Yoga and middle age

One of the vital things that maintains good health, at all ages, is the elasticity of the body which gets, lessened with advancing years. By the time we reach the beginning of middle age the body is fully developed, the bones are thoroughly hardened and there is a natural tendency towards an increasing rigidity of the body. Middle life which extends between the ages of 35 to 55 in the tropics is considered to be the mature period of life. This spring time period of our existence, with all its eventualities and possibilities, if physically neglected, sows unconsciously, the seeds of a premature breakdown of the bodily tissues. For the majority of men this is a period of an intense struggle for existence and the neglect of the physical fitness of the body is either a thing which cannot be helped or a thing which is due, perhaps, to lack of time or opportunity. It is during this period of life that special efforts have to be made to maintain the elasticity of youth and improve the tone of both the mind and the body, if the best is to be got out of life.

After the boisterous and irresponsible activities of youth a man at last reaches this plateau-period of life and settles down to become a useful member of society. He has found out by then the ways and means of earning a living and supporting those who are dependent on him. He has to undergo many hardships throughout daily life which sap his vitality and strain every vital organ in the body to meet the extra demands made on them. The man's mental and physical peace is disturbed and the buoyancy of his spirit lost. His desires only too often remain unfulfilled. The sentiments of envy, fear and hate, take a hold over him. The instability of modern life, the ceaseless agitation, daily uncertainty, coupled with the sense of a lack of security, all give him an anxious time, causing his mental and physical peace to be disturbed, making him lose the buoyant spirit of his early years. Anxiety seems writ large on his face manifesting itself by a change in features, hair and demeanor. The head slacks forward. The brows become wrinkled, the muscles of the face often become drawn, thus changing the youthful anatomy of the face to that of anxious old age. The chest is hollowed out-due to a forward droop of the shoulders. The spine loses its back-ward arch. The abdominal walls get relaxed and are thrust forward by the heavily loaded intestines. Grey hair become noticeable or even a thinning of individual hair and finally of the total crop, probably leading to ultimate baldness. The springiness of the tissues that characterizes youth has now been lost; and under the pressure of moral and social obligations the physical well-being of the body is neglected and no care is taken to retain that elasticity of tissues so characteristic of youth and vitality and so very necessary for good health and bodily fitness. It is a mistake to suppose that an average person experiences a deterioration of his health during middle age because he has to cope with so many disadvantages of life in spite of himself. Probably his rich neighbor suffers as much if not more.

Under a false sense of comfort s latter courts breakdown of his physique by his own free will. Affluence makes him leave those active habits of mind and body make him slothful and pleasure-loving. He leads a sedentary life, indulges in the pleasures of the table, rides in cars instead of walking and keeps far too many servants and labor-saving contrivances to increase his comfort and avoids all physical movements as much as possible.

There is no reason why an average man and even one in affluent circumstances should not enjoy perfect physical health so very necessary for work or play by keeping his vital organs in a condition fit enough to carry on perfectly their unceasing work even during periods of physical strain or during the physically inactive period of middle age.

Unfortunately the activities of the respiratory, circulatory, digestive and secretary systems are not under the regulation of our will so that we could adjust them according to the demands we may make on these systems. These activities are routine and automatic and are solely under the mechanical regulation of the nervous system over which we have no voluntary control though it is connected with that part of the nervous system under the control of our will (voluntary). As long as these automatic organs carry on their functions in unison, within physiological limits, we are hardly aware of their existence. The harmonic correlation of their activities gives us a feeling of peace. But a "rift within the lute" occurs when the activity of an organ begins to decline. It cannot then keep pace with the activities of the other healthy organs and so the rhythm of the body is disturbed. Even if the organ shows no signs of actual disease it at least points out the fact that all is not well within the body. In short that it is not in good health.