Mental Fitness

As we all strive towards enjoyment of physical health, free of ailments, we also wish to experience a comparable state of mental fitness.

Pride in ourselves comes more easily when we know that our body is in good shape, vital and functioning freely without impediment.

Similarly, our self confidence increases when the same principles are applied to our psychological health, when positive, creative thoughts and ideas govern our emotions.

Mental health is becoming recognized as an issue that threatens to dominate medical issues in the community in the future with serious personal ramifications even more distressing than physical disease.

Prevention is the wisest path to follow. This is a relatively simple matter if each of us chooses to become as focussed on the natural rules that must be followed to establish mental fitness as we do in our disciplines to create physical fitness.

The rewards are great!

The following accounts present just a few examples of different people’s experiences in relaxation practice …

A young student says….

“Yes I like relaxing. But I’m not always in the mood for it. The best times seem to be after I’ve had a really busy day or had a game of football.  Then it is usually good. But anytime I can make myself feel cooler or warmer as I want to by using my breathing exercises. I like to lie down and do nothing as it is pretty peaceful.”

……………..

“I lay down to relax hoping to see just how far I could go. First I let all the muscles in my body relax and feel loose and free. When I was sure that there was no more residual tension left in my body I started to concentrate upon my breathing – taking deep but rhythmical breaths. After this was established I tried to make my mind relax but I couldn’t. Then when I stopped trying to slow my brain down, it did actually slow down.

My body then became very light except in the joints, that still felt heavy. Then to my surprise I began to feel smaller and smaller until I felt about 1 cm square!

After this I felt I was being expanded, blown up like a balloon and became very rounded. This feeling lasted for a while and was pleasant enough. Then I began to feel normal again but it was the most fantastic sensation I have ever felt and although I have tried again, I haven’t been able to accomplish quite the same again.  But each time I relax I feel something different and it is always good.”  A student.

…………

“I prepared in the classical manner – lying flat on the floor in a north/south aspect.

As soon as I shut my eyes I began to feel aware of the physical sensations of my body and had to make a slight muscular adjustment here and there, in order to be totally comfortable.

Then I began the tension/release technique, thinking of each part of my body in turn, starting with my feet and deliberately tensing my muscles to feel what that felt like, and releasing strain to be conscious of what relaxation was like. Part by part I did this throughout my whole body. By the time I reached my head and tensed my eyes and relaxed them I was happy just to lie still and become aware of the pleasant feeling that pervaded my whole body.

After a minute or two I commenced rhythmic breathing but soon tired and wanted to be still. As soon as I did I felt my body become light and I seemed to lose the sense of my body. It was lovely.  I just seemed to float and I enjoyed it.

I have no idea how long this lasted but I didn’t actually go to sleep although when I thought of moving it was just like awakening in the morning. I was pleased to stay where I was but knew I had to get going again. The pleasant feeling stayed with me for several hours. ”

A student

 …………..

“I’d been having a bad time with relationship problems and was feeling pretty confused and lost.  I felt I had to do something to get over this mood yet everything I tried didn’t work. So eventually I thought as a last resort to do nothing at all.

I lay down and shut my eyes but as it was still daytime it felt strange at first. Then I decided to keep very still and not move a muscle, just to see if I could do that. But the thing that prevented me was the process of breathing . Somehow instead of being disappointed, I began to get interested in deliberately breathing deeper and deeper. I’d never done that before, but at least it kept my mind off my problems.

This must have gone on for some minutes until I felt tired of doing this and thought I’d lie still again, which I did. I felt strangely light with a sensation of floating that was very pleasant and had to allow myself to indulge in this new experience that reminded me of something similar I’d known as a child on going to sleep.

But I didn’t sleep. I just lay there feeling light and free and floating and my inside feelings were just that nothing mattered very much. Everything felt right. Somehow I knew my problems were not very great and would soon dissolve and I would feel happy again.

I really enjoyed this time of being still and now I practise it whenever I feel the need. It certainly worked for me the first time and most times afterwards.”

 A student

……….

“I find relaxation practice a reliable and exciting time. It is not a discipline, as it was at first but has become enjoyable and refreshing. Each time it seems to produce different experiences and I can never relate these to anything.  They just seem to happen.

Always I begin in the way I was taught in class to lie flat, without a pillow and wait for my body to be comfortable on the floor.  My eyes are shut and I begin to be more aware of the sensations I have in my body. I am not moving at all except of course with respiration. I feel energy sensations in my feet and hands and eventually all over the body.

This particular time I felt the energy centred in my upper body and head and became aware of a beautiful coloured deep blue light, although my eyes were still closed. I felt as if I was being pulled upward and lost all sense of my muscles. I didn’t feel conscious of a shape, I just felt I was a being.

With the wonderful upliftment came a feeling of protection. It was as if I should never feel alone again. There would always be this lovely presence to care for me. I didn’t see anyone but felt there perhaps was someone beyond the blue light. The light became soft and gradually less, just like an electric dimmer.

Then my attention returned to think of my body and it felt soft and relaxed and my breathing gentle and I remembered this special feeling of being protected and stored it away to remind myself in the future.”  A student

………………..

“After all the preliminaries of exercise, some breathing techniques, muscular commands and so on I entered the first stage of relaxation which felt very pleasant except for a little discomfort on the hard floor.

Then I was ready to involve my imagination and persuade my body to feel ‘heavier and heavier’ as my teacher said would encourage total physical relaxation.

So I began to affirm to myself, “I am feeling heavier and heavier”. I confess I was a little cynical about any result and was amazed when I began to feel leaden and extremely heavy. But because the sensation was pleasant, I did not resist it. After a little while I was ready for the sequel exercise. This is to help emotional relaxation by imagining any hardness and heaviness melting to become soft and fluid. I did this pretty easily and found it quite delightful. I felt beautiful in fact. I felt nothing would every worry me again if I could retain this feeling. Although I can’t always succeed, but I remember to practise this feeling of melting when I feel stressed and up tight. It helps.”

A student

 …………

Re-cycled man must regain true form and health

He must, re-moulded, trust again the spirit’s wealth

Find beauty, line and grace once more enshrined

Not only in his art but in the fabric of his mind

If he will not return as prodigal to what is right

Resist and continue in his material ways of might

Then doom is forecast! as the gods, we understand,

Can no longer tolerate man’s devious turn from what is planned.

Sally Janssen

The subject has become a focus of political and philosophical disturbance and debate in many countries where enjoying freedom has eroded discrimination and given tolerance and now licence to wrongdoing.

Time and energy is being spent in the presentation of a perverted idea of marriage in human culture in western countries termed as ‘gay marriage’ between two of the same sex. It is seen as an issue of ‘choice’ and ‘sexual preference’ to question nature and deny one’s birth sex.

In western countries as in Australia, if this issue is not speedily resolved by strong public stance that wishes the retention of traditional marriage custom, we are likely to find social changes that are totally destructive to our physical and emotional way of life.

It appears that speakers at a recent rally in Parliament House organized by the National Marriage Coalition were vocal in their objections as reported in The Australian newspaper August 16^th 2011. We need strong moral attitudes to prevail.

Attempts are being made to pollute our minds into thinking black is white and this if successful in the effort to enshrine homosexual marriage as lawful would not only make mockery of our traditional System of Law based upon natural ethics and principles but would contribute to the eventual, or even immediate destruction of our present civilization.

Throughout the world’s cultures sexual relationships between two of the same sex has been deemed unlawful and in some communities punished by death.  What is now posed is a complete overturning of traditional rules of sexual behaviour that challenge all the laws of society but those related to health, hygiene, morals and spiritual principles upon which our civilization has advanced.

Scientific knowledge and rules of hygiene are ignored or being challenged. This is obvious in the case particularly of active male homosexuals whose sexual abuses involve anal entry, by which Aids is known to be transmitted.

Once homosexual behaviour was considered to be an aberration and classed as a mental or emotional disease that should be responded to with compassion, tolerance and healed through psychological adjustment.

Now we are in danger of not only promoting physical sexual disease and psychological symptoms but of undermining forever the potential trust and loving relationship that is the ideal of natural male/female relationships.

All this is occurring because of weakness that has allowed our thought processes to be distorted. We have allowed insidious methods of persuasion to force us adopt ideas that deny logic, to feel differently and to deny natural instincts in assuming a tolerance and understanding that most of us do not possess. Most healthy people when considering the subject impartially will feel abhorrence at the abnormal behaviour associated with homosexuality.

When are we to find the strength to take a moral stance as to what is right and wrong without apology?

Surely our concept of democratic freedom still embraces responsibility?

We are denying this democratic freedom by surrendering to destructive social trends that would deny decent human integrity and values.

The warnings are clear. It is now up to us to protect natural relationships and family life.

We are experiencing or observing many changes in the global village of the present time.

Many of these are positive and would seem to be introducing measures to advance our society and our prosperity.  Have the changes brought us benefit and promise to continue along a path we wish to go? Or have we lost our way?

Those who cherish values of order, ethics and morals according to natural law are not pleased but rather aghast at the extent our culture is disintegrating. People are encouraged to give way to unhealthy thoughts and behaviour instead of the personal disciplines that lead to nobler paths, purposes and peaceful lives.

Those who make sincere effort to achieve some quality in their own self culture receive little support from social climate or are offered deliberate encouragement from others who are aware of their strivings toward excellence.  We are apt to find ourselves in the classroom of the world without a teacher to guide, without sympathetic companions and can only retreat to do our ‘homework’ alone, whether it is in matters of physical health or mental fitness.

The wonderful realisation that brings us courage is that there is nothing and nobody to stop us progressing as our own minds and ideas tell us is ‘right’.  We do not have to challenge others if we are generally minding our own business and working toward the lifestyle and the ideal of the quality human being we seek to become. We are free to discover our inner pursuits no matter what material circumstance present themselves.

In regard to outer difficulties, we all have to overcome any fear we may feel about the future as well as current events. The practise of inner self confidence is our tool. To focus upon our own inner centre gradually brings us from the initial deliberate effort towards the time when we feel free. Then we are able to dissolve any fear or stress and experience a spontaneous and genuine identification with our inner spiritual nature that possesses the powerful qualities of love and light that disperse darkness.

Meditate to experience this.

INTUITION – Refreshing our interpretation of the word ‘intuition’ offers a simple reminder that it means learning from within rather than without.

Intuition is the faculty within us that encourages us toward what we consider to be right action, feelings and thoughts.  Intuition teaches us and helps us to be true to ourselves and to live according to our aspirations and highest aims.  It tends to develop as a dominant faculty particularly with females and has a vast potential to aid all of us in the art of living. But in order to be aware and receptive to this inner guiding voice, we must be sensitive to it and learning to trust it takes a little practice.

Awareness of intuition may vary with each of us, sometimes occurring with a subtle but repeated or sustained feeling about something or someone. Sometimes like a bolt out of the blue we may feel compelled to act upon a strong ‘hunch’ when we seem motivated by an inner shout rather than a subtle whisper of what to do.  Some of us may choose to be ‘deaf’ to the inner voice, and can only find trust in logical thoughts as they arise from a familiar basis.

However, we are most likely to benefit by our inner guidance and wisdom, if we are conscious of the existence of the faculty and are prepared to listen to our own inner counsel.

The result is of benefit to us in several ways – by the expansion of our sensitivity and awareness of everything around us and in our lives; by increased perception of factors in our relationships that allow greater exercise of compassion; it offers a means of trusting ourselves and gaining greater self confidence;  and discovering and utilizing intuition allows us to know that we are capable of accessing inner wisdom as to how to direct our lives constructively.

Learning to appeal and to listen to this inner voice of wisdom and to apply it will invite direct proof of its value.

As our own minds develop we become more eager to share our thoughts and express them as we naturally wish to engage in conversation to exchange ideas and consider the opinions and information of others.

Thought of a profound nature is seen as the inherent wisdom of a culture or philosophy.

In the case of classical teachings, they have been tested and perpetuated over centuries of time. These provide the basis upon which each generation relies upon in establishing their ideas and values.

Read the rest of this entry »

Simple thoughts and clear ones are most welcome ones to nourish our minds.

……………….

“Listen to all who talk from the heart, for your heart needs food too.  But do not follow their saying blindly, because your truth, your own truth, is within you.  Obey the dictates of your heart therefore, and be not afraid, because it will never lead you astray.

The heart is the treasure-house of wisdom; the mind is the treasure house of learning.  So look to the balance between mind and heart; and what is felt as an inner, clear conviction, hold fast to that before all, and do not waver.”

Meha Baba

Read the rest of this entry »

Many of us are trapped in the inner world of our own thoughts.  We get entangled in the maze of ideas, impulses, reactions, memories, processes, dreams and yearnings that can take possession of our thought faculties and over which at times it seems we have no conscious control. We must respect the position of power and influence of our mind that governs and directs our feelings and actions but we must not allow its strident dictatorship.

Read the rest of this entry »

Of course we all need to know what is necessary for our own education about the disease called Cancer. Most of us have loved ones who have or are at present suffering from the symptoms or even the chemical treatment methods currently in vogue. There are few families that escape this modern health hazard in our polluted environment where no natural element is untainted.

However, although in particular it is a disease of the so called ‘developed countries’ where chemicals, pharmaceuticals, industries abound as does greed and material affluence, it is not entirely without other factors in its complex causes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mental hygiene – the basic rule for health – keeping our thoughts clear of any unwholesome thoughts and ideas

Mental attitude – our positive mental attitude allows positive moods and happiness and is just as important as good physical posture that allows healthy physiological processes

Mental ‘diet’ or nourishment – the matter which we read, or listen to, must be of good quality material and provide a healthy variety of information that we can digest

Read the rest of this entry »