Imagine that you need to travel by road. What are the basic requirements?
· A vehicle with a sturdy exterior that can support the other parts
· Fuel to keep going
· A steering mechanism that helps you follow your route/map
Ensuring that these three are functioning well is essential for you to have a smooth journey.
Integral health follows the same principle. The vehicle is your physical body, the fuel is your life-energy and the steering/map is your mind. These three need to be fit in order to support your soul’s journey.
Integral Health is based on the knowing that somewhere deep within you, you know the purpose of your life. Somewhere deep within you, lies hidden the potential to harmonise all the other parts of your being. Awakening or rediscovering this inner most part, allowing it to flood your mind, body and emotions with its intelligence, guidance, calmness and strength is the principle process of Integral Health.
Integral Health focuses on the well-being of your mind, body and emotions, their maintenance, practices to ensure that they remain healthy and receptive, and enable us to live the greater purpose of our life, which is known by your innermost being.
Today’s sedentary lifestyle makes us stay away from nature and sunlight, disconnected from humanity and we predominantly think only about our own selfish needs for money, fame etc. Most of the food that we eat, mental stimuli like news and gossip, emotional or desire or ego pushes by social media are toxic. The increase of online trolling, hate-mongering and creating an ‘us vs them’ mentality has turned off the compassionate light in our hearts for one another.
Integral Health is a state of total harmony, both within oneself and one’s parts of being, and also in our coexistence with our environment.
Practice of the Week: Replacing unhealthy food with healthy food
i) Replace your ingredients: Replace readymade spice powders with whole spices or fresh ingredients. For example, use cinnamon sticks and bay leaves instead of garam masala. Try to use fresh ingredients as much as possible. For example, use fresh ginger instead of ginger powder, fresh coconut instead of coconut powder.
ii) Replace your beverages: Replace drinks that are high in caffeine, sugar, preservatives and harmful chemicals with fresh fruit or vegetable juices. Explore the wide variety of herbal teas that is available instead of regular tea/coffee/aerated beverages.
iii) Replace your snacks/sweets: This is one of the hardest to overcome since they are small, tempting, and easy to eat and store. Replace unhealthy snacks with nuts, puffed rice, flattened rice (poha), salad and fruit bowls. Opt for baked or dry roasted snacks instead of deep-fried ones. Turn to jaggery and dates to satisfy your sweet cravings.