Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Your Temple is on Fire

We take a head bath and dress up neatly before entering into a temple. We leave  our footwear while heading to the  Gods blessings. We consider shrine as sacred location and do not lie or speak slang at the holy place. We try to follow most of the laid customs at temples(or   mosque or  church) 

But why do we fill our belly’s  with all junk and crap. Our ancient wisdom says “The body is our temple” [dhehamey devalayam], why do we take it for granted and ruin our health by ‘digging our graves with our own teeth’.      

 Nature is the supreme force in this universe. No other phenomenon can conquer it. It is absolute in itself. We are ought to live along with the nature. We are designed by the nature itself to follow its path. In fact we are part of it.

 

Lets us explore the natures secrets that help us in nourishing our body and mind. This can be achieved through living a natural life style.

 

What is Natural Lifestyle ?

            Leading ‘Natural Life Style’ means following your body’s true basic instincts. Aligning your habits along with the original needs but not against it. If we observe the Lion, by natures design it’s a carnivorous, the Cow is herbivorous . If a cow starts eating non vegetarian it will end up its life in unexpected problems especially  it will catch up diseases and may begin the aging process soon compared to the rest of its species. Why? Because the nature created the living beings(including human beings) with certain structure ,a specific system, relative capabilities  to help the creature to live the life happily . The same is true for the lion if it starts eating the grass. 

          This awesome system provides the ‘balance’ in the nature to survive and expand the families of each species. But when it comes to current system of living , are we doing what exactly we are intended to do? Of course not! Hence the human being is suffering from many ailments. New diseases are being produced  just because of the ‘unhealthy life style’ .

       As we are living ‘off  the track’ by stepping outside our original way of living, we are laying foundations to the diseases but not to our growth. So to get rid of all this mess we need ‘Natural Lifestyle’  

 

Why we need it?

           Any normal human being is exhausted nowadays even when he has done little work. Let’s examine today’s typical human.

 

ü  We are unable to handle even the daily chores

ü  We are frequented by the diseases so often compared to the older generation

ü  Fatigue is killing us even when we walk the upstairs

ü  Chronic diseases are becoming common in the young people

ü  Aging is becoming faster than the usual expected rate

 

     and the list goes on and on…

 

One good news: we can overcome all the above problems just by changing our habits. Hence changing our life style. 

 

How can we do it?

 

In a nutshell:

 

  • Eat more and more natural foods- fruits, sprouts, vegetable salads etc (60% of the daily intake should include this kind of food)
  • Drink more water (4 to 5 liters’ per day)
  • Cutting the salt and oil consumption and eventually reaching no-salt and no-oil state
  • Doing regular physical activity - Exercise/Yoga/swimming/playing a sport 

 

Anyone can start this style, but never go cold turkey (making sudden drastic changes in the habits or life style). It is not advisable because there is a chance for many people to slip back into the old habits. The gradual incremental steps are always better compared to immediate changes. Slow is strong.    

 

If you are a beginner:         

Follow the below 9 steps for a superb life

 Note: Remember these are steps i.e. only when you finished step 1 for few weeks then only start step 2 and after continuing it for few weeks then enter step 3…and so on. Do not skip some of the steps or don’t be in a hurry to jump

 

  1. Start with water, by drinking 3 liters a day and gradually increase the intake to 4 or 5 liters.

 

             Remember:

             a. Drink water with empty stomach only

             b. Do not drink while having meals or any other solid food

             c. start drinking after 2 hours of solid intake

                 (if you finish lunch at 1pm start water at 3pm)

            d. Eat solid food only after 30 min of water intake    

    

  1. After water becomes a habit for 2 weeks , Now slowly replace tea, coffee with  vegetable juice.
  2. Gradually after 2 weeks start eating sprouts as a breakfast  replacing the idli, dosa, wada, upma or any normal tiffin’s

 

           Remember:

          a. If still hungry after having sprouts eat vegetable salad(slices or cubes of carrot,  kheera, tomato, cucumber) fruits or dates

 

  1. Start ‘whole’ grains instead of polished ones, meaning replace white rice with brown rice(aka hand pounded rice)
  2. Once habituated with this new breakfast for 2 weeks , Then begin  early dinner. Finish dinner before 7pm.  Preferably have fruits as dinner.

 

           Remember:

           If you are hungry around 10pm just have one glass of water mixed up with  one lemon and four spoons of honey

      

 

  1. Prepare yourself mentally that you are starting this lifestyle for healthy living. Get as much awareness as possible before plunging into the paradise. Promise yourself.

 

  1. And finally cut back on salt and oil completely in the curries or in any prepared food

 

  1. Begin one or two of the following activities for one hour especially in the early morning (one activity is mandatory)

 

        a. Yoga

b.     Praanaayaama (a kind of breathing exercise which is a proven relief for stress)

c.      Physical exercise

d.     Play - a sport you love (shuttle, swimming, volleyball, football etc)

  1. Start meditation and say good bye to medication for the rest of your life

 

 

Warning: Do not STOP salt usage immediately, you may experience fatigue. Follow the above order of activities one by one to ensure optimum results.

 

Why people are unwilling to follow this lifestyle?

 

       We are the creatures of habit. A habit is a an action repeated until it forms a pattern in your life. The more it is repeated the stronger it becomes. Once we acquire a habit it’s hard to break because it already formed a rhythm.

 

To unlearn the habits we need

 

  • Conviction 
  • Understanding and
  • Consistency to practice

 

People are unwilling to install a new habit  because

 

ü  Most of us do not love change(especially if it forces us to move away from our comfort zone)

ü  We have a feeling (of course a false one)that we are healthy  with the current state of living

ü  We lack awareness of  the benefits that can be reaped with new habits

ü  We feel it’s  difficult (because many of us are unwilling to lose the laziness)

ü  Most of the time we are stuck with people who are having unhealthy habits. This drags us to an opinion that since everyone is fine with current life style, we can be fine too.

ü  Few ‘People around us’ stop us through their negative insights through their inexperience (unintentionally they don’t want to miss you from their community)

 

 

Advantages

           “Ok dude !! we agree…what you said is true but how can I benefit from this lifestyle?”  that’s the question on your mind am I right ?

 

 

So let’s dive deep into ocean :

 

  1. Good health – what is one thing in this world which is ‘easy to lose but hard to get?’, the answer is anybody’s guess-Our health.

          We can’t walk even a bit if we fell sick.  How can we reach our distant dreams if laid on the bed frequented by diseases. No other wealth in this universe replaces health. If we fail in business we can recover losses. If fired we can try another job. But if we lose our precious health, hard to get back to the normal.

             By fueling our body with more natural food we can remain healthy.

  1. More productivity - If we are healthy naturally our productivity increases. This leads us to produce more results within less time.
  2. More leisure time - Typical humans spend much time suffering with ailments due to unhealthy habits. Since we change, we can now have more time for leisure or to learn a new hobby or to set a new goal.
  3. Inspire - We can be an inspiration to the society and also to the next generation. Our influence can bring a massive change in the society ultimately building an healthy nation.
  4. Feel good about yourself - When we eat the junk food , we mostly repent later because we know that it’s not good for health. But in the natural life style we feel so proud about ourselves.
  5. Confidence -  Following this method boosts your morale because you will see a new you.
  6. Side-benefits - May be you heard a lot about side-effects but in this method we get side-benefits. If your intention is to lose weight, by the time you reach your ideal weight, you will also get-rid of Asthma, Diabetes, BP, Skin diseases etc. If a diabetic patient follows his pre-defined routine he can also be cured of any other ailments during the process. Got it!
  7. Good in-Bad out - The more intake of natural good food you consume the more toxins are drained from your body. Eventually making your body highly resistant and strong.
  8. Look smart – You become more beautiful as your body  is getting what it really needs. It rewards you with good looks. Remember “To change the way you look, just change the way you cook.”
  9.  Spread enthusiasm– less fatigue equals more enthusiasm. Now wherever you go your youthfulness spreads an invisible circle of radiance around you which ignites a spark in others. You are just like a walking magnet attracting more people and more opportunities into your life.
  10. Fulfill your dreams-  This lifestyle propels clarity in your thoughts and wisdom in your actions. whatever you dream will manifest, whatever you wish will be at your hands. Sounds like exaggeration, but it’s true. 
  11.  Evolve-  You start flowering from within. You will see the same old stuff,  with new eyes. You evolve day by day through your new thoughts, new dimensions and this results in new insights.       

         

     

 

The Future

 

             The future belongs to those who will love chAngE ” – Osho

 

The current system of living is being proved wrong again and again as we are suffering from numerous diseases. At present there are 22,000 diseases spread around the world. But definitely the number is not this large in olden days.

 

This gives raise to few questions

 

Why the number of diseases are growing rapidly?

If  this continues what are the consequences?

What is the root cause and how to eliminate it?

 

The diseases are intensifying because we are laying foundations to them through our bad habits. Our new sedentary jobs are becoming feeding grounds for the ailments. knowingly or unknowingly we are paying the price for our past mistakes through the diseases.

Same action leads to same result. So if we change the action, definitely it will change the result. Once we start acquiring a new ‘good’ habit one at a time the bad habits will soon vanish.

 

Remember your temple is already on fire ,  watch your daily intake and avoid the junk.

Are we eating to live or living to eat? So many of us will think in former but end up in latter. Just observe.

 

The greatest gift we can give to our children is a ‘disease-free body’ and a ‘medicine-free home.’ All this can be possible once we take that little first step towards the chAngE.

 

Are you addicted to any kind of food? How frequently you feel guilty of having eaten such stuff?

Please answer the above two questions and provide feedback in the comments.  -ajaY veGesna                            

            

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice post. I will try to implement at least one habit.

Anonymous said...

The article is so useful for me.
As far as your questions are concerned - I am addicted to tea. I try to avoid it but failed many times. I feel guilty for that. Do u have any tips to change my habit.

Anonymous said...

Your thoughts are good.It would helpful if u provide more statistics.

ajaY vegeSna said...

Hi all thank U for your valuable comments.

>>Samyuktha, I appreciate u r willing to change one habit.

>>Srujan,I can understand your tea addiction. Soon i will write a post on 'How to change habits'

>>RK, Sure I will provide more statistics in future posts.

-ajaY vegeSna

Anonymous said...

"To change the way you look, just change the way you cook" this one is awesome, ajay. keep going

Anonymous said...

hey,
it's really good...
Really u'r appreciated all of your efforts on this :)

Unknown said...

hey,
it's really good...
Really u'r appreciated all of your efforts on this :)

ajaY vegeSna said...

Hi Purna, thank you for the kind response. keep visiting for more articles ahead.