Page 17 - NAMAH-Jul-2020

Namah The Mother and the importance of physical education...

method in their education; it was solely by been shown to reduce changes in the brain
material means and an enlightened use of that can lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s.
human will that they had achieved this result.
If they had added to this a spiritual knowledge • Aerobic exercises from active sports that
and power, they could have achieved an almost increase the heart rate, lead to improved
miraculous result…. Because of the false blood circulation. This raises the oxygen
ideas prevalent in the world, we don’t usually levels in circulation and also increases the
see the two things together, spiritual mastery strength of the heart muscle. It significantly
and material mastery, and so one is always reduces the risk of heart disease.
incomplete without the other; but this is
exactly what we want to do… if the two are • Exercise has been shown to reduce your
combined, the result can reach a perfection blood sugar levels by improving the
that’s unthinkable for the ordinary human functioning of the pancreas that produces
mind, and this is what we want to attempt (5).” insulin. There is steady rise in the incidence
of diabetes around the world. In addition,
Recently, Hansa and I have been encouraging approximately 35% of world population
the devotees at the Los Angeles Centre to is obese.
exercise every day. It is in this connection
that Vikas, who manages the Centre, brought • Exercise can also be a very effective means
to our attention what Sri Aurobindo and of combating chronic pain. For many
the Mother have written about the crucial years, the recommendation was rest
importance of physical education in Integral and inactivity. Several studies have
Yoga. That is perhaps the most distinctive now demonstrated that exercise reduces
feature of the yoga. Nearly eight decades pain and improves the quality of life.
after the Mother established and emphasised Participants in these studies included
physical education irrespective of gender or those with chronic lower back pain,
age, the rest of the world is recognising the fibromyalgia and chronic soft tissue
benefits of exercise. shoulder disorder to name a few.

Health benefits of physical exercise Parallel to these material aspects is the
cultivation of our physical consciousness,
• A rigorous scientific study of over four which was something deemed essential by
thousand adult non-clinical population Sri Aurobindo Himself:
and over ten thousand similarly selected
population showed significant reduction “A development of the physical consciousness
in depression in the former and alleviation must always be a considerable part of our aim,
of anxiety attacks in the latter. but for that the right development of the body
itself is an essential element; health, strength,
• Exercise, by increasing blood-flow to the fitness are the first needs, but the physical frame
brain has been shown to increase the size itself must be the best possible. A divine life in
of the hippocampus, the part of the brain a material world implies necessarily a union of
vital for memory and learning. It has also the two ends of existence, the spiritual summit

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