Date: 11/08/2025 11/09/2025
Location: Star Ocean Meditation Center
Teacher: Sara
Sitting Meditation
Three Dimensions of Bodily Relaxation from Outer to Inner
Bodily relaxation is not merely the loosening of muscles, but a progressive integration from surface to depth. Genuine relaxation is not just a pleasant sensation; it is the gradual release of physical, respiratory, and unconscious effort. When practice remains superficial, deeper tension continues to operate. Only relaxation that penetrates inward allows stable, sustainable, and effortless presence.
1. Surface Relaxation: Releasing Observable Physical Tension
1.Relaxing obvious muscular effort
The shoulders, neck, face, jaw, abdomen, and limbs commonly hold excess tension. Through awareness and allowance, unnecessary effort gradually dissolves.
2.Establishing basic bodily safety
As surface tension eases, the body signals that defense is no longer required. Safety arises internally, not from external conditions.
3.Restoring natural structural support
Relaxation does not mean collapse. It allows the skeleton to support posture while muscles retain only essential tone.
4.Maintaining relaxation through awareness
Surface relaxation is sustained by awareness, not by force. Awareness naturally recalibrates the body.
2. Middle Relaxation: Regulating Breath and Internal Rhythm
1.Allowing breath to regain autonomy
When bodily control softens, breathing becomes deep, slow, and even without manipulation.
2.Releasing breath-related restrictions
The diaphragm, chest, and abdomen often tighten through emotion and habit. Awareness restores elasticity.
3.Breath as a bridge between inner and outer
At this level, breathing becomes a stable anchor linking body and mind.
4.Stable rhythm calms the mind
As respiratory rhythm steadies, the nervous system settles and mental fluctuations diminish.
3. Deep Relaxation: Releasing Unconscious Inner Effort
1.Recognizing the urge to control
Deep tension lies not in muscles, but in subtle psychological effort—maintaining, achieving, or managing experience.
2.Allow states to arise naturally
When the impulse to manufacture experience drops, body and mind align spontaneously.
3.Releasing expectation of sensation or result
Expectation itself sustains tension. Its release permits true deep relaxation.
4.Abiding in effortless stability
Deep relaxation is not dullness, but a clear, steady presence requiring no maintenance.
4. Integration of the Three Dimensions
1.Surface supports the middle
Muscular ease allows breath to open naturally.
2.Middle stabilizes the deep
Breath rhythm softens unconscious control.
3.Deep nourishes the whole
When inner effort ceases, the body self-regulates with ease.
4.Relaxation becomes systemic
No longer a technique, but an integrated mode of being.
5. Integrating Relaxation into Practice and Daily Life
1.Review all three layers during sitting
Scan progressively from outer to inner while meditating.
2.Maintain inner ease during movement
Walking, standing, and working reveal renewed effort.
3.Avoid judging relaxation by sensation
Relaxation may not feel pleasant, but it always reduces strain.
4.Let relaxation become habitual
When ease replaces tension as the norm, practice deepens naturally.
Conclusion
The three dimensions of relaxation point to one principle: reducing unnecessary effort. As surface, middle, and deep tensions dissolve, body and mind return to natural function, and stability arises not from control, but from genuine ease and clarity.
