The body’s secret

The resort was in a scenic location – right on the bank of a Himalayan river. The snow-capped mountains in the backdrop had a number of glaciers. They were melting in summer and water was gushing down, weaving its way past all obstacles. I cautiously dipped my toe in the water, contemplating a swim, but then, quickly changed my mind. Brrrr!! The water was ice-cold!!

So, I did the next best thing! Sat by a tree and watched the river run, feeling rather sheepish.

A couple of hours later, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps. I turned around to see Jamie coming, his face all puffed up in exhaustion. He collapsed in a heap beside me. I must admit, it was a funny sight.

Hi. All well?

“Phew. Just came from the gym. Man, what a workout! Feels so refreshing! ”

Nice, Jamie.

“They have the latest equipment. I plan to go there again in the evening…make full use of it!”

Hmm..so, you came all the way with me, to the mountains, to workout in an indoor gym?

“You got to take care of your body, mate! Seriously, you should come and try it out yourself”

Huh! Me? No thanks. I pass.

(He then launched an all-out attack on my fitness!)

“Look at you. You have been idling all morning. You got to pay more attention to your fitness, man! Get your body in proper condition first”

(Ouch! But Jamie meant well, and I just smiled back at him warmly!)

Jamie…going to the gym is good for your body, but not in the way you think!

“Don’t try to confuse me, buddy. This is the best way to keep the body in shape!”

(hmm…time for some fun! I turned around)

 

Tell me Jamie, which body are you trying to protect and safeguard? Yesterday’s or today’s or tomorrow’s?

“The only body I have, of course; It will be with me all my life”

Oh..so, you actually believe your body is constant, stable and solid throughout your life, huh?

“Isn’t it?” (he asked a little hesitantly)

(I straightened up, so I could give him my full attention).

First things first…what you call your ‘body’ is a collection of some 100 trillion cells – with nothing visible holding them all together.

“Really? But still…so what? If I workout, I will live longer”

Depends on what you mean by ‘live’, Jamie. About 300 million cells in your body die every minute, whether you exercise or not. In that sense, we are all living and dying every minute.

“What!”

By the time you are 70 years old, even if you do nothing, you will have lost 100 pounds of skin.

“That’s a lot” (he said with a serious expression)

But…in fact, it is good. It is natural.

“Not at all. It is quite scary! But, wait…what if, somehow, I can make my body cells keep growing forever? Then, I’d never die”

Actually, you wouldn’t want that, though it happens sometimes.

“Why not?”

It’s called cancer.

“Yikes!”

Yeah, when the cells which are supposed to die, don’t – and keep growing uncontrollably, we call it cancer! So, we are better off, not clinging to body cells, and let them die when they should.

(He sighed deeply, reflecting over this!)

“Well…at least, I will be healthy if I exercise…not have any bacterial infections and things like that!”

Wrong again, Jamie. Your body already has as many bacteria cells as human cells – maybe even more. Every square inch of your body has about 30 million bacteria all the time. There are at least 10,000 species of bacteria living cozily beneath your 6-pack abs.

“So many of them? Gawd! Within this small body?”

Who said it’s a small body?

“Isnt it? I mean, I am just 5 ft 5″ tall, and there are all these things happening inside my body, without my knowledge”

It’s not a small body, Jamie. It just appears that way.

There are nearly 60,000 miles of blood vessels inside your body. If you lay them out along the earth’s equator in a line, you can go around the earth twice. You are a big guy!

“Biology is weird” he declared.

 

Well…if you go down to the level of the atoms that your cells are made of, it gets weirder.

“How?”

All you will probably see are points of energy vibrating. That is what your body is at that level.

“Nothing solid?”

What you call ‘solid’ doesn’t apply at that level. Atoms are not really like solid particles. They are mostly, what you would call, empty space.

“Haa haa…Wow..still, what’s your point?”

At that level, what you call ‘fat’ is just Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms connected in different ways.

“Interesting. So?”

Firstly, atoms don’t need exercise. They are already pulsating with energy.

Secondly, the body just can’t seek and destroy the carbon atoms in fat.

“But that doesn’t make any sense. I have already lost fat with my cardio workout! How did that happen then?”

Jamie, the only way your body can get rid of fat naturally, is to convert the carbon atoms to carbon-dioxide and then expel it outside the body.

“hmmm…ok. But it sounds complicated. How do I do that?”

By breathing, Jamie (I laughed). Whenever you exhale forcefully, deeply, rapidly, what you breathe out is more carbon dioxide.

That’s all you got to do – and that is how the gym workout really burnt your fat.

“What!!”

That is what sages discovered as the secret to fitness. They focused on Breath control to stay fit at all levels. Breathing is oxidation – So, by regulating the breath, they regulated the flow and volume of oxygen and carbon dioxide – thereby burning fat and staying fit.

When you use the treadmill for an hour, you gasp for breath. That is what really refreshes you, not the treadmill itself.

The sages didn’t use the treadmill. Instead, they simply regulated their metabolism by a special technique of rapid exhalation. Sitting in one place, they literally breathed out the carbon atoms in fat, got rid of all toxins, stayed fit and energized body and mind.

 

“Argghh!! My head is spinning! How is all this possible?”

Come, Jamie. Sit with me and watch the river.

(He obeyed, still having that dazed look)

See the river Jamie. Does it have a shape? Does it have a form?

“Yeah, I see the shape and form of the river.”

But did you notice something?….the actual water particles that make up the river are continuously changing every second….yet the shape of the river remains the same during the day.

“Hey, yeah! It is never the same drop of water in the same place!”

True, Jamie. As it is said, “you can’t stand in the same river twice“.

So it is with our ‘body’. The shape of the body looks the same throughout the day, but it is constantly exchanging matter and energy from the universe around it. The matter and energy inside the body, and outside the body are in constant flux.

So, learn to look at your body like a flowing river and don’t be under the illusion that it is something solid, tangible and fixed all your life.

(There was silence between us, as the river continued to flow, mocking us with its laughter)

“Buddy…(he said finally)…what the heck is really going on here?”

Good question! (I agreed)