English Literature – Weekly Column ☆ Effortless practices for Happiness and Stress Management # 01 ☆ Shri Jagat Singh Bisht ☆

Introduction

Do you want to be happier? Would you like to increase your well-being and flourish?

Flourishing is the experience of life going well– a combination of feeling good and functioning effectively. It is the opposite of languishing– living a life that feels hollow and empty.

Everyone seeks a flourishing life, but the modern-day lifestyle generates a lot of stress, which is the cause of psychosomatic disorders, including hypertension, respiratory ailments, gastrointestinal disturbances, migraine, and ulcers.

In this series, you will find simple, effortless, and painless practices for authentic happiness, stress management, and lasting peace. These exercises are easy to do, can be taken up by anyone, and require no previous training or experience.

The contents include how to relax your body and mind, knowing your inner self, freestyle exercise, life-long learning and evolving, autonomy and self-determination, flourishing, and spirituality.

RELAX YOUR BODY AND MIND

“Relaxation does not mean sleep. Relaxation means to be blissfully happy.”

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Exercise is good for the body, but relaxation is equally important. Simple techniques of relaxing your body and mind can prove to be helpful in renewing vigour.

A balanced diet, regular exercise and adequate sleep are the basic pillars of healthy living. Activity and positivity make your life happier. Relaxation techniques help your body and mind to become calm and experience bliss.

Our body feels fatigue due to exertion. The mind becomes restless by fear, worries and anxiety. It is unavoidable. We need to take care of the body and mind daily.

Exercise is good for the body, but relaxation is equally important. A hectic day in the office, followed by strenuous work out at the gym, can sometimes make you feel exhausted. Simple techniques of relaxing your body and mind can prove to be helpful in renewing vigour.

The body and the mind are not separate entities. If you relax your body, the mind calms down and if you quieten your mind, the body feels relaxed. When the body and the mind are both relaxed, you feel full of joy and serenity.

Both the body and mind need exercise to keep them fit and they also need relaxation to recuperate. Walking, cycling, and swimming are exercises for the body while reading a book, learning a new skill, and solving a puzzle are exercises for the mind.

The body may feel fully relaxed after eight hours of sound sleep and the mind may feel blissful after an hour of deep meditation. But a sound sleep is fast becoming a rarity and not everyone is inclined to meditate.

We begin with a basic technique for relaxing the body. It is a simple practice that gives profound benefits. The sages have known this for ages.

You may do this exercise when you return from work in the evening, or before going to sleep in the night. You may do it after work-out, or anytime during the day when you feel tired and need relaxation.

EXERCISE

Relaxing the body.

Spread a yoga mat or carpet on the floor.

Lie down, flat on your back.  

Keep the feet slightly apart.

Place the arms by the side of your body, palms facing upwards.

The spine must be straight.

The head must be straight, facing upward, not falling on the side.

Adjust your body initially so that it is not tense.

Let each part of the body feel free.

You must feel relaxed.

Close your eyes gently.

Be calm and still, do not move.

Any physical movement will deprive you of the full benefits of the exercise.

Breathe naturally.

Allow the breath to be rhythmic and relaxed.

Be aware as you breathe in and as you breathe out.

Breathing in and breathing out, is one count.

Count your breaths gently.

You may count 21 breaths or 51 breaths, depending on how tired you feel and how much time you have in hand.

Relax.

Become aware of the environment around you and gently move your hand and legs.

Gently turn to the right side and get up.

Open your eyes.

Your body feels relaxed.

The body is deprived of proper rest when one sleeps with a twisted spine. It relaxes fully when one lies with a straight spine. The relaxation deepens as the breath slows down.

It is advisable to do this exercise on the floor, and not over the bed, to experience full relaxation. The body gets complete rest when the spine is straight, against a flat surface, and the breathing is rhythmic and slow.

At first, you may not feel the full benefits of the exercise but, as you develop the practice, you will start experiencing the deep relaxation it brings.

This is an ancient practice, known as shavasana, or the corpse pose, in yoga. It is an effective relaxation posture practised, for about ten minutes, at the close of a yoga session. During the session, it is used after difficult postures for a short relaxation.

THE ART OF BLISSFUL RELAXATION

If you go to sleep without resolving your tensions, you will not have a sound sleep. You must go to bed after throwing off all the burdens. When you have something in your mind, you will have a restless sleep, and you will not feel refreshed when you wake up.

In life, we are confronted with stressful situations from time to time. The stress may be physical, mental, or emotional.

When the endurance level of the body is over stretched, it feels uncomfortable, and you may feel muscular or endocrinal tension. The mind, at times, turns into a whirlpool of apprehensions and anxiety, making you feel mentally stressed. Relationships gone awry and things going haywire generate emotional stress.

Sometimes you feel helpless and totally stranded. The body suffers and you find yourself miserable. It looks like there is no way out but that is not true. There is a way out in such circumstances.  

It is a unique technique for inducing complete relaxation – physical, mental, and emotional. It is a systematic method in which you learn to relax consciously. You may call it – The Blissful Relaxation!

It is a practice that does not require many efforts on your part. You are only required to lie down and listen to the instructions. The instructions are precise and simple. No physical action is expected from you. Just listen to the voice.

Be aware and listen to the voice. Do not sleep. You must lie down comfortably as in the exercise described above. After you settle down, you will be asked to look at your whole body internally, keeping your eyes closed.

Then, you will be asked to rotate your consciousness through your limbs. You must repeat the name of the body part announced and form its image in your mind. Systematically, you will scan your entire body.

You will be taken on a beautiful tour of places and things that you have already seen. One by one, you will visualize a flowing river, boat, ocean, waves, beach, trees, flowers, mountains, rising sun, a small hut, flying birds, etc.

Your attention from the external world is moved inwards. The body relaxes completely, and the mind is fully aware. At the end of the exercise, when you are asked to open your eyes, you feel blissfully relaxed and rejuvenated.

It may be done at any time of the day when you feel the need to relax your body and mind. It must not be done immediately after meals. Half an hour of this exercise gives you the same relaxation as two hours of normal sleep. You feel so good that you would like to do the exercise every day.

On any day, when you feel you have not had a proper sleep, you may do it in the morning after getting up, and you will feel refreshed. Your productivity goes up. This is also a good tool for enhancing your creative capability.

You may do it in the evening after returning from work or before going to sleep. The fatigue goes away, and you will have a sound sleep.

This practice is derived ancient tantric scriptures. Swami Satyananda Saraswati, the founder of Bihar School of Yoga, re-constructed it in the present form. It is known as yoga nidra.

You may use the recordings of yoga nidra by Swami Satyananda Saraswati or his immediate disciple, Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, available on the net, for your practice. Several other teachers and practitioners have also rendered their versions of the practice.

You feel fully relaxed – physiologically and psychologically – after a session of yoga nidra. The approximate duration of the practice is twenty to forty minutes.

It is suggested that you include the practices of shavasana and yoga nidra in your daily routine for relaxation of the body and the mind. They are healing and soothing. Their regular practice will reduce stress considerably and bring calm and peace to your life.

“In yoga nidra, the consciousness is in a state between waking and sleep. In this state, the mind is exceptionally receptive. The practice of yoga nidra enables one to receive intuitions from the unconscious mind. This state is the fount of artistic and poetic inspiration. It is also the source of the most creative scientific discoveries. The intuitions received in yoga nidra enable one to find within himself the answers to all problems. One’s true nature and integrity manifest, enabling him to live a meaningful and peaceful life in any environment. No longer emotionally identified with the mind and body, one’s entire being is pervaded with divine consciousness.”

Yoga Nidra/ Swami Satyananda Saraswati

         “Yoga nidra is a systematic method of inducing complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation.”

Swami Satyananda Saraswati