Yoga And Fitness Of Body And Mind
The practice of yoga helps in attunement towards holistic development and spirituality
The attunement of body and mind
In all functions that I attend people ask me, how I am so slim. I tell them I really do not know. I have been like this always.
The next question is do you diet? “well no I eat a good nourishing diet and am a happy person. I love sweets and enjoy them too.”
What is the secret? I do yoga with the intention of a fit body and mind leading to spirituality. I am at all times guided to be a good person and not hurt others. In spite of that, I am a human being and undoubtedly I hurt people’s sentiments and emotions unknowingly.
The spirituality of yoga is that both the mind and the body need to be fit. A fit body leads to a fit mind. When the body and mind are tuned to each other yoga leads you to spirituality.
Yoga is not spirituality. It only leads you to spirituality.
Two weeks ago I attended a meeting where there were a collection of people each one was accomplished. Someone said he was a hotelier, another said that the husband and wife jointly ran a fitness clinic. There were also people with a talent for art and craft. There were exporters also present and some people working in corporates and I was from the education sector.
People were getting together and we went on discussing various issues about life and its experiences. People started speaking about fitness and yoga. I put a question to everyone “Is yoga spirituality”. The fitness studio and others emphatically said “yes, yoga is spirituality”.
My answer was yoga is not spiritual. It leads you to spirituality. It is not a body fitness exercise only . Body fitness arises out of yoga which is like a slow dance. The body is made fit to make the mind fit and once they are attuned it leads you to spirituality. Thus you have to work towards spirituality.
What is the practice of yoga?
“Yoga is an art, science, and philosophy. It helps to join the powers of body, mind, and soul for achieving self-realization. It reduces stress and has long-lasting benefits. It gives you joy and the energy to radiate to be away from negativity.
Yoga for physical fitness: People take up yoga training for its physical benefits. However, Yoga is deeply rooted in spirituality. Practicing yoga only for postures is an incomplete experience because the postures have a deep objective and are not only for simple stretching and strengthening of muscles. It has to be understood in that spirit. Never consider yoga only for the physical benefit or you will not be able to achieve the complete benefit.
Yoga has a holistic benefit. Once the body is fit, it is much easier to make the mind fit. You have to work to improve physical strength and flexibility and then go on to understanding the emotions of love, joy, hatred, greed and work towards self realization.
The physical fitness of the body prepares you for the fitness of the mind
Yoga for the mind: In yoga, the nature and environment where we are placed should be peaceful. Once the physical exercises are done we delve into the mind by doing deep breathing exercises. In fact, every yoga asana or posture is based on the system of breath. It prepares the body to unite with the mind.
Yoga is not just physical exercise but each posture is done with the system of proper breathing in and out. The breath is the very essence of yoga postures and opens your mind. Moreover, the postures are taken from flowers and animals. We sit in the posture of a lotus. We do some of the asanas with the name of a cobra, dog, cow or cat postures to balance us. We touch the earth to be inspired by our roots.
The connection of mind and body for fitness.
Yoga is thus a connection of the body and mind and the integration between the mind and body. Physical exercise makes the body fit and ready to do breathing exercises. Each breath takes away the negativity and brings in positivity and creates consciousness and takes us to our internal understanding of self-realization.
The spiritual aspect of consciousness starts with the body and the asanas or postures and the unity with the mind.
The takeaways
Some of the takeaways about yoga are explained below:
#1 Yoga is an art and science of body and mind fitness: People wonder whether yoga is art or can scientifically be proved that it has an effect on the mind. It is said that it is the perfect marriage of science and art. The asanas are beautiful movements and I consider it as a joyful dance
Yoga is an art because of the beauty in the movement of the body. However, yoga asanas are performed with the basic scientific knowledge of human anatomy and physiology. It helps to look inside the mind and attain consciousness.
#2. The practice of Yoga is the wellness of body and mind: Yoga’s physical practice gives you a boost to move into the mind game and remove stress and bring in the emotion of love and happiness.
#3. Yoga and spirituality: Yoga of the body and mind leads you to attain spirituality. The unity of the body and mind has leanings towards spiritual attainment. Yoga is not spirituality but it leads you to its path.
To conclude
Yoga makes life worthwhile to live. It is all about inhaling the future and letting go of the past by exhaling.
It is the beautiful movement of the body. it is an art and joyful dance based on scientific principles.
It is also the beauty of nature and environment by arriving at postures of plants, animals and the universe.
Every cell of the body learns to breathe and thus get nourishment.
It is like inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide and thus attaining self-realization with the attunement of the physical body and be in the attunement with the mind.
It is thus the road and a journey to attaining spirituality.
“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” — The Bhagavad Gita
©Dr. Preeti Singh, 2021.