Inner Fitness

In the age of self-help, Western culture is wisely turning its attention to inner focus. What's going on inside of you has everything to do with what's going on outside of you. The top self-help gurus in the U.S. are overflowing with this message: Look to the inside for your answers. So are you up to the challenge? It takes great strength to actually stop and take a look at yourself from the inside out. Like running in a marathon, inner fitness will take more than a little work to get in shape. You'll need to approach this kind of inner fitness from physical, intellectual, and spiritual angles.

In hypnotherapy, we discover that physiology can help to lead states of mind. For instance, if you are slumped over, have a scowl on your face, and have your arms crossed in front of your chest, it's very hard to take a deep breath and very easy to feel lousy. However, if you stand up straight with your head raised, arms at your side (or even outstretched and open), with a big smile on your face, you instantly feel better! In fact, simply smiling will help lift any mood. So imagine what a practice like yoga can do for you! By easily positioning your body into yoga postures, you can help free up stagnant energy in your body and create movement in many areas of your life. I kid you not. And the more you practice, the more connected you become to your own source, your own groundedness. Yoga leads you from outward body fitness to inner awareness fitness.

Yoga effortlessly leads you into your intellectual fitness. When you begin to understand the mind-body connection, you can really begin your inner journey. What you think absolutely affects you and the world you live in. Your intellectual fitness has to do with your mindset, your attitude, and what you believe. Dr. Wayne Dyer has said, "You'll see it when you believe it," not the other way around. More and more therapists and healing professionals are incorporating this philosophy into their personal practices and into their professional practices, not because it's the "in" thing, but because it really works. And it ties in beautifully with our spiritual connection.

Most people on this planet believe in a higher power, something that is all-encompassing. Most of us can feel it, or just know it—a supportive power that threads through everything. When I think of spiritual fitness, I think of that common connection that we are all part of the same thing, the same source. It's not about a male, angry god who rewards or punishes, but a common source felt with your inner senses and your own understanding. Look to your inner sense of what spirit means to you and you'll always find exactly what you need in exactly the right timing.

When you look inward, time can seem to stand still, and you can ask questions like, "What does my life mean to me?" and, "What do I want it to mean to me?" In fact, asking those questions will lead you inside yourself to your inner guidance, if you weren't already there to begin with! So inner fitness is attained through many paths, but it all comes down to the only thing that is real: Now. As Rev. Dr. Louise-Diana teaches, being present in the now is ultimately entwined with your inner fitness. Life is lived in each present moment; a constant moment of inner fitness.

Kim for Hypno-Freedom.com