Digesting Life

 The following article is an adaptation from the Homestudy Course: Yoga and Energy Healing, created by Ryan Kurczak.  For more information on exploring the healing aspects of Ayurveda as they pertain to your life situation, please contact Ryan through www.healingeasy.com. 

Digesting Life

 

Digestion is key not only with physical health, but also with mental health.  If we are still hanging on to things that happened to us when we were kids or something our spouse did three years ago then we have not digested these events mentally and they become undigested “food” mass to get in the way of proper nutrient absorption.  Bad food causes our stomachs to turn sour or makes us sick.  Wrong intake and digestion of impressions causes mental unhappiness and disease. 

 

Proper mental digestion depends on our intelligence to discern the truth of what we experience.  If things remain with us then our mental Agni (digestive fire) has not broken down and released the Tamasic (dark and inert) or Rajasic (agitated) aspects of our experience.  Sattva (light and clarity) will have a harder time being absorbed and applied in our minds.  These undigested impressions accumulate and block our perception of the goodness of life. 

 

For example, if we see a flower in the sunshine with an open heart, this image is digested easily and leaves an energy of light and peace in our deeper consciousness.  If someone attacks or robs us our mind gets disturbed.  This is hard to digest and leaves a residue of anger or fear.  Undigested experiences will continue to be stored in our subconscious, influencing our current states of mind, until we resolve them. 

 

This is yet another reason why meditation is so important.  Through meditation the mind is able to digest impressions properly, assimilate the experiences of life and rest in a Sattvic (pure, clear, peaceful) state.  The more often this occurs, the stronger our prana (life force) becomes and the clearer our consciousness shines happily. 

 

For a useful meditation practice, please visit the following link. 

 

http://hubpages.com/hub/Meditation-Practice-Explained

 

How we live, and those impressions we feed our senses also need addressed.  Below you will find a list of impressions you can include in your life to help balance your mental states.  These are categorized by Ayurvedic Constitution types.  Follow the link to learn more about Ayurvedic Constitutions and how to determine yours.

 

http://hubpages.com/hub/Ayurveda--Your-Constitution--and-Food

 

Once you understand these basic concepts you can easily begin to create the peaceful and successful life of your choosing by including more of the ‘impressions’ that help to sustain your spiritual and emotional health.

 

Vata-pacifying Impressions

 

Nature:  sitting or walking quietly and peacefully by a garden, river, forest, river, lake or      ocean, particularly where it is warm and bright

 

Sensory:  Sound-calming music and chanting, classical music, and peaceful silence

Touch-gentle warming touch or massage, using warm oils like sesame or almond

Sight-bright and calming colors like combinations of gold, orange, blue, green, white

Taste-rich, nourishing food abounding in sweet, salty, and sour tastes, with moderate use of spices

Smell-sweet, warm, calming and clearing fragrances like jasmine, rose, sandalwood, and eucalyptus

 

Activity:  Gentle exercise, Hatha Yoga, Tai Chi, swimming, hot tubs, relaxation, and more sleep.

 

Emotional:  Cultivating peace, contentment, fearlessness and patience; releasing fear and anxiety, having support of good friends and family with regular social interaction

 

Spiritual:  Prayers for peace and protection, developing discrimination and insight, meditation on the innate fearlessness of our true nature, or on strong forms of divinity

 

Pitta-pacifying Impressions

 

Nature:  sitting or walking by flowers, river, lake or ocean, particularly when it is cool, walking at night or gazing at the night sky

 

Sensory:  Sound-cooling or soft music like the sound of flutes or the sound of water

Touch-cooling, soft, moderate touch and massage with cooling oils like coconut or sunflower

Sight-cool colors like white, blue and green

Taste-Food that is neither too heavy nor too light, abounding in sweet, bitter and astringent tastes, with few spices except cooling spices like coriander, fennel, and turmeric

Smell-cool and sweet fragrances like rose, sandalwood, gardenia or jasmine

 

Activity:  moderate exercise, walking, swimming

 

Emotional:  cultivating friendship, kindness, and courtesy, promoting peace, forgiveness, compassion and devotion; releasing anger, resentment, conflict and hatred

 

Spiritual:  Prayers for universal peace, cultivating surrender and receptivity, meditations on the peaceful and blissful attributes of our true nature

 

Kapha-pacifying Impressions

 

Nature:  Vigorous hiking or walking in a dry or desert region, high mountains, or on a sunny windy day in open areas

 

Sensory:  Sound-stimulating music, strong, and energizing sounds, singing

Touch-strong, deep body massage with dry powders of stimulating oils like mustard

Sight-bright stimulating colors like yellow, orange, gold, and red

Taste-light diet emphasizing pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes with liberal use of spices, occasional fasting

Smell-light, warm, stimulating and penetrating fragrances like musk, cedar, myrrh, camphor, and eucalyptus

 

Activity:  Strong aerobic exercise, jogging, sun bathing, wind bathing, saunas, reducing sleep

 

Emotional:  cultivating detachment, service to others, and selfless love; releasing greed, attachment, and clinging

 

Spiritual:  Meditation on the void or inner light, prayers to experience the immaterial aspect of our true nature