Capture the Positive Momentum

Here is an excerpt from my book, Seven Steps to Inner Power, where I discuss keeping your whole being in balance:

Another way our body and mind can become divided in our everyday life is that we get out of balance by focusing on only one or the other element of this dynamic partnership. Some people, for instance, spend a lot of time and energy going to the gym or running up mountains, constantly pushing their bodies to do more and more. They are in great physical shape, but they have neglected their inner world. They can’t express their emotions and they don’t have satisfying relationships. Inside, they may be lonely and empty. To take it to an extreme, sometimes people get so fixated on the condition of their bodies that that becomes their god. Exercising is not good enough, and they may decide to take steroids, which can have unhealthy consequences.

Other people may focus on developing their mind or their spirituality, but they don’t take care of their body. You hear them say, "I’m meditating and I’m doing all this inner work," but they never exercise their physical body. So the condition of their body lags behind and they are surprised when they develop all kinds of physical problems. "I’m doing all this spiritual work," they complain. "Why am I so stressed out and sick? How come I have this painful back problem or neck pain?"

It’s never healthy to focus on one aspect of your being and forget about the others. Your whole being wants to be in balance, like the yin and yang forces of nature. Many times, you can accomplish this with just a little adjustment. For example, the person who wants to meditate but says they don’t have time to exercise can create some balance by walking as they silently meditate and finding ways to stretch and flex their body as they stop along the way. They can stretch their calf against a tree trunk or see how far they can stretch their arm to pick a flower or piece of fruit.

The issue many of us face today is that our twenty-first-century lifestyle requires us to spend a lot of time sitting behind a desk or traveling in a car. But our bodies are naturally made to be in motion, not sitting still. To get the balance we need, we have to be disciplined in making time every hour or so to have some fun moving – moving our legs, our shoulders, our arms, our hands. You were meant to be moving and walking, and your body will be healthier for it.

See the original and other great articles on Tae Yun Kim’s blog.