Importance of Diet, Exercise & Rest

 

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Importance of Diet, Exercise & Rest

A person can become centered in his being through right exercise, diet and sleep. A person who does not get the right exercise, right kind of food and adequate sleep cannot become centered in the navel. It is only man whose diet is unpredictable, all other species on earth have predictable diets. Other creatures eat as much as they need – it is only man who can actually manage to make a pig of himself!

What should a man eat and drink and what should he avoid? The whole body is made up of chemical elements. If alcohol is put into a man, then his body will be affected by the chemical - it will become intoxicated, unconscious. Howsoever healthy, howsoever peaceful the man may be, the chemistry of the intoxication will affect his body. Howsoever saintly a man may be, if he is given poison then he will die. Any food that leads man into any kind of unconsciousness, excitement, any kind of extremity – that causes the ultimate harm when it reaches the navel. With wrong food the navel center is affected and in time becomes dormant and the center slowly falls asleep.

The correct diet does not make you feel heavy and drowsy. So, the first thing is that every person practicing meditation should be very aware and conscious about his eating. It is necessary to remain aware about his food and what its effects are on his body. If a man experiments for a few months with awareness, he will certainly find out which is the right food for him, which food makes him tranquil, peaceful and healthy. Also remember to eat your food in a happy frame of mind, this too is critical. The more happily and joyously and the more relaxed and without worry a person can take his meal, the more his food starts becoming the right food.

All the strength, all the vitality of life is lost because man's body and man's being have been created for a certain amount of labour - and now he has been spared from all that work. Right exercise and activity are also an essential part in the awakening of man's consciousness and energy. Nowadays we have servants to do our physical activity and we just lie down watching TV! The more intensely, the more blissfully, the more gratefully a man exercises physically, the more he will find that his life-energy has started moving down from the brain closer to the navel. For labour neither the brain nor the heart is needed. The energy for labour is derived directly from the navel. This is its source. Along with the right diet, the right exercise is very essential – enough exercise, not in excess, do not become an exhibitionist of physical prowess – just enough to keep your body spiritually fit.

Lastly sleep, today some people consider sleep a sheer waste of time – we can see people working late into the night, partying or watching movies – completely disturbing their own bio-rhythm! The eight hours of sleep are not being wasted; rather, because of those eight hours, you are able to stay awake for sixteen hours. Otherwise, you would not be able to stay awake all that time. During those eight hours life-energy is accumulated, your life gets revitalized, the centers of your brain and heart calm down and your life functions from your navel center. For those eight hours of sleep, you have again become one with nature and with existence - that is why you become revitalized.

So, each person should discover what is the best arrangement for him. For three months each person should experiment with his work, with his sleep and with his diet, and should find out what are the healthiest, most peaceful and most blissful rules for him.