The body is the boat human beings are given to sail across the sea of life. It is your duty to take care of it.’ I took better care of my brand new car than my flabby, overworked body.
Read this to participate in a programme called the Happiness Quotient Training. It’s objective is to guide you to a state of joyful living. It has seven actions for you to learn and do over the next seven weeks in order for you to experience the spontaneous happiness that bubbles out of your heart like a mountain stream.’
They are:
1. The First Radiant Action for Physical Wellness
2. The Second Radiant Action for Emotional Wellness
3. The Third Radiant Action for Personal Wellness
4. The Fourth Radiant Action for Family Bonding
5. The Fifth Radiant Action for Nurturing the Workplace
6. The Sixth Radiant Action for Social Bonding
7. The Seventh Radiant Action for Dharmic Living
The First Radiant Action forPhysical Wellness
A Holistic Approach to Health
Sushruta Samhita, the ancient Indian work by the physician Sushruta, describes perfect health as a state where all body parts function at their optimal level and wherein the body, mind and spirit are in perfect balance and in a state of bliss. This is the highest goal.
Ayurveda defines health as: Svasthya—to be one’s own spiritual self. It is a state of balance between the three doshas (which are mindbody energies: vata or wind; pitta or bile; and kapha or phlegm) that govern our external and internal environment, leading to a contented state of the senses, mind and soul.
Some doctors believe that it is more important to know the patient who has the disease than to know the disease the patient has. Wise gurus, and now modern research, both believe that meditation can contribute enormously to an individual’s psychological and physiological wellbeing. It reduces stress, hypertension, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, improves cardiovascular health, memory and concentration, work efficiency, and immunological resistance to diseases. As a result, some form of meditation has become an essential part of most holistic health programmes. Service to others, music, prayer, all are forms of meditation, which make the blood rich with serotonins—the happiness chemical.
Hindu scriptures even enjoin five types of service known as panchamahayajna
Your Physical Health Assessment
Answer Yes (Y) / No (N)
Y/ N
1. Do you have a family doctor?
2. Have you had your annual health check-up?
3. Do you respond to the doctor's advice and your body's signals?
4. Are you on daily medicines?
5. Is the air you breathe clean?
6. Have you learned Pranayam and yoga exercises and practice them every day?
7. Do you pay enough attention to exercise and diet?
8. Do you set apart time for exercise on a regular basis?
9. Do you eat high quality food chosen to give you energy?
10. Do you have access to clean water?
11. Are you free of tobacco, drugs or alcohol? (Write no if even one is present in your life)
12. Are you often overwhelmed by negative emotions?
13. Do you sleep for eight hours at night?
14. Do you tend to ignore minor health disturbances and pains?
15. Do you live in a clean, garbage-free area?
16. Do you live among people who are positive and peaceful?
17. Do you watch television for five hours or more?
18. Do you travel even short distances by car?
19. Do you drink more than five cups of coffee in a day?
20. Are you aware of any chronic illnesses in your family diabetes, heart trouble, high BP, or ulcers?
21. Has anyone in your family lost a child?
Score
a. Good: 12 or more Yeses
b. Adequate: 6 or more Yeses
c. Poor: Less than 4 Yeses
The writer is the author of Everyday Happiness Mantras
