I’ve recently decided that I desperately need to alter my relaxation to stress ratio in favor of the more positive of the two aspects. Decisions like “I really need find more ways to relax” tend to change the way you look at things, activities, the cost and complication of acquiring things and of participating in activities. It also can change the places that you LOOK for relaxation and methods for achieving the effect in general.
I personally feel that starting with the easiest, most readily available method of relaxation is the best way to free up thought-space to better enable the “creative” conjuring of relaxing ideas. For me, that means reading or in extreme cases of distress, not even something that mentally involved. There are occasions where if I even have the energy to be conscious (read: anything beyond constant sleeping), I have only enough consciousness at my disposal as to make watching television as challenging of a task as I can handle outside of necessary function. At that point, I can’t even watch movies unless I didn’t have to make the choice of which one to watch in the first place. This is a VERY bad place to find one’s self.
UNLESS…the boob-tube proves to actually be informative for a change. We know that’s rare but even more rare that a commercial — that capitalist trap of eye-candy — is for a product that can legitimately make me drop my jaw in awe, envy and excitement. When suddenly you see the very PRODUCT which could virtually CURE you of all of your stress and tension and woes with just a mere purchase…it’s a day to chock up as an “amazing TV” day.
Enter, THE VIBRACOUSTIC (by Kohler). The currently most BAD ASS bathtub I have ever seen.
After seeing the commercial that made my palms sweat with wondrous anticipation, I immediately thought two things: #1, I bet you have to use JUST the crap they pre-program the thing with like those stupid “white noise”/”spa” sound machines and #2, I bet that thing costs as much as a small car.
Well….as it turns out, it’s a good thing I don’t waste my time in casinos or playing Lotto because I was wrong AND right… The sound system on this awesome tub does come with specific, pre-loaded tracks which are designed to utilize acoustics in a fashion that morphs music into hydro-massage-therapy. Additionally, you CAN load your own music into the system for a customized experience. SCORE!
On the down side, the part I WAS right about sucks pretty badly. According to KOHLER’S pricing on their website, these tubs range from $5, 670.00 to $7,770.00. OUCH.
Can’t they have a heart?!? The common folk are in DIRE need of this sort of relaxation due to added job stress (layoffs: fear of being laid off and/or the added burden of picking up the work that was left behind when OTHERS were laid off), economic stress (even IF someone still has a job these days, almost no one is getting a raise any time soon and that’s given that they didn’t already LOSE money under the guises of “saving jobs” by cutting a percentage of all employees’ salaries). We working folk desperately need some way to avoid the cardiologist!!
There’s a connection here, believe it or not. I love both — but that’s not the connection. Yoga is a little more new to me than guns. This is a bit of general info about the line of guns that THIS baby comes from. I have one of these (a .22 cal Mark II target pistol by Ruger) that was my (yes, there is meaning here) 22nd birthday present from my father. I’ve been shooting that gun since I was eight years old. It’s sentimental but even better than that, has cheap ammo for LOTS of hole-punching at the range.
The deep sense of peace that the practice of yoga and the practice of target shooting (note: not reducing your stress-producing foes to the role of “target”) can offer is quite similar. Of course, there are plenty of debates around the value and risk issues but we’ll cover that too very briefly later.
For now, let’s focus….on the focus. Ah yes, the FOCUS…. To do either of these activities requires focus. It requires concentration, a quiet mind and steadiness. Even if you’ve never tried your hand at “down dog” or at squeezing off a few headshots (at your target silhouette-guy of course), I’m sure you’ve watched enough TV, movies and internet videos that you have an idea what these activities LOOK like.
Now is the time to activate your imagination if these are hobbies you never have or will dream of trying. Think of threading a needle, of packing wheel bearings, building a PC from scratch, building a piece of furniture, drawing schematics for a piece of machinery or blueprints for a skyscraper. If I haven’t gotten at least CLOSE to something you might be able to identify with, I’m afraid you’ll have to try a little on your own to find your comparative point of concentrated effort. Just roll with me here for now.
With yoga, it’s a PRACTICE of POSES — keywords when talking about yoga. It’s not a competition with the person across from you in class, it’s not about putting your legs behind your head (for whatEVER reason you may feel the need to achieve that feat) unless that’s just “available” to you (another bit of lingo). Yoga is about doing what your body can while pushing it just enough to FEEL a pose but never to the point of pain. Yoga is about getting the alignment of the pose — of your body — RIGHT. Yoga is about getting the alignment right and knowing how it feels when it’s right. Yoga is about focusing on your breath when a pose is difficult and you feel yourself start to quiver because your muscles never knew they could work like that (all while remaining STILL). Yoga is about FOCUSING on your breath and your body and your orientation/relationship to it and the ground below your feet (or head perhaps). The combination of physical activity and meditative movement and stillness offer benefits that are holistic and one of the reasons I personally am so fond of yoga.
Guns…now how exactly do these go with yoga again??? Focus… You clearly aren’t practicing your yoga or target shooting or you’d remember that.
Target shooting can offer a lot of the same mental focus that yoga can offer. You get a slightly more energized version though since yoga is about quieting and shooting about making a bunch of reverberating racket (and putting holes in things of course). You still FEEL the experience since most firearms have at least SOME degree of a “kick” (basic shooting lingo for “recoil”). You sometimes even get the shocking sensation of a hot, ejected shell smacking you in the forearm or face (wear your protective eye and ear-wear, people) as it flies from the recently emptied chamber as well. You may not get sweaty from this activity like with yoga but you’ll likely get a little dirty since gun powder and gun oil do tend to “smudge” a bit. It’s a satisfying bit of grime that washes off easily though — nothing like a little evidence besides your Swiss-cheese target that you’ve accomplished something.
The sense of focus with shooting though really comes from the manufactured silence of plugged or muffled ears offering the strangely internal sound of your own breath. You may not realize it but as you begin to aim, you increase your odds of an on-target shot if you steady your breath. Smooth, even breaths… Wait, didn’t I say something about breath and yoga??? :0 Yes, steadying your breathing can help steady your hands and as you focus on your target and your aim and your steadiness, you are inadvertently generating a stillness within yourself. What’s the point in target shooting if you’re shaking too hard from being enraged or upset and can’t hold your aim still? Pinpointing your concentration on such a centralized task that requires a steady hand focuses the mind away from distractions and the skipping-about that the mind can find itself doing throughout the day, just like yoga quiets the mind. So really, there ARE some very helpful benefits from both if you need some calm in your day.
And who’s to say one trumps the other either… Like I said, I love them both. The more calm, the better these days! Namaste.
Your obligatory and complimentary SUPER-BRIEF comparison of yoga and guns:
Yoga Cons: New Age/Hippie stereotypes, cost of classes (Unless you’re already a trained teacher, I suggest that you attend classes. The REAL effect and benefits of yoga cannot be achieved at home or without an instructor), need for modifications to poses for those of us not born in a “yogi” shaped body, scheduling issues for the average working adult making it difficult to get to classes
Gun Pros: focus, calm, confidence, increased hand-eye coordination and distance judgment, self defense (if needed), being a bad-ass (Please see this clip from Snatch if you are in need of a better understanding of “bad-assery” and are neither faint of heart NOR repulsed by sailor-mouth language + crassly naughty analogies.)
Gun Cons: ugly stigma of abuse, violent industry and application, risk of accidental discharge, children, expensive initial investment, expensive ammunition (depending on the type of firearm), if you DO decide to get a permit to carry — also added cost and trouble of acquiring and renewing permit
