Everyone thinks they know how to relax. It’s just a matter of zoning out in front of an entertaining show while lying comfortably on the couch, right?
Scientists have suggested under observation that people are often not as relaxed as they think when they believe themselves to be.
Look all around you and you will see people holding tension in their bodies. A teacher of mind used to say how people held their shoulders like they were earrings, bunched up almost touching the ears. Yet most people would not even realise it.
We get so used to anything. Not only do we hold onto physical tension but also tension within our mind and emotions. These act as a weight on us that does not help us as we try to move through life.
True relaxation is an art that has to be studied. In Aikido “relax completely” is one of our principles that sounds simple but is actually very hard to master.
Koichi Tohei, one of the few Aikido 10th Dans and the founder of Ki Aikido said of the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba:
“I began studying aikido because I saw that Ueshiba Sensei had truly mastered the art of relaxing. It was because he was relaxed, in fact, that he could generate so much power.”
As a student of Aikido, we become frustrated with being told we need to relax more when we feel we are as relaxed as could be. It can be very confusing and it is something we continue to practise.
The more we can relax, the less we telegraph our intentions to our attacker and the more we can co-ordinate and move our mind and body together as one to create a powerful technique.
At the same time, meditation practitioners and yoga practitioners may say that they practise relaxation. but that is fine for sitting quietly in a pose. But does this train us to stay relaxed under confrontation?
In Aikido, we aim to develop “living calmness” in which we maintain our relaxed state even under the stress of confrontation and conflict.
These principles can be trained for a lifetime and we all can get better at them.
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