Make a date

Make a date with yourself. A time just to come face to face with the person you are and the person you aspire to be. Study yourself against this template

• Physical
• Mental  
• Emotional
• Social

    

Physical

The body is the boat you are given to cross the ocean of life. It is the only one you will ever have. So take care of it. Schedule a health check and make friends with a young, friendly doctor. Use every muscle, use it or lose it. Set apart time for self care. If it hurts, fix it.

Mental

Learn to meditate. Get a massage. Take a long uninterrupted bath. Keep mentally interested in events. Don’t be a touch potato get out and get a life. Digital is good. But you can’t digest it unless you experience the people and events outside your cubicle. Play with gurgling babies. Teach a boy cricket. Walk in the park. Harvard University Professor Howard Gardner, of Project Zero says, that people may have any one of these seven intelligences:

Logical, Mathematical

Visual spatial

Linguistic

Musical

Kinesthetic

Knowledge of Self

Knowledge of Others

Identify your special intelligences and leverage them in a job you love.

Emotional

Audit the emotional states that make up your day. Make sure they are positive emotions: love, compassion, courage, laughter and wonder. Proactively create events that will generate these emotions: celebrations, good books, great movies, and a walk in the moonlight. Manage anger which causes 36 toxic chemicals to pour into the blood. Abolish fear. Avoid revulsion.

Social

 Loneliness is the worst disease of the modern world. Loneliness attacks are deadlier than

heart attacks. Reach out and touch people around you. Let your hi-tech life not isolate you from a hi-touch life. Your family and friends are waiting for the hi-touch you. Reach out verbally, tonally and non-verbally. Write notes in gratitude to all those who make your life meaningful. Your parents, friends, your neighbours. Read to the blind. Coach a poor child. Exchange plants and seeds over the wall with your neighbour.

            

Creating a Peaceful Neighbourhood

Today, it is difficult to enjoy a peaceful environment. The growing modern malaise that effects everyone, is anger and even rage. From school children who commit suicide because they did not get good grades, to housewives who are bored out of their wits after having brought up their children and are now at a loose end, because neither the kids or husband have time for them. These feelings are a threat to peace. Today, 400 million people worldwide are afflicted by mental illness. There is a recent Chinese study that shows that among the extremely wealthy, suicide was the cause of 23.6 percent of deaths between 2008-2010. Needing the help of alcohol or sleeping tablets tells the inside story of material success. The true definition of happiness could be, ‘a good nights’ sleep, every night.’ The single minded pursuit of money, can cut out all other sources of wealth – restful sleep, good digestion, health, family, sports, music, books and friends.

We need to reduce conflict and develop positive emotions like love, compassion, courage, laughter and wonder in out lives. And work at uprooting negative emotions like anger, lust, greed and jealousy. What the sad world needs it an attitude of giving. The fastest way to be happy is to help others.

How to develop a peaceful neighbourhood?

• Make friends with your neighbours
• Help families to get together to plant trees or improve garbage collection
• Arrange for kids to play together.
• Start a walking club
• Arrange to support people during tough times.

‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ says an old proverb. Create that village on your street or building.

Deal with Big Five Emotions

The Big five emotions (Kama, Kroda, Madha Lobha, Matsarya) lust, anger, arrogance, greed, jealousy, can flood the body with the chemicals of stress. Stress is destructive. Stress is aging. Stress is a killer.

Ambition and increasing peer pressure ensures the 'Rat in a trap Syndrome', where you are trapped into running faster and faster, to stay in the same place. Work follows us everywhere. The blurring of work and leisure, has intensified in this era of 24-hour access, when the computer is just a fingertip away and the cellphone is as intimate as a heartbeat. The delicate tissues of the body are constantly awash in the lethal chemical bath of chronic stress. Interactive electronic devices have made stress continuous. Home is no longer a refuge.

Meditation and pranayama, provide everyone with a way of reducing the automatic violent reactions to stress.  You can actually control autonomous systems like heart beat and pulse rates, which were thought to be outside the individual’s control.  Knowing and practicing meditation can provide you with a silent room where you can retreat into peace: slow breathing, steady heartbeat, slow pulse.  This room is always available within a person who has learnt to meditate.  While you cannot change your job, family or your life situation, you can certainly learn to breathe more peacefully, thus reversing the process of excitation and avoiding the emotional hijack.  It is not possible to learn meditation by thinking about it, any more than it is possible to learn swimming by talking about it.  If you have to swim, you have to get into the water. Learning mediation and understanding your breathing patterns through pranayama may be the best investment you ever made.  In India, there is no excuse not to learn these things. Stress need not be a response to the pace of your life.  You can learn a peaceful response that protects your body.

UNDERSTANDING HEART – THE ENGINE OF LIFE

The heart is the most hardworking part of the human body.  From the minute it is created in your mother’s womb, it continues to beat till the last moment of your life.  The heart is approximately the size of your fist.  Open your fist and close it, as long as you can.  Try doing it as though you were trying to crack a walnut.  You will find that you cannot do it for more than a few minutes.  Yet your heart works even harder, at the same pace, for your whole life.  This is because of special nature of the cardiac muscle.  The cardiac muscle will contract without any signal from the nervous system.  So usually it is believed that you have no control over your heartbeat, which is a part of the autonomic system.  However, biofeedback systems can help you slow down your heartbeat, as recent research has shown.  Meditation techniques also slowdown the heartbeat.

The heart supplies blood and is the pump, which controls the circulatory system. It weighs 340 gms and is about 15 cms long and 10 cms across.  Protected by the hard bony ribs, breastbone cage and backbone, the heart provides fuel for all parts of the body, feeding the cells of the body with oxygen.  When the blood has given up its oxygen to the cells, it has a bluish tinge. The pulmonary arteries or arteries from the lungs collect the de-oxygenated blood and carry it to the lungs, where it once more picks up oxygen and releases carbon-dioxide.  The pulmonary veins carry oxygenated blood  (blood rich in oxygen) back to the heart, so that it can feed every cell of your body.  The arteries carry deoxygenated blood away from the heart, while the veins carry blood to the heart.  It is estimated that everyday, the heart pumps blood through 90,000 kilometres of blood vessels.

How to improve the field in your office

1. Organise outings with the team

2. Organise joint shopping

3.  Eating together during lunch

4.  Well decorated office

5.  Organise for movie together

6.  Always encourage , do not discourage

7.  Say only good things

8.  Good music in the work area

9.      Clean atmosphere - protection against dust and sound

10.  Small Plant

11. Start Humour Club or a League Club

12. Start a book and magazine club

13. Share personal problems within the team. Love your team members.

14. To relieve stress, provide a counsellor.

15. People should be encouraged for their achievements.

16. Share strengths and weakness openly.

Healing Meditation

Close your eyes, place you feet flat on the ground. Make sure your spine is erect and your breathing slow and even. Visualize your heart in the centre of your chest, toward the left side.  Place your left hand over your heart and then the right hand over it.

Breathe in and out gently, watching your breath as you breathe in and as you breathe out.

Take your attention to each part of your body and consciously relax it from the tips of your toes to the top of your head.

Visualize pure golden light pouring into you through the top of your head and filling your body, like cool water could fill a glass jug.  Sit peacefully and watch as both your hands surround your heart with healing golden light

The Science of Yoga

The art of living is yoga which is India's contribution  to  the world.  The word 'yoga' is derived from the sanskrit word yuj which means 'yoke' attach or 'join'.  It means the disciplining of the intellect to the Cosmos.

The Science of yoga is systematized by Maharishi Patanjanli in 285 yogasutras.   It has eight steps namely Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Prathyahara, Dharna, Dhyana Samadhi.

Their respective meanings are:

i) Universal moral commandments

ii) Self purification by discipline

iii) Posture

iv) Rhythmic control of breath

v) With drawl of the mind from the domination of the senses and exterior object.

vi) Concentration

vii) Meditation

viii) Thoughtless state in which one becomes one with the object of his meditation. 

This chapter is about the  third stage,  namely asanas.  Yogasana is the Science of beauty of form which combines effortless postures and definite stances in the projection of a healthy and striking personality.

Yogasana covers the harmony of bodily stances and breathing techniques that mould, every part of the body to its ideal contour.  This is possible through various postures like standing and sitting.  These asanas also subtly aid in the development of a new and striking personality.

Asanas are thus not merely yogi postures but they embody the proper physical and mental disposition through the harmony of body and mind.

These asanas will help recreate a healthy heart.  Practicing all eight stages of yoga is certainly a recipe for the healthy heart. The following asanas are simple and chosen for the healthy heart.

YOGA SADHANA

1. PADMASANA (LOTUS)

Brings harmony between the body, mind and soul.  Peace of mind flows down to those who suffer from anxiety, tension, anger and other negative emotions.

2. SARVANGASANA  (SHOULDER STAND)

This asana expands the rib cage and helps in deep breathing and also increases the lung capacity.  The inverted body pose also brings fresh supply of oxygen and rich blood to the heart.

3. MATSYASANA (FISH)

This asana expands your chest tones the nerves of the neck and back.  It also ensures that the thyroid and parathyroid glands obtain maximum benefit.

4. DARMIKASANA (SURRENDER)

People with high blood pressure, glaucoma or a detached retina, should concentrate on asanas which may rectify their condition before performing inverted poses like Sarvangasana, Halasana.

5. DHANURASANA (THE BOW)

An excellent asana for the spinal cord which strengthens the hips and takes care of spondylitis.  The expansion of the chest increases blood circulation in the heart muscles.

6. SAVASANA (SHANTI ASANA)

The body relaxes through various techniques like self-hypnosis, Kaya-kriya.  Persons who are sad and disturbed can be benefited.

7. YOGA NIDRA

The sleep of Yoga.

Does Yoga work?

Yoga is one of the six darshanas: it provides a mirror in which we may see ourselves and realise our full potential.  Yoga tries to create a condition in which we are always present in every action at every moment. It is the ultimate mindfulness that helps us to dive into every moment and experience it fully.  It helps us become full participants instead of distracted spectators.  Finally the classic definition of yoga is “ to be one with the Lord”.

According to Pathanjali’s Yoga sutras, the senses are the doors of perception.  There are nine types of interruption on the individual’s journey to the state of yoga and union with the Divine.  They are illness, mental stagnation, doubts, lack of foresight, fatigue, over indulgence, illusions about one’s true state of mind, lack of perservance and regression.  

Shiatsu

Many of us are constantly working on the computer.  Tension in the hands, wrist and forearm is common.  You can help yourself with the following exercise.

Grasp your left hand with your right.  Using your thumb and forefinger, touch the 108 energy points on the hand.  Put pressure on the point between the thumb and first finger and hold it for five second.  Reflexology is a similar technique used on the energy points on the feet. Use your hands and press from the base of the big toe to the heel.  Pay attention to the Achilles tendon.  A foot massage or even a pedicure is one of the most relaxing things you can do.

Being Still

Everyday, let the silence fall, so far that you are completely quiet.  Choose a quiet, clean place in your home, close your eyes and be still.  If thoughts arise, let them pass by like clouds in the sky.  Watch out your slow silent breathing.  Carry this silence amidst the noise and haste of this world.  Your restful presence will soothe all those around you. Being still creates the space so you can disconnect from the outside world and turn your energies and awareness inwards.  It gives your mind and body the opportunity to rest and digest the day so far. Silence helps to settle and calm your nervous system. “The aim of  stillness is simple.  To pay more attention to your inside world rather than your outside world”  Carole Fogarty

Ojas and Tejas

According to an ancient Indian belief ‘ojas’ is the dazzling, vital life force in all living things.  If you see a fruit freshly plucked from a tree it is full of ojas.  A child playing cricket with complete josh is full of ojas.  Sunlight is ojas.  A plant burgeoning with green shoots and flowers, is full of ojas.  Pure air, the earth, rivers, fresh water, freshly cooked food are full of ojas.  If you consciously approach your body, mind and soul reverently to fill it with ojas, you will enjoy vibrant, vital, good health.

Ojas fills you with ‘tejas’ which is the dazzling splendour that shines forth from one who celebrates ojas like the ancient rishis.  Invite ojas your life to keep yourself healthy.

Enhancing Your Happiness

Having a high happiness quotient will create a healthy heart.  You can increase your happiness quotient by filling your mindspace with positive emotions, events and people.  You can also enhance it by focussing of all parts of your mind, body and soul.

“Let all Beings be happy”.  Not just friends and family, but all men, not just men but the wider world of all Beings. Look at yourself with love and understanding.  All the internal conversations you have with yourself should be loving and kind.  Speak to yourself as you would speak to your Beloved or your child. .  Living compassionately boosts the immune system.  It is this feeling that promotes altruism and the many service clubs in the world.  While you give compassionately, the gift you receive is happiness. Social networks can help us change our health activities. We need social relationships to be methodically developed to promote compassion and mutual empathy.  

Increasing your Happiness Quotient

Do not put yourself down

Take pride and pleasure in what you do

Do not do things that make you unhappy

Do consciously all the things that make you happy

Do not be unkind to others

Do something to make others happy

Do what you love, enjoy it.

Admit mistakes; walk away from them

Forgive, let go of resentment.

You are responsible for your life.

Use your time fully and in a way that pleases you.

You can be a baby sometimes; enjoy the child in you

Growth is painful; adventure is risky; but it is worth it

Enjoy the moment; forget the past

Accept that you will make mistakes

Learn to soothe yourself when you are hurt

Soothe others who are hurt

ETHICS AND MORALS

Dharma or right action, bestows the gift of a quiet mind.  As the Free Mason says “Live respected and die regretted”.  Dharma is the ancient Indian golden rule of righteousness.  This includes practising Truth, doing your duty without worrying about the results, treating all life with reverence, non-violence and peace.  When a man lives by his Dharma, he inherits health and peace; because he lives in harmony with the laws of the land and the laws of God.  Dostovsky in ‘Crime and Punishment’ charts the mental torments of a criminal.  The wages of Sin are death, says the Bible.  The wages of Sin are certainly illness as tension and anxiety create the unease and toxins where diseases flourish.

When young student watched a film by mother Theresa, their immune response was immediately heightened.  It has been proved by studies conducted in the Harvard school of medicine that altruistic, volunteer work increases the body’s capacity to fight disease and remain healthy.  Being kind is certainly the path to health.  Perhaps the ancient Hindu belief that all souls are part of the Divine Being and are therefore connected, ensures that when we make others happy, we receive a jolt of bliss.  When we make others sad, we receive a dose of health destroying poison.

Healing Heart Meditation

Close your eyes, place you fleet flat on the ground. Make sure your spine is erect and your breathing is slow and even. Visualize your heart in the centre of your chest, toward the left side. Place your left hand over your heart and then the right hand over it.

Breathe in and out gently, watching your breathe in and as you breathe out.

Take your attention to each part of your body and consciously relax it from the tips of your toes to the top of your head.

Visualize pure golden light pouring into you through the top of your head and filling your body, like cool water could fill a glass jug. Sit peacefully and watch as your hands surround your heart with healing golden light.

Affirm to yourself. Everyday, my heart is becoming stronger, kinder and healthier. Everyday, my arteries are becoming clean and flexible. Everyday my heart beats regularly and strongly.