Physical Health

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Blessings,

Thanks for the feedback from last week?s meditation. This week I am investigating the role certain activities affect/effect our health and practice. In particular, I am focusing on some physical things we can do to encourage physical health and wellness. So far I have twelve things that directly influence our health. If anyone can add to this list, I would really appreciate it.

[B]Physical Health[/B]
[ul]
[li]Diet
[/li][li]Water
[/li][li]Sleep
[/li][li]Exercise
[/li][li]Limiting unwholesome sensory stimuli/input
[/li][li]Cleanse and strengthen the digestion system ? regular bowel movements a good thing!
[/li][li]Good hygiene
[/li][li]Avoiding clothes that slow blood flow, pinch nerves, or otherwise interfere with prana movement
[/li][li]Meditation
[/li][li]Proper breathing
[/li][li]Purifying body in general
[/li][li]Massaging
[/li][/ul]

While this is not my primary focus for the week, I thought it would be nice to consider a few other dimensions of our lives.

[B]Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Health[/B]
[ul]
[li]Be creative and express ourselves via art, music, writing, crafts, hobbies, etc?
[/li][li]Connect with others
[/li][li]Be present
[/li][li]Meditation
[/li][li]Be conscientious
[/li][li]Be honest with ourselves and others
[/li][li]Avoid smothering/neglecting/burying emotions
[/li][li]Communication
[/li][li]Constantly learn and grow
[/li][li]Work through issues
[/li][li]Challenge ourselves
[/li][li]Be compassionate and giving
[/li][li]Be understanding and loving towards ourselves and others
[/li][li]Be content and enjoy life to the fullest
[/li][li]Strive for balance and harmony
[/li][li]Walk a Path that leads towards self-realization/actualization/enlightenment/etc?
[/li][li]Practice daily
[/li][li]Embrace life with zeal ? waking up is a good thing ? embrace life like a child
[/li][li]Letting go of unhealthy and unwholesome thoughts, emotions, etc?
[/li][li]Find meaning in life ? seek the depths and the heights while bringing it all to the present!
[/li][/ul]

Blessings Be?

P.S. For those interested, my process is to study and learn as much as I can on these different areas of research and then do a yoga ritual in order to help infuse and integrate the information into my life. I record my yoga rituals and then transcribe and post them on my blog: link is below.

#2

Blessings,

I haven’t finished transcribing my weekly Yoga Ritual to my blog yet, but i thought this little nugget would be of interests to some. Let me know what you think?

[ul]
[li]Diet and the things we eat are not only important because it constitutes what our bodies are made of, but it is also important because it is our first real, tangible experience of working with energies outside of our bodies. Asanas help us learn about the body energy, its blocks, tears, knots, scars, areas of tensions, emptiness, and so forth. As we familiarize ourselves with our bodies and really begin to connect with them, this energy becomes apparent. When we eat food, we are bringing outside energies into our system. As we become more familiar and aware of this process, we begin to learn about outside energies and how they affect us. This awareness grows from the denser foods to the most subtle experiences of taste, smell, sound, and sight. Everything is energy. The more aware we are, the more in tune we become with energy. At the energetic level it is easy to see how something as subtle as a thought can have an enormous affect/effect on us. Diet is one of the simplest things we can work with to help us learn how to work with and understand energies outside of our bodies.
[/li][/ul]
Blessings Be…

#3

You omitted oxygen.

#4

Right you are - thanks!

#5

Blessings,

I just wanted to thank you again InnerAthlete for pointing out oxygen. After meditating on it a little I realized that not only clean air – a thing slowly disappearing – but air with quality is vitally important towards our health and practice. With quality, I mean air that is filled with good energy, flowing and not stagnant, free from radicals, maybe filled with negative ions such as in the woods, mountains, and near running water such as the ocean, waterfalls, rivers, hot springs, et cetera, while also being free of excessive particles, not filled with offensive smells, being too moist, and so forth. This not only encourages calmness and peacefulness, it also promotes healing, nurturing, and supportiveness towards our practices.

I wonder what the effect elevation has on the quality of air and how that influences our practices? Anyhow, thanks again for mentioning oxygen.

Blessings Be…

#6

Blessings,

Visualization is another useful tool for achieving, sustaining, supporting, and increasing health. When we eat we can visualize the minerals absorbing into our systems, we can see the energies helping to build our bodies, heal it from any imbalances, et cetera. When we are taking a poo or peeing we can visualize our bodies becoming purified – letting go of stagnation, sickness, disease, toxins, etc. When we breathe we can visualize taking in the essence of life, the solar forces, the universal breath. When we do our yoga we can visualize the energies working their magic – we can visualize ourselves embodying those energies.

Of course, the opposite is true as well. When we have negative thoughts, when we harbor doubt, fear, anxiety, obsessive attachments, and all that fun stuff – we harm ourselves. We decrease our ability to absorb the good stuff, we hold onto the sicknesses, we create imbalances, and so forth. Ridding ourselves of unwholesome thoughts, working through the harmful emotions, balancing our bodies via exercise, diet, and so forth, and getting that energy moving is a good thing. Visualize, magnetizing ourselves with good – while it might not make life a bowl of cherries – it surely moves us in that direction!

Blessings Be…