FOUR LEVELS OF RELAXING

Step 1: The Body

            “You will have to relax from the circumference. Remember as many times as possible to look into the body and see whether you are carrying some tension in the body somewhere –neck, the head and the legs. Relax it consciously. Just go to that part of the body, and persuade that part, say to it lovingly ‘Relax!’

            You will be surprised that if you approach any part of your body, it listens, it follows you – it is your body! With closed eyes, go inside the body from the toe to the head, searching for any place where there is tension. And then talk to that part as you talk to a friend; Let there be a dialogue between you and your body. Tell it to relax, and tell it,

‘there is nothing to fear. Don’t be afraid. I am here to take care – you can relax.’ Slowly slowly you will learn the knack of it. Then the body becomes relaxed.

Step 2: The Mind

            “Then take another step, a little deeper, tell the mind to relax. And if the body listens, the mind also listens, but you cannot start with the mind – you have to start from the beginning. You cannot start from the middle. Many people start with the mind and they fail. They fail because they start from a wrong place. Everything should be done in the right order.

            “If you become capable of relaxing the body voluntarily, then you will be able to help your mind to relax voluntarily. Mind is a more complex phenomenon. Once you become confident that the body listens to you, you will have a new trust in yourself. Now even the mind can listen to you. It will take a little longer with the mind, but it happens.

Step 3: The Heart

            “When the mind is relaxed, then start relaxing your heart, the world of your feelings, emotions – Which is even more complex, more subtle. But now you will be moving with trust, with great trust in yourself. Now you will know it is possible. If it is possible with body, mind, it is possible with the heart too.”

Step 4: The Being

            “Then only, when you have gone through these 3 steps, you can take the fourth. Now you can go to the innermost core of your being, which is beyond body, mind and heart: the very center of your existence.

            “You will be able to relax it too, and the relaxation certainly brings the greatest joy possible, the ultimate in ecstasy and acceptance. You will be full of bliss and rejoicing. Your life will have a quality of dance to it”.