operations, loosing them like horses from the chariots after the race. ”

“ When it is physiologically understood that what is called stimulation or excitement is, in absolute fact, a relaxation, I had nearly said a paralysis, of one of the most important mechanisms in the animal body—the minute, resisting, compensating circulation—we grasp quickly the error, in respect to the action of stimulants, in which we have been educated, and obtain a clear solution of the well-known experience that all excitement, all passion, leaves, after its departure, lowness of heart, depression of mind, sadness of spirit. ”

“ RELAXATION A PHYSIOLOGICAL NECESSITY The necessity for relaxation is adherent in the human organism. Even those life processes which seem to be constant in their activity require frequent periods of complete rest.
The heart beats regularly and at short intervals, but after each beat its muscles come into a state of complete relaxation and enjoy a refreshing rest, even though it be but for a moment. ”

“ I have tried relaxing before after a week, two weeks, but one relaxation in word or act has been followed by others until the circle has been completed by a blind unreasoning- 76 - yield to the sexual impulse under conditions of mental chaos and physical exhaustion, and then new resolutions and reaction set in. ”

“ Rest and relaxation should be synonymous. To be able to relax thoroughly is of great value in the strenuous years of later life and should be cultivated and become habitual when young. In order that the child's sleep shall be of utmost value teach him to practice relaxation upon lying down and always doing so before falling asleep. ”

“ I may therefore, let me say, with all sincerity, both be diligent in relaxation and, when at work, not get worn out, and sleep secure; since when awake I do not wake more for myself, than, as is fit, for every one else. ”

“ But from this description it is almost impossible not to conclude, that beauty acts by relaxing the solids of the whole system. There are all the appearances of such a relaxation; and a relaxation somewhat below the natural tone seems to me to be the cause of all positive pleasure. Who is a stranger to that manner of expression so common in all times and in all countries, of being softened, relaxed, enervated, dissolved, melted away by pleasure? ”

“ In Recreation. Stop before making a regular business of any form of diversion, which then ceases to be either recreative or relaxing, and but adds to the tissue-waste that should be restored.
Stop, next, and consider that recreation, in its literal and best sense, is something more than relaxation. More than to merely loosen, slacken and remit, to recreate is to revive, reanimate, recuperate and build up afresh. ”

“ On awakening he lay for some time stretching luxuriously, and in that state of blissful relaxation which comes of vigor fully restored and the anticipation of a perfect day for the enjoyment of which there is no particular hurry. ”

“ THE gospel of relaxation has been eloquently preached to us by Professor James, Annie Payson Call and others. We have been told that we live under too much stress and tension, that we are too intense and carry too much expression in our faces, that we must relax, let go, unburden ourselves of many useless contractions. ”

“ Must be out of doors enough to get experience of wholesome reality, as a ballast to thought and sentiment. Health requires this relaxation, this aimless life, this life in the present. ”

“ On the contrary, those who have mastered the science of relaxation are usually the most active and energetic kind of people, but they waste no energy; with them every motion counts. Let us consider the question of relaxation and try to see just what it means. In order to better comprehend it let us first consider its opposite—contraction. When we wish to contract a muscle, in order that we may perform some action, we send an impulse from the brain to the muscle, an extra supply of Prana being conveyed to it, and the muscle contracts. ”

“ There should be a little time for relaxation and rest to both body and mind, that while our bodies are resting the mind may be fresh to plan and arrange for our personal comfort and how to make everything snug and tidy around us. How much more agreeable is life when everything is in order and good regulation is maintained in and around our homes and cities. ”

“ It not only shines the more, by exerting it self, but, like the Limbs of an Humane Body, gathers Strength by frequent and vigorous Use, and becomes more pliable and ready for Action. There must indeed sometimes be a Relaxation. ”

“ By alternating a little rest with one's work, he will be able to do twice as good work as if he had worked without a break or rest. Think over these things a little, you people of the Western world, and you may be even more "strenuous" by varying your strenuosity by occasional relaxation and rest. A little "letting-go" helps one to take a fresh grip and to hold-on all the harder. ”

“ Believe me, a highly strung brain such as yours demands occasional relaxation from the strain of domestic surroundings. Forget for a little while that children want music lessons, and boots, and bicycles, with tincture of rhubarb three times a day; forget there are such things in life as cooks, and house decorators, and next-door dogs, and butchers’ bills. Go away to some green corner of the earth, where all is new and strange to you, where your over-wrought mind will gather peace and fresh ideas. ”

“ Or, again, relaxation in a milder form can hardly fail to be useful to everybody, and many people practise it unconsciously. The commonest form which is known to everyone is stretching at the end of work, and for a few seconds afterwards remaining utterly relaxed. ”

“ Sleep, they say, is produced by a relaxation of the æsthetic energies with reference to the dominant part of the soul. And the causes of the passions they explain to be the motions and conversions which take place in connection with this spirit or soul. ”

“ This antecedent condition of relaxation brings all the forces of the mind and body more completely under control and makes it possible to marshal them more effectively. It also gives one a feeling of control and assurance, which minimizes the possibility of confusion and embarrassment in the presence of an important task. ”

“ No naturalist of a temperament which begrudges every unused hour will, for a moment, think of sleep under such conditions. It is not true that the rest and quiet are necessary to cool the Northern blood [222] for active work in the afternoon, but the eye and the brain can combine relaxation with keenest attention. ”

“ There is an adjustment of our feelings as well as our muscles not merely to the present sensation, but to the future one, and a buzz of continuing adjustment to the past. There is a holding over and a holding on, a reacting backwards and forwards of our attention, and quite a little drama of expectation, fulfilment and disappointment, or as psychologists call them, of tensions and relaxations. ”

“ Mere stillness is of course not at all the same thing, for stillness may go with rigid stiff{214}ness. But the point of relaxation is that during work every muscle that is not employed in that work should have nothing whatever to do, and that after work no muscle should have anything to do if the work has been physical, and if mental that the brain should be empty. True the will has to say, “Holiday for all, holiday for all,” because all rest better so; but no more. The energy of the whole frame is devoted to rest. ”

“ When you sit down, let what you sit on hold you. When you lie down, do not try to hold yourself on the bed. Rest is the opposite of labor. Rest is recreation. Rest with sleep is a divine restorative. When you cannot rest, or sleep, you are expending energy without production. Try this little code for rest and sleep: "My mind is empty, my soul is at rest." Repeat it with your eyes closed and your body relaxed. Say it just as you would imagine the swing of the pendulum of an old fashion hall clock. I never knew it to fail of inducing sleep. Never rest or sleep with light falling on your eyes. ”

“ If the day has been exhausting and the nerves are so alive and wrought up that sleep will not come, do not allow the mind to delve into worry about it. Do not say to yourself: "I wish I could sleep. Why can't I sleep?" Such fretful thinking produces mental tension, which drives sleep away. Instead, say to yourself: "I am very comfortable. I am having a refreshing rest. It does not matter whether I sleep or not." By all means relax the body. Choose a comfortable position and remain quiet, having the muscles relaxed. ”

“ The restlessness is allayed, and a quiet state of body and mind succeeds. It needs but a suggestion to induce him to retire for the night. After being a few minutes in bed, sleep steals over him, and his heavy breathing tells that he is in the world of dreams. ”

“ And when, in one or other of these ways, the mind has been enabled to settle down into a quieter groove, it will be in a vastly better condition to secure the ideal form of rest, nature’s sweet restorer, sleep. ”

“ Each breastful of air seems to pass, not to the heart but to the brain, and to quench, not the pulsation of the one but the fancies of the other. That exaltation which requires the slumber of the senses—that vividness of sense that drowns the visions of the spirit—are simultaneously engaged in calm and unspeakable luxury; you condense the pleasures of many scenes, and enjoy in an hour the existence of years. ”

“ True rest is in the unhurried rhythm of action. Have you thought of when your heart rests? It does not stop, of course, while life lasts. But it rests. It rests between beats. A beat and a rest. A throb of power and a moment of perfect rest. A mighty motion that sends the warm red life through all the intricate machinery of the body ”

“ Proper recreation and rest renew the body and maintain its power of endurance. Recreation is also good for the soul. As a gentle rain at night revives and refreshes the thirsty earth parched by the heat of the midday sun, even so innocent amusements recruit and refresh the mind fatigued with the duties of one's calling. ”

“ Part I—The Changed Immutable Among the minor and purely physical pleasures of life, I am disposed to rank very highly that feeling of bodily comfort that one experiences on passing from the outer darkness of a wet winter's night to a cheerful interior made glad by mellow lamplight and blazing hearth. ”

“ True rest, therefore, issues from work. Intellectual rest occurs through the perception of fruitful progress in one’s work, and through the solving of one’s problems. Physical rest is found in those natural intermissions which are given by daily sleep and daily food, and the essential and restful pause of Sunday. Such a condition of continuous and wholesome activity, interrupted only by these natural pauses, is the happiest condition on earth, and no man should wish for himself any other outward happiness. ”

“ All health comes by letting nature alone.
BREATHING EXERCISE. Find a quiet place as far as possible, where the air is pure and the surroundings soothing and pleasant. After a bath or a thorough rubbing of the body from top to toe, with a wet towel, on an empty stomach, take this exercise: Send a current of holy thought to everyone, on planes seen and unseen, north and south, east and west, engage in meditation—take anyone of the meditation exercises you like. ”

“ At those periods, to every thinking and intellectual mind, comes a thirst and a longing for even a brief space of calm reflection; and we gladly seize the very first opportunity of withdrawing our thoughts from the wearying necessity of directing our actions on the instant, and give them up for a time to that consideration of remote prospects and general feelings, which, after the energetic activity lately required of us, is comparatively a state of tranquillity and repose. ”