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Focusing the Will on the Physical Body and Its Development · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The mind has a tremendous power to influence the physical body
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  for good or I'll in some cases. Mental ideas can lead to
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  extraordinary imbalances in the body which can lead to weakness,
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  illness, and even the death of the body.
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  Many times we will push the body beyond its limits without
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  concern for the effects this will have or even how we go
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  about doing this. We also can put the body into
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  extremely precarious situations with extremes of environment
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  that can tax the body's resources.
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  There is even a saying that whatever does not kill you makes
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  you stronger. Unfortunately, while this is a
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  mental conception that is widely accepted, it does not always
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  bear itself out in practice. Sometimes pushing beyond and
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  into the extremes does not immediately kill the body, but
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  it may cause lasting harm and injury that has long term
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  consequences. Recently, a friend recounted her
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  experience that illustrated this concern precisely.
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  She was an advanced practitioner and teacher of Hata Yoga.
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  Under the guidance of a well known Hata Yoga master, he
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  instructed the advanced students to undertake a particularly
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  strenuous exercise of splits suspended on ropes without any
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  warm up or preparation or guidance on how to do it.
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  As she attempted this practice and followed the normal protocol
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  of relaxing into the pose, she experienced a serious pull on
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  her hamstring muscle. This so weak in the muscle that
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  some years later, when she went to step over a short obstacle,
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  the muscle detached from the bone and she spent over a year
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  recuperating without being able to exercise or otherwise strain
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  the affected tissue. We frequently impose upon the
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  body with extreme diets and pressures, including extreme
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  sports, challenging the body to exceed itself.
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  If not done with proper preparation, attention, focus,
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  and discipline, the results can be harmful over time.
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  However, humanity has found that the mind can also provide
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  tremendous benefits to the development of the body, aiding
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  it in the healing process when it is imbalanced or
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  systematically developing its capacities beyond its existing
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  limitations with disciplines that have been worked out
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  through time and experience. When the will is focused on the
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  development of the body, therefore, it must be combined
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  with an approach that takes into account the circumstances, the
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  current status of the body, the intended development and the
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  steps that it will take to accomplish that, as well as an
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  appraisal of the time needed so as to allow the development
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  without breaking down the process.
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  The will may start as a mental focus or intention, or it may
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  channel higher energy still, and this provides us an insight into
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  the future evolution of the body as the forces that reside in
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  domains above the mind begin to make themselves felt and
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  undertake to remake the body to be able to hold those forces and
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  pressures. Just as the mind has changed the
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  body and its functioning to meet its own needs, the mother
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  observes quote. The basis of all these methods
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  of physical culture is the power exercised by the conscious will
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  over matter. Usually it is a method which
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  someone has used fairly successfully and set up as a
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  principle of action, which he has taught to others, who in
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  turn have continued and perfected it until it is taken a
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  somewhat fixed form of one kind of discipline or another.
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  But the whole basis is the action of the conscious will on
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  the body. The exact form of the method is
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  not of primary importance. In various countries at various
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  times one method or another has been used, but always behind it
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  there is a canalised mental power which acts methodically.
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  Of course, some methods try to use a higher power, which would
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  in its turn transmit its capacity to the mental power.
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  If a power of a higher order is infused into the mental method,
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  this method naturally becomes more effective and powerful.
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  But essentially all these disciplines depend above all on
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  the person who practices them and the way he uses them.
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  One can, even in the most material ordinary processes,
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  make use of this altogether external basis to infuse into
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  them powers of a higher order, and all methods, whatever they
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  may be, depend almost exclusively on the person who
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  uses them, on what he puts into them.
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  And quote reference Srioro Bindu and the Mother.
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  Powers Within Chapter 5 Willpower, pages 50 to 51.