Fitness is a physical, mental and spiritual journey. Physical health reflects emotional as well as spiritual health. An unfit body reflects negative emotions and a negative attitude towards life. Physical health reflects purity of mind and soul. Nobody can stop the external negative energies entering the mind, heart and aura. However, excercising is a way of throwing negativities out and making space for positive emotions. Getting fit is a physical, emotional and spiritual battle. When you hit a wall, be it in weight loss or overall fitness, it also means there is an emotional and spiritual wall inside you, which is restricting growth and evolution.
The mind needs to be in control while exercising. An unhealthy body reflects negative self-judgement and fear of failure. Participating in exercises like aerobics and dance significantly reduces body image issues and dissatisfaction. It improves self-perception, self-worth, induces a sense of attractiveness and boosts self-esteem over time. Dance and exercise help in releasing neurotransmitters and endorphins that increase feelings of wellness. This improves our emotional and mental health, resulting in reduced tension and decreased blood pressure. It also alleviates anxiety.
The ‘feel-good-chemical’ named dopamine is a neurotransmitter released by the brain and plays a number of roles, like attention, behaviour, cognition, inhibition, learning, memory, mood, movement, pain processing, reward, sleep and social functioning. Deficiency of dopamine causes depression, Attention Deficiency Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Parkinson’s disease. It also instigates lust and addictions like alcoholism, drugs, gambling, and overeating. Balanced dopamine helps in achieving a physically, mentally and spiritually healthy life. Exercise also increases other neurotransmitters like serotonin and endorphins.
Aerobics and dance therapy also expand consciousness. Many people battle constant stress which forces the body to produce hormones like cortisol. According to a 2011 report by Harvard’s Men’s Health Watch, regular aerobic exercise helps combat the effects of cortisol and other chemicals released due to stress. Spiritual awareness exercises can quickly cause awareness of soul. By opening our third eye chakra, our awareness of energy and tension can grow immensely. The third eye chakra allows divine spirit to enter your consciousness.
Other exercises like stretching make the body flexible and help in letting go of ego, pride, stubbornness and arrogance. People also feel that eating habits shape their body. However, the fact is that it’s not the food but the intention behind what you eat, when you eat and how you eat, that matters. If you are feeling content with life, enjoying the beauty of the world and feel the happiness of existence by itself, you will feel spiritually fat. That’s why, in Fengshui, ‘laughing Buddha’ is shown as fat. It signifies that if you are spiritually fat, your body will be in shape by default. Stop having time and calorie-bound diets. Eat when and what you feel like eating and relish every bite. For shedding the extra pounds, exercise is mandatory. People who do not exercise or choose to starve, end up with emotional and spiritual problems and different kinds of diseases.
Exercise for spiritual awakening:
Preferably do this exercise in the morning or afternoon.
Lie down on your back in a comfortable place.
Relax and slow down your breathing.
Be conscious of your jaw muscles. At the same time try to focus on the point between your eyebrows.
Look at your browline and open your jaw.
Exhale so that your lungs are completely empty. It relaxes the nervous system and releases muscular tension.
Let go of all muscle tension. Feel how you are holding onto tension and release it.
After three to six minutes, close the jaw, close your eyes, and breathe naturally.
Practice this three to ten times everyday.
Exercises for opening some Main chakras:
Crown chakra — Any exercise, done thoughtlessly.
Throat chakra — Laughing, singing
Heart chakra — Cardio exercises, push ups, swimming
Solar plexus chakra — Aerobics, any form of dance
Sacral chakra — Pelvic thrust, circular pelvic movement.
Root chakra — Knee bend exercise, squatting.
The writer is a Tarot expert
