Meditation exercises the brain in the same way an aerobics class exercises the body. The benefits for both are tangible and comparable. A complete fitness plan includes exercising the mind.

A healthy body means little without a healthy mind. Exercise reconnects you with your body and you recognize the relationship between mentality and physicality.

Fine-tuning the body sharpens your mind, which in turns enhances your relationship to the World around you. You see clearer, think clearer and feel more empowered to take risks and do things.

Exercise influences your relationship with yourself. You become willing to suffer and work hard to both achieve and maintain results.

Exercise is not masturbatory. Sitting on the couch and eating junk food while watching TV every day is masturbatory.

Exercise is hard work! It does not always feel good, and that is when it is most important to persevere.

It is a meaningful ritual. It requires patience. It requires commitment. It requires an ability to suffer, injuries and recovery times.

In the beginning, your mind is often very sore. It gets distracted. It fails to stay focused. It experiences intense emotions and thoughts. It loses its way. It uncovers painful thoughts and memories.

With suffering and difficulty comes progress. If you confront it and push through it.

With progress comes moments of bliss, moments of beauty and awakening, that are impossible without the struggle and the patience.

Exercise and meditation are the greatest practices in this world. Be grateful you have them in your life. Do not feel attached to them or compulsive. When you meditate be grateful to have the time and energy to do so.

Try to eat properly and recover properly. These are not activities that you do to get better at life; they are life.

They are what our caveman ancestors did to stay alive. Running, climbing, lifting, jumping, dodging, hunting.

Add mindful contemplation into the mix and you can really enhance your relationship with both yourself and the external World.

Meditating and exercising with diligence and respecting the process provides you with a sense of deep meaning.