*The Power of Spirituality: A Journey from Despair to Strength*
Being a religious person, waking up early in the morning has always been my priority. Exercising regularly gives me the strength to start my day with enthusiasm. I often put myself in the mood to dance and enjoy, yet yoga and maintaining the right posture has been my main focus. I have worked hard since childhood to maintain my posture. My mother would pinch me and my siblings to sit straight without slouching. As an obedient child, I always took her advice seriously and even while sitting in a car or auto rickshaw, sitting with a straight posture still feels very right to me. My husband and daughter also laugh at me asking if I have been punished for always sitting attentively. Sometimes you should relax. And they don’t know that I relax like this. Ha ha ha. I am a bubbly person who loves to sing songs to lighten up any situation, such as “Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya, har fikr ko dhoon mein udta chala gaya,” a classic Dev Anand song. Although I don’t smoke, I always aim to lighten up situations. This attitude of spreading positivity gives me strength and I felt that people are happy with my presence.
However, one day, I realized that I had no strength within me. Due to my busy schedule, I stopped doing yoga and meditation. I started gaining weight and lost control over my eating habits. I started feeling worthless and saw myself changing from a talkative person to a quiet, less confident person. Realizing that I was becoming a worthless and overthinking person, I decided to start meditating again. But almost immediately, my body started slouching again. I felt I was not able to sit in a straight posture. To improve my posture, I started doing exercises. Despite my efforts, I could not control slouching, which worsened my posture and my stomach started bloating in some days. I was very worried, as my body was giving alarming signals.
I started working on my thoughts and realized that negative thinking dulls your senses, causing various symptoms. This was not my basic nature, so I turned to spirituality to help me get out of this situation and distance from God was the cause of my illness. I understood that there is some link between breathing and my thinking, and my thoughts are affecting my breathing. In my grey mood, my thoughts became heavy due to unnecessary overthinking. That was the reason .Sitting in a straight posture became impossible. My uncontrolled short breath was the main culprit. I observed each of my breaths going deeper and corrected my thinking and my spoiled posture.
Slowly, I started loving myself again. I realised that I had lost my connection with myself. I started keeping my priorities straight and slowly, after a few months, I found my true self again. I am very grateful to God for the lessons I learnt. My spirituality helped me get through this situation, and I bow to every incoming and outgoing breath for that strength and positivity.
