"Today" by Mary Oliver

Today I'm flying low and I'm
not saying a word.
I'm letting all of the voodoos of ambition sleep.

The world goes on as it must,
the bees in the garden rumbling a little,
the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten.
And so forth.

But I'm taking the day off.
Quiet as a feather.
I hardly move though really I'm traveling
a terrific distance.

Stillness.  One of the doors
into the temple.

-- Mary Oliver, from A Thousand Mornings

Hanna Somatics

 A relaxed muscle has absolutely no electrical activity in it.  Full voluntary control of  a muscle is the ability both to contract the entire span of the muscle and to relax it fully to its entire length.

The chronically contracted muscle is like a motor that one cannot turn off.  It continues to run and burn up energy.

This is why muscles with a high tonus are always sore.

-- from Somatics, by Thomas Hanna p.13