I don't know where to begin. I have so much to say about this.
As a kid, my mom would always complain that I am never at home and am too much on the streets doing crazy things like climbing trees or playing in the sand or falling and getting hurt. I loved being outside, running and playing and then it all changed! I began to feel that the mind is the most powerful and I need to do all that I can to realize my mind's potential. So I began to read a lot, try to learn a new language and what not. Of course along the way I got a job, got married, had a son and physical activity took a backseat. I still cared about my body and did some form of "exercise" on and off. But I began to philosophize much more about how the human mind works and that was very intriguing. I thought it was all in the mind and cultivating my will power was of utmost importance.
However in the last few months, I have discovered or should I say rediscovered a few things. I still feel that in a person, the mind is the epicenter but the body is crucial too. What the body does when trained and cared for is elevate the mind to the next level. What I am saying is nothing new and I am sure lots of you out there already experience it and probably know much more than I do but like they say, some things are as old as the universe but every time you feel it as an individual, it is a brand new feeling. It is such a powerful experience that I think it is worth sharing.
I read this book called Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach where in one part she talks about how one should be acutely aware of what is happening in every single part of your body. So that was the beginning of my mind connecting to my body. When in yoga, we do shavasana, we do the same thing, become aware of each and every part of our body. In the book, she says it is important to create that awareness often because it is like a window that will open you to yourself and lead the way to opening your mind too. One line in the book that resonated so much with me is that the universe/life moves through your body and you as a person have no boundaries. You are so much a part of this world that is a continuum where nothing begins and nothing ends.
It so happened that as I started reading this book, around the same time, I started running. Running opened me up in so many ways. The truth about exercise that I want to share is that unless you push yourself so much that you feel your heart can no longer be in your chest, that your legs will give away anytime now, that every breath is like your first breath in this world, IT IS POINTLESS!
It may seem like a bit of an exaggeration, it is NOT. Earlier when I have exercised by doing yoga, dancing or walking, I never pushed it to the extreme, that is "my extreme" (you will know when it is extreme for you ;) ). Before I go on, yoga is different. For lack of a better word, it is spiritual in that you won't feel your body being pushed to extremes but your mind will be. Any other physical activity like running, brisk walking, dancing, aerobics, gym-ming, you can feel it. With running, I did and that takes you to a different plane altogether. I have been running for not more than four weeks and if I feel this way in such a short period of time, I can't imagine how it must be for people who have been doing some such form of 'pushing' for a long time.
I get a kick when I have caffeine in the morning, a big one because I rarely drink any. Running does that, multiplied 100 times! Only when you push so hard, you get a high, else it is true that you will feel lethargic and shrunken for the rest of the day. It is funny how the body is made, when you tire it out and give it 30 minutes to recuperate, it gets back with high energy that will last for days and that too in such a way that you are energized till night and then you sleep like a baby and next day you want to get up and push yourself to be energized again. With any other drug, it will mess up your master clock/ biological clock by getting you elevated for the whole day and night, so you can't sleep and the next morning, you reach for it again to mess up your sleep cycle forever but exercising will set it just right.
The best thing to do is to balance the body and the mind, I just hope I have the motivation to keep doing it!
As a kid, my mom would always complain that I am never at home and am too much on the streets doing crazy things like climbing trees or playing in the sand or falling and getting hurt. I loved being outside, running and playing and then it all changed! I began to feel that the mind is the most powerful and I need to do all that I can to realize my mind's potential. So I began to read a lot, try to learn a new language and what not. Of course along the way I got a job, got married, had a son and physical activity took a backseat. I still cared about my body and did some form of "exercise" on and off. But I began to philosophize much more about how the human mind works and that was very intriguing. I thought it was all in the mind and cultivating my will power was of utmost importance.
However in the last few months, I have discovered or should I say rediscovered a few things. I still feel that in a person, the mind is the epicenter but the body is crucial too. What the body does when trained and cared for is elevate the mind to the next level. What I am saying is nothing new and I am sure lots of you out there already experience it and probably know much more than I do but like they say, some things are as old as the universe but every time you feel it as an individual, it is a brand new feeling. It is such a powerful experience that I think it is worth sharing.
I read this book called Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach where in one part she talks about how one should be acutely aware of what is happening in every single part of your body. So that was the beginning of my mind connecting to my body. When in yoga, we do shavasana, we do the same thing, become aware of each and every part of our body. In the book, she says it is important to create that awareness often because it is like a window that will open you to yourself and lead the way to opening your mind too. One line in the book that resonated so much with me is that the universe/life moves through your body and you as a person have no boundaries. You are so much a part of this world that is a continuum where nothing begins and nothing ends.
It so happened that as I started reading this book, around the same time, I started running. Running opened me up in so many ways. The truth about exercise that I want to share is that unless you push yourself so much that you feel your heart can no longer be in your chest, that your legs will give away anytime now, that every breath is like your first breath in this world, IT IS POINTLESS!
It may seem like a bit of an exaggeration, it is NOT. Earlier when I have exercised by doing yoga, dancing or walking, I never pushed it to the extreme, that is "my extreme" (you will know when it is extreme for you ;) ). Before I go on, yoga is different. For lack of a better word, it is spiritual in that you won't feel your body being pushed to extremes but your mind will be. Any other physical activity like running, brisk walking, dancing, aerobics, gym-ming, you can feel it. With running, I did and that takes you to a different plane altogether. I have been running for not more than four weeks and if I feel this way in such a short period of time, I can't imagine how it must be for people who have been doing some such form of 'pushing' for a long time.
I get a kick when I have caffeine in the morning, a big one because I rarely drink any. Running does that, multiplied 100 times! Only when you push so hard, you get a high, else it is true that you will feel lethargic and shrunken for the rest of the day. It is funny how the body is made, when you tire it out and give it 30 minutes to recuperate, it gets back with high energy that will last for days and that too in such a way that you are energized till night and then you sleep like a baby and next day you want to get up and push yourself to be energized again. With any other drug, it will mess up your master clock/ biological clock by getting you elevated for the whole day and night, so you can't sleep and the next morning, you reach for it again to mess up your sleep cycle forever but exercising will set it just right.
The best thing to do is to balance the body and the mind, I just hope I have the motivation to keep doing it!
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