The Hindu Business Line : Ageing is unnatural!

The evidence is compelling: protons, neutrons, electrons, our DNA, electricity — all the things that constitute and run our body — do not age. Therefore, the body cannot age.

Yet, how do we explain those intermittent aches, greying hair, wrinkles crisscrossing the corners of the eyes, reading glasses on the nose, smile lines acquiring mature depths in the cheeks and… hello! Can’t hear you… Speak up, please!

Explains Ayurveda, all these symptoms are due to pragya aparadh — erroneous thinking.

As the Buddha warned, “The mind is everything; what you think, you become.” Sad, fearful, angry thoughts sink into the smriti (memory) of the cell and damage its natural, healing intelligence and skills. Peaceful, cheerful, contented thoughts preserve and stimulate the cells’ memory of wholeness and enable it to take timely corrective measures.

So, put this positive principle into practice on a day-to-day level immediately. Just working hard does not purify, working with wholehearted joyous willingness purifies. That’s what the ancient karma yogis, revered centurions who’d stumbled on this secret of longevity, meant when they said, “Whatever you do, do with a sense of freedom.” Work not for gain, but to gainfully utilise the ability gifted to you. (Conversely, the vortexes of egoistic desires, ambition, greed, jealousy create an unwilling, half-hearted, grudging attitude that binds our mind and drains all joy and energy from our spirit.)

The thought-current of cheerful willingness makes a marvellous beginning… it’s the first decisive step towards agelessness. Cheer and readiness materialise qualitatively in your cells as elasticity, strength, vitality, alertness.

The second step is to exercise. Sluggish oxygen-circulation scatters cellular intelligence which accesses the DNA’s self-repair mechanism through subtle radio-like vibrations. Being sedentary, eating foods that slow digestion, smoking, overdoing on drugs and alcohol disrupt these vibrations and cause impurities like plaque to amass in the arteries. Exercise begins the beautiful process of purifying the system. A cardiovascular exercise like walking or cycling floods oxygen into the cells, burns the dross and enlivens the cells. Weight-training restores strength to the memory of the muscle-tissue. Abdominals restore the memory of core-stability in the body. Bends and stretches restore the memory of flexibility to the spinal and joint tissue.

Again, exercise cheerfully, willingly. Take it as an adventure trek into agelessness. Be regular, consistent. Affix a happy affirmation to each exercise with a deep personal meaning. Examples:

While walking: “I walk joyfully.”

While cycling: “Joyous energy flows through my body cells.”

Ab crunches: “Strength and stability centre me.”

Bending: “Divine healing light floods my brain.”

Stretching: “High I fly on the wide wings of wellness.”

Repeated affirmations sink into the subconscious and make cheerful willingness your natural response. A friendly, supportive subconscious makes life very comfortable and easy.

The third step: eat to elevate your body, mind, spirit. Spicy foods inflame the nerves, fatty foods clog pathways, sugar destabilises your sense of balance, and salt attracts unwanted water into the cells. The overall glow and vitality of youth on face and body-language come mainly from fresh fruits and vegetables. The bounce of the B12 vitamin can be absorbed from milk products. (Tip: If milk causes congestion, warm it with half teaspoon turmeric and add honey.) Rice and corn promote serene vitality, beets source iron, sprouted pulses build muscle, figs detoxify.

Food should never be a source of stress. Make your credo: not to rush but relax through a meal; to eat with gratitude. This enables the cells to extract optimum nutrients from the food. This is not possible if you argue with your co-eater, act authoritarian with the waiter at a restaurant, or criticise somebody/something during a meal. Also, eat less, appreciate more. There’s a fit and healthy young lady who does this with such love, she’s amazing. When offered a jalebi, she exclaimed warmly, “Oh, how beautiful it is… so juicy and sweet!” Then, added in a gentle, regretful tone, “But, I’m sorry I can’t eat it. Thank you so much.” Cutting out empty calories with loving firmness helps you have the constitution of a 16-year-old at 30.

The fourth step is to meditate. Meditation enables the mind to relax and release the rush of fear, the coldness of depression, the cauldron of worries that have so far held its attention.

In silence, it finds a peaceful, timeless, undemanding, non-threatening environment. During these silent moments, the body-cells too return to their original pre-memory, pre-experience stage when spontaneous energy and vitality ruled. That’s how blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels lower and cancerous growths or tumours disappear.

Chanting breaks through mental dullness. Deep diaphragmatic breathing relaxes muscular constrictions and when the breath begins to flow freely, it’s a sign of muscular fluidity regained.

Gradually, a sense of wholeness overtakes the sense of ageing you may have had earlier. If it were possible to remember how we felt as newborn infants, I wonder if it would be the same inner aura of freshness that you feel after meditating regularly for a year.

Do incorporate these practices into your life — cheerfully and willingly!

The writer is co-author of the book ‘Fitness for Life’.

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