What should one do to increase one's metabolism naturally?

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Satsang  (23rd October 2018) at The Art of Living International Center, Bengaluru:

Q. Gurudev, what should one do to increase one's metabolism naturally?

Sri Sri: See, we have several systems in our body, the nervous system, muscular system, circulatory system, and more.

If you ask me if there is one thing that would affect all the systems then I would say that is Yoga! Yoga affects the respiratory system, it affects the nervous system, it affects the circulatory system, it affects our muscular system. So, yoga would be very good. And along with Yoga you can do some exercises, some muscle training, that's also good, little hard ones, but not too much, that is good.

Then after exercise, it is necessary to rest, at least 15-20 minutes. Yognidra is very good, you know conscious sleep, yognidra, for 20-25 minutes. If you practice this it will help you a lot. That is one thing.

Another thing is when you eat food, eat with focus. You know eating & meeting really don’t go together too well. When you eat food, your mind should be in a pleasant state. If you are upset or angry or if you are listening to negative news & eating food, that doesn’t do good to you. Today what we do, we are holding the phone in one hand and talking and eating. Or on the dining table, we are fighting and eating. Our emotional state of mind contributes quite a bit to our health.

There has been a tradition all over the world, before food, prayer is done. Everybody is asked to do prayers, even kids. Like that, prayerful mind or gratefulness for the food that you are eating can also create different energy in the system. Our thoughts & behaviour has so much to do with food, so while eating food, have a pleasant state of mind or attention in the food. Okay.

Q. Gurudev, what is your take on therapeutic yoga? How can we use asanas and other yogic techniques as medicine?

Sri Sri: Yes, it has therapeutic values for sure. Because yoga has a definite impact on the lymphatic system, on the endocrine system, on the nervous system, and the circulatory system. So, it’s bound to bring wellness. It’s beyond doubt this has been established today, by so many research papers around the world that there are therapeutic benefits of yoga.

And it is open to ore research if anyone wants to do research, you are most welcome to do it, on yoga asana, pranayama, lifestyle habits, food, all combined can bring wellness.

Q. Gurudev, can you please suggest for large corporates, whether we should revise or establish parameters for the health of an organisation itself? If so, what should a CEO focus on?

Sri Sri: Corporates have to see whether there is synergy among the different departments. And how one can bring synergy. This is of utmost importance here. If there is no synergy among the departments, the productivity will go down, creativity will go down. And then good teamwork. If people are working in teams or they have enthusiasm to do more. These things we need to look into. Just giving a raise in salary once a year is not going to work. Motivation alone will not work, you need inspiration. Because motivation is always short-lived.  If you can inspire your employees to work with commitment, it makes a huge difference.

The Art of Living has developed the TLEX & APEX Programs for corporates, with all different levels of industry and it has brought tremendous change in the work culture. Number of research work has been done. More than five hundred companies have adopted these methods of management and they have been benefitted greatly.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar