Vladimir Antonov

Basic Relaxation Exercises

Mastering relaxation (peace of the body and the mind) is necessary for having quick rest, for the control over the emotions (it allows one to get rid of negative emotions and stresses easily), and in general one can do everything much more successfully in the state of inner peace!

Recall the famous saying of the Chinese sage Lao Tse: “Calm is the most important thing in movement”. [7,11]

There are certain body postures (asanas) that help to learn inner peace.

The first of them is the so-called half-tortoise posture.

We sit on the heels with the toes looking backwards and move the knees apart. Put the forehead and the extended arms on the floor with palms pressed against each other. Relax the body and mind completely. Watch the stomach sag more and more as the relaxation becomes deeper. This is a wonderful exercise that allows one to get rid of physical and mental tiredness. It should be performed for about ten minutes.

The second asana is called crocodile posture. There are two ways of performing it.

We lie on the belly, protruding the elbows forward as far as possible, the chin resting on the palms.

The second option — we put the elbows forward and place one forearm upon the other on the floor, holding the head and the upper part of the body up by tensing the muscles of the back.

In both cases we feel ourselves happy little crocodiles, which crawled out on a sandy beach to have a sunbath! The sun warms our backs — and we dissolve in pleasure under its tender warmth, which permeates our bodies.