The soul is sacred.  By inhabiting your body, it makes the body sacred as well.  It helps to see the body as a vessel for the soul - it creates a sense of reverence and a responsibility to maintain the vessel.  Don't cook foul food in your vessel - it will leave unsightly gunk caked on the inside and produce a foul odor.  Instead, put only wholesome food and pure water, and cook over gentle fire of your Ujjayi breath.  As any pot that begins to smell of the food that has been cooked in it, so your body will also take on some of the properties of the food you eat.  Clean it regularly by moderating the amount of food you consume (or fasting, for some), by taking cleansing herbs and engaging in purefying Yogic and Ayurvedic practices.

Besides the food, however, your body is also a vessel for your mind.  Be careful about what thoughts you indulge in - they, like food, will begin to add their own flavor to the brew that is you.  Every thought produces a physical reaction in your body.  When these thoughts are negative, the reaction is tension, stress, knotting of the tissues.  By thinking the same negative thought over and over again, it is almost as if you punch yourself in the same place repeatedly.  After beating up your liver with critical thinking, what do you think will happen to the organ?  Practice "pratipaksa bhavana" - every time you think something negative about yourself or someone else, notice it, and immediately think something opposite and positive.  "Contemplating the Opposite" is an ancient Yogic practice, described in the Sutras, that helps us to be happy.  Happy thoughts bring healing and balance not only to the mind, but also to the body.

Chanting helps to catalyze the psychic energy and by creating internal vibration dislodge and remove the mental and physical gunk that builds up inside.  Like a Tibetan singing bowl, the more your body is evenly shaped (through Yoga Asanas), the cleaner it is (through diet and purgation therapies), the more harmonious the sound will be.  It will dispel any darkness and create luminosity that glows from within.

Let your Yoga practice be a daily prayer to your sacred soul.  If you are gentle to the body, if you take care of it, it will last longer.  Makes sense, right?  Inevitably, however, the pot begins to crack due to constant use, lose its luster as it ages.  And that's ok - it is just a vessel.  It will become easy to accept the changes to the vessel once you have contemplated the eternal nature of its contents.  If you pour the water out of the cup, the water simply returns to its source and joins the other water in the never-ending cycle of nature.  It becomes the rain and pours into another vessel - everything is recycled.

Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.  Peace, peace, peace.