How About Relaxing?

The other day at Pilates my teacher had me doing sit-ups. I sat on a long cushioned mat on which she placed what looked like half of a large, padded ball. I was instructed to slide my butt right up against the rim of the half-ball, to bend my knees and then lie back, draped over the firm but soft structure, thus opening my chest, neck and throat.

Get the picture? I realize that a “selfie” would be helpful here, but I have no photo of this event. Anyway, I was too busy bending backwards over that thing to take any pictures.

It was from this position that, with my arms clasped loosely behind my head, elbows slightly forward, I did what seemed like an endless number of sit–ups.

When she said, “last one!” I thought there is a God!  And, dropping my arms straight out from the sides of the mat, I allowed my knees to flop down flat, collapsing completely. My back was comfortably arched over the mounded padding.

“The best thing about exercising is letting go afterwards.” I exclaimed. “I’m really good at relaxing!” My teacher laughed. “Relaxing helps with exercise,” she said. “It helps with everything.”

I got to thinking about that.

We don’t have to be doing sit-ups at Pilates. Wherever we are, all day, every day, we are putting out effort—at our jobs, in our family life, in volunteer activities, negotiating traffic on I 95. 

Because in the U S. we are accustomed to maintaining a high level of activity, unlike with the sit-ups, we aren’t even aware of the effort we expend daily. We are, in fact, so strongly conditioned that when we go on vacation it often takes us a few precious days just to unwind: to actually be where we are, let go and enjoy ourselves.

  Let's get better at relaxing! Why not include relaxing in our daily routine? Relaxing matters. It is life sustaining.