Inner approach to health
A consciousness approach to manage lifestyle disorders
Abstract
The body is a highly conscious and vastly intelligent instrument, with immense capacity to heal from within. If we learn to connect with the consciousness and the intelligence of the body, we can help the body recover her health and strength. The author decodes a practical approach to help the reader tune into the consciousness of the body, to make the necessary shifts in one’s attitude towards body, food and exercise that will help the body to heal from within.
Foreword
This article is the essence of the insights and practices I have developed over the past decade in my experience of helping patients heal through a consciousness approach. I have tried to codify practices which are essentially intuitive and beyond the scope of strict mental classification or standardisation. The outer form of the practices is of little value, what really matters are the consciousness and the conviction with which they are practised. Each aspect of these practices has to be felt, to be experienced with each part of the being. Even the knowledge part is not mere intellectual information but a radical transformation of our beliefs regarding our body and its functioning. Commonly used words such as ‘love’ and ‘peace’ are not used as mere terms, but signify a powerful force in action. This is not a scholarly article, but rather a template for practice and a guide to experience healing at a deeper level.
We need to become aware of our own beliefs and perceptions regarding our own body. It is important to understand that these beliefs are not mere casual beliefs but have a deep impact on how our body functions. We often consider our body as a mere machine, and treat it also like one. We forget that this body is conscious. We forget that this body belongs to us. We forget that everything we think, believe and feel affects our body.
Know that
• This is your own body
• What you think, what you feel, what you do affect your body.
• You can, if you want, influence your body.
• You can reverse physical disorders by changing your beliefs, thinking, feelings and behaviour.
What is needed is a change in our mindset, a change in our approach towards our body and a change in our food and exercise-related behaviours.
Here is a step-by-step approach to manage lifestyle disorders:
Step 1 — Change your beliefs regarding your body and disease
Become conscious of your beliefsBecome conscious of your beliefs regarding your body and disease. Become aware of the source of these beliefs. Become aware of the impact of these beliefs on your body.
Your beliefs are important
Know that your beliefs are very powerful. Your body is shaped by what you believe about it. If you believe that you are getting well, your cells will respond accordingly. If you believe that this is the end, nothing more can be done; your cells will respond the same way.
The body is a conscious being
The body is a conscious being, and not a mechanical instrument. Each cell, each tissue, each organ has its own consciousness. This means that each cell has its own intelligence, has its own individuality. Each cell can listen to you and respond to you. All that you think affects your body. Your feelings affect your body.
Know this not merely as an idea, but experience the consciousness of your body. Try to become aware of the feelings of the body and its parts.
Treat the body like a small child
You will realise that each part of the body behaves like a small child, a child who needs love and care, a child who demands attention. If you deal with your body with love and compassion, she will respond to you accordingly. If you mistreat your body or treat her mechanically without any love, she will respond to you the same way.
Disease is only a temporary disorder
Disease is only a temporary disorder; it is not a permanent sentence. You have the capacity to manage/reverse the disorder.
Step 2 — Change your food habits
Become conscious of your food habits
Become aware of your food habits, your food fads and your attachments to food. Understand from where these habits come. You will realise that food is mostly a question of habit, something we unconsciously pick up from our childhood.
Be willing to change your food habits
Most of us are highly attached to our food habits and unwilling to change anything regarding them. But know that if you are not even willing to change your food habits, how will you be able to change anything at a deeper level? Be willing to change your food habits. What you eat, how much you eat, how you eat, why you eat. Each aspect is important.
Become conscious of the effect of food on yourself
Become conscious of the effect different types of foods have on your body, mind and vital. What food gives you increased vitality, which foods create heaviness, which foods give a feeling of happiness to the body. Know that the food provides not just nutrition but importantly you also absorb the consciousness associated with the food. You have to tune yourself a little to feel these subtle influences on your being.
Trust the primary intelligence of your body to guide you
Once you can feel the consciousness associated with the food, and feel the effect of food on your body, you need not depend on secondary knowledge to guide you regarding what food is good for you. You can trust the primary intelligence of your body to guide you to know what’s right for you.
Eat to nourish your body, and not for any other reasons
You will be surprised to realise that we rarely eat with a conscious motive of nourishing our body. We eat mechanically, out of habit, out of desire, out of social compulsion or just unconsciously. We eat because it is time to eat, because it is impolite to waste food. In all these reasons, we never ask our body, does it really need the food? We never ask the body, is this food good for you?
Train the body to draw energy from higher sources
The body needs energy to survive. Ordinarily food provides our body with the essential energy to survive. However with practice you can train the body to absorb energy from higher sources such as prāṇa, sun, earth and others. Once the body learns to draw energy from higher sources, the need for food reduces dramatically.
Hierarchy of food
Fresh vegetables and fruits provide all the essential elements for the body to live.
Stop all processed food, food that comes in packets, food from restaurants.
Eating must become a spiritual practice
Overcome your attachment to food. Eating is also a sādhanā, which should be done with complete dedication and without any desire. Eat slowly in a meditative state. Relish each rasa of the food, and become aware of how your body accepts the food.
Step 3 — Exercise to ensure the right flow of prāṇa in the body
Listen to your body
Your body is conscious; your body is intelligent. If you listen to your body, she will tell you what is good for her and what is not. Learn to listen to your body. Talk to her; communicate with her. Make her your partner and involve her in all decisions related to her. Each exercise you wish to do, ask her if she is fine with it, and wait for her answer. Do not assume that she does not know, or that she cannot communicate. The body surely communicates but we must have the patience to listen to her.
Exercise to make the body feel happy
The only purpose of exercise is to make the body feel happy and strong. Do only those exercises which make her happy and strong. Do not mistreat her; treat her with love and gentleness. Involve your body in making all decisions regarding exercise. Always ask the body if she is happy with the exercise. Never do anything harshly with the body, never cause any injury knowingly to the body. Your body is more important than your desires.
Your body has immense capacity for strength and stamina
Your body has immense capacity hidden within it. Respect your body and plan a systematic programme to gradually enhance the strength and stamina of your body. Always remember that your body will cooperate with you, provided you treat her with love and respect.
Specialised exercises to enhance the flow of prāṇa in the body
We have developed a series of movements which facilitate the flow of prāṇa in all the important nāḍīs (energy meridians). Do these movements slowly with complete awareness of the body and flow of prāṇa in the body. These prānic movements ensure that the body has enough vitality and well-being. Lack of exercise creates energy-blocks in the nāḍīs. Once all the energy meridians are working optimally, the body heals much faster.
Step 4 — Love your body
Love is the least understood term, and perhaps the most abused word. However love even in its shadows has the potential to transform and create miracles in the body. When I say, “love the body”, most people do not actually understand it in the right way. They say, “Yes, we love our body”. But what I mean is totally different. What I mean is to transmit the powerful vibrations of love to a particular part of the body, so that the cells of the body respond and the change happens at a biochemical level too.
People ask, “How do I love the body?” I don’t believe that there should be a fixed technique to love. Love is not a technique to be followed. We must develop love to its purest and most intense form that it finds its own expression of manifestation. The body must feel alive with the vibration of love, the body must be immersed in Love. Once that happens, miracles do occur.
Love is the key. Once you love your body, you will develop a beautiful relationship with her. You will always be aware of your body’s needs. You will never do anything that will cause any harm to her. If you love your body, you will never smoke tobacco, drink alcohol, consume recreational drugs, submit your body to any environmental pollution, eat junk food or willingly submit your body to any harmful influence. You will take care of her, give her the best environment and if something goes wrong, you will try to listen to her and take care of her.
Treat your body like a small child, and shower lots of love on her and especially on the part which needs to be healed. Love has the power to activate the miracle of healing.
Step 5 – Meditate and bring consciousness into the body
Meditation is a tool to access the deeper and higher layers of consciousness within
Meditation is a fashionable word nowadays, and a highly misunderstood term. With most people, meditation is merely a struggle with their own mind and thoughts. Meditation is merely a tool to access the deeper and higher layers of our consciousness. Meditation is not an end in itself. There is a wide range of consciousness that people can access during meditation.
Impact of meditation
One way to gauge the impact of meditation is to assess the effect of the practice on your consciousness. Does meditation bring about a deep lasting sense of peace within, does it bring a vast experience of silence, and does it bring a feeling of oneness with all around? At deeper levels of consciousness, one perceives a feeling of causeless joy and a sense of oneness with all.
Shift consciousness from the mind to the body
One easy way I have discovered to silence the mind and escape from incessant chatter of the thoughts is to bring the consciousness into the body. Once the consciousness shifts into the body, the mind naturally quietens without any effort, and a deep sense of silence descends.
Start with becoming more aware of the external parts of the body. Feel the sensations in the different parts of the body, and allow these sensations to become clearer to your perception. Take your awareness to different parts of the body, and consciously relax each part. Slowly as your awareness increases, you will have more control over the functions of your body.
Open the body to Peace, Love, Light
Once the meditation deepens, we can consciously open the cells of the body to higher vibrations of Peace, Love and Light. A true experience in the body has the capacity to change things at a deep level with amazing results.
The most important step: do not just read, but practise
As your practice deepens, you will observe a visible difference in your body and mind. Your body will have more energy, your heart greater happiness and enthusiasm and a deep sense of peace will start pervading your entire being. A trust will emerge, a trust in your own body. You will gain an deeper insights into your own self, understand why you behave the way you do. You will also gain an understanding of the psychological factors that contribute to your disorder. Slowly the physical disorder too will change and the body return to its happy self.
However all these changes will happen only if you practise, practise with faith and persistence. Practise until you get results. This article is intended as a guide for action, not a piece of theory or philosophy.
Dr. Yogesh Mohan is CEO, Saveetha Medical College & Hospital, Chennai.
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