Separate tension from force. Developing strength does not imply generating tension. If we lift a heavy box without having strength, if we are stressed by a situation, or if we spend the whole day in front of the computer without moving with our head sunk between our shoulders, it is likely that we generate tension and therefore wear at a muscular level, but also at an energetic level. We accumulate fatigue.

When we practice, the idea is to accumulate strength, not fatigue. Collect, practice after practice, a little more body awareness, breathing capacity, muscle strength, joint flexibility, ability to focus, communication with our body. We could say that the combination of all this in the right proportions results in strength.

If the joints are stiff, the muscles are tense and we breathe badly, we need a much greater effort to do anything. That's why when I think of strength I like to imagine not only the development of muscles, but a combination of resources that work intelligently, a sum that results in strength.

And what I find even more interesting is that, if we take strength in this integrated way, we can think of it not only as muscular, but also as a capacity for focus, or emotional support, or tenacity. And, depending on what we want to underpin, the rest becomes available. For example, if we are in fact looking to develop more muscular strength, our breathing, capacity of focus, emotional energy, joint flexibility will be fundamental tools to go where we want to go. Bring strength and sensitivity closer together, not further apart.

Have you registered which part of your body has more strength? Would you say that your emotional structure is strong without detracting from your sensitivity? And your thinking? How do all these variables interact in you? Let's practice! To perceive ourselves, to support what is necessary, to think of strength as the development of our potential.

Separate tension from force. Developing strength does not imply generating tension. If we lift a heavy box without having strength, if we are stressed by a situation, or if we spend the whole day in front of the computer without moving with our head sunk between our shoulders, it is likely that we generate tension and therefore wear at a muscular level, but also at an energetic level. We accumulate fatigue.

When we practice, the idea is to accumulate strength, not fatigue. Collect practice after practice a little more body awareness, breathing capacity, muscle strength, joint flexibility, ability to focus, communication with our body. We could say that the combination of all of these in the right proportions results in strength.

If the joints are stiff, the muscles are tense and we breathe badly, we need a much greater effort to do anything. That's why when I think of strength I like to imagine not only the development of muscles, but a combination of resources that work intelligently, a sum that results in strength.

And what I find even more interesting is that, if we take strength in this integrated way, we can think of it not only as muscular, but also as a capacity for focus, or emotional support, or tenacity. And, depending on what we want to underpin, the rest becomes available. For example, if we are in fact looking to develop more muscular strength, our breathing, capacity of focus, emotional energy, joint flexibility will be fundamental tools to go where we want to go. Bring strength and sensitivity closer together, not further apart.

Have you registered which part of your body has more strength? Would you say that your emotional structure is strong without detracting from your sensitivity? And your thinking? How do all these variables interact in you? Let's practice! To perceive ourselves, to support what is necessary, to think of strength as the development of our potential.

Many times when I teach I think about how much easier it is for us to force than to relax. We understand much more clearly how to tense the muscles than how to ask the body to let go. And this applies to training and also to everyday life. Our body, by default, reacts to certain stimuli by generating tension, whether we are stressed about something or we are working under the air conditioning feeling cold and doing nothing about it. It is likely that the shoulders look for the ears as if they wanted to keep them warm and at night we are with a total contracture.

Learning to decontract is an incredible tool that in addition to making us rest better and feel better makes available an extra energy that was previously invested in tension. Let's get down to business, **how to channel relaxation?

1- Breathing is a great accomplice. It is interesting to concentrate (bring the attention) on that area that is perceived as tense and as we exhale, try to gradually release the muscles.

2- Observing our body habits also adds up: Do we breathe in an abdominal or high way? Are our shoulders relaxed or tense? Are our hands loose or tight? I don't know if you ever paid attention to that detail, when you clench your hands you tense your arms, neck and jaw. The jaw can't be left out of this journey; relaxing the mouth and the forehead also contributes a lot.

3- Register the situations of tension and generate a conscious change, in the environment if possible and, if not, in the breathing (making it deep) or in the body (decontracting the shoulders, hands, neck...).

There are infinite things to talk about and deepen on this subject, just the other day I was thinking about something specific that I would like to share: to the extent that one learns to decontract the body and therefore to relax when it is not necessary to generate tension, this can also be applied in life, start to keep track of the moments in which unnecessary tension is generated and try to let go a little, channel the relaxation.