Why does a woman want to look beautiful?
A favourite answer perhaps would be that a female wants to look beautiful so that she can attract the male. My friend, to look beautiful and attractive has been the goal of every woman from the dawn of civilisation.
What is it that makes a person appear beautiful?
The important attributes of a beautiful appearance are a beautiful body, a lovely complexion, and a serene face due to mental tranquillity, which yoga can give.
Why should a beautiful body mean so much to a woman?
Because to her a beautiful body is a symbol of her feminity. Besides pleasing the viewer’s eye, it reflects the values of her life style, and spreads joy. Hasn’t the poet said: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever?” For a woman, a beautiful body is a means of rousing erotic response in her man.
Has this the sanction of our Indian culture?
Of course. According to the ancient Indian culture, the good qualities of a woman are beauty, character, tolerance, truthfulness, courtesy, love and a healthy sex life. It was Keats who said, “Beauty is truth, truth is beauty.” Anyway, for all the qualities mentioned here, it is necessary for the woman to be healthy. That is why women, particularly educated women, are attracted by yoga which helps them to develop and preserve a beautiful figure, natural grace, and mental tranquillity.
What claims can yoga make on the benefits a human figure derives from it?
Yoga can help to develop poise through the acquisition of a slim, supple and graceful figure. Yoga has a beneficial effect on the glands, so that an excessive desire for food is eliminated and the body craves only what it needs.
Is this not a false claim?
Not at all. Of course, yoga does not offer a magic formula which would help you to lose the extra fat even while you keep eating, not just two but even three and perhaps four square meals a day, not to talk of snacks and a few cups of tea thrown in. However, as you practise yoga over a period of time, your excessive desire for food will diminish.
Do you mean to say the yogic asanas do not help you to reduce your fat?
Only to a certain extent, but you need a dietic control as well. To get the full benefit of yoga, you must make yoga a way of life.
What does that mean?
Simple—folllow the principles of yoga not as a system of physical education or culture, but as something you believe in, something which gives you an inner satisfaction.
How can one believe in these principles?
Well, first things first. Let’s understand why women put on kilos and kilos of fat.
(1) In the first place, they eat the wrong type of food.
(2) They eat more than what they need.
(3) They lose control over their appetite.
(4) They do not take any exercise.
But why do people eat more food than they need?
They do so for various reasons:
(1) They overeat because their mental peace or tranquillity is disturbed. People need a calm mind, which yoga can give them.
(2) They go to food, as it were, for comfort.
And the solution?
Simple again—practise yoga and just alter your eating habits, and this will bring about a gradual change. After all, it is possible to change one’s attitude towards many things, and one of these things is eating. One must eat, but only to keep fit, not to keep fat!
