Paradoxically, the less identified I've become with my body as my true self, the more carefully I've come to treat it as I've become more and more aware that I as a divine soul borrow it as an aid for accomplishing my mission on this earth.
No less paradoxical is the impression I receive from many of the people I know who seem identified with their respective body to a greater or lessor extent - they don't seem to be taking care of it enough.
Since several years ago I've become a kind of missionary preaching the benefit of bodyweight strength training, or training your external and inner muscles with your own bodyweight. Having consulted a lot of both theoretical and practical books on physical workouts for many years, I came to a conclusion several years ago that strength training is the most important physical workout as a number of experts explain.
Every time I meet someone who (seems so identified with his body but) doesn't seem to be practicing any physical workout from the way his body looks, I explain to him that if we don't train our muscles regularly, we'll lose 1% of our muscles every year from the age of 30, so that by the time we reach 70, we'll have lost as much as 40% of our muscles.
I feel so sat every time I see someone who finds himself bed-ridden after falling down accidentally as he couldn't sustain his body by losing a lot of his muscles for lack of strength training, for he could prevent this by taking care of his body more consciously on a regular basis.
I'm even convinced that this is one of the most important self-investments we can make. We can start saving the strength of our muscles like money at any stage in life, but we have to continue training them unlike money regularly in order not to lose them.
One of the main obstacles for those who have realized the importance of regular strength training as a wise self-investment is self-discipline. Many people seem to be unable to continue this physical workout as they practice at a gym. They have to realize that there is a far more convenient gym and it's doesn't cost money unlike a conventional gym - our body itself!
Using our bodyweight for strength training has another important benefit. This gym is said to help us develop the so-called functional strength far more efficiently than at a conventional gym.
There is even a learned term for bodyweight strength training - calisthenics. This art has a long history since the ancient times. It's said to have developed and been transmitted in prison.
I've learned this physical workout from several books instead. My most favorite guidebook for calisthenics is You Are Your Own Body by Mark Lauren. There is a separate guidebook for women entitled Body by You. I practice "push ups", "pull ups", "squats", "crunch it ups", "swimmers" and "core stabilization" as explained on pages 58, 89, 102, 124, 130 and 131 in the first book. They only take about 15 minutes a day, and I practice them five times a week before I start running in the morning.
I've been volunteering to teach this physical workout (as well as running and stretching) to friends and acquaintances of mine here in Jerusalem. You can also benefit from mobile apps by the author of these books.