Mind, Body & Soul All Connected

Exercising Our Whole Being and Seeing the Flow

Exercising is always good for you. But sometimes it feels like a chore. A thing that we feel we have to do. Not something we enjoy. When we make a Mind, Body & Soul connection we learn that we benefit in all 3 areas of who we are, Mind, Body & Soul! When we take the time to give attention to one area of ourselves, it can flow into the other parts of who we are. If we learn to pay attention, we will see it happening. We will see and feel things that we never felt before. The connection between each part will grow stronger and in different and exciting ways.

How do we exercise the different parts of who we are? We have to make it personal because what works for one person will not work for the other. Some people have certain talents that others may not have and that works both ways. So you will have to find out what works for you in each part, Mind, Body & Soul. Here is how it is going to work. We will simply divide each section up and see how exercising one will flow into the others. We will learn that it is very easy to get this flow happening. We will learn how we can start paying attention and seeing it like we never have before.

Exercise the Mind

Exercising the mind is so important. Driving our minds to learn more and to see the world in great detail is so important. Each and every one of us can do this in our own unique ways. When we develop a mindfulness and meditation practice, we are exercising our minds. We are paying attention to all the small things that we have never seen before. When we practice breathing, slowing our breath, our minds follow. Using guided imagery we see and feel things as if they are real. If we use meditation as a healing tool, we create closure and feel good about it. When we breathe deep we see our thoughts racing and we bring them back to the breath, back to our inner self.

We can read books and become lost in what we are reading, picturing what is on the pages as we read. If we read self-help books, we learn things and can be creative in our way of applying what we are learning. We can watch documentaries and we can learn about different parts of the world and different animals. We can watch concerts getting lost in the music and in the moment. We can take different courses and learn new things. There are many ways to exercise our minds. We can build and enforce positive memories and experiences; I like to call it adding up the good! Doing this rewires our brains, our thoughts, and the way we go about our day. We see things differently and it feels good.

Journaling and writing down your thoughts and why you have them, the emotions you feel and why you are feeling them will turn you into and emotionally aware person. We can all have different ways in which we exercise our minds. When COVID 19 came I started to colour in a colouring book every day for and hour. I found this to be a great exercise for my mind, calming me down and seeing results as I coloured each picture. Creating my own version of what I was colouring. It felt so good to express myself every day and my mind was always put to rest with my thoughts calm and clear.

How does this flow into the other parts of our being? Let’s follow the flow.

The Flow From Mind to Body to Soul

When we learn new things, when we push our minds. We feel good and when we feel good, things happen in our bodies. When we are lost in the moment and our minds are being exercised in a good way our bodies will relax, our shoulders will drop and the tension that we hold in our bodies will disappear. When we breathe deep our hearts slow down. We feel that warmth in our chest. When we learn new things, we feel good about it and our bodies will do what is natural and send out endorphins that make us physically happy. We fully feel this happiness throughout our bodies if we pay attention. We have energy were there was no energy before.

Our souls will be filled with happy feelings. We will feel a sense of belonging, as if we are walking on air and able to do anything. We know that we are here for reason. We grow a deep understanding of who we are and our place in the world. We build faith in the areas that we need to. Areas that once felt empty are now full. When we exercise our minds and learn new things, we open our hearts and our souls to a greater understanding and a greater level of consciousness. We stand tall, we smile, we feel important and want to tell the world about what we have learned and how much it means to us with hopes of helping others. We learn that giving and receiving are one in the same. Exercising your mind will lead you to wanting to exercise every part of who you are.

Knowledge is king! Our brains love to learn and our brains are a physical thing. When we feed it with knowledge and with food we are always rewarded, in Mind, Body & Soul.

Exercise the Body

We are living and breathing. We have a body in which we are given to walk around in and experience the world and all it is giving us. This is a great gift that we at times take for granted. Exercising my body had no meaning to me. That didn’t happen until later on in life. I used to play all kinds of sports when I was young but it was never a time of enlightenment or growth. I never saw it any deeper than what it was on the surface, just sports I played. After my therapy began, I started to see just how I benefited from the physical activity I was doing. I had to learn to be mindful during these activities and all of a sudden I started to notice so much. I was missing so many things that were right there in front of me.

The main activity that I was doing at that time was long distance running. I was running a 55km week. When I started therapy, these runs were just long runs with no meaning. Each morning I was up at 5 am, out the door and on the street. My mind would be bouncing from thought to thought. My mental state weak and fragile. My runs were meaningless journeys. My goal was to run myself into the ground. For 5 years I had run this way. Each run was long and meaningless never seeing the good at all until I started to be mindful. Until I started to embrace what I was being taught and finding my own way of applying it. The good thing about our bodies is that they will act totally independent of our souls and our minds. Meaning if you work them out they will stay fit, trim and in shape. But if you really pay attention to what happens during your work outs and after, no matter what it is you do you will see the rewards that you have missed for so long.

When I started to be mindful on my runs, I started to see things I never saw before. Things like sunrises, beautiful colours in the sky and wonderful gardens. I started to look forward to my runs and I would use my time when I ran for enjoyment. I slowed down my breath and learned to relax and fully feel. After my runs were over I was energised and ready to start my day with a clear mind and a healthy, fit body. I then stared to practice yoga and built a 2 hour routine. I changed my long runs into short runs or nice relaxed walks.

When I practiced yoga, I enjoyed the slow held movements, having control over my muscles and my thoughts as I went through my routine each morning. I would mix my yoga routine with meditation separating it up into 3 sections. Each section ending and starting with meditation. The state of calm that I was reaching was simply amazing. I was feeling every part of my body and in ways I had never felt before. Being mindful and physical began to have even deeper meaning as I started to spend all my summers in my back yard gardening and cultivating growth not only in my gardens but in myself. Feeling the joy I had by doing physical work made me feel good all over.

When we use are bodies and enjoy the time that we spend doing so it heightens our overall well-being. You can do so many things physically and you can cater it to your own needs. Walks, playing a sport with a friend, getting outside and sitting on a park bench, sitting in your backyard, playing cards with a friend, hikes, what ever you can think of, it is right for you! You will feel better for it and your body will pay you back with love! When our bodies are feeling good we feel good, and it flows through us like a river.

The Flow from Body to Mind to Soul

When we are healthy in our bodies our minds follow along. Many times I have sat down on my yoga mat and had all kinds of thoughts racing through my mind, pushing and pulling me. I would be in the center feeling trapped and helpless, but as I went through my routine my thoughts would be redirected to my movements and to my breath. Sooner or later my thoughts were clear and by the end of the routine not only were my thoughts calm, so was I physically and then I was able to find solutions to my problems that were never there before. I was able to see different perspectives and also see the good in the bad as well. When ever I was involved in any physical movement my mind after a short time was always in that moment. Whether it was concentrating on what I was doing, being mindful of my surroundings or getting lost in the moment and seeing the beauty that I had overlooked before. My mind was always healthier and clearer. I felt relief from the negative mental state and it was always replaced with positive.

My soul would explode with love for who I was and for my surroundings. I felt strong, confident and good about myself. When ever I ran a long run and walked home there was a feeling of pride! I had just ran and I experienced so many things that I had never experienced before! When I was doing yoga and breathing deep I was creating a warmth in my chest. An energy that I could breathe into and feel good about! I would create my own state of bliss and when I sat and meditated with my eyes closed, the colours I saw were breathtaking. It felt like nothing I had ever felt before. This led to a deep understanding of who I was and why I was here. Why I was alive. It was to be happy and content. To feel my whole self on all 3 levels and by exercising one thing, I was exercising them all. Mind, Body & Soul!

Exercise the Soul

Exercising the soul is building and enforcing who you are and how you live your life. Also the beliefs you have. Forgiveness, acceptance, changing your perspective, setting boundaries, building affirmations, adding up the good on a daily basis, and seeing the good that is all around even in the worst possible situations. Building faith in yourself and living an honest and truthful life. My soul changed when I started to do all the things that I listed above. It was lit and on fire!

I no longer questioned who I was and the decisions I was making. I was free! Free from so many unseen feelings and emotions that used to drag me down. Worry became something that I just didn’t have. I built confidence and trust. Trust in myself and that what ever was happening in my life was going to pass and that it was all happening for my own growth. It didn’t matter what the world was going to throw at me. I was still standing and nothing was ever going to take me down! Even in the hardest of hardest positions I was placed in there was always going to be growth!

There was always going to be something good coming to me. That lifted me up every day and kept me going. My soul was charged and ready for everything! And if it was something good, then it was even better because I was open to feeling all the good things that I didn’t allow myself to have before! Because of all the work in all the other areas in my life, I was now able to feel on an even higher level.

Forgiveness, acceptance, perspective, boundaries, affirmations, adding up the good on a daily basis and seeing the good all around you are only some ways to exercise your soul. Some people go deep into faith and find comfort in the good book, in religion. Which ever one they choose to follow is the right one for them.

People enjoy gathering together and practicing their faith. It builds a feeling of belonging. A feeling that they are part of something more. Meditation and deep breathing go hand and hand with exercising your soul. I tend to think that meditation is the strongest practice to have. Deep breathing is never bad for you and you are doing it anyway so why not enjoy it.

Giving back to others by volunteering feels so good on so many levels. When we help anyone their faces change and that creates a change in us! We see the joy and it reflects back into who we are. The love that we give always comes back to us in time. Karma is not a bitch, but a wonderful thing! When we feel good about ourselves, when we wake up and can’t wait to start our day, a shift has happened. A shift that needs to be fed and celebrated! When we love who we are, our souls burn bright and that flame been seen by everyone in our lives! Happiness is contagious.

The Flow from Soul to Mind to Body

When we are filled with joy and happiness, our souls are shining and lit bright! Our thoughts are positive and we feel like we can take on the world! There is no negative, only positive and we feel motivated. We chase our dreams and we feel good in each moment. There are solutions to problems and we now see the fun and excitement in solving them. We see different ways of looking at the world and it is no longer black or white, but a full colour spectrum. Our minds are free to think about and enjoy good times. We don’t question or deny but just embrace without a second thought! We know that we deserve to be happy and we feel good about it!

Our hearts are filled with joy and we feel them as they pump! We breathe deep and our bodies relax and feel good as well. Tension that we are holding melts way! We are energized and enjoy getting outside and playing! We look forward to exercising. We look forward to meeting our friends and sharing experiences. We are no longer trapped in our houses. We are now itching to get out and see the world! Try new things and take up new hobbies. Our souls are charged and we feel good about it. We want to tell the world just how good we feel! And that even feels good! When our souls are energized, our bodies and minds will feel the same way! We are truly living and breathing and feeling everything. Our souls are the gateway to who we truly are and by exercising, lighting that energy inside and believing fully everything just falls into place.

Exercising each part of who we are is just natural and when we have the connection in all 3 parts, Mind, Body & Soul, the benefits will flow into who we are without forcing it. It just naturally happens as we simply enjoy our lives without question. Exercising is not at all bad and feels so very, very good! It is all part of showing yourself love! And love is something we all need to be happy and well!