Time to Relax?
How about Now?
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My capacity for relaxation took all kinds of strange and wacky turns when the Pandemic sent us all to our rooms, in 2020.
Somehow the intensity of It All, the Not Knowing, drove me toward into the awaiting arms of streaming—movies, series, specials. Mostly anything passed through my streaming devices. Forgive me, discretion was not a strong virtue back then. It all seemed justified.
At the end of these suddenly different days of staying home/being home/working from home/living alone/, climbing into bed with Netflix was my relaxation.
Netflix, my monogamous partner, became the bearer of so much, of so many options.
Yet eventually this relationship morphed into others—well, let’s see, oh, yes, first it was HBO Max, filled with even edgier options, then eventually, Amazon Prime.
And so it went.
Once Niki the Dog joined me, hopping into bed for “relaxation” got earlier and earlier.
After dinner, 6:30-ish, we hustled ourselves upstairs to the bedroom/viewing center of our lives.
My choices for viewing were always a bit edgy.
These times have
Intensified
My longing
For
The
Edgy.
Yes,
I
Like
The
Edgy.
I confess.
~~~
Those early
Pandemic days,
That was a while ago.
It was okay,
This streaming
Relaxation,
For a while.
It’s less
Okay
Now.
I realized this
Again,
More deeply,
Last night
When I
Binge-
Watched
Trainwreck,
Woodstock 1999,
And
Then
Decided
To
Watch
The
Final episode
In
Bed
Before
Sleep.
Which,
By
The
Way,
Didn’t
Come
Easily
After
The
Edginess
Of 1999.
Oye.
~~~
The time
Is
Now.
To rope
It in.
Relaxation?
Remember?
Relaxation
Is for
The
Body,
Not just
The
Mind.
~~~
I was a
TV
Kid.
I LOVED
Watching,
Dropping into
A
New
Reality
For
30
Minutes.
Sargent Preston
And King of the Yukon!
The Twilight Zone!
It was
The
Doorway
To
My
First
Addiction,
Fantasy.
~~~
I
LOVED
Saturday
Matinees
With
Gladys,
Downtown,
Following
Lunch
At
The
Char-Mont,
With the
Old
Ladies
With
Blue
Hair.
Edgy movies!
Whatever Happened
To Baby Jane?
Hush-Hush
Sweet Charlotte!
You get
My
Leaning?
~~~
The question
For us,
I
Believe
Is:
What relaxes
My body?
What relaxes
Your body?
I’m here
To say,
Not
Trainwreck,
Woodstock 1999.
At 9:30
P.M.
~~~
What relaxes
My body?
Bike riding.
Gentle
Stretching.
Yoga
Nidra.
Lovely
Baths.
Touch.
Massage.
Music.
OH!!
Music.
~~~
Check it out, it’s pretty obvious but nevertheless, interesting:
Music as a Health and Relaxation Aid, from verywellmind.com
~~~
This song has the distinction of being “the world’s most relaxing song”. What do you think?
Weightless
~~~
Please join me in a meditation on relaxation, which I recorded in June of 2021, right when we were beginning to come back out into the world, well, sort of:
The Time is Now—To Relax
Listen Here
~~~
The most comforting,
Relaxing,
Solace-offering
Thing
Of
My
Childhood
Was to
Hold
My
Guitar
Close
To my
Little-girl
Body
And
To
Feel
The notes,
The
Music
Inside
My
Belly,
Inside
Of
Me.
I choose
To
Return
To
That practice
To
Relax.
And what about you,
Dear Friends.
What relaxes you?
What do you choose
For your body
And
For
Your
Mind?
Be safe
And
Well—
One thing,
One breath,
One moment
At a time.
All blessings,
Aruni