"I have so often asked myself whether the days on which we are compelled to be idle aren’t the very ones we spend in the deepest activity? Whether our actions themselves, when they come later, are not merely the last afterring of a great movement that takes place in us on inactive days." (M. R. Rilke as cited in R. Kehl, 2001, p. 170)

The mind and body are capable of coping with periods of effort so long as these are interspersed with periods of rest and relaxation. As we can see from Caldwell’s description of the nervous system (i.e., the contraction and release movements of the heart, digestive system, and lungs), the body oscillates. The body needs to accomplish both of those movements: working, and relaxing or letting go of effort.

Caldwell calls on the Ayurvedic “Law of Least Effort” which states that in life there are many things that require an expenditure of effort and there are also things that can only be accomplished through not efforting, or letting go of effort. She uses the example of having to let go of thinking, tension and alertness in the body in order to fall asleep. “. . . We have to understand that actually resting or letting go accomplishes things. It is not that it is doing nothing but that it actually accomplishes things” (Caldwell, personal communication, February 5, 2008). Metabolic waste and toxins accumulate during consciousness. Cellular repair, for instance, is one of the documented functions of rest (Savage & West, 2007, p. 1051). The body accomplishes physical repair work when it rests. Without respite, irritation, unhappiness, stress, and vulnerability to disease arise.

“Relaxation” is a term used to broadly describe numerous techniques that assist in reducing stress, eliminating physical tension, and promoting calm and tranquil mind-states. People use many different methods of relaxation for anger management, anxiety, cardiovascular health, depression, general wellbeing, headache, high blood pressure, immune system support, insomnia, pain management, and the reduction of the incidence and severity of stress-related diseases and disorders. Progressive relaxation, cue-controlled relaxation, breathing exercises, guided imagery/visualization, and biofeedback are all widely used by healthcare providers.

Rediscovering the state of relaxation, rather than learning a new activity, is the goal of relaxation techniques. H. Benson (as cited by Lazar et al., 2000, p. 1582) describes the “relaxation response,” a stress-reduction mechanism in the body that short-circuits the “fight-or-flight” response and leads to measurable reductions of oxygen consumption, heart and respiratory rate, blood pressure, blood cortisol levels, and muscle tension in the body. Additionally, through deep relaxation serotonin levels in the brain increase, leading to feelings of calm and wellbeing, and electroencephalogram (EEG) studies of brain wave patterns mark a noticeable change in alpha and theta rhythms—indicating a state of harmony—through deep relaxation and meditation (Blakemore & Jennett, 2001, ¶ 1).

References

Blakemore, C. & Jennett, S. (2001). Relaxation. The Oxford companion to the body. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved January 27, 2008, from Answers.com Web site. Kehl, R. (2001). Breathing on your own: Quotations for independent thinkers. Seattle: Darling & Company.

Lazar, S. W., Bush, G., Gollub, R. L., Fricchione, G. L., Khalsa, G., Benson, H. (2000). Functional brain mapping of the relaxation response and meditation [autonomic nervous system]. NeuroReport, 11(7), 1581-1585.

Savage, V. M. & West, G. B. (2007). “A quantitative, theoretical framework for understanding mammalian sleep.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104, 1051-1056.

For more information contact Marlise Meilan