Stand well balanced with your feet close together and your back straight. Cross your arms in front of your chest and hold your shoulders with your hands, your elbows down. With your legs together and your heels on the floor, slowly bend at the knees with your back straight, as if sitting down in a low chair. Maintain internal balance as you lower, without tensing up. When you have gone down a certain distance in this position, you may find that tightness somewhere prevents you from going further, and you are beginning to lift your heels from the floor. Stop and locate the tension--it may be in your pelvis or legs. Let it go, and continue to lower, keeping your back straight.
Well above a squatting position you will discover a special place of balance and energy. You may need to move up and down a little until you find the right place. You may feel heat rise in your body, and you may begin to shake. You will feel pressure on your knees. Stay with these sensations, and hold this position for one to five minutes, with your chin in and your back straight, concentrating on the energy in your spine.
Then very slowly return to a standing position, releasing the tension. Stand silently with your arms at your sides for three to five minutes; then repeat the exercise twice, standing or sitting quietly after each repetition. Now sit for ten to fifteen minutes, expanding the sensations generated by this movement.
The close connections among our bodies, senses, and emotions allow us to affect our whole state of balance through a physical posture. Usually our emotions throw us off balance. In this exercise, we can transform strong emotion such as resentment or anxiety, using the energy of the emotion to keep us balanced, rather than dissipating it through negativity. If you hold the position long enough, pure energy will flow throughout your body.
As you do the exercise, search out the inner tensions which throw you off balance, and release them. Feel for any memory which makes you tense, and relax it so that it flows like liquid. Breathe softly and gently into places of blockage. Even if an emotion is so strong that the holding manifests as pain, breathe into the pain until the holding relaxes and you discover a kernel of new energy. Keep your belly relaxed so that energy rising up from the legs can flow through your spine and be distributed to your whole body. Close your eyes and go inside for your inner balance. With practice, the exercise may become effortless. (pp. 264-6, Kum Nye Relaxation, Part 2. Dharma Publishing, 1978, by Tarthang Tulku)
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