Hazrat Inayat Khan
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Hazrat Inayat Khan, the great Sufi mystic, is credited with bringing Sufism to the West. He taught Universal Sufism which emphasized the communality of all religions and can be valid to anyone, regardless of their religious or other belief.
Inayat Khan also had a great deal to say about health and healing. In the Book of Health, he talks about the importance of harmony in maintaining good health.
"In short, the first lesson in health is the understanding of this principle, that illness is nothing but inharmony and that the secret of health lies in harmony."
He highlighted the need to maintain both physical and mental harmony as the one acts upon the other:
“If one continues to think harmonious thoughts it is just like regular beating of the pulse and proper circulation of the blood.”
So the very thoughts we think have a very real impact on maintaining our physical health.
Inayat Khan also taught that each of us is unique with our own particular talents and gifts. He talked of the “note” that each person has to play in life and how very important it is, for our own health, that we play our note. When we do this we are in harmony with our environment and the energy around us. It is this harmony that maintains our physical and mental health.
“When a person is vibrating his own note which is according to his particular evolution then he is himself, then he is tuned to the pitch for which he is made, the pitch in which he ought to be and in which he naturally feels comfortable.”
So the lesson for us would seem to be to keep balance in all that we do – in action, in emotion, in rest, in work, in diet, in exercise and in our thinking.
Beyond this it’s also important for us to play our note – to be courageous enough to live from the heart and live the life we were meant to. In so doing we create harmony in our mind, body and in our environment. It is this harmony, when energy is flowing as it should, that maintains our good health.
