Our minds and bodies are the instruments that we use to experience life. However, many times we think the thoughts our mind processes has no effect upon the body, or that what our bodies process by way of the foods we eat, has no effect upon our minds. The truth is we are not separated, and so the food we eat is transformed into the very cells that make up our bodies. Think of eating foods with absolutely no nutritional value and now realize that what you've digested is becoming part of the cells that make up your heart, your brain, your muscles and bones. How can someone who eats junk food be creating a body that is strong and healthy or a brain that functions with pristine accuracy? Much of our aging and health in old age will be based on our diet and the physical activity that we are involved in now. But don't fret it's never too late to revamp our minds or our bodies.

Our thoughts produce chemical reactions in our bodies. Positive thoughts cause the body to release hormones that support the immune system and feelings of calm and serenity and this tends to slow down the body's aging process. Negative thoughts cause the body to release hormones that over time become toxic to the organism- namely you. In addition to becoming toxic to your body, chronic negative thinking creates pathways in your brain that make it easier to think negative next time! It is true that when we are thinking negative we often see it as just being realistic. Yet to the chronic negative thinker, their thoughts really do begin to create a reality that isn't what you or I would call a day at the beach. When we think negative as a rule of thumb, we learn to see only the negative, just like an architect who drives through an unfamiliar city sees almost the exclusion of all else, only the styles of architecture around her. 

According to Herbert Benson M.D. author of The Relaxation Response, "when we are faced with situations that require adjustment of our behavior" our fight or flight response ignites and this raises our blood pressure, increases our metabolism, and breathing. Yet relaxation offsets these increases by decreasing our blood pressure, decreasing our metabolism and slowing down our breathing."

The slowing down of relaxation tends to also quiet the mind and together with deep respiration even affects our mood. In his article "Endocrinology of Ashtanga Yoga" published in www.yogapoint.com, Dr. Sujit Chandratreya MD, DM, DNB, says the relaxation response... "brings balance to the cortical activities, nervous system and endocrine system, in turn stress hormones are reduced ... which results in a calm and peaceful state of body and mind."

Methods of relaxation

• Yoga

There are many ways we can relax; for instance practicing yoga is an ancient art of blending the mind and the body together in one practice to achieve inner balance and harmony. During yoga we stretch our muscles, breathe with the stretches, called Asanas, and allow our minds to focus on the pose which is held for anywhere from 10 seconds to 30 seconds. This slow movement of the body not only reduces mind chatter and increases our flexibility, but our muscles are receiving blood and nutrients. For some of us, capillaries that haven't been opened due to muscle tightness may now for the first time in years receive much needed nourishment and this improves the health of our muscles.

• Meditation

Meditation is another method that assists us in relaxing and we needn't be experts to achieve results that benefit our health. Taking time out every day just to experience quietness, whether we are sitting lotus style, performing Asanas, working out or walking briskly through a park, we can still our minds by repeating a word or phrase that means something to us. It can be a word that elicits a feeling of spirituality, or a word that brings us into a state of calm, but repeating this word or phrase over and over is what stills the mind enough to change the gears of stress.

Two thirds of physicians are now encouraging their patients to incorporate some kind of mind/body approach into their health regiment and learning to focus your mind is the key to stress reduction and enhancing your health. If you find yourself thinking of something else, that's okay, just refocus and return to the mantra or phrase. The most important aspect to almost anything in life is our intentions. What we intend is the compass that gathers our inner resources toward the accomplishment of that goal. Our goals and intentions may at times take longer than we'd like, but if we look at life as a journey we can focus on the quality of how we are traveling along the path as just as paramount to arriving at the final destination.

Copyright Donya Ture'