I tend to think that how I feel is determined by how I think, but this concept leaves something very important out of the picture: body and mind are connected and how we feel mentally depends on how we feel physically. Back in the day, I used to hate exercise and I was usually in bad shape – the way I felt reflected that lifestyle, if you can call it that. When I started doing Yoga, not only did I burn a lot of those useless extra pounds, I also started to feel better, be happier, and be a much more fun person to be around. That positive influence on my feelings felt as though a curtain had been opened that had always darkened my days. It’s amazing how fitness can change our feelings.
Now that I’m aware of these changes, I pay much closer attention to people that seem unhappy or angry all the time. What is their problem, exactly? Are they worried about health or income? Are they stressed in their jobs? Yeah, sometimes! But I find that most people like that are actually missing a proper fitness routine in their lives. Any kind of exercise – not necessarily Yoga – is more important than the kind of comfort our modern life provides us with. The wisdom that a healthy body and a healthy mind go together is ancient, yet so many of us don’t think about it much or pay attention.
I have a friend who used to be the same way I was – overweight, depressed, and overall in bad shape. After I had told him about my experiences with Yoga and how much better I felt, he started to come along to the Yoga classes and within a few weeks, his behavior began to change just like mine did. I don’t think this change was due to the particular fitness program we chose for ourselves, but for doing something at all.
If you think back to what’s natural to human beings, you need to go back all the way to hunter-gatherer societies. In the wild, people have to run after prey all the time, giving them a natural routine of physical activity. They don’t require any kind of fitness, because it is already part of their lives. Nowadays, we don’t need to fight for our food anymore, so we no longer have that kind of natural fitness that we used to have. Whenever we lose or stop to do something that is natural to our species, we end up suffering. In light of this fact, it is no wonder that Yoga did for me what it did, and I never want to stop being fit. The great thing is that you do Yoga burn and lose pounds along the way.
Imagine doing fitness not for the purpose of being lean, but for being happy! If you do that, you’ll get a great looking body along with the experience for free!