Don't Try to Relax

“Do you have a stomach?  How do you know that you have a stomach?  Did someone tell you or do you know for sure?  Check and see.  Is it really there?” 

-Master Johwa, Saturday Spirituality Workshop, Westfield, NJ

As I lay flat on my back and think about my stomach, I cannot feel a thing.  I try to pinpoint its location in my abdomen by listening for noise and by sensing for movement.  I know my stomach is there.  I am certain I have a stomach.  Yet, I have not found it.  The questioning seems so basic in nature to me but coming up with a reasonable response is confusing. 

“When do you feel your stomach the most?  When you are so hungry, right?  Or when you eat something that doesn’t agree with you?  Right!  Then you remember that you have a stomach.  When you are experiencing your stomach, you don’t have to try and find it.”

…

“Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Relax.”

…

“You are capable of relaxation, but you try to relax.  So you get in your own way.  Your body already knows what to do.  When you have it, you don’t experience it.  When you are attached, you don’t have freedom.”