Turn on the off switch may be a confusing title. Let’s delve into it.

Telling someone to relax falls on death ears. If we knew we were tense, we would relax by ourselves.

For this purpose, we aim to become more aware of the base levels of tension through deliberate increase of tension and breath stoppage. Being deliberate about tension and held postures both inside and out helps in discovering them intuitively throughout our daily existence and in becoming more free and less encumbered by excess when the time comes.

We begin with the breath.

Wake up and inhale. Hold your breath and count your heart beats until discomfort rises and then breathe.

Continue by exhaling fully and holding the breath and again counting heart beats until discomfort.

Remember the body feeling and the thoughts and emotions which rise during this practice and they will become visible to you when they occur during the day and night.

Choose an action which is repeated daily. It can be tying your shoe laces or cutting meat for a meal. Hold your breath at various places throughout the breath phase and continue until discomfort starts. Press the hold a bit more and release and note to remember how this affected your movement, your posture and your thoughts for when it happens on it’s own.

We continue to touch awareness.

Place your awareness in a single cm of your skin and keep it there for sixty breaths.

continue to shift your focus to different spots on the skin and see how you can spread your awareness while engaged in other activities. With time, your awareness will expand and become a part of your waking awareness.

We continue to muscle activation.

Before going to bed, tense your muscles from one end to another. Use your breath as tempo and go as shallow as you can with the tension. With attention, you will become aware of the tension in the body and mind as it begins and with breath and movement, release the excess before it builds into stiffness.

Allow yourself to smile when appropriate.