Tension

Tension is something we actively bring into our bodies as a way of readying ourselves for the next foray into the world. Bracing against the next attack. Such tension often accumulates in the legs. Seldom have we been taught how to relax and welcome the ground up into the groin with each step, and instead we push the ground away with our straightening legs – we treat the ground as an enemy. Such behaviour necessarily tightens the sacral area making proper energy transfer between the upper and lower bodies well-nigh impossible.

Deep relaxed breathing is a good model for any healthy interaction. When we breathe in we bring as much of the world into our lungs and belly as we can, allowing every cell to expand and swell with good air and inspiration. And as we breathe out we send our good energy with that breath, allowing each cell to relax and empty, infusing our environment with good will.

Any chronic tension or behaviour pattern we have locked into our bodies is accompanied by a corresponding psychological problem. Almost invariably this problem will manifest as a me-and-them attitude which, to our minds at least, necessitates conflict. How we fare in such conflict is set during early formative experiences – is another aspect of our behavioural patterns. However, regardless of how we fare we are still victims – victims of those patterns that lock us into a narrow and barren world of our own making.

For the body to be relaxed, open and working freely, the mind must first be content and at rest: happy. This requires us to be at peace with the world: to be willing and accepting participants in whatever transpires. This is what openness is. It is a quality that makes things happen the way they should. Good will.

You'll always find tension in the jaw: beneath the ears. Clenching the teeth. When the jaw relaxes then the skull and spine meet harmoniously and powerfully, the face widens and smiles, and energy from the front of the heart is allowed up into the brain. Relaxing the jaw is the key to bringing body and mind together. The two sides of the jaw then correspond to and communicate with any other problem areas in the body: knees, hips, shoulders, ankles, soles, etc. When we start to relax, each part not only represents the whole, but is the whole. The world starts to lose its me-and-them attitude.

Regarding the world rationally and logically – me-and-them, here-and-there, now-and-then – necessitates and generates tension.

Tension is simply lack of faith.