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Chapter XXII: The Science of Relaxation.1903
health, in order to maintain a normal condition, but this is a very small current
compared to that sent out to contract a muscle.) In relaxation the muscles
and nerves are at rest, and the prana is being stored up and conserved,
instead of being dissipated in reckless expenditures.
Relaxation may be observed in young children, and among the animals.
Some adults have it, and, mark you this, such individuals are always noted
for their endurance, strength, vigor and vitality. The lazy tramp is not an
instance of relaxation; there is a great difference between relaxation and
“loaf.” The former is a sensible rest between working efforts, the result being
that the work is done better and with less effort—the latter is the result
of a mental indisposition to work and the consequent action (or inaction)
resulting from such thought taking form.
The person understanding Relaxation and the conserving of energy
accomplishes the best work. He uses a pound of effort to do the pound
of work, and does not waste, slop over, or allow his strength to trickle
away. The average person not understanding the law uses up from three to
twenty-five times the energy needed to do his work, be that work mental
or physical. If you doubt this statement watch the people with whom you
come in contact and see how many waste motions they make and how many
exaggerated movements, etc., they manifest. They haven’t themselves well
in hand mentally, and the result is physical prodigality.
In the Orient, where the Yogi gurus, or teachers, have classes of chelas, or
students, who receive their instruction not from books, but from the words
of the teacher, many object lessons from nature and illustrations are given
in order that the idea may be associated in the mind of the student, with
some material object or living thing. The Hatha Yoga gurus, when teaching
the lesson of Relaxation, often direct their student’s attention to the cat, or
animals of the cat-tribe, the panther or leopard being a favorite illustration
in lands where these animals are found.
Did you ever notice a cat in repose, resting? And have you ever watched
a cat crouching before a mouse-hole? In the latter case do you recall how