I liken the body to a vehicle. Like a car. If we were lucky enough to own say, a Ferrari or a Rolls Royce, most likely we would treat our car with the utmost respect. We would probably keep our car immaculate and park it in a garage. We would put premium fuel into our car. We would warm up our car when it’s cold outside before driving it. We would do regular maintenance like oil changes, tire rotations and tune-ups. We would stop the car if it was overheating and give it coolant or let it cool. We wouldn’t overload the car with a greater load than it could bear. And we probably would not drive the car as fast at it could go to find out how long it would last without slowing down, turning it off and letting the engine rest. Most of us treat our cars better than we treat our bodies.
Our physical body is the vehicle that we use to move through the physical world. Unlike a car, that we can replace after a few years if we get tired of it, we are stuck with our body for the duration of our lifetime. So why do we give it junk fuel instead of premium? Why do we work to exhaustion? Why do we accumulate stress? Why don’t we give our bodies enough rest? Is it because we think we don’t have a choice? Is it ignorance? Is it laziness? Whatever the perceived reason, it doesn’t have to be that way. We don’t have to literally run our bodies into the ground. We don’t have to become feeble as we age. We do have a choice.
Our bodies are incredible self healing, self regulating, adaptive machines. If we get a cut, the body creates a scab and then heals itself. If we break a bone, once we get the bone set and placed in a cast to hold the broken bones together, the bones mend themselves. If we “catch a cold” or get infected by a virus, our immune system fights the virus or cold(providing we give it rest so that it can work) and brings us back into balance so that we experience wellness. The body functions much better when we do what we can to help it function optimally.
Rest. Rest is hugely important. During sleep, our bodies heal and recharge. When we are awake we expend energy in a variety of ways; exercise and body movement, eating and digestion, mental activity such as learning, reading, concentrating on tasks and thinking, not to mention all the involuntary functions such as regulating our metabolism, circulation, perspiration and immune functions. If when we are awake, we can take even 5 or 10 minutes of our day to meditate, we can recharge our bodies and relieve accumulated stress that we may not be aware of.
Fuel. Food is the fuel for the vehicle that is our body. Ideally, we want to put in exactly the right amount of optimum fuel for our body to function at it’s best. Ideally, it would be best to eat when hungry, eat slowly and stop eating when we are no longer hungry. If we put in too much food, that is to say more food than can be easily digested and processed at one time(overeating), we usually feel very uncomfortable. Overeating is one of the worst things that we can do for our body. When we overeat, instead of using the fuel and having energy to function optimally, we tend to feel sluggish, maybe even sick to our stomach. Imagine filling a room from top to bottom with sugar cubes with you on one side of the room and a door on the other side of the room and the only way to get out of the room is to dissolve each sugar cube by pouring water on it. It would take quite a lot of time and energy to get out of the room. This is because we need extra energy to digest the food and we have put so much food in our stomach that there’s not enough space for the chemical breakdown of the food to occur comfortably. When we eat the right amount of the right food for our body in each moment, our body turns the food into energy and we feel amazing! How do we know what the optimum fuel is for our body? Generally, after doing a cleanse, our body becomes very sensitive to food. And when we can tune into our body, it will tell us exactly what food it wants and needs. Listening to what the body wants can be different from listening to what the mind wants. The mind is easily influenced by what the eyes see or what it imagines it wants. The mind, unlike the body , doesn’t get full; so when it sees something that looks delicious, even if you are not hungry , it wants to eat it. In addition to food, it is extremely important to drink lots of water. Water hydrates the body and helps rid the body of toxins. Next to oxygen, water is the thing that our bodies need most.
Warming up our vehicle. Moving the joints, stretching, exercise, breathing. The more flexible our body is, the less likely we are to get injured. If we take 10-15 minutes when we wake up to move all the joints in our body, breathing deeply and imagining the breath moving into the parts of the body that we are moving, we can increase our circulation and limber up our muscles. This wakes us up even more and gives us energy in addition to preventing injury. A body in motion, stays in motion. If we continue to exercise as we age, we continue to have the ability to exercise. It is only through using the strength we have, that we have the ability to get stronger. If we don’t use our strength, we won’t get stronger. If we left our car in the garage for ten years without turning it on or driving it, we’d be lucky if we could turn it on, let alone drive it. If we did manage to turn it on, most likely it would have parts that need replacing and it might break down very quickly. If you haven’t exercised in a long time and are intimidated to do so, not to worry. I specialize in taking people from whatever stage they are currently in and helping them get to the place where they want to be.
Our body is alive. It responds to our thoughts. Instead of saying & thinking negative things about our body and talking about what it can’t do, why not praise and extend gratitude to our body and talk about what it can do. If you tell a child that it’s not capable of doing something, most likely the child will believe you. If you tell a child that it is capable of doing something, most likely it will believe you. Your body is the same. Try treating it with positivity and see how it responds. What have you got to lose?
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