Physical culture has been an important part of life at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram since 1945 when a formal exercise programme for both the students and the members of the Ashram was first organised. The Mother considered physical education and culture vital to the integral development of the individual:

The human body must be improved, perfected, and it must become a superhuman body capable of expressing a being higher than man.... It is by an enlightened physical culture and by using physical activities - the activities of the body - not for little personal needs and satisfactions, but to make the body more capable of expressing a higher beauty and consciousness.

This book, which was formerly titled Education (Part Three): Physical Education, contains articles, notes, letters, messages, and conversations of the Mother in which she explains the fundamentals of physical education and the need for spiritual seekers to remain active, disciplined, and balanced in their physical lives.