My father was doing the “swimming” routine on land, i.e. waving his hands in a crawl (free style) fashion, while standing in a park. I noticed the wobbly knees as he swing from left to right and back again. I suggested that he should try to relax his hands and not wobble the knees as that might cause knee problems. I showed him how I would “swim” on land. He said:

It looks very easy, but somehow, it’s very difficult to follow!

I know my father (or I think i know him!). I know it’ll be very difficult for him to learn because it’s difficult for him to change his habit at this age. It’ll take a huge conscious effort to release even a little of the tension that has built up in the body. Notice I used “consciousness” to change the “body”. I believe the crux of the matter is this, it’s the mental block which is causing the physical block.

This observation has cropped up several times e.g. in “What does relax mean?” and “Drawing small circles“. It touches on the feedback between body and mind in both directions i.e. from mind to body and from body to mind. It ultimately focuses on being relaxed in both body and mind. I guess the question is:

Do you really want to relax? Is the goal of being relaxed really worth achieving?

I couldn’t find a strong answer to this. All I can base on is the belief that this is a worthwhile goal, which I do believe at a conscious and subconscious level. And then what? I don’t feel the need to justify “and then what?” as I didn’t think I will ever reach a stage of total relaxation. I might catch a glimpse of it, but beyond that, I don’t know.

But for a start, I think you just have to take it on faith that being relaxed is a worthwhile goal. If you’re in doubt, it’ll be hard for you to relax. I haven’t come across someone who doesn’t want to relax, only people who thinks they should be more relaxed, but after a while, forgot that they want to relax. I guess the mental chatter should go something like this:

Me: Do you want to relax?

My mind: Yes.

Me: Good. Now that you’ve made up your mind, DON’T FORGET that you chose to relax. Now try to relax.

p/s: While writing this post, I was actually forcing myself to finish the article before having breakfast, only to realise that i’m writing about being relaxed but not practising it. So i helped myself to a peanut butter sandwich. Ah… my tummy feels relaxed… my writing felt relaxed after that as well.