Spiritual/Physical Exercise

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

I always have been interested in keeping the body temple in shape. I practiced and taught hatha yoga for years. In this fast pace culture I am happy to have the use of the energization exercises that Paramahansa Yoganada developed and the physical regimen that Amma has developed in the I Am techniques.

I wonder if anyone else out there practices some form of spiritual/physical exercises and what they might be.

The closest thing to the energization exercices, that I can think of are isometrics and the closest thing to the I am physical regimen is the tai chi.

The energization exercices take about 12 to 15 minutes and physical part of I am about 12 minutes.

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

OM Guru It seems to me that the best exercise that Master (Paramahansa Yogananda) gave us for energy are the energization exercises. When I was in California I remember one of the Monastics talk about any secrets there might be to inspiring us to practice them. He said some things you just have to do. There is no secret to doing them. However I do admit that for me water on my whole body does help. When I swim or take a shower I feel much more like practicing the energization exercises afterwards. Water opens your pours and invigorates you. It also helps to have others around that are students of the lessons. You can help each other practice them. Energy is consciousness and consciousness is energy. So when we think of ourselves as energy during the practice it helps. We are developing our ability to think of ourselves as energy and consciousness not as just bodies that can get tired and that we get identified with.

I am grateful for those exercises that Master personally developed himself and I try to consciously develop my will power by directing energy to the body parts from the ajna center. I cannot say that I experience a bolt of energy but I can say that I have stayed very healthy thru the years by the practice of those exercises and i never had to sleep long hours unless i had some problems that temporarily were relieved by sleep.

One of the challenges we face on the path is seeing ourselves as energy and consciousness and having faith that the techniques will help us. Perhaps some day you will have an experience thru practice that proves to you your faith was warranted. This is what happened to me: a miracle.

This has increased my enthusiasm tremendously.

Jitendra