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A Side View on Good Health

T. C. Gopalakrishnan*

There are perhaps more books on good health then there are people! In engineering drawings, as the reader knows, there are usually the main views known as Plan and Elevation. Now and then they supply a side view to make matters clear. This article is one such on good health. After reading this article, you may provide your own side views so that people can look at the issue from different angles and get better clarity on health - or just prefer to leave it alone and mind their business. In any case, let us propose and those who find it inviting will have their Plan and hope for their Elevation!

General

Before we plunge into the matter of good health, we should be aware of the general scenario of life on this planet. It is known that stable mental peace is possible only through an inner transformation of the mind based on self-awareness. Our minds are caught unconsciously by the habit of thought inherited over centuries. As a result, human beings are externalized – hooked on to the outer aspects of life such as material possessions, fame, strong identification with a religion, nation or the like, and so on. This is creating a lot of unhappiness to the individual and, therefore, to humanity as a whole. Those who realize this begin to turn inward and indulge in ‘Athma Vichara’ – the Soul Search. This clicks with a statement of Jesus Christ – “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you. ” The associated awareness helps one bring about a vibrant life, though not at the early stages of attention. Some adjustment period is involved. Once interest in the esoteric approach to life gets going, it never withers; it only furthers itself in intensity. Very soon, awareness associated with that interest brings about a calmer and quieter mind in contrast to the state engendered by the habitual, noisy mind. While this attention to the mind is essential in bringing about the inner dive and the associated transformation, attention to the body is equally important. There is a Tamil proverb: Suvarai Vaithukkonduthan chiththiram ezhutha vendum. It means that for producing a painting or drawing, a good mural background is necessary. It is obvious that the body provides such a background on which evolution of consciousness can take place. Therefore, for bringing about inner transformation in the psychology of a person, good physical health is sine qua non.

Aside from the above logical argument, the body - an amazing mechanism - deserves attention in its own right. Our physical outfit, a product of cosmological intelligence, is a fine example of Divine manifestation in terms of intricacies and coordination. If one listens to a medical scientist explain the subtle connections between various biological units of the body and their functions, one cannot but be moved to the point of feeling tender towards this wonderful mechanism. Our bodies do put up with all kinds of abuse – physical and mental – for 60, 70 or 80 years and complain only when the abuse has gone too far. The somewhat sensitive people, who stop abusing the body before the no-return point is reached, are rewarded with rejuvenation by the hidden intelligence and constructive forces of the biological system. It may be said that, in most people, the body is doing a thankless job. Over and above this is the deplorable issue of committing suicide – punishing the body to have the satisfaction of taking revenge on somebody or to end one’s own overwhelming self-pity. People who go through a near death experience after an attempted suicide return to tell us that this anticipated satisfaction is one of gross deception and that the intended target is never reached by that idiotic approach. When this truth sinks to the level of subconscious mind in human beings, there will be significant reduction in suicides.

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*Author of the book “In Quest of the Deeper Self – A joyous Adventure” form which this article is excerpted.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that the human body is like a boat primarily meant to carry us across the ocean of life and death to the shores of immortality. We certainly don’t want to travel by a leaky boat! The simile of the boat applies to both ‘Stula Sareera’, the physical body, and ‘Sookshma Sareera’, the subtle body. During the discarnate period, we are carried on by the subtle body. In this article, we are concerned with the physical system. However, a passing note is given in the following paragraph on the mental disposition conducive to an affectionate disposition towards the body.

Under true spirituality, outside of sectarian religious practices, the human mind, freed from its conditioning at least to some extent, feels tender towards everything – even towards the so called inanimate things. That being so, it is needless to say that under those circumstances the human body receives the care and attention that it deserves. Regarding this heightened sensitivity of the free mind towards everything in the world, there is a nice passage in Siddharta by Herman Hesse (Hesse, 1993). The story has it that enlightenment takes place in Siddharta, the hero of the story, after he goes through many experiences, some of them deeply depressing. In the evening of his life, when he functions as an old ferryman across a river, he meets his young days’ friend Govinda who happens to be on his way across that river. The two spend some time together in the wooded ambience reminiscing their young days. Asked to explain his inner discoveries, Siddharta gives a moving description of the state of mind in which pervasive consciousness unites one with everything in the universe. During that description, Siddharta picks up a stone and says that he respects it not so much because it will evolve and become a human being and eventually a Buddha but because it contains all of it in its essence even now and, for the time being, it appears to be a stone. This kind of respect for everything per se begins to impact the mind that transcends conventional sectarian conclusions and belief systems.

The Practical Side

There are six main avenues along which attention to health can be directed. People are familiar with these avenues but, quite often, do not apply themselves seriously to those as a result of too busy a life - professionally, socially or otherwise. Once they understand the intrinsic value of robust health, they somehow find time for attention to the six avenues and they move on to a stable track. The avenues are:

1. Diet and Dietary Supplements

2. Sleep (Duration and Quality)

3. Yoga and Exercise

4. Games and Sports

5. Hobbies

6. Leisure

There are many good books in the market that tell us how we can gainfully apply ourselves to these items. So, in this article, we will not dwell on the conventional aspects but touch upon a few items that don’t usually find a place in literature. Thus, only some issues in the above list will find a place here.

Dietary Supplements: Apart from a wholesome diet, a few supplements can help us maintain good health. These include items like vitamins B complex, C and E, Calcium, honey, dry fruits such as dates, raisins, and so on. There are also some herbal preparations tested over long periods of time. It is part of the adventure to look around for these supplements. Needless to say that any such acrobatics with the supplements should be tried only under the guidance of a family physician. It is wise to have a second opinion too. Make sure that the one you are consulting is himself (or herself) taking dietary supplements! Further, whatever we consume that way should be given a ‘drug holiday’, as the medical field calls it. This means that we don’t take them too regularly for too long a time but give them an appropriate break frequently. This moratorium on the gimmicks ensures that the body gets a chance to flush out whatever is accumulating as a silent poison.

Over-enthusiasm about good health can land us in trouble. Some years ago, Robert Benchley wrote a humorous article in the Readers Digest on phobias. His imaginativeness in defining strange fears and giving them funny titles of phobia make the article hilarious. Mr. Benchley says that there is a phobia whereby the affected person is afraid of falling in front of the chair because he is sitting too much in front. So the person keeps kicking himself backwards until he tips over and falls on the rear side! This is an apt metaphor for those who become over-enthusiastic about good health. We may keep dumping vitamins into our body until hyper-vitaminosis throws us down backwards! Obviously, we must know when to stop. But how does one know how much is too much? Presumably, we have to be inquisitive and trust our ‘gray cells’. Khalil Gibran says, “After 30, the best doctor for you is yourself. ”

By the way, in the above spoof on phobias, Mr. Benchley discusses many fears, half of them configured by his fertile imagination. It is so well written, you keep laughing through it to the point that your real phobias don’t seem to matter! Towards the end of his essay, he tickles us by saying “If you tell us what your phobia is, we will tell you what you are afraid of”! Isn’t that cute? Surely, such humor keeps us in good health!

Sleep: Sleep! – yes, we all love it. However, not many of us give it an affectionate hug. Rather, it is gone through as a matter of course. We have more important things to do – emails to reply, bills to be paid, papers to file, deadlines to meet, the dog to be taken to the vet, and then there is the list of engagements from the spouse! In addition, you are perhaps busy writing a book on how to find leisure. The result: Sleep becomes the first casualty. So long as sleep is treated as a secondary thing, it is unlikely that one becomes interested in esoteric matters. Once a person is drawn to the region outside the common rut, there is a natural pull towards respecting sleep as an honored facet of life. This does not mean wallowing in laziness by extending the hours of sleep. It means one understands the content of sleep as a life-preserver and respects its nuances in terms of quantity and quality. It leads one to appreciate the sublime role that sleep plays in our bio-rhythm.

How much attention do we pay in making the bed? Does the linen in contact with the body get washed frequently? With what care do we prepare the elements? Are the bed, the pillows and sheets homologous with the natural profile of the body while asleep? Is the bedroom well ventilated? Is it dark enough and noise free? After taking food, does enough time elapse before going to sleep? Do we unburden all our mental loads before falling asleep? Is one calm enough to watch sleep entering the body?

Three types of consciousness are recognized in human beings: (1) ‘Susupthi’ – the deep dreamless sleep, (2) ‘Swapna’ – the dreaming state [known as the rapid eye movement (REM) period] and (3) ‘Jaagrat’ – the wakeful state. It is during Susupthi that the body gets its full rejuvenating time. The longer this period, the better it is for the body. One can explore ways of extending the Susupthi hours. Rejuvenation proceeds probably even during the Swapna period but perhaps with less efficacy. However, it has been found that Swapna helps the brain to shed some of its stress. During Jaagrat both the body and mind are active and so they do not get enough rest. The tendency is more towards being stressed. Instead of being de-stressed, they become distressed!

According to some studies, it is known that the body sleeps soundly for the first three hours followed by two hours of light sleep and then again by three hours of deep sleep. It is good to adjust our hours such that we wake up during the light-sleep periods. Usually, the human body needs eight hours of sleep every day. Contingencies in modern living may not always permit these to be carried out satisfactorily but one can avoid the avoidable. Whenever one is unable to fulfill those expectations, it is good to make amends for the lapse at the earliest opportunity.

If some persistent extraneous noise disturbs the sleep, one may try the approach of creating ‘white-noise’ in the bedroom. White-noise is of a steady tone at some acceptable decibel level that smudges the disturbing noise; that is, drown the intruder! This is based on the fact that the brain does not get disturbed by steady noise even if it is louder than the intruder because the intruder has sharp peaks. White-noise can be created by attaching a piece of paper to the back of a table-fan and let it flutter. Fine tuning the paper-flutter to create the required level of white-noise is a matter of fun. Such a suggestion may appear a little crazy but it has worked admirably for some people. The writer has been significantly benefited by it on several occasions when the extraneous noise drove him up the wall. Helped by the white noise, he came down and slept well. He was pleasantly surprised to find the same suggestion being given by the author of an article in Readers Digest. That author recommends, as a second alternative, switching on a radio and tuning it to a non-station frequency. Here, of course, we have better control over adjusting the white-noise level.

The idea of making additional noise in the room may not appeal to some. Jerome K. Jerome wrote, in his humorous book ‘Three men in a Boat’, that one of his friends complained of headache. Another friend offered to play the banjo to sooth his nerves. But the first friend said “No, I prefer the headache”! In that manner, people may prefer to leave the disturbing noise as it is and not have something rattling about in the bedroom to smother the intruder. It depends on the individual. All we say is: Give this matter of white-noise a sincere try and see if you prefer the headache or the banjo.

In any case, once you apply yourself to the matter of sleep as a venerable issue, you begin to discover things on your own. It is part of self-discovery resulting from expanding awareness. Problem of insomnia has to be approached from the medical point of view as well as from the issue of noisy mind. In this connection, you may recall the value of ‘Bardo’ mentioned in Chapter 8. During the Bardo period, if one is quietly self aware, one can sense consciousness converging toward the Heart Center, one of the seven Chakras. It is a good feeling. The deeper you move into esoteric living, the lesser is the problem of insomnia.

Yoga and Exercise: A great deal of information is available from literature on these health items. Here we look into some unconventional aspects only. It is good to know that, in the region of yoga and exercise, there is a possibility of over-indulgence and hence hurting oneself. Moderation is the watch word. For example, excessive jogging or tennis may wear out the knees well before old age. So, we notice that there is such a thing as keeping the body well preserved. A harmonious balance between exercising and preserving deserves attention. Not much is written about the second aspect. This is where special care is needed and one can be creative.

In 1976, Theresa Bertherat and Carol Bernstein published a book in French and it was later translated into English with the title “The Body has its Reasons” (Bertherat, 1976). Its subtitle is: Anti-Exercises and Self-Awareness. A comment on the back cover says “A remarkable book. . . . . The marvelous new rout to Total Body Awareness. ” This book is full of unconventional ways of treating the body. It can help us discover a new approach to body care. In it, the ‘well preserved’ concept gets attention.

Of late, more people are taking to walking as a wholesome exercise. It wears out the body less compared to some vigorous exercises and, hence, the preservation aspect is fulfilled. Quite a few of us would have most likely seen the one-sheet bunch of advice under the caption ‘Desiderata’, either in one’s own house or in a friend’s. We feel good in going through that presentation. An important line there is: Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

Some yoga postures involve complicated, twisted positions of the body – the Ganda Berundasana, for example. A new aspirant to yoga may wonder how the bloke unwinds himself after getting into those contortions. The point is that yoga should not be treated merely as a matter of twisted bodily positions. The state of mind during the yogasanas is important. Our minds usually go ‘wool-gathering’ while the body, in its final position of a posture, remains still. Attempting to control the mind cannot help. That can only lead to conflict and a tense situation. What is meaningful is to be quietly self-aware of the noisy mind and its proclivity to wander off during that time. Not to fight with the mind is to be a friend of it and, in that friendly atmosphere, something can take place. This passive attention to the mind during the yoga is not usually emphasized and given the importance that it deserves.

Another healthy aspect of yoga is that one should not be too rigid about the instructions received. Here too it is good to explore one’s own natural inclinations and allow for flexibility. This is where one can learn what it means to listen to the body and follow its instructions. That way we pay attention to the inner Guru who is superior to the outer Gurus. This statement may sound blasphemous to some people but then no insult is meant to the human Gurus. They do help us a great deal in learning yoga and other things and so they deserve due respect. While being grateful to them, we notice that a mere conformist attitude cannot take us deep into the realm of yoga. After they give us the initial push, we must be free to take the journey by ourselves towards the inner Guru. Moving towards the inner Guru is the ultimate objective of yoga. Thus, while following the overall instructions on doing yogasanas, it is good to know how to listen to the body and introduce one’s own variations in the postures. These variations may suggest themselves only once in a while but we must remain open to them. This creative approach helps us understand the value of spontaneity in yogic awareness which serves as an aid to the Inner Dive. It can make yoga sessions very refreshing apart from helping us receive the usual dividends in the region of physical health. The sessions must be enjoyable and not be a period of struggle.

There are two items that may be termed ‘anti-yoga’. They are: Standing and/or Talking for long periods at a stretch. Avoiding these ‘anti-yoga’ items is as important, if not more important, than doing yoga! Self-awareness helps us discover other anti-yoga items in daily life and so, in that very process, free ourselves from them.

The Second Line

Now we come to an important concept of health in the name of ‘Second Line’. It can help us understand the state of our body in terms of its heightened or lessened well being. Once we become familiar with this concept, it functions like a gauge in assessing the body’s state of health. Now, we study the graph below.

In Fig 10, changing level of health is plotted against time. The First Line indicates a level below which the body falls sick. The farther we are below that line, the more the body is unwell. (If we fall all the way down to the bottom line, we are dead! God forbid. ) Once we are cured of the illness, we rise above the First Line. The higher we are above that line, the healthier we feel. At the level of the second line, there is a distinct feeling of heightened physical well being. Above this, the euphoria progressively increases.

Normally, we are satisfied to be above the First Line. ‘So long as we are not sick, it is okay’. With some additional care, we rise in the level of health and come closer to the Second Line. On falling sick, we become conscious of our body. When our health is in the region between the First and Second Lines, we are not aware of the body. On rising to the Second Line, we again become conscious of the body, but now with the feeling of wellness. In fact, it is this euphoric feeling in sensing the body that functions as the signal telling us that we are at the second level. This holistic bodily awareness is a characteristic of health levels on and above the Second Line. We notice that if we keep ourselves at that level, the probability of falling sick becomes low because it is quite a distance to go down. In other words, our resistance to sickness increases. Viruses may be going round, bacteria may be dancing around, but they don’t capture us. Even simple illnesses like the common cold, headache and fever do not bother a person in the region above the Second Line because of the metabolic robustness prevailing in that region. Apart from not easily falling sick, we enjoy just being alive if we are at the higher health levels. You may call the level of the Second Line as the Feather Health Level, because there we feel so light. Being of such high quality, it can only be reached with some dedication. One of the obstacles to it is the tendency to feel satisfied in just being not sick.

Those interested in rising to the Second Line, begin to understand the major and minor abuses that we normally subject the body to. That is the first step. Then we take note of those items that significantly contribute to good health. With that kind of interest, sooner or later we climb to the second level, sense its beauty and stay there.

In the early stages of reaching the second level we may frequently fall below it but, with sustained interest and application, it becomes easy to remain constantly above the Second Line. One gets the feeling that the ‘Susupthi’ period is extended. Dreams begin to toe the frivolous line and become less and less disturbing. Body’s intelligence is happy to function at its best. The aging process slows down.

The Third Line

Perhaps there are some more lines above the Second Line, each with its own fine points, which can be lived with intensity. However, we have to go up gradually feeling our way through each line. To many people, even the idea of the Second Line will appear phony - merely a theoretical idea. You probably hear someone say ‘The writer’s imagination has gone amok’! If, however, you feel that this matter of Second Line touches a deep chord in you, then you can explore that and lines above it.

The Second Line is characterized by harmony of the physical system. With deeper attention to living as a whole, the vista expands. One begins to sense the close link between the body and the mind and hence becomes interested in their interactive harmony. Attention focuses on the psycho-physical system as a single unit. This frees the mind from being embroiled in its own self-centered activities. Silence descends on the system. Love, the expression of the soul, begins to flow towards everyone and everything. The exalted Third Line is endowed with that kind of wholesomeness.

Without a stable residence above the Second Line, it is unlikely that the significance and content of the Third Line are felt. However, feeling drawn towards the Third Line at any stage has a meaningful value. That line signifies a synergistic confluence of a calm mind and a healthy body. Orderliness in daily life becomes a natural consequence. There will be no need to fight habits or addictions. Loneliness, boredom, persecution complex and the like quit forever. Empathy, and not emotion, rules. People who have a near death experience report a quality of peacefulness and abundant feeling for all aspects of life. Near the Third Line, those qualities begin to dawn in one’s life even without a life threatening experience. Cosmological significance of our existence and proximity to Divinity are felt beyond all concepts. Self-centered activities related to personal salvation drop off.

The Third Line is associated with a merger of physical and psychological energies that moves us towards the cosmic oneness of all things. One gets a feeling of the stillness in which the primal energy and intelligence take repose. The associated witness consciousness is the one that releases us from both the body and the mind. There is a feeling of the affectionate bystander attitude and a touch of the ancient. Awareness takes us towards the Primal Self.

The Fourth Line

Thank God, there is no Fourth Line! If you discover one, let us - your fellow passengers on the Journey of Life – know about it before you are attracted to the Fifth Line.

In any case, we do notice that starting from simple attention to good health, there are many heights to be scaled. In this respect, life throws its gauntlet at us affectionately. Let us pick it up with confidence - and win!

References:

Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha. New Delhi: Rupa and Company, 1993.

Bertherat, Theresa and Carol Bernstein. The Body Has Its Reasons. New York:Avon Books, 1976.

Gopalakrishnan, T. C. , In Quest of the Deeper Self – A Joyous Adventure. Sudharsan Graphics. Chennai, India, 2007. .