What does it mean to live life fully?
If we really want to live, we'd better start to try;
If we don't, it doesn't matter; but we'd better start to die.
-W.H. Auden
The choice is simple- between now and the end of our days on earth we can choose to either live or die.
Yet to live like this does not happen by itself. In fact everything conspires against it.If we don't take charge of its direction, our life will be controlled by outside circumstances and forces.
What is life then? What does it mean to live fully? What are the effects of relaxation in life? What are the effects of action in life?
To live means to experience - through doing, feeling and thinking. Experience takes place in time so it is the ultimate resource we have. The content of experience will determine the quality of life. And time is of essence!
Yin Yoga for deep healing and relaxation
What we do during an average day is divided into three major kinds of activities. First is what we do to generate energy for survival and comfort. About half of our psychic energy goes into these productive activities. Productive activities create new energy as we need to do a great deal of work to preserve the body and its possessions. Therefore a fourth of our day involves maintenance activities. We keep the body in shape by eating, resting, grooming; our possessions by cleaning, cooking, shopping etc...The time left over is free time or leisure.
It is during leisure-that we become truly human by devoting time to self- development - to learning, to the arts. Unfortunately in the real world of today the fabric of our ordinary lives appears so mundane, predictable, stagnant. Time is divided between making money, quickly going through the ritual of maintenance activities and settling into leisure through watching television, reading newspapers and maybe working on a hobby. Watching TV or surfing the internet has started taking up much of the psychic energy of all leisure pursuits - which is passive and addictive in nature, not something that aids self-development.
These three functions of production, maintenance and leisure - absorbs our psychic energy. They provide the information that goes through the mind day after day, from birth to end of life.
Within these parameters our life unfolds. How we experience, what we do is very important. What do we feel? How do emotions affect our actions and ways of being? It is easy to see the life of home and work, Commitment and responsibility as a permanent fixture.Within our routine - change is constant. Nothing is permanent.T his is the natural flow of life!! We so often fail to recognize this!!
If you know how to free yourself from the tension, if you know and recognize the impermanence of all things - we can flow with life!
Psychosomatic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, migraine, asthma, ulcers, digestive disorders and skin diseases arise from tensions in the body and mind. These tend to arise as a result of man's way of thinking and feeling. Energy is dissipated and the body & mind experience disharmony.
If you know how to free yourself from the tension, if you know and recognize the impermanence of all things - we can flow with life.
Yoga, in my experience, is the answer to this. Yoga is a way of life - not just asanas, breathing or meditation, but how we live our life from morning to night is all yoga! Preparation of the body to be supple and still, is achieved through the asana practice. The key is to practice with the intention to relax the muscles. Relaxed muscles require less blood supply and offer beneficial rest to heart and lungs. Holding the asanas in stillness increase the balance between the various systems and the functions of the body. The effects of this is felt in the subtle body too. And soon the union of all aspects of body,breath, mind and the 5 bodies become one. So to live live fully, inculcating yoga into your lifestyle brings relaxation, rejuvenation and energy into us! Most of all allows us to enjoy being in the beautiful, healthy body! And live fully and joyfully!
Bottom line
So live your life fully! Enjoy being in your beautiful, healthy body! Make yoga a lifestyle! Be the yoga that you practice!