Physical Tension is in the Mind

Someone recently suggested I take up Ashtanga Yoga, that it might dispel some of my excessive thought processes and general habitual overthinking. I’m not sure that Ashtanga or anything else can single-handedly pacify this unique ancestral inheritance, but then again why else am I so engaged in the cultivation methods discussed here? So, for the common cause of good psychic health and also blog content, I plan to responsibly wade into the world of Ashtanga next month.

Yoga practices seem to develop a comprehensive full-body structural strength, limbic and bodily isolation and control, remarkable balance, a thorough curriculum of breathing regimens, overall health improvement, and meditative and spiritual attainments for the dedicated student. Yet perhaps surprisingly, the unraveling of bodily chronic unconscious tension isn’t a probable outcome of the practice. Internet forums for yoga discussion tend to have threads with beginner-ish students asking about dealing with this sort of tension. Some people have pointed out that, actually, if you have issues with chronic muscle tension or myofascial pain, doing yoga can even make such tension issues worse. 

This is the sort of thing internal Chinese practices like Yang Taijiquan (Tai Chi Ch’uan) are uniquely effective at resolving. I’m not saying here that one is better than the other—that’s not at all my point. I’m simply contrasting these systems and how they engage the body uniquely and not at all similarly. The dynamic relaxation, or fangsong, is among the reasons Taijiquan and some other 19th century Chinese martial arts became popular vehicles for health and exercise in the 20th century. This dynamic relaxation process also takes continual engagement to fully get rid of the years and years of unconscious tension in the body, hence why I emphasize standing practice so much (and also because I think most students of Taijiquan and related arts don’t actually stand enough, or haven’t spent years doing consistent rigorous foundational training of this kind). Standing practice, more so than seated meditation, is where the deep unconscious, chronic tension really melts away.

Unfortunately, 99.99% of the Taijiquan out there is pretty bogus or flimsy, very sorry stuff, to the point where it’s hard to even recommend as a pursuit! I’m not even sure what the best protocol is for verifying the quality of teachers or groups practicing it these days. I trained under people who emphasized the necessity of pressure testing real martial skills, but then at the same time plenty of people can do lousy Taijiquan, but still otherwise be good at fighting, so… I don’t know if that approach is always accurate. I do think teachers should have demonstrable martial skills to some degree, but again, it’s hard to set a clear line for this stuff. 

Originally I took up martial arts because it was so difficult to conceive of hurting others, even within a completely ethical scenario of self-defense. I still can’t really engage in using force by thinking consciously about doing it! The skills I do have come from training continuously a system that removes personal intent from martial reaction and reciprocation. For people who are naturally incapable of harming others, or cannot consciously do it effectively, such an approach is the only way to develop assertive martial capacity. Yoga is certainly not about any of that, though.

Regardless of what I’ve said above, I do think for some people, Yoga does lead them to letting go of unconscious tension, because tension and relaxation is a process that is rooted in the stresses of the mind. To remain consistent with a bodily practice until it has reached a deep, spiritual level, tends to relax the psyche—where the unconscious tension of the body is encrypted.

How can we relax and learn to do it well? As is often the case, for the answer we have to look towards the animals; or to those humans less disturbed by the tumultuous world, namely our children. When a child sleeps it forgets all problems. When a child sleeps it really sleeps, if it plays then it really plays and when it works it works. There is full intensity in the activity at hand. Adults have the habit of mentally working when they sleep and play, and of sleepwalking when they work.

So one basic rule of relaxation is to shut off thoughts on a conscious level about things that you have completed. Don't dwell or brood over problems. Your subconscious mind actually has great powers to solve problems without any need for the thought processes to be at a conscious level. When you have fed the necessary data into the mind about any particular topic, forget it. The mind will churn out the answer when it is required. Your conscious brooding on the problem in an effort to aid the process does not help. Have more trust in the capabilities of your mind.

—Swami Satyananda Saraswati
A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya