Evening star., 1928-12-19

The art of relaxing, so unconscious
in a cat, must be learned patiently Dy
human being.
Whereas most children and a few of
their elders are able to relieve COM
pletely all muscular tension when going
to sleep, perhaps the great majority OF
persons over 80 years of age are VIC
tins of an inability to relax.
The pernicious part of it all is that
very few restless sleepers realize that
there is anything the matter with them
in this respect.
They would assert Immediately, If
questioned, that of course they are COM
pletely relaxed-that is the reason they
go to bed.
Certainly such relaxation" is better
than none at all, but 1t Is very far from
the complete loosening of tensions which
is secured by an animal when 1t lies
down to slumber.
In the class of animals, Of course,
must be included all healthy children
and such Of their elders as have been
able to keep intact youths utter re-
laXationS.
All such "let themselves go" when
they 60 to bed. with the result that they
Immediately fall asleep; NO sooner
does their head hit the pillow than their
eyes close and they begin the rhyth-
mical breathing characteristic of such
a state.
Many an adult who little suspects that
he is not relaxed when trying to go to
sleep will find the following to be an
interesting experiment:
Deliberately starting with the toes.
mentally concentrate on one part of
the body after another, giving the COM
mand to muscles there to relax. Now
this is not hokun, but merely plan
to secure desired result, one that &C
tually works. This is important, in a
world where so many plans" do not
pan out, as the saying is.
The best way to give such COM
mand is simply to allow the muscles
under review to feel as If they were
sinking down through the bed. This
effect cannot be secured completely by
a general order to the entire body. Some
relief of muscular tensions may be eff
fected by such a procedure. but it will
be incomplete in comparison with the
participant method.
Begin at the left foot and repeat
(mentally) the name of the portion of
the body where relaxation is desired,
such as left toes, ankle, left knee, hip,
left side of the neck, mouth, eyes, throat.
1t is surprising how tense one will
discover the body to be- There is a
fancy medical name for it, which We
have orgotten-anyway it makes no
difference what the name is, what
counts is the condition itself and its
relief.
After the left side of the body is put
through its relaxing PAGES, always keep
ing before one the image of sinking
through the bed, the right side is gone
through with in similar manner.
After the plan is tried for few
moments one will catch relaxed portions
tightening up again. This results be-
cause persons in modern life live per-
petually on the alert. Those more in
clined to be nervous than others lived
more tensed than others. Yet even the
healthiest men and women will dis
cover that they seldom completely re-
lax, even when trying to do so, if they
will follow out this scheme.
X y X X
This plan of conscious relaxation Is
not original with the writer here. We
first heard of it some Is years ago in
an article by DR.. John Harvey Kellogg.
Recently, in a New York newspaper, we
saw a long article by some one or other