A common parlance I find in today’s folks is them acknowledging they are stressed out.
Incidentally, that was one of the driving reasons for me to have plunged into solace, leaving behind the entertainment business when I was at the top. In the early 90s, stress was hardly a topic of conversation. All my reasons for a sabbatical and self-development went ignored and were hardly understood. Yoga was not considered of much value, the study of which had in fact absorbed and de-stressed me. Karmayoga of selfless service, in turn, prevented me from returning to Bollywood. After four years of my having left, the media found a reason—an accident I met with.
Though it is a well-known fact today that stress leads to a lack of balance in work life and affects personal and social life, it is not often pointed out as the reason for deteriorating mental and physical health.
On October 30 at the Women Economic Forum (WEF) in London, UK, I spoke about the secrets of mental health and how it affects people, especially in the post-Covid world. While there, I came across an article in the newspaper referring to this kind of a mental collapse, globally, across segments. It made me wonder how we can get stability, a balanced workplace, better sleep patterns, et al.
In yogic terminology, disease is correlated to the five elements of fire, water, earth, air and ether. When you look at health, you need to understand that movement is an important aspect. Your body is an organic machine, which needs to move. Mental, emotional and psychological health is important because the mind and body are in tandem. They work together, affecting the other directly. How you feel mentally affects the body physically. The nourishment you need is not just from the food you eat; your mind needs to be nurtured too. And, of course, a good night’s sleep is needed to be able to function to our optimum levels.
Recently, when I was talking to an environmentalist from the US, he had difficulty understanding and relating with my theory that it is the natural five elements we are made of, hence nature needs to be worshiped not abused for better environmental health. Our ancient yogis have talked about this. Even in traditional Chinese medicine, the Wu Xing or the ‘five elements’ theory is still prevalent. An early mention can be found in the Huangdi Neijing—an ancient treatise on health and disease written by the Chinese emperor Huangdi around 2600 BC. In this, the five elements diagnose and differentiate between the different illnesses, dysfunctions as each is associated with an aspect of nature and our environment.
Anu Aggarwal
Actor, speaker, yogi and author
Instagram: @anusualanu