May the life-force be with you

Puneet was stuck. He was depressed. He didn’t want to do anything, he just wanted to eat and sleep. He wanted life to pass by without participating in it. That’s not possible because the life-force is within him, within all of us. And if we don’t move and flow with it, we become disconnected from it. Ah yes, a chasm separates us from our own life-force. Fear, uncertainty, confusion, lethargy clutter up this chasm. The only way to break this impasse is to move… move… and keep moving…

So when Puneet sought my advice, I told him, “Every day, walk briskly for 42 minutes.” I didn’t realise what an impact that had on him until he returned three years later. His face glows, he’s fit, he’s put his life together. “You sparked something in me,” he says. “You gave me a goal. Instead of walking aimlessly, I’d time myself. It was exhilarating to know I’d clocked 42 minutes.”

Any continuous, deliberate, rhythmic movement of the body cracks the grey aura of inertia surrounding us. It gets the life-force going and when mind joins body in revelling in this sheer physical expression, we touch euphoria. This can be a defining point in our lives when we see dead-ends dissolve into shimmering promise, and it can coax a dis-ease to move towards ease and effect a healing.

My point is: keep your life-force flowing all day. It’s not enough to exercise in the morning and then sit nine to five. The more you sit, the more you give the opportunity for diabetes and heart problems to set in. Whooaa! you’ll say, but isn’t my morning exercise my insurance for the whole day?

Sorry, it isn’t. The life-force has to keep a-rolling to stimulate the enzymes in our muscles. When these enzymes laze, the blood-sugar level rises… and everything imbalances. Glucose is a great ally when being used, but a dangerous adversary in sedentary country.

The office gives enough moving opportunities, don’t you think? The stairs await active footfalls. There are aisles to step smartly through, passages to stride across to speak personally with colleagues instead of emailing. And nothing like a quick sprint to the fountain to drink some water, or a quickstep to the pantry to pick up or deliver your teacup. Then there are occasions such as pre-lunch to march-on-the-spot to the fitness drummer. Even a little to-ing and fro-ing between your desk and the office printer keeps the enzymes on their molecular toes. And if the office help disappear at key times, don’t get mad, be glad you can run a few errands and get your enzymes going. In fact, if after an unscheduled climb up the stairs your legs are a mass of pain the next morning, take it as a wake-up call. Wait for three days for the pain to subside, then climb the same stairs every day.

At home, too, you can be a dynamo. Treat your mobile phone like a landline. Keep it at a fixed spot. When it rings, speedwalk to it. And the book you’re reading…? Don’t keep it bedside. Place it on the highest shelf of your book-cupboard. That way, you get a wonderful stretch every time you want to resume reading. Turn the space in front of the TV into a mini home-gym. You can jog-on-the-spot on a cushion while watching a film. Or pedal on your stationary bicycle. Unroll a mat and crunches, leg-raises, hyperextensions and all kinds of floor exercises can be executed.

Won’t constant movement tire me out, you might ask. It won’t tire the body, but because the mind resists this idea, there could be a sense of tiredness. So, first accept the need to move. Enzymes are a complex system of molecules. They push metabolic reactions along. Metabolism has to move fast enough to sustain a healthy life.

So we’ve got to keep moving to keep our enzymes working at optimal levels.

Often, the symptoms that emerge when the enzymes are not working efficiently can be subtle.

Bleakness, where you don’t want to do anything. Weakness in the muscles. Poor concentration. Slow or no fat-loss despite dieting. Having Enerzal helps. This powder (to be had dissolved in water) contains trace minerals which act as sparkplugs to the enzymes and you begin to feel normal again. But, after that, you must get into the habit of moving.

Simultaneously, make up your mind to be healthy and whole. To be as strong as an oak, as supple as a sapling. To use the mind like a pinpoint laser that can pierce through all problems and light up solutions. To gather a loving circle of friends and see even adversaries as secret allies. To be a flowing wellspring of great energy and life-changing ideas. And, most of all, to be overflowing with joy and sharing it with all those you come across. For the way of the enzyme is: live the good life until you find a better one. An empowering one.

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

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