Relax into the cracking
releasing unnecessary efforts and tension
Dear Ones,
In recent reflections, we have been exploring the image of the acorn—the shell of personality and false personality cracking so that the deeper seed of Essence can take root and grow into a greater Selfhood.
We have also considered how this same process is unfolding collectively. The structures that have organized our shared life—the collective “shell” of our wegoic operating system—are beginning to crack open. As they do, we experience the destabilization, disorientation, and intensity of living within a world that no longer holds together in the same way.
What we are living through is not only psychological or cultural, it is energetic. As the shell cracks, tension increases. We may feel it in the body as contraction, in the mind as agitation or confusion, and in the emotions as reactivity or overwhelm. This is natural. To be alive is to experience tension. And yet, we can learn how to work with conscious relaxation.
When we hear the word relaxation, we usually think of resting, unwinding, de-stressing, taking it easy, or disengaging. We often engage in this kind of ordinary relaxation for self-care, as it reverses the body’s stress response—lowering blood pressure, slowing breathing, improving sleep, and increasing mental clarity—all of which are important in caring for our planetary bodies.
Yet conscious relaxation is something more. It is the deliberate practice of engaging only the physical, emotional, and mental tensions that are necessary in the moment. It is a balanced state of readiness and receptivity in which we are mentally clear and aware, physically at ease, able to rest or act, and emotionally attuned and present.
Conscious relaxation is not passive; it is an active skill that requires engagement and practice. It is a state of inner ease, balanced attention, and stability that allows us to come into a state of availability.
It is akin to an inner posture of repose, a trust or confidence that brings composure and freedom from (though not complete absence of) physical, emotional, or mental stress. It is a kind of spiritual tranquility, a rest and security found in dwelling in Mercy and ceasing unnecessary effort.
As Gurdjieff observed:
“We always use more energy than is necessary, by using unnecessary muscles, by allowing thoughts to revolve and reacting too much with feelings. Relax muscles, use only those necessary, store thoughts and don’t express feelings unless you wish.” — Views from the Real World
When you look up the definition of tension, you will find descriptions ranging from inner striving or imbalance to the balancing of forces and the tightening or extending to a desired degree.
Being alive involves the experience of tension. To be human is to experience trauma—or, as one of my teachers, Steve Hoskinson, describes it, “unintegrated resource”—and we often build up excessive tensions, contractions, and protective ways of being.
Tensions and contractions are not, in themselves, a problem. We will tense and contract in the midst of difficult experiences, and it can take time to allow them to deactivate, release, and move through us rather than solidifying into a habitual inner state. These tensions show up as habitual muscular contractions in the body, repetitive mental activity and agitation in the mind, and emotional reactivity and identification.
Because of this, we use far more energy than necessary. When there is too much tension, we become rigid and mechanical, developing a self-reinforcing cycle in which anxiety leads to physical contraction, which increases mental discomfort and further amplifies physical strain.
When there is too little tension, our centers don’t function properly. We may become physically weak, emotionally flat or withdrawn, and mentally passive or unable to engage in thinking work.
Joseph Azize describes this as the equilibration of tension and relaxation:
“Relaxation and tension are two aspects of one reality… They must go together in some particular ratio…”
Conscious relaxation, then, is an attunement—a living balance. It involves learning to recognize and release unnecessary effort while maintaining the right degree of tension needed for presence, responsiveness, and participation.
Because experience registers in all three centers, relaxation must occur in all three simultaneously. We begin very practically, again and again, allowing areas that are already at ease to support the release of excess effort elsewhere. Pierre Elliott describes this as the art of “unhooking”—releasing inner clutching and disengaging from what we are unnecessarily identified with.
It is essential to approach ourselves with gentleness and compassion, like we would a good friend, remembering it has taken a lifetime to become as we are. Forceful relaxation is an oxymoron. Instead, we bring attention to where there is already ease, freedom, and right effort. This is often more effective than trying to force tension to release.
As relaxation deepens, thoughts and emotions may arise. We allow this without making it a problem. We cultivate a steady openness to what we can see in any moment—a relaxed inner posture that can let be, and even welcome, whatever arises.
Over time, a new rhythm develops. The nervous system begins to regulate more naturally. A feedback loop of activation and deactivation emerges, and we experience greater openness, availability, and presence.
As we continue this work, we begin to sense a deeper layer of tension—the strain created by the image of ourselves we try to maintain, the person we believe must appear acceptable to the world. As Nicoll says, this part “never admits anything” and will not allow us to be at rest, constantly prompting us to act in the way we think we should. This creates a constant inner strain.
Real relaxation becomes possible when we soften our identification with this inner performance and attention becomes whole. Jeanne de Salzmann says, “When my attention becomes truly active… there is a letting go… and the body becomes still.”
In this stillness, a different vibration can be felt. A new energy becomes available, and presence appears. This relaxation is not something we do, it arises from seeing clearly. It enables us to receive the finer nourishment of impressions and the sacred impulses arising within.
Conscious relaxation is essential because it supports total availability.
And in this moment, it has a very specific application. We are invited to relax into the cracking, releasing unnecessary tension so that we can remain present to what is actually taking place. As we loosen our identification with the structures that are breaking down, a different inner posture becomes available—one of trust, receptivity, and grounded ease. There is a willingness to allow the process to unfold, a recognition that something lawful and intelligent is at work, and the breakdown is not separate from the emergence.
With love,
Heather