Chapter 6. A Quick Recap plus More

‘Harmony of Body-Mind-Soul’ is a phrase being heard a bit too frequently these days, courtesy the ones responsible for the ad campaigns designed for selling Health related Services. But there is no one that I have spoken to who has been able to explain in simple layman’s language what this really means.

While Mind and Body is something that we all understand; it is the Soul aspect that is not very clear. Most chose to hide behind the word ‘Karma’ when asked to explain the contribution of the Soul aspect to problems in the present life. I have given it a lot of thought and have read everything I could find on the subject and finally decided not to spend any more time and energy in trying to fix something that I could not comprehend. 

The reality is that there is nothing much that can be done regarding the Soul aspect in the present lifetime as I am stuck with what I have. In my opinion, Karma (and Karmic Debts) is a spiritual carrot that has been dangled in front of normal human beings for a bit too long now. For the believers in Karma, it sure helps to ease the pain a bit but then does not do anything to really change things in the current lifetime.

I think that it is the relationship between the Mind and the Body that is really important. The direct link between the Stresses (in the Mind) and the Diseases (in the Body) is finally being understood. It is a pity, though, that the Physicians are still not addressing the Mind aspect while dealing with the diseases of the Body.

That is what my journey is about in this present lifetime and that is what I am sharing in these pages. A recap of what has been discussed so far with some additional thoughts follows:

In Chapter 1. The Basics, I discussed the relationship between Food and Breathing. 

The Food that we put into our body gets digested with direct inputs from other body parts like Liver, Pancreas etc. This digested food is useless unless the nutrients are properly absorbed in the body. For this to happen, a healthy Circulatory System is required for transporting the nutrients to the various systems of the human body where they are stored before being used, if at all. 

[By the way, the best quality of nutrients obtained from the best quality of food, can not create better health on their own. It is a myth. If that was true, than the richer human beings should also be the healthier!]

The reality is that an abundant and continuous supply of oxygen is ALSO needed to extract the energy from the stored nutrients. This means that the Respiratory System also has to be working in an efficient manner, along with the Digestive and the Circulatory Systems. Then the waste has to be extracted before it starts becoming toxic brings the Excretory System into play. All these systems together constitute the Body Aspect and Harmony within the various systems of the body is therefore, of utmost importance for good health.

The Mind Aspect now comes into play as it has a direct effect on how humans breathe.

Relaxed Minds help us to Breathe better and deep which means more Oxygen is available which then helps extract more Energy (from the stored nutrients). Conversely, Shallow breathing happens because of Stresses in the Mind which means that Lesser amount of Oxygen is available whenever there are stresses in the mind. Sufficient amount of energy is then not extracted from the food that we have been eating thus leading to a Deficient Energy State in the system.

This awareness made a lot of sense to me as I finally, finally understood why the spiritual teachers that I have interacted with in my life have INSISTED that a session of Meditation MUST be done before all meals. Meditation calms the mind, creating a state of deep breathing and therefore, more oxygen gets pumped into the human system which then results in more energy and therefore, faster and more efficient digestion. There is also the related fact that the Pituitary and Pineal Glands also work more efficiently when the Mind is relaxed. The hormonal secretions from these two glands have their own special roles to play in contributing to the overall state of better health.

The spiritual teachers in my life also insisted that I should not eat whenever I was disturbed/angry/stressed. It is a known fact that we all tend to eat more when under stress…which meant practically every meal as far as I was concerned. This excess food needs more energy for breaking it down. More food in the stomach also directly interferes with deep and proper breathing. In other words, it means that the excess food taken in drains the energy instead of helping us get more energy. This further reduces the amount of available energy for other routine activities.

In Chapter 2.  I discussed the fact that Detoxification is the most neglected process in the life of a modern human being. This is a direct result of having lesser energy in the system than is actually required.

It is a fact that most human beings are using only about one third of their lung capacity by the time they become adults. In energy terms, it translates into energy deficiency by two thirds every time we breathe. This backlog of deficiency piles up as we grow older. This creates a Disharmony within the body as we do not reduce the load on the Digestive System, while continuously increasing the load on the Muscular and Skeletal Systems as they have to work harder because of the increasingly heavier load that they are lugging around.   

The increased workload further reduces the amount of available energy and puts a lot of stress on the Excretory System. The excess food that we have been eating continuously keeps on getting converted into more and more toxic material, and to compound matters further, detoxification does not take place the way it should because of the deficient energy state. The limited amount of energy that is available has other priorities like keeping the blood moving, the lungs and heart functioning, the kidneys working etc. 

Cleansing of the system is generally not happening on a regular basis as it should be. Pretty scary scenario, but that is what it is in black and white. No wonder that the deterioration in health is pretty fast when the time finally comes.

In Chapter 3. Quantity of Food Required, I discussed the fact that we are in the habit of eating more than what our system really requires. 

Logic dictates that we eat more while in the growing stage and eat lesser and lesser amounts as we grow older. Then also the quantity of food going in should also vary with our changing lifestyle – we should be eating more on days when the physical activity is more and vice versa. But it is really not happening…

A fact that is compounding the problems is that we have been misinterpreting the signals received by us via our ‘Brain’. The signals of ‘craving’ are actually ‘requests’ by the body for more energy. We misinterpret these signals as ‘craving for food' and end up eating more and more. Most of us are constantly ‘hungry’ as no amount of food apparently ‘satisfies’ the ‘cravings’. This directly drains the available energy as the food has to be broken down and that requires Energy too.

In Chapter 4. The Self-Healing Body, Indeed! I highlighted a few facts regarding this marvelously amazing body that we have been blessed with. It is a pity that most humans have not understood that it is a very powerful self-maintaining, self-cleaning and self-healing entity. A human body is the most amazing creation provided we allow it to go to work the way that it has been designed to. The complications are in the conditioned Minds and that is what we need to go beyond.

In Chapter 5. Some Personal Milestones I discussed a few of the personal healing experiences that have happened when I have allowed my body to heal itself. These were of huge importance, as they validated my experiments and provided the spark that was needed to continue walking on the path that I had chosen. Courage, Hope, Wisdom etc. are very relevant but even the bravest have their weak moments. These validations in terms of personal healing experiences have been providing the impetus for the next levels of understanding to flow in.

And the journey continues..