Health & Philosophy

I am sure we all are aware that 2020 has been a nightmare when it comes to health. Health has been the focal point of this pandemic. When something at this scale affects every individual, there are campaigns or belief systems or methodology which takes place on a system level. These systems being say for a country or your own locale. What do I mean when I say something happens? Let’s take India and let’s say Yoga.

Being a yoga teacher myself, Yoga has been actively advocated to fight this disease. I myself don’t mean to advocate that yoga is the “cure” for this. Nor I am trying to support any political agenda for the same. What I’m trying to say that as a collective consciousness such things get picked up. I have done camps in school teaching yoga. In Mumbai, the city I reside in if you go to schools most will have a gym room or gym class instead of yoga. Now things are changing. Yoga is a must when it comes to health. I’m sure that any form of exercise or physical workout is beneficial. There is a shift in the way things function.

This shift seemingly positive or not do bring out some assurance in our minds. With social media making all of us connected. Our mental health can be easily dampened with what happens in the society. Any fake news of vaccination being out for COVID can lead to faster recovery and a will to fight. But I’m sure we have all been forced to be cynical in this fake era of news and information.

For better understanding let us talk about health on a personal level. A healthy person gets sick say maximum of twice a year. This in fact is supposed to be healthy. I know getting sick as being healthy might sound absurd. But well the study of pathology is like that sometimes. When we get sick we don’t value money, ambitions, knowledge and so on.

We just want to get better. We take a firm stand that when we do get better we will eat right, engage in physical activities and be less stressed. But this doesn’t last. Just like how you see a surge in gym membership in the month of January because of resolutions we keep for a new year. We give in and give up. Our decisions take a toss as we see a domino’s advertisement or starting a new TV series which is too addictive. We sadly fall prey to endless visits to doctors. We who prefer crash diets and find creative loopholes when it comes to health.

But what remains and what works is the philosophy one carries when it comes to health. And I know I’ve been leading this dialogue in a very physical sense even though we all know it is much beyond the physical. It is also mental and spiritual. My learning’s in yoga and following some celebrities and people I have observed that they lay their foundations in life devoting to health.

And sure their health in their true sense is their wealth. They have to be healthy to be a lead role in a movie or to open up franchise. Not neglecting that this is what they do it for. What about us? What incentive do we have? In the short run in fact it’s an expense and or a burden. Health should be like a relationship. It should come before your loved one or your family or anyone.

I am reminded of a question which was posed to Dalai Lama, the question was “What surprises you most about humanity?” He replied “Man sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die; and then dies having never really lived.”

Quite heavy I fathom right? A bitter truth we somehow all know. All it makes me wonder is that health is not taken as a separate entity for us. It’s a thing which is taken care of only when it fails us. What do we do? We blame the harshness of the being in itself. We blame the creator of the same. We go through the 5 stages of grief with it. It is quite ironic but quite sad indeed. Coming back out to the fact that schools now are encouraging yoga as a way of life of child. I wonder being in this profession for a while can make the necessary shift in the way we think. Our perception has been blinded by wants and needs. We have been taught to go after our desires and dreams in its wrong essence.

One thing I try to do with my teaching in Yoga or anything in general is to ask them “Are you excited about this”? And why would anyone be excited? If we learn math without knowing it’s importance or get into health without knowing why then we can never get into the beauty of things. When we find something beautiful we don’t see it as a chore or a task we do it for the love of it. And a truly healthy person loves to be fit more than wanting to be fit “for” something. All I believe is to bring out that excitement.  It inspires to do and be good. Improving health and having a strong philosophy might not get you a mansion or a Ducati but it will definitely get you a peace of mind.