A wise old man once said the legs are connected to the face.

Listening to the radio one day, I heard a short discussion about the military’s methods to fall asleep within 2 and a half minutes. From memory, it focused on relaxing the face while imagining you are upside in a canoe drifting down a river in the jungle. I tried it, it didn’t work, but of course nothing really works when your are in the grips of RLS.

The face has around 20 main muscles, and another 20 or so deeper supportive and minor muscles. Each emotion engages a combination of these muscles, for instance, a smile contracts both the zygomaticus major (lifting the corners of the mouth) and the orbicularis oculi (crinkling the eyes). And as we know, facial expressions are one of the original communications, before language, and mostly automated. Actors and politicians, of course, are experts at controlling these muscles, but even they give away their thoughts without knowing it.

Just thinking about anything can cause certain facial muscles to contract. Even if you are alone. So the best method to fully relax the face is to not think anything — not easy to do. Japanese Zen buddhists empty their minds during meditation — munoshin (無の心) — while the Chinese monks will tell you that’s impossible, they focus the mind on one point or a single object.

Two sides of the same coin. I gave it a toss…