Relaxation and Muscle Lengthening
The sensation or feeling of relaxation comes from the perception of muscles that are fully energized, at full length, and ready to do work. However, doing work is not necessary, and a relaxed state is appropriate for resting or going to sleep. To do work, muscles contract and shorten. After muscles contract, discharging some energy, they must take in energy to fully un-contract and relax. A continuously tight or contracted muscle is actually an exhausted muscle. Chronically contracted muscles shorten over time, and distort movement and posture. Muscle shortening is accompanied by connective tissue (fascia, tendons, etc..) shortening, which many believe is more troublesome since it is harder to change
But muscles also shorten when a person is alarmed, or frightened, or humiliated, or is holding back a response. When a body is under constant stress, or is exhausted, or unable to take up energy, the muscles tend to stay contracted. Muscles that are continuously contracted shorten in a chronic sense. Shortened muscles give rise to a feeling of fear and worry. Ironically, a large amount of chronic muscle contraction leads to frenetic, un-graceful, constant activity as the will power and mind try to overcome the depletion. Chronic muscle contraction also leads to difficulty falling asleep, and rumination.
This view of relaxation is of course at odds with the mainstream cultural belief that holds that relaxation will be the result of either accomplishing enough (attainment), or holding the right thoughts ('figuring it out'). If one starts working with the body, however, personal experience is usually convincing about what really provides relaxation, and it is not attainment or knowledge.
Muscles that are chronically short must lengthen again to relax and be ready for satisfying movement. There seems to be nine general strategies for lengthening shortened muscles:
- directly stretching muscles by pulling them with other muscles, helpers, gravity, or devices,
- moderate exercise with the muscle
- employing vibration
- contracting opposing muscles that activates a lengthening reflex (reciprocal inihibition)
- bringing muscle tension into awareness
- warming
- direct massage
- coaching alignment
- expression of emotion, especially anger and sadness.
Direct Stretch This has the advantage of being intuitive to our culture of doers—that is, it seems like doing something. In stretching, will power can be applied to the body, but then this also undermines the basic goal, since will power tends to contract muscles overall. Also some muscles require very complex maneuvers to be stretched at all, like the psoas. Other muscles, like those supporting the spine, are difficult to stretch against gravity without the assistance of another person, such as a chiropractor. Gravity can be employed to stretch what it usually compresses, however, with the use of an inversion table. An inversion table has the advantage of being somewhat immune to the over-use of the will, because one just 'hangs around,' and there is no way to try to perfect the maneuver. The diaphragm is a muscle that is almost impossible to stretch directly. Direct stretching also runs up against the stretch reflex, which causes muscles that are stretched to want to shorten. The stretch reflex can be partially overcome by stretching slowly, and holding the stretch. Stretch is not synonymous with lengthening. Stretch implies creating a tension in the muscle fibers that does not necessarily arise in all lengthening methods.
Exercise Moderate exercise will discharge energy from a muscle, and the muscle, in restoring itself, will replenish itself with energy and lengthen. If there was a modest contraction from stress in the first place, the end result will usually be less contraction than when the exercise was started. That is why office workers usually feel more relaxed after working out or taking a walk. 'Progressive relaxation' is based on this.
Heavy exercise may be a different matter. When the body is stressed cardio-vascularly, muscles that do not need to tighten usually do anyway. Stressful exercise increases sympathetic activity, and over time probably contributes to sympatheticotonia. Joseph Pilates felt strongly that strong exertion was bad for body conditioning. Many amateur runners and triatheletes develop a great deal of muscle shortening, and often some postural distortion, as everyday observation will show. Heavy “cardio” will produce exhilaration, but this is from endorphins. The endorphin response is not the same as increased parasympathetic activity. Endorphins act like opiates, that is, they dissociate the mind from how the body feels. The endorphin response seems safe enough as opiate responses go—it is self-limiting. However, Reich believed that opiates increased contraction in the long run. Of course, vigorous exercise can have positive effects on heart health and weight etc...
Vibration A tense muscle will start to vibrate coarsely as it lets go. There is some belief that vibrating the body coarsely with voluntary movements or externally applied vibration can induce muscle lengthening and relaxation. In the Reich and Lowen tradition, vibration is also an end in itself, a basic life process. The basic Lowenian bioenergetic positions are stress positions that stretch large muscles and allow for vibration to occur. Therapists that work with trauma, such as Peter Levine, have recognized “shaking” as a basic recovery mechanism in all 'higher' animals. The Trauma Release Exercises ® of David Bercelli is a sequence of seven exercises intended to induce vibration in the psoas.
Reciprocal Inhibition This refers to the fact that in some muscle group pairings, contracting one muscle causes the opposing muscle to relax somewhat. In sports training this is used quite intentionally especially in the arms and legs. Some yoga sequences may also make use of this. Overall, however, reciprocal inhibition has a very weak effect on chronically shortened muscles. For purposes of the Reich and Lowen tradition, it has limited utility because it cannot be applied to core muscles such as the psoas and the spinal erectors, or the muscles of expression, especially the face and eyes.
Awareness Awareness of muscle tension is believed to lessen the tension. The muscular tension that functions as armor does so because it has fallen from awareness and functions automatically. The Feldenkreis method as well as the Alexander method both seek to increase awareness of how muscles are used.
Warming Applying low heat directly to muscles will relax them. This method has the advantage that it does not require skill, with common sense it cannot be done wrong. It is possible to affect core muscles also, although the body will resist much change in core temperature. Hot-tubs, saunas, and sunbathing are all tradition methods of relaxation with heat. 'Hot” or Bikram yoga seeks a synergy with heat and stretch.
Massage Tight contracted muscle relax with massage. It is unclear whether this effect can be cumulative, or whether it wears off, even with frequent application. (The same concern is relevant for all methods listed here except perhaps, awareness and emotional expression) Reich and Lowen frequently massaged key holding muscles to release tension, and give them a taste of partial relaxation. Massage is particularly useful for the muscles of the mid- and upper-face, which cannot be stretched.
Alignment Undue contraction in one muscle or group throws the body out of balance and other muscles must become contracted just to provide a semblance of balance. If a person can be 'put' into a good enough alignment, a multi-location release might be possible. This seems to be a premise of Rolfing, Hatha yoga, and Feldenkreis.
Emotional Expression Both Reich and Lowen sought true emotional expression as a goal of therapy. Lowen however, developed the principle that emotional expression was also a way to release muscle tension, and in fact is a necessary adjunct to sustain gains. However, a distinction must be made between catharsis and true integrated expression. A cathartic outburst is seen by the ego as an aberration and not really true for the person. The person feels it was something they 'had to get rid of.' Only when the expression both involves the body (eyes, face, hands, voice, etc) and is seen by the ego as true for the person, can self-expression provide a release psychologically and muscularly.