In a world of hectic lifestyles, desk-jobs and pollution, health seems a faraway thing. In this video, Sadhguru gives us the unique yogic perspective on health. By paying attention to a few simple fundamentals, you can ensure good health for yourself.
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Full Transcript:
(Sadhguru): This human system in yoga we look at it as five sheaths or five layers, five layers of body. In the yogic system there is no such thing as mind. There is no such thing as anything. Everything is seen as body because we are looking at it as a technology for transformation. These are called Annamayakosha, manomayakosha, pranamayakosha, vigyanamayakosha and anandhamayakosha. Anna means the food that you have eaten what you call as my body is just the food that you have eaten. Isn’t it? It’s a heap of food, small or big is your choice. but it’s a heap of food whichever way, isn’t it?
As there is a physical body which you gathered from outside there is a mental body. When we say mind it is not here or there. Every cell in the body has it’s own intelligence. Every cell in the body has it’s own memory, isn’t it? So there is a body of mind so this is known as mental body or manomayakosha. So that is hardware; this is software. This hardware and software cannot do much unless plug it into quality power. So the third layer of the body is called pranamayakosha or the energy body.
These three are physical in nature. The next layer of the body is a transitory body which is known as vigyanamayakosha. It is a transitory body from physical to non-physical it is transiting. It does not ascribe to any of the physical qualities but at the same time it has not become completely non-physical either.
The fifth one is called as anandhamayakosha. In English language it translates into as bliss body. Bliss body does not mean there is a bubble of bliss inside you. We are calling it bliss body because in our experience whenever we touch it we become blissful. So we are calling it bliss body that’s not it’s nature. That’s what it causes for us. It is a non-physical dimension which is the source of everything that is physical.
If you align the physical body, the mental body and the energy body in proper alignment and balance there will be no physical or psychological ailments within you. It is just a dis-aligned state which causes all kinds of problems. When body comes to a certain ease there is no disease. So if you align these three things only then you have a passage, you have a possibility of touching the anandhamayakosha where blissfulness becomes a natural process. It is not that you are blissful about something; you are blissful because that is the nature of life.
To create health for yourself there are three fundamentals that you need to take care of food, activity and rest. When it comes to food one of the most important things you must be conscious of is on a certain day when you eat a certain type of food whatever you eat you must consciously notice how quickly does it digest and become a part of yourself. Any food that you eat, if it lasts over three hours that means you have eaten bad food and that is something either to be avoided or reduced in quantity. If food moves out of your stomach bag within three hours this means you are eating something that your system can handle efficiently it may not be the best food but your system is able to handle it and between one meal and the next meal if you create a clear gap of five to six hours and in between there is no other ingestion you will see the cleansing process in the system on the cellular level cleansing will happen and this cleansing on cellular level is most important and significant for a healthful life.
So between meals there must be at least five to six hours of space. If you are over thirty years of age two meals a day, two good meals a day will suffice. One in the morning and one in the evening. After the evening meal before you go to bed there must be a minimum of three hours and if there is a certain amount of physical activity not necessarily very heavy or strenuous activity – just simple walking or may be a dance or something like this create something for yourself where about at least twenty to thirty minutes there is some physical activity after the evening meal. If you do this, largely your system will be healthy.
If one goes to bed with food still inside the stomach bag a certain level of inertia is generated in the system this inertia physiologically it’s like accelerating towards death. Death is ultimate inertia and if you go to bed with stomach full one thing is it generates inertia; another dimension is the stomach bag is full means it will create pressure on other organs in the abdomen region – this will also lead to various kinds of health issues. It’s very important when you go to bed again food is moved out of stomach bag that the bad is not heavy to put pressure on – as you sleep in different postures it should not be putting pressure on the rest of the organs
When it comes to activity in this brief time I don’t want to give you an exercise regimen. The simple thing that we need to understand is our body is capable of bending forward, bending backward and twisting sideways on either side. This much activity must happen whatever you do in whatever form. If you do classical hatha yoga that is the best way to do it. Scientific way of doing it. If that is not yet in your life you must somehow make sure everyday you bed forward, backward and twist both ways and squat so that stretching of the spinal column will happen. This much activity is a must for everybody on a daily basis if we want to keep the entire system in a healthful state particularly your neurological system which will be an issue as one ages.
The volume of rest that an individual needs is determined by various factors. One important factor is the type and the volume of food that one consumes; when I say the type of food you must experiment with foods and see what types of foods cause maximum heaviness within you. What type of foods will leave you like an agile if you make sure at least forty percent of your diet is fresh vegetables and fruits you will see the lightness in the body will come because what the body needs is restfulness not necessarily sleep. Most people understand that sleep is only way to rest. No, as you sit and stand you can either be restful or in a state of agitation or in a state of inertia. If you are in a lively state of restfulness, moment to moment in your life the volume of sleep you actually require will come down.
The lubricating fluids in your joints turn to settle down and are not in circulation. So when you wake up body is demanding you first lubricate your joints – directional movement is a simple way of doing this.