Overcoming Tension

[Cameron]

It seems to me one of the most important-if not THE most important-aspect of successful qigong, martial arts, hapiness in life in general, is learning to overcome tension.

 

I was laying on my futon a few days ago and sort of sinking in and got pretty relaxed. But even in that relaxed state I thought " Even this is not really relaxation..there are still numerous areas not totally letting go."

 

It is also something that comes up in my martiala rts practice. Why get tense when it's unnessiary? Certainly tension has it's usefulness but learning to overcome tension and let go of all the tension in the body is so important and so hard.

 

In Qigong practice alot of the movements help you to relax. standing meditation is good because it basically forces you to relax to be successful. You can't stand there for 30 minutes with your arms rounded in a state of tension. You relax or you give up. Especially relaxing the abdomen and really letting go all the knots in the belly so tan tien breathing is natural practiced.

 

I have also found excericse itself is helful tor elaxation. Doing a couple hundred hindu squats you just tell your body to knock it off with any tension. It's like when you do qigong or excercise alot or do yoga alot you are reeducating your body to overcome tension.

 

So, I would like to keep this thread going for anyone to add any practices they have found helpful in overcoming tension.

 

Scott Sonnon's material has been referenced as being helpful to this. Pilates recently has been said to be helpful. Deep massage obviously would be helpful.

 

So add to the Overcoming Tension thread if you have some pearls!

[neimad]

warrior wellness has really been helping with relaxation, especially in the shoulder area.

 

yoga has been helping release knots, particularly in the hip area.

 

cheng hsin is an awesome martial arts/body awareness arts that has been helping with all things relaxed. particularly the feet!!! until i did this i never knew how much tension i had in the feet.

this art has also, in a short period of time, help me begin to get real feelings of being rooted into the earth... also i am beginning to get the 'relaxed walk' down, but i can't walk very fast if i do haha.

this is basically when you realise you have two hips. one leg is grounded and the other swings free, relaxed, like a door hinge. you move your hip and the floppy leg falls forwards... momentum carries you on.

 

fantastic.

[thaddeus]

So, I would like to keep this thread going for anyone to add any practices they have found helpful in overcoming tension.

 

Scott Sonnon's material has been referenced as being helpful to this. Pilates recently has been said to be helpful. Deep massage obviously would be helpful.

 

So add to the Overcoming Tension thread if you have some pearls!

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One thing I learned is that lengthening facilitates relaxation. When I first started studying, I made the mistake that most people make--they equate sinking with collapsing and lowering the body. You really need to lengthen the spine, limbs and joints to get them to relax. That's essentially what yoga is about..how to find a lengthened and supported spine in all kinds of crazy positions. And the reason for that is to be able to take a deep unencumbered breath. So I see lengthening, relaxation with resiliency as the first step. Everything else is purely academic until you can do this. Lengthening unbunches the fascia (which is tight around all joints and places where the body bends). Unbunching the fascia facilitates chi flow. I can't see how one can practice any internal martial art or taoist practice without this pre-requisite...comments?

Thaddeus

[thaddeus]

Deep massage obviously would be helpful.

 

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Just another note, most massage is not helpful for the type of relaxation we need in our training. It is good to get fluids moving and there are benefits of touch, however, everyone knows the tension comes right back and deep tissue massage does not address structure. This is where bodywork such as rolfing is alot more helpful in releasing tension. It may not feel as good as a swedish massage, but you will feel the effects. For example, if your shoulders are tight, swedish massage will work that area and it will feel great, however after the massage is over you want more and the tension never really left. In a rolfing session, the rolfer may excrutiatingly work your calves and feet and bingo, your shoulders have loosened..

thaddeus

[Yoda]

I think more important than actual practices are one's beliefs. If one thinks that life is fun then unfulfilled desire aka tension will be translated as excitement and a way to have more fun. If one thinks that life is a drag, then each unfulfilled desire is just another nail in the coffin.

 

Energy practices, meditation, etc are a way to raise one's vibration temporarily to induce greater insights/prajna/small to big satoris which supports a more permanent belief structure/better scripts to serve as a more long term platform.

 

There's a lot of talk about big transformative experiences, but the game seems to really play out on the moment to moment positive or negative insights of life.

 

That's the whole compassion/wisdom or 5 yogas/mahamudra paradigm in Buddhism.

[sean]

... they equate sinking with collapsing and lowering the body.  You really need to lengthen the spine, limbs and joints to get them to relax. 

While I'd sort of gotten this intuitively from different work I've done, I'd never thought about it like this, thanks for writing it. It resolves some conflicts I'd had in my relaxation metaphors.

 

Yoda, awesome post.

 

I thought I'd have a lot to contribute to this thread but I'm sitting here blanking out and realizing that I am uptight a lot of the time and don't really know how to relax all that well. Or maybe I do, I just don't put the skills into practice enough. Sedona works really well for me, Warrior Wellness, shaking the tree, spontaneous chi kung forms, I really like Winn's form on CKF2 where you are washing the front channel up and down, ocean breathing, various seated meditations, ie: shamatha. Lately I've been exploring simple methods found in Come to your Senses such as periodically tuning into background sounds, body sensations such as where your body is touching other things in your environment, etc. and it's helping me relax a lot more.

 

Nice thread.

 

Sean.

[thaddeus]

warrior wellness has really been helping with relaxation, especially in the shoulder area.

 

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What is the theory behind warrior wellness and the relaxation you're getting in the shoulder..for example, it circular movement, static stretching, etc.?? Does it involve the mind in any way?

THanks,

Thaddeus

[Yoda]

WW seems to, in Chia's words, 'open the joints so the chi can flow in.' There's a specific joint centered buzz you get from it. I'm sure there's another buzz associated with specifically stretching the muscles as in yoga.

[RedFox]

Just another note, most massage is not helpful for the type of relaxation we need in our training.  It is good to get fluids moving and there are benefits of touch, however, everyone knows the tension comes right back and deep tissue massage does not address structure.  This is where bodywork such as rolfing is alot more helpful in releasing tension.  It may not feel as good as a swedish massage, but you will feel the effects.  For example, if your shoulders are tight, swedish massage will work that area and it will feel great, however after the massage is over you want more and the tension never really left.  In a rolfing session, the rolfer may excrutiatingly work your calves and feet and bingo, your shoulders have loosened..

thaddeus

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To address thaddeus' posts.

 

My impression of rolfing comes from the Hellerwork side of the school, so may not be entirely accurate as to what everybody else is doing. However, what I saw as the weakness is while the rolfer has done some amazing (and sometimes amazingly painful!) manipulations, they still haven't taught the client how to make these corrections themselves. In time, without addressing the self-care aspect of maintaining this lengthening, the contraction still happens.

 

I came to this after taking a weekend workshop on it, focused on upper body, and having the techniques done on me thru that time. It was excruciating, but I found my arms and shoulders had been remarkably released, and could touch them behind my back (you knw, where you grasp your fingertips together meeting up behind your shoulder blades) and do all kinds of motions far easier and further than i'd ever done. However, same as a massage, three days later I couldn't grasp my fingers anymore. I'd asked the guy about maintenance in class, and it was clear he was more about having the client return frequently. He did say he practiced yoga for himself, forgot to ask what style, but when i asked him if it negated his own need for therapy, he said it didnt.

 

I was not able to touch my fingertips together like that for another two years. In my case, i learned how to stretch all the individual muscles of the body (the method was called active isolated stretching, but there are other ways to accomplish the same thing). Had to learn how to evaluate myself and figure out whether it was triceps, biceps, subscapularis, infraspinatus, or what other muscles might be preventing me from getting there.

 

It wasn't just the stretching though, the real benefit seemed to be increasing awareness of everything that's going on in the body. Being involved in it. If one muscle consistently tightens up, figure out why that is and you won't have to stretch so much. My hamstrings would tighten up much quicker than other areas of my body if i took any time off my routine. struck me that having a gut meant compensations in a string of muscles, including hamstrings.

 

i am in agreement on the lengthening in general, and the spine specifically. that's my current weakness. been working with CC/bridging to get that started, but i also realize i have been negligent on standing practice for months, which i know helps.

 

Somebody mentioned hindu squats. one thing that's been on my mind is that i'm not going to get into very high numbers of them until I can do them even more efficiently. like, how can i relax and still do this squat without straining.

 

so much to practice, how can anybody be bored? :-)