Relaxation

Relax – To become/make less tense, severe or stringent or rigid: slacken. To make soft or enervated, to relieve from tension, to become inactive and lengthen, to cast off social restraint, nervous tension or anxiety, to attain equilibrium.

Relaxation – The act of relaxing or state of being relaxed. The lengthening that characterizes inactive muscles fibers or muscles

Relaxed – Set or being at rest or at ease.

Initially the body must be aligned so the pull of gravity is engaging the mass of the body in a manner that allows the body to rest in itself without strain or tension – if this cannot be achieved the body cannot be completely relaxed in the posture of meditation – and if the body is not relaxed the mind cannot relax, awareness and Vital Essence cannot flow and pervade.

The principle that keeps a skyscraper standing - a resilient structure in precise alignment with the pull of gravity for support and stabilization, completely surrendering its mass to the pull of gravity through its precisely constructed aligned internal frame and stressed members.
If you could drop a plumb line (a long string with a heavy weight on one end) from the center of its roof to the center of its foundation it would line up with the center of the earth within millimeters. This principal is what is in effect when “sitting” with an aligned body in such away that there is minimal stress on the skeletal and musculature of the body – this initiates and facilitates the process of mind and body entering a state of relaxation, aligned with gravity not against it.

In general out side of mental “holding” from un-resolved mental “issues” - when our body is out of alignment with gravity, the body compensates with muscular tension to try and maintain an upright position, in sitting the primary purpose (outside of mental issues) of muscular tension is to balance out or negate the constant downward pull of gravity. A common issue with beginning mediators is tension and discomfort in the neck and/or the upper back region – usually (if there is not a pre-existing injury) the spine is not engaged, the head is inclined or the trunk/torso is inclined to the front or the side of the central axis of alignment running through the body and inline with the pull of gravity.

“When the body moves the mind moves”

The half lotus posture has a tendency to misalign the body of beginners who try this posture without knowing how to compensate with a cushion. If you are not flexible enough in the hips in general, the knee of the leg with the foot resting on the thigh will be elevated above the other making the body work/mind move to keep itself upright, putting the hips in a non-neutral positin relative to the spine, or compensating by resting the knee on the mat and having the body again having to compensate misaligning the spine in a s-curved (in the left right plane) nature -true relaxation cannot be achieved this way. One may mentally accept this and come to be comfortable with the misaligned posture, which is a achievment in itself - but in order to penetrate the levels of meditation available through seated meditation proper posture and alignment is paramount.

To be truly relaxed and in pristine awareness and transcendental apperception, the mind must be tranquil and without movement initially. This "state" will be elusive to the beginners mind/practice and difficult to be realized if it is compensating with muscle activity in regards to misalignment of the body with gravity. Within this misalignment the muscles responsible for keeping the head from toppling forward, sideways or even backwards have to contract and maintain tension to counteract the pull of gravity, hold this position long enough and the whole body gets tense and the mind is no longer at rest because it has to constantly monitor the muscles doing the holding/contracting/tensing… and because the body as a whole is interdependent on its parts being in equilibrium in order to manifest relaxation - if the body is holding/contracted and tensed the mind is holding/contracted and tensed, pure awareness is then tinted by the existing condition – true relaxation is nowhere in sight.

Gravity is one of the fundamental forces here on earth and within the singular gradient/universe, it is so powerful and fundamental in fact it can even bend light if the right conditions exist – without gravity our immune systems are suppressed, our muscles and bones begin to atrophy... gravity plays an important role in the health and wellbeing of the body, and the mind is affected by the body and the reverse is applicable also. Gravity in general is a neutral force when things and our bodies are in harmony with it – when not in harmony it is considered negative or positive depending on the structure or direction of travel with it, against it or across it.

Relaxation is a natural derivative of alignment and resiliency, without alignment and resiliency of body and mind, relaxation cannot be realized. Extreme rigidity in “Sitting” manifests extreme tension in the mind and musculature – effectively lessoning awareness of the sensations and feelings of the body, emotions and environment… the antithesis of meditation. The basic/fundamental tool brought to bear in the moment of meditation is keen serenely intense "360 degrees" awareness in the many planes of our excistance. This awareness is used to penetrate, vivisect and examine phenomena and experiences physically and mentally within the body and environment.

Persistent tension in the body diminishes the range of experiences available to awareness, subsequently meditation becomes inefficient on this level of the process, Vital Essence becomes stagnant and cannot move freely within the body – relaxation and awareness is diminished.

Relaxation is surrendering the mass of the body to the unseen forces of gravity/nature/singular gradient/universe that manifested it, and sustains it – we enter in accord with the primal principal operating in everything, everywhere all the time thus freeing our awareness to see what has been in front of us all along, not preoccupied or influenced by body or mental "tensions"in the pervading the moment.

“ Relax - broaden and make expansive your awareness, turn up the volume of your skin and it is almost done”.