Expanding relaxation - awareness of the senses

“Relaxation is a healing system that can be used to relieve our anxieties and frustrations - the pressures that so often cause our energies to stagnate, and thus prevent us from expanding our meditation and awareness.
   By deep relaxation we purify our inner energies. We can begin to relax by just becoming aware of whatever feelings we are experiencing - the tightness of our muscles, difficulties in breathing, or pressure in our heads. We need to be aware of, touch, and communicate with all the feelings that we experience in our daily lives. Then, through the use of massage and certain exercises, we can learn to relax the body, breath and mind. The body becomes healthy, the mind becomes clear, and our awareness becomes balanced.
   Once we relax and our minds are free from distractions, we begin to feel more open and natural. This is the time to silence inner dialogue and conceptual thinking. Once these are silenced, it is quite a simple matter to improve the quality of our meditation. Then, throughout the day, we can continue to nourish the feeling energy we have contacted and thus continue to develop a watchful positive awareness. In this way we can learn how to expand awareness. First, on the physical level, through massage and physical exercises. Second, on the mental level, through breathing and experiencing these feelings more deeply. And, third, on the level of subtle awareness, through direct experience. When we taste that feeling, we find that the feeling itself has become infinite!...”

   This article continues to discuss expanding awareness and give an exercise for increasing awareness of the senses. It is is taken from the book TIBETAN MEDITATION by Tarthang Tulku and is published by Duncan Baird Publishers. It is available on SPECIAL OFFER to Yoga & Health readers. Please see page 47 of the June issue for details.