TOTAL RELAXATION
As you were told earlier, you are taught passive relaxation (when muscles are not moving and totally relaxed) so you can more effectively function with dynamic relaxation (when muscles are moving, but freely and easily, without tension or strain). You will be taught how to relax the entire body. If you don’t learn to relax every time you read or study, it will be difficult for you to concentrate, remember or even learn. Knowing how to relax is the most important step you must take. You should go through the relaxation practice at least twice a day, even if it is at a. time when you are not normally going to practice with the program.
RELAXATION is a skill you must learn through practice. You do not need the program or even the relaxation cassette with you when you go through the exercise. The importance of relaxation cannot be stressed too strongly. Everything related to reading and learning, the ability to
concentrate, study, remember and even move smoothly, is greatly affected by tension. There is only one way to relieve or eliminate tension - RELAXATION.
When you begin this relaxation exercise, it is important that you are as comfortable as possible. You should not have any outside distractions from people, radio, TV or from any other source. Your clothing should be loose. If you are wearing garments that are in any way snug, they should be loosened. Take your shoes off, and even your stockings, if you feel freer without them. If you are wearing a watch that has a tight band, or a bracelet or necklace that is tight, take it off. You need to be as unencumbered as you can possibly be. Especially the first few times you go through this exercise, sit in an upright position. Later, you may lie down, or assume any other comfortable position from which you can go through the exercise practice. It is a good idea to turn the lights down or even off.
Mental and physical tensions are usually created by outside activities or actions. These create the tensions within. It is not often that you will be able to control the outside activity that causes these inside tensions. You can learn to control the effect they have on you inside. The relaxation exercise you will be taught uses a number of different techniques to do this. One of the most important, and most powerful, is the use of visualization. “Acting as if” is a very powerful and
useful force that you can command and use at your discretion. The power of suggestion and expectation is applied. Self-fulfilling prophecy is used in getting you to see and even feel, before you start, what the achievement of your goals or objectives is like. You will practice deep breathing exercises and learn to relax your muscles, progressively, one area at a time, just as you were taught to relax the muscle areas around the head.
Taken From: ALPHA-NETICS
RAPID READING PROGRAM
