So here you are, comfortably settled on your cushions with your arms and legs nicely relaxed, feeling heavy and lethargic. Now your head and the rest of your body need attention. If your shoulders have dropped into a good relaxed position you may already be aware of a stiffness and tension in your neck, so that’s the next part to deal with.
Relaxing your neck-There are two ways of increasing the tension in your neck. One is to push your chin down towards your chest; the other is to raise your chin in the air and push the back of your head down into the pillows. Whichever method you use, you will feel increased tension under your chin and all up the back of your neck. As you breathe out, raise or lower your chin into a comfortable position until you can’t feel any more stress under your chin or around your jaw. You may find you have to let your mouth sag open to get the best effect. You may also find that once your neck is relaxed you need to alter the number or position of the pillows under your head. Too many or too few and your head will be held at an angle which you will now recognize as awkward for you. When you are really relaxed and comfortable, your head will make quite a dent in the pillow and will feel quite heavy.
Check that your arms, legs, shoulders and thighs are still relaxed. It’s only too easy to tense up relaxed muscles when you are concentrating on something else; we do it all the time without being aware of it. So this constant checking is very necessary, especially as you are beginning to learn the technique. As you get experienced, you will find it comes as second nature.
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