Relaxing your body is the key!

I used to see body relaxation as really disturbing in my meditation. A necessary evil. Surprisingly, the more I practiced, the more I realised, that body relaxation is actually the most necessary preparation. Only with a relaxed body, the mind can relax and this is the essential prerequisite for the state of meditation to happen. Meditation begins the very moment you sit for meditation.

Body relaxation is not only meant to relax the body.

It is already part of the mindfulness meditation. By relaxing your body and focusing on different body parts, you are becoming aware of your physical shape that is present in the moment.

Every time I was consciously or unconsciously holding a tiny or not so tiny tension in my body, I couldn’t still my mind and relax the breath. Tightness in the physical revealed emotions like impatience or dissatisfaction, that I was holding on to. They kept me on the physical level from entering a more calm state of mind. By releasing them, I was able to go much deeper in my meditation. 

Do not get obsessed with getting it “right”.

Take the spirit out of the idea of relaxing your body. If you take the procedure too serious you might evoke a feeling of doing it “wrong” or “not enough”. We want to avoid these feelings because they might distract you from actually starting to meditate. Keep an open mind and try different strategies. Anything that works for you will be fine.

Relaxing the body can happen quickly within seconds, if you are already more advanced and used to the process. Usually it takes about five to ten minutes to really arrive in the body and the now. As the session continues you might get tense again in your shoulders, fingers, toes or joints. Therefore it is essential, to constantly relax the body also during the time you are sitting down for meditation.

The process of body relaxation is a systematic rotation of your consciousness in the body.

It should be done consciously, deliberately and systematically. You may scan the body from head to toe or the other way around. The secret of body relaxation is to watch your body and see it as your meditation object. You are not the body. In the end it is always nice to visualise yourself sitting lightly, grounded, content and relaxed like a meditating buddha or tree.