|
|
Health and
Fitness
“Farm” Your Mind
to Exercise in Synchrony
by
Rajgopal Nidamboor
Watching
your body during exercise is the first step; what follows next is
observing your energy and breath. The last is, of course, is your mind.
The mind is akin to your TV monitor flashing images and information in
the background as you do your workout. If you are observant, you will
notice what it adds to your understanding of what is actually happening
as you go through your exercise routine. The mind gives clues for you to
not only do your exercises well, but it also tells you what you can
derive best from it.
The mind tells you to initiate your movement from your centre — if you
have forgotten a certain movement. It will tell you to fine-tune your
energy when there is tightness in your breathing, or there is lack of
vigor along the spine.
It may also be said that the mind probably does all this better when you
are going through the rigors of exercise with zest — not when you think
of exercise as a tedious enterprise. You need to take a cue from it — to
bring your (e)motion back to your centre, when required, so that you can
feel in sync with the joy of movement.
It’s all very much there — all your mind does is help bring your
attention to take hold and build itself. But, try your best you must.
Always.
Remember — if you do not focus on the good feelings that emerge from
your exercise, or do not appreciate them, your old habits take over, or
return. You slip into a negative frame of mind and lose your focus. This
is what generally happens when you do exercise regularly, and take a
short break, and the break becomes extended for some reason or the
other. You begin to think of exercise as a chore, something that is
awkward and not joyful.
Or, it could be a vicious spiral — you get into mechanical movements
that are expressed by negative thinking. Hence, your movements become
mechanical. The best remedy that can work in this situation will
actually depend on the development of constant inner awareness.
One simple idea is — doing something that works, or something that
increases your vitality. This is something that will also make you feel
great, even if you don’t notice, or if you do you tend to play it down.
It is only when you are attuned to this part of yourself will you be
encouraged to continue.
To think of an example — if you think of doing an experiment, you ought
to need to collect adequate data. The reason why many of our efforts
towards our health fail is because we don’t seem to learn from what we
do. You just can’t learn what you do if you do not notice its effects on
you.
Needless to say, the best information on what you do is available by
tapping your inside. Reliable data are collected from what you feel in
your body; yet, watching the train of thoughts is, of course, useful.
It is this premise that gives you effective insights into how moving
into previously unoccupied and unexplored spaces affects you.
If you play cricket, just notice how flashes through your mind help when
you play the drive. If you practice dance, you know when to let your
hips loosen up a bit than usual. The best part — you need not talk about
it. Likewise, getting into a new yoga posture is capable of bringing up
both images and memories.
In other words, what appears in your mental mirror during movement is
quite instructive. So, never try to push yourself — you can’t swim
against the tide. You need to go with the tide. You need to put aside
thoughts that won’t allow you to move on. Whenever you think that you
are getting into a negative phase, try to click images in your mind and
connect them to the picture of exercise you do so well. It works!
When you pace your mind and watch, you immediately connect yourself with
something you do every now and then. In contrast, when your work does
not provide you with a calm feeling or the relaxation you need, it is
time you changed or adjusted your routine in tune with what has always
kept you going.
 Think
of exercise as a vital necessity — as vital as air, water and food. As
Mahatma Gandhi said: “The mind is as much weakened by want of exercise
as the body.” He brought a parable in his thought — the life of the
farmer, the Mahatma felt, offered the perfect workout for both. Gandhi,
of course, did not think of hi-tech agriculture. What he “quantified”
was the tiller of a small piece of land living in close communion with
nature — someone who coordinated his bodily work with the phases of the
moon and the change of the seasons. This was what, he explained, aided
our farmers to find the direction by looking at the stars, or when rain
was about to fall by observing a particular class of birds gathering
together and making noise together. The farmer, in Gandhi’s idiom, was
aware of nature’s subtleties. He, therefore, realized and always
realizes the greatness of God.
The very idea also speaks of interconnectedness, or what the noted
biologist Edward O Wilson calls as “consilience” of man and nature. The
interconnectedness of things. We all can’t, of course, be farmers, but
we can all with nature’s sense of completeness, and co-ordination, be in
synchrony with the Divine.
This is precisely what you need to bring to your exercise, or workout,
plan — to derive the best benefits that nature always wanted you to
enjoy and spread around for yourself.
February 5, 2006
Top |
Health and
Fitness
The Week of February 5, 2006
Workshop
# 16 Special
New
Great Game : Musharraf Misses Writing on the Wall by Rajinder
Puri
USA's Global Predominance Under Challenge by
Dr. Subhash Kapila
Now the Dominoes are Really Falling, Arjuna by
Gaurang Bhatt, MD
Are the Nations' Contributions Enough for the
Promotion of World Peace? by TA Ramesh
Gratitude by
Sugandha Indulkar
Fidelity and Trust by K. Bhuvaneshwari Bhagat
“Farm” Your Mind to Exercise in
Synchrony by Rajgopal Nidamboor
Vastu, Temples and Pyramids by Niranjan Babu
Bangalore
The Civil Lies by Vivek Kaul
Kids Say No to Marriage by Usha Revelli
Birthing Nightmare by Sachin Kumar Jain
The Math in Gender by Nitin Jugran Bahuguna
Sharing Dark Silences by Smita Jain
Garbage Out, Garbage In by Chitra
Balasubramaniam
Feminist Combats the Army by Anat Cohen
|
|
