When you have taken the time to practice this a little, and you can do it well, you will have a means to relax yourself deeply and revitalize yourself amazingly. Practicing this technique regularly, once a day for a few weeks, will produce a new dimension in body awareness and relaxation.
The clarity of visualization, how clearly you “see” the different body parts, is not so important. Obviously, someone with detailed anatomical knowledge will be able to build up a more detailed image than others. The important thing is to feel that close contact and awareness of each part of your body. So, in a large complex area such as the abdomen, you feel as if your mind is moving through the whole area. You feel the deep sense of relaxation and then the glow.
When it comes to areas affected by cancer or other disease, just do the same thing. No effort or striving, just feel your mind moving through the area, relaxing it and letting the light build up to the same level as in the rest of your body. This produces a feeling of uniformity throughout the body—a vital, healthy uniformity and it promotes the healing response.
Sometimes, relaxing areas affected by disease causes some initial discomfort. This is because we often have long-standing tension in the region around them as a defense mechanism. These exercises relax that tension and often produce sensations of temporary discomfort, occasionally tingling, even brief muscle spasms or jerks. Be assured this soon gives way to a feeling of warmth and ease. Also, this radiant light technique is very helpful for pain relief, and we will discuss this in detail soon (chapter 10).
The Radiant Light Exercise
Begin by putting all your attention onto just one big toe. Form an image in your mind of your toe and travel through it, examining each part in your mind. It is as if in your mind, you travel around the skin, under the nails, through the joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles. As you do so, you aim to relax each part in minute detail. So this is a process to take slowly. You really do dwell on each part of the toe, feel into it and feel it relaxing deeply and completely.
You may well notice feelings of warmth flowing into the areas you relax in this deep way; maybe even a light tingling almost like mild pins and needles. This is a sign blood is flowing more freely through the area and relaxation is deepening.
Next, you build up an image of radiant white light suffusing each area of the toe. It is as if that toe was a light globe with a dimmer switch. You turn on that switch and gradually increase the light until the toe is full of vibrant white light. You will find it feels marvelous. When you do it well, you will be thinking of nothing else, just experiencing the vibrancy of it all.
So, having begun with one toe, then move to the next and so on, until the whole foot is “lit up.” You may find that at the first session attending to just one toe takes all your time. That would be fine. Next session you will find that you can recapture the feeling in that toe more easily and more quickly and so you can start with the next toe. At each session work on more areas until you can capture the feeling throughout the body. It is the feeling of relaxation, lightness and vitality that is the main thing. You aim to complete the exercise feeling deeply relaxed, filled with the radiant, healing, vibrant light.
The aim of the radiant light exercise is to lead us to a point of profound relaxation, with an accompanying sense of wholeness and vitality. So this exercise really serves to add another means of reaching the stillness of passive meditation. It is that end point which is the really important thing.
Relaxation Trigger Points
As you become more aware of your body, you will almost certainly find that some areas feel more tense than others. Common areas of tension are the muscles of the forehead, jaw, shoulders, tummy, hands and lower back. You will find that when you are placed in a stressful situation, one or more of these areas may tense up first. Just watch what happens next time you are “pushed.” These areas are called trigger areas and they are very useful! Remember the reflex?
Anxiety + Stress = Muscular tension
Muscular relaxation = No anxiety, no adverse effect from stress
Having identified localized areas where tension shows up, we can concentrate on relaxing those areas, and when we succeed in doing so, we are well on the way to being relaxed. This is a very good defense mechanism to use if you feel stress is still affecting you. If you feel a situation is causing stress to build up, concentrate upon relaxing your trigger areas. You will find that if you keep your body relaxed, the whole situation will be defused.
Relaxation in Daily Life
Once you have experienced the “feel” of relaxation in your formal exercises, you will be able to recapture it at will during the day. Soon it will become your natural state. Free from tension, you will be able to react appropriately and will not be affected by stress.
Ideally, we aim to be relaxed all day and impervious to potentially stressful situations. Practicing these techniques goes a long way toward this end and we can do still more to achieve it. At every opportunity through the day, at every idle moment, take the time to check your level of relaxation. Do an internal inventory. Start with the trigger areas and make sure they are relaxed.
When you begin doing this, you may find that every time you think of your trigger areas, they need help to be more fully relaxed. That is fine. It is good to simply notice such a fact; and then to realize you can do something about it! That is why we practice. That is why we persist with these exercises. Relax. Smile. Know that the worse the tension to begin with, the more benefit you will get in the long run by relaxing!
Seek to experience the feeling of relaxation at every opportunity. After a while you will stay relaxed and you will feel a wonderful difference.
Relaxing Moments
Use your time wisely. When in the car, do not just waste those precious seconds at the red lights. Relax as much as you can and feel how good it is. Maybe take a deeper breath in; breathe out, and let go. The muscles softening and loosening. The feeling of relaxation all through.
And then remember the cat. Relaxed but alert. As we watch a cat in slow motion, the foreleg flows gracefully forward. All the muscles at the front of the leg are contracting to draw the leg forward. The muscles at the back of the leg are relaxed. There is nothing to hinder the flow of the leg or stilt the action. Look at a tense person walking—they jerk along in a most ungainly way. The relaxed cat flows. When the leg moves backward, the muscles at the back of the leg contract, and those at the front relax.
So even while driving along, be aware that your trigger areas are relaxed. Ideally, your whole body is inherently relaxed. And at the same time, you are quite alert, focused and mindful, ideally poised in body and mind for the driving.
The key to this is the principle that you use only the muscles you need for any given task of the day. To avoid stress, to maintain a relaxed state, muscles are either working at a specific function or at rest. They do not need to hold any residual tension.
I have seen many people take on a new elegance and charm merely by learning to relax properly. Perhaps this was most marked in Edna, an elderly patient. As she learned to relax, the worry and tension left her face. Coupled with the benefits of the diet, a new vitality and vigor came over her, producing a genuine, radiant glow that was obvious to all.
Very soon, using these techniques, your body will be relaxed, your mind also, and the benefits of the meditation will have entered your daily life. You will be reacting appropriately and you will be heading toward profound healing and long-term good health.
Putting it All together • The Main Meditation Practice: Mindfulness-Based Stillness Meditation
This completes all the background and preliminaries we need to be aware of and to have practiced so that we are ready for the main meditation practice of mindfulness-based stillness meditation (MBSM).
Remember the simple summary: having prepared well, we