Someone who is stable and is set to being healthy i.e. identify a healthy person does not mean you have good physical fitness alone but most crucial is the mental fitness.One could not say “I’m healthy but I’m not interested in life”.The enthusiasm in life shows how healthy you are.
The cause of illness or poor health in general is seen as impurities in the level of the mind, body and speech. Your own speech may generarte anguish as other people around you. Inclusive distress or discomfort should be treated as a disease.
The body, mind and spirit are like a tripod. Even if only one aspect of life is not working properly, our life is not balanced and that lead to poor health. Yoga (a component of ayurveda) is the link that creates harmony aligning these three components (body, mind and spirit) in only one. This harmony, in turn exists to sustain life.
Yoga is an integral part of our life. Removes impurities level of the mind and the spirit unites all. For example, insomnia may be connected to stress, anxiety or depression. You have to address this issue rather than limit yourself to take medication. This way you have a wider perception of your mind, your body, your thoughts and emotions more clearly. You are able to guide your prana (life force) in a positive way in order to progress in life.
You can practice Yoga at any time. You can start with a meditation or pranayama directly, without even doing asanas (postures). By practicing asanas make sure not only stretches with the body because the mind also has to be with the body. If you do asanas while watching TV or reading the newspaper will not have much effect on you. But if each stretch is synchronized with breathing and consciousness, your practices actually become yoga practices.
The Role of Food for Staying Healthy
Yogis of the Himalayas can survive without food; your body does not need to eat because your body survives prana. But we need to eat and maintain a healthy diet.
Did you know that the next day you start it from your dinner? What you eat, when they eat it and how much you eat affects your sleep, the way how to get up in the morning and as you follow the rest of the day.
Needless to say the food creates a profound impact on your body and mind. The imbalance of vata, pitta and kapha (three primary energies in the body) leads to most problems related to health. For example, if someone has the pitta (fire element) high, certain foods can aggravate this element causing agitation, insomnia or anxiety. What does one need to consult an Ayurvedic doctor about what type of food is appropriate for your body and your mind.
The Second Most Important Aspect of Health
Vihaar (daily practice) plays a huge role by measuring how healthy an individual. A sadhak (seeker) should know which is right for your life.
There is a natural tendency in our body to health. On one level, our body signals when something we are doing is not right, but we all have our own excuses and we usually keep our mind and emotions. That intelligence fails when you become a slave to your mind creating problems on a physical level. And soon it becomes a pattern.
A headache is not a disease but a sign of something bigger. When we suppress the signal annihilating pain, the actual cause reaches the surface on a much larger scale.