Preparing the Body
After meditation, it is good to do some body-exercises in order to activate the energies and put all the limbs into movement. What particular exercises you do depends upon your state of health and the needs of the body. A judicious combination of asanas and free movements is desirable. You must exercise the body not just to build muscles, but to ensure a harmonious development of the various parts, a free circulation of energies and above all, to awaken the body-consciousness. This awakening is important to enable the body to function on its own with its intuitive movements, its just needs in matters of food and sleep, rest and so on.
How do you awaken that consciousness, how do you make the body jagrit? First respect the body, treat it as a potential temple of God which is to be cleansed and raised to a high level of awareness before it can become as alive, as vibrant as your heart or mind. Observe its movements, its reactions, study them carefully and follow the directions that are articulated in its responses. This readiness on your part to listen to its promptings and respond to them furthers the body’s communication. Every movement of exercise must be done with full attention, with a word to the concerned limb to cooperate. Coax the resistant parts, do not coerce them. Follow an order of exertion and then relaxation of each part. If you can combine the breathing with each movement, that introduces a rhythm. Treat the body as a friend and it will befriend you in your requirements.
And more. Cultivate a physical aesthesis. Know that the Divine manifests in the physical as Beauty. Try and develop your form into some mould of beauty. What is beauty in form is rhythm in movement. Study your body movements in daily life and introduce rhythm into them. Let there not be any haphazard, uncouth movements of hands or legs or mouth. Let each movement be graceful. Then your movements will be meaningful and you will begin to understand the meaning of mudras, significant gestures and postures of the limbs of the body.
