Relaxation vs. Activation

I was just browsing through my old mail folder and found a message about the lobster claw and the seeming contradiction between relaxation and activation. A GREAT question that deserves a new answer, as I see my thinking has changed from almost a year ago when it was first posted! I'm in the midst of writing about that very topic for my new book. Relaxation is not antithetical to activation if the relaxation is of muscles that would interfere with ease of movement. However if you relax the muscles that would be activating the movement, of course you have a problem! If you relax muscles that maintain a certain necessary tonus, you also create a problem instead of solving it. You have to find out how the lobster claw MOVES... What is the function of grasping for instance? How can increasing the number of ways you have of grasping improve the moveability of your lobster claw - allowing it to move without it becoming flaccid and unstructured. In the end you'll get to a point where you feel as if structure IS function... What other questions does this post evoke? Best wishes, AFF