There are two parts to my wellness routine — “subtraction” practices and “addition” practices.
Yoga fits into both categories. It removes imbalances that can cause afflictions in the body and the mind. At the same time, it builds resilience as well. Yoga alone would be enough if we lived a hermit life isolated in the mountains.
But we live in an environment where we interact with a multitude of elements. So we need “addition” practices to build armours against surprises. Here I want to introduce a term — Antifragile. I learned about the idea word from a book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb under the same title. It’s one of the most enlightening books I have read. Antifragile describes a system or object that not only survives stressors, volatility, and chaos, but actually improves, thrives, and grows stronger because of them. Our body is antifragile.
Let me explain this with my first “addition” practice — weight training. In our daily life, we often come across situations where we have to deal with external weight, like lifting a heavy object or using a tool. If our body is not used to dealing with external weights, and suddenly we encounter a lot of such stress, it’s easy to get hurt. How many stories have you heard of someone injuring their back from lifting a heavy box?
By practicing weight training regularly, we can introduce controlled stress to our muscles, connective tissues, and bones. The antifragile quality of our body will cause these tissues to grow stronger. Since we can control the amount of stress, we can keep the training below the threshold that would cause injury. This way, we can safely become more resistant to injuries that may be caused by sudden demand to handle heavy external objects.
There is another idea that I found very enlightening. It’s regarding longevity, from the book Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Dr. Peter Attia. The idea is that if you want to live longer, you need to give your body a reason to live longer. Like how our muscles become weak if we don’t challenge them, our whole vitality wanes when we stop challenging the many physiological mechanisms in our body that helped us survive through millennia of evolution. On top of improving longevity, the following practices “add” resilience in our body — so that our bodies are less likely to fall ill, and feel less discomfort from changing environments.
There are many more health benefits of these practices that can be found easily online. I will just give examples of practical uses here. It’s important to note that some of these practices may seem extreme, but a very mild challenge is enough to produce great benefits, and it’s not very difficult at all. More details on this will be provided in a later writing.
Cardio Exercises
Evolutionary purpose: survival from being chased by predators.
Practical example: heart resilience from a sudden need to run for a late appointment.
Cold Exposure
Evolutionary purpose: survival from cold temperatures.
Practical example: resistance to getting sick from being exposed in a cold environment due to unforeseen circumstances.
Breath Hold
Evolutionary purpose: The mammalian dive reflex is the most powerful autonomic reflex in our body. We developed this reflex as a fetus in the fluid-filled environment of the womb, but it weakens after birth as we grow.
Practical example: If you can learn to relax facing the stress of breath hold, you can stay calm in any challenging situation in life.
Through these practices, I experience less and less surprise breakdowns in my body and mind even as my age grows. I know there are so many practices and it may seem intimidating to do them all. But actually, you’d be surprised by how little of each practice you need to do to reap growing benefits. In part 2 of this letter, I will give you a breakdown of how little I do and how I fit everything into my weekly routine.
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