Mens Sana In Corpore Sano

The title for this article is a famous Latin quote from the Roman poet Juvenal that simply means "A sound mind in a sound body." I chose it because I noticed that in my admittedly limited exposure to people that are on the spiritual path, most do not pay as much attention as they should to their physical health. I also fell into that same trap and I paid for it with less than optimal health.

Before I got into pranic healing, I was more of a fitness nut. I exercised everyday and was also into martial arts and airsoft. After I got into pranic healing, ironically enough that's when i started tapering off with exercise, and the deeper I got into spiritual practices, the less I exercised. There were some prescribed physical exercises before and after meditation, and I thought that these would be enough and that the body would just "take care of itself." I guess subconsciously, I was thinking that the bliss of meditation was good enough that I didn't need the "high" that came from hard and strenuous exercise. I became really overweight, perhaps even obese, almost without noticing it.

Earlier this year, when I got some not so nice results from some medical tests, that's when I realized that I needed to balance my spiritual health with my physical health. After all, it's hard to do service to others if one is bed-ridden or otherwise in poor health. We're not trying to become an MMA fighter but a minimum of physical fitness is really required.

Although we are "laying our treasures in heaven" through spiritual practice, the fact is that we have to move and act within the physical world during our allotted time here. Within that time, we should make the most of our circumstances, and that will be better accomplished with a healthy body. It's like owning a car. While one need not pimp up their car with spoilers, headers and other racetrack set ups, one still needs to change oil regularly, have tune ups, make sure the tire pressure is just right, etc.

After that realization about the need to get healthy and stay that way, I started to get back into the exercise routine I used to do. Not with the same intensity as several years ago, but enough to get the heart rate up and the perspiration flowing. I didn't realize how much I missed the muscle burn of exercising vigorously. Not only that, I also changed my diet to a more healthy one. Although I'm semi-vegetarian, I used to eat a lot of fried food and sweets. By God's grace, after a few months, the combination of stricter diet and exercise led to my losing significant weight until I got to the ideal BMI (Body Mass Index) for my height and I definitely feel healthier. Of course, there is still a lot to work on, especially when it comes to food cravings, but at least I've achieved a few important health milestones along the way. The effort is never supposed to stop anyway.

During my health research, I found out about Dr. Joseph Mercola. In his Facebook page he describes himself as "an osteopathic physician who believes that proper nutrition, not medicine, is the key to good health. I seek to treat the whole person, not just the symptoms. I offer you practical health solutions without the hype."

If you're not already familiar with him, sign up for his newsletters because his health articles are really great. I learned a lot about how to optimize the body's health through his articles. Among the things you will learn are:

1. Why fructose (found in almost all processed foods) is bad.
2. Why he advocates a no-grain diet (grains include rice, all forms of bread, wheat, corn, etc.).
3. Why Vitamin D is more essential for health than we realize.
4. The best combination of food to take.

There are many more, but all his articles are definitely informative and eye-opening. Try to look for his Peak 8 exercise routine. I realized just how much effort was needed just to keep the body at optimal health, and although we may not be able to follow all of his suggestions, following enough of them can already lead one into better health.

Evolution of the soul is really about balanced development, and since the physical body is one of the vehicles of the soul, it is part and parcel of what we were meant to maintain and develop.

In this sense, the indigenous tribes of the world seem to be among the most balanced people of all. They are highly spiritual and deeply connected to Mother Earth and her guardians but at the same time these tribespeople are quite fit since they need to till the land, climb mountains and otherwise survive in a more demanding physical environment compared to us city-dwellers.

Just goes to show that the indigenous people can still teach us a lot about balanced living.