- People want to be having better sex and more intimacy with their significant other.
- People feel fat.
- People feel totally unworthy of their dreams.
- People do one or more things “too much.” They eat too much sugar, drink too much wine, smoke pot, and the most shameful one – they eat for comfort. The crazy part? They know it.
- People don’t do one or more things that they really want to be doing. For some reason they gave up yoga, meditation, painting, writing, or singing. And the soul weeps for their lost muse.
ayurveda
Why Other People’s Baby, Engagement Ring, Kick-Ass Job, and Even Deepak Chopra Have Nothing to Do With You
The other day I posted a heart-felt sentiment on Facebook. I think, in the history of my Face-Life, I have never gotten so many “likes.” My friend and student, Martine, encouraged me to write it up as a longer blog post.
The comment:
I think it spoke to what many of us feel whilst scanning the Facebook “I’m super happy, tan, at-the-beach, cuddling-with-my-puppy/baby/ferret, engaged, pregnant, skinny, surrounded-by-beautiful-women, look-at-my-food-porn” created reality of our “friends.”
And trust me – I’m not immune to this reality manipulation as well. Id MUCH rather show all my friends/fans/students/family the “somtimes-moments” of me dancing Natarajasana on a mountain in my spandex-encased, J-lo-esque bootie than the other “sometimes-moments” of my life where I have eaten too much, am laying on the floor, bloated and crying, my mother praying over me for Jesus to help her poor food-compulsed daughter to lay off the chocolate chip cookies and gouda.
Don’t act shocked by what I just wrote. You know you have a dark side-compulsive thing you do (drink wine out of a water bottle at your kids playground? watch porn instead of being truly intimate with your wife? go to Cross-fit like a maniac? stay at the office to avoid your media-juiced kids?). But you aren’t posting that shit to the web. Of course not.
But I digress. So, let’s go back to the back story that inspired me to really NEVER believe the hype that says that someone else’s happiness reduces my own.
I learned that amazing truth from a teacher years back. This great teacher told us a story about how long, long ago, he felt jealous of someone who is now a very famous author and spiritual teacher (ok, lets just say it was Deepak Chopra). Every time he heard Deepak’s name it would feel like a thorn in his side. And you may remember that there was a time when Deepak was everywhere (especially everywhere in Los Angeles).
But being a good Tantric practitioner, instead of silently rebuking good ole’ Deepak, my teacher began to ask the question we should all ask when we feel the pangs of jealousy. “What is it about this person that is reflecting some unfulfilled longing in ME?” He realized that he himself wanted to be showing up in the world more, reaching more people, writing books, and fulfilling his own deepest purpose. As soon as he began to realize these things internally and tangibly, the silent Deepak-hating completely went away. Completely. Now, did Deepak change? Nope, not one bit. In fact, Deepak continues to become more famous and successful and tan and kind of wonderfully weird. And good for him.
You see, there is zero relationship between what other people are attaining and what you are NOT attaining. We live a lie whereby we feel we must compete for the good stuff. There is only so much money. So many resources. So much love. So many yoga students. So many opportunities.
But the truth of the matter is (and this is what Tantra teaches), your INTERNAL state dictates your happiness. If you are annoyed by someone’s success (or anything about someone else really), you gotta look it in the face and say, “Hello Guru, what can you teach me?”
I have been committed to the path of “there is no competition” for years. The commitment to using the “pangs” of negative emotion (jealousy, anger, fear, sadness) as teachers has been the toughest and most fruitful journey of my life. But slowly, I can see the way this path begets FREEDOM. I am the creator of my own happiness. And when I see YOUR insanely-edible baby, your amazing new hairstyle, your crazy-bendy yoga body, your food-porn, your hunky, flannel-wearing, lumber-jack-bearded-husband, your amazing way with words, your crazy-gorgeous engagement ring, your new book, you covered in snakes with zero-cellulite in your tight white yoga pants, your sky-diving abilities, your commitment to changing the world, your Cross-fit body, or any other attainment on your horizon, I am overcome with joy. Just joy. Anything else is just fuel for my own burning.
Pass it on.
~Katie
Ojas: The Power That Sustains Us
Ojas (OH-JUS) is one of the three subtle forces in our body. Think of ojas as the container that holds your abundant energy. It is the ultimate energy reserve of the body and mind. It is the purest essence of Kapha, and physically, it is related to reproductive, hormonal, and cerebrospinal fluids.
I love the metaphor of ojas as the body’s natural honey: it is the delicate and refined essence we produce from the plants and other vital essences we take in. Ojas is the force that enables us to sustain that change over time. Think of it as your psychophysical container or shield.
As a society, we don’t respect this energy enough. The more ojas we have, the more impervious we are to illness and the negativity of others. Robust ojas acts as a soft shielding, helping us ward off stress and disease brought on by physical pathogens as well as psychic pathogens (emotional vampires be gone!). The more ojas we have, the more impervious we are to the negativity of others, as our own spirit has a good, strong container. Ojas gives us an overall sense of satisfaction with life. As you might suspect, our modern Western culture is chronically low in ojas.
A person with good ojas is calm and content, and has both strong immunity and endurance. This is the most important element for most of us to cultivate. It is especially true if we are trying to conceive a child, deal with a stressful life event, or overcome an illness.
But increasing our level of ojas is not just a matter of building it up. It is also about not losing or wasting it.
When you are overstimulated, for example, if you spend hours on the Internet, drinking coffee, and texting friends, you lose energy through the five senses in ways you aren’t even aware of. This leaves us feeling depleted and can brings on depressive or anxious sensations.
The practice of pratyahara, that is, controlling our senses by moderating our speech and sexual energy and getting proper rest, relaxation and sleep, helps us preserve our vital energy. The next time you feel depleted, think of drawing the mind inward instead of reaching outward for comfort. I like to lie down and practice feeling the sensations in my body, turning my focus inward and letting any stagnant emotions rise to the surface.
START NOW: Feel A Connection to Your Ojas
This exercise will help you feel the strength of your energy reserve.
Find a comfortable position and close your eyes.
Take a few deep breaths. Relax for a minute, allowing your breath to deepen and smooth out.
Now slowly start to draw your attention away from your thoughts, emotions or aches, and drop it down into your belly, holding it there until you feel sensation. Then, slowly, bring your awareness into your heart.
Remember a moment in your life when you felt very deep love. Perhaps it was the birth of your child, a merging into the arms of your lover, being hugged by a parent, or the bliss you experience when you help someone in need. Maybe it was a time when you let yourself be totally vulnerable. When you add love to your point of focus, it builds your ojas.
Bring that moment fully to mind and notice where you feel the sensation of love in your body. Allow this sensation to move, to expand and permeate every cell of your being. When you grow the feeling of love inside your body, you boost the power that enables you to remain strong and wise in the face of heartache, disease and change.
Relax into this loving container, watching how, over and over again, you will gain and lose the feeling, and how you can refocus and experience your inherent enduring, sustaining power."
~Katie
Kick off the New Year with Delicious Self-Care – The Ayurvedic Daily Ritual
Alright ladies and gentlemen, it’s the New Year. We are all a-buzz with that excitement of new vistas and catalytic potentialities. And, wanna’ know the best way to super-charge your dreams? Start taking care of your body. Your mind will thank you.
Here is my basic Daily Ritual, pulled straight from my soon-to-be-published book on living healthy, happy and sexy with ancient Ayurveda:
Morning Routine
Your morning routine begins the night before: Getting in bed by 10 or 10:30 PM (can be a little later in the summer) will help you start the morning off right.
- Wake up at sunrise: If you are exhausted, sick or elderly, please sleep as long as you like. Upon waking, do not get out of bed right away. Try to be aware of your body and feel grateful to be alive before your toes touch earth. Pray.
- Drink warm lemon water: This helps to wash the G.I. tract, flushes the kidneys and stimulates peristalsis. If your digestion is sluggish, add 1/2 tsp ginger root powder.
- Nature calls: Going to the bathroom upon waking will help clear your digestive system. A healthy “motion” will have a soft brown log quality, little odor and will be well-formed (like a banana). Undigested food, foul odor, mucous, excessive dryness or “pellet-like” quality suggests a digestive imbalance. Altering diet, lifestyle and using herbs will help better this.
- Gently scrape your tongue: Buy a silver tongue scraper. Scrape from back to front 5-8 times. The tongue is a mirror of your intestines. When there is a thick white coating on the tongue, it is indicative that ama (toxins) are present. Tongue scraping helps prevent diseases of the oral cavity, improves our ability to taste, gets rids of old food debris and prevents bad odor in the mouth.
- Wash the face, mouth, teeth and eyes: Splash your face with cool water. Wash the eyes with cool water or real-deal rose water. You can also buy an eye cup at most pharmacies and use for washing the eyes. Massage your gums with sesame oil. This improves oral hygiene, prevents bad breath, increases circulation to gums, heals bleeding gums and helps us maintain strong healthy teeth.
- Mouth detox: Take 1-2 tablespoons of pure sesame oil (not toasted) in the mouth. Gargle and swish until it creates a liquid texture (about 10-15 minutes), and then spit out into trash can. This strengthens teeth, gums and jaw. It also improves the voice, and is said to remove wrinkles from the cheeks! I know you may think 10-15 minutes is a long time – but, just swish it around while you do something else (like your self-massage).
- Use a neti pot: Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to warm water in the pot and drain through each nostril. Afterwards, put 3-5 drops of warm sesame oil or ghee in the nostrils to lubricate the nose. This keeps the sinuses cleans, improves voice, vision and mental clarity. Our nose is the door to the brain. Nose drops nourish our prana and enhance intelligence.
- Abhyanga (Self-massage): Massage is one of our greatest allies for total health. It nourishes and soothes the nervous systems, stimulates lymphatic flow and aids in detoxification. It also improves circulation, increases vitality, nourishes the skin and promotes body/mind balance.
- Exercise: One of greatest allies in moving towards balance, exercise boosts the immune system and is an excellent way to counteract depression. Exercise daily to half capacity. We want to get a little sweaty glow, but not burn out before our day begins.
- Bathe: Use natural products.
- Meditate: Begin your day with some form of breath-work and meditation. Start with five minutes and work up to at least 20 minutes daily. I sometimes do my meditation before exercise, which is also fine.
- Eat breakfast.
Lunch Routines
- Try to make lunch your biggest meal of the day. Eat in a pleasant, calm place without distraction.
- Take some time to bless the food prior to eating.
- After eating, if you can lay down on your left side for 5-20 minutes, this is ideal. Why? Because it helps the digestive organs to do their work to assimilate the meal. If you are at work, even just leaning to the left side in your chair will be helpful.
Afternoon/Early Evening routines
- One afternoon routine that helps you deeply relax into your evening is the practice of yoga nidra – a yogi nap. Its also nice to do this prior to dinner, just before sunset.
- Eat light at night: Having your last meal before sun-down, and at least 3 hours before bedtime will ensure better sleep. If you feel don’t feel hungry, drink one of my nighty-night tonics like my Golden Yogini Milk.
Nighty-Night Routines
There is no excuse, anymore, for us to not be sleeping. Women need sleep. Men need sleep. Bunnies need sleep. Everybody on the planet needs 6-8 hours of sleep on a regular basis. As Ayurveda expert and author, Dr. Claudia Welch says, “Every cell in the body needs stimulation, and every cell in the body needs nourishment.” Just as we need to exercise, we also need to surrender into rest.
It is also impossible to accomplish your goals if you are chronically sleep-deprived. Plus, your mind/body uses sleep as the washing machine for the subconscious mind. If we aren’t slipping into deep dream-time every night, much of our toxic, unprocessed emotions and experiences don’t get drained away. As Dr. Robert Svoboda says, “Sleep is the wet nurse of society.” Raise your hand if you feel like you need to be wet-nursed?
Ayurveda offers an ideal way for transitioning from the activity of the day into the sacred chamber of sleep. Following these routines will make sleep come effortlessly, and will help keep you asleep through the night:
- Set the mood: Depending on the season (in the winter it may be earlier), start turning off overhead lights after dinner. Avoid fluorescent lights always, but especially at night. Low lighting helps tell your body it is time to go to sleep. Lots of light confuses your circadian rhythms and messes with the natural hormones that pull you into the “sleepy feeling.” One of the first questions I people who suffer from insomnia is, “Are your overhead lights still on at 8 and 9 PM?” Switch to low level lighting, candles, or install dimmers on your overhead lights to set the mood for sleep.
- No more screen-time: Set an intention to turn off all screens (computers, cellphones, TVs) by 8 or 9 PM. Science now confirms that screens and lighting are also messing with our circadian rhythms.
- Be in bed by 10 PM: Have you ever noticed that you get a second wind around 10:30 PM? That’s because the metabolic energy your body normally uses for detoxing you while you sleep gets diverted to mental energy, and we get activated. Our body detoxifies and rejuvenates from 10 PM – 2 AM. When we stay up late, we truly do miss out on beauty sleep. If you currently go to bed at mid-night, use the fifteen-minute rule. Each night, trying going to bed a mere 15 minutes earlier. Within a few weeks, you will soundly sleeping at 10 PM.
- Take a warm bath: Taking a scented warm bath can help reset the nervous system towards sleep. Use oils such as frakenscense, myrrh, lavender, honeysuckle, jatamamsi, sandalwood, chamomile, neroli or pure rose for deep slumber.
- Avoid too much mental stimulation: Don’t watch evening news. It’s toxic for your dreams. Similarly, avoid planning your future, having intense conversations or any other activity that promotes mental movement before bed.
- Light a candle, read a sweet book that makes your heart melt. Say some prayers, and turn in.
- Unravel the day: There is a powerful meditative practice for unraveling the day. It actually builds your power of assimilation and boosts memory. Once in bed and laying down, mentally go backwards through your day in increments of 30 minutes. Try to simply register what was happening to you during the day without judgement. Notice your feelings, relax and let all events go. End with the point where you woke up in the morning. Gently drift into sleep.
~Katie
Deep Listening – Balancing Your Weight With Ancient Ayurveda
The single most common complaint I hear from my students and clients? I don’t feel at home in my body. I want to offer you some simple Ayurveda-inspired, no-more-band-aid tips that will help you feel at home in your body again. And these techniques aren’t about imposing hard and fast rules – they are about deep listening.
It starts in your heart.
Many of us turn to the transient comfort of food, overeating in attempt to numb out the pain. We numb out fear, loneliness, dissatisfaction with our careers, sexual frustration, boredom in our marriage, resentment, anger, deep-seated insecurity and sadness. The crazy part is that after we numb-out, we feel depressed and/or anxious, and pick up the next activity to stuff down that emotion. And thus, the endless cycle of foggy vision and misplaced desire begins again.
What can heal us? Ayurveda says that knowing when we begin living unconsciously, dysfunctional behavior is the first step. Bringing loving awareness to these behaviors starts to unravel the pattern at the root.
The following tips will help you begin to balance your weight, while simultaneously addressing the deeper emotional hunger.
- Be aware. Begin to bring consciousness to the way you eating. Breathe deeply into your belly. Are your standing up? Are you in the car, on the cell-phone? Slow down. Find a calm place to sit and eat lunch. Be with the food.
- Eat slowly and chew the food well. Stop eating before you feel full, to allow the belly the space and time it needs to digest what you have eaten.
- Don’t put out your fire. When we overeat, we weaken our digestive fire. Whatever we cannot digest will turn into accumulated pollution and toxins in the gut. This has a dramatic impact on how we feel, and is the primary reason why women who eat healthy food have excess weight. It is also the reason why women who eat lots of healthy food can remain thin, dry and brittle.
- Observe why you eat. Are you emotional eating? No judgements, just be aware. Become aware of your habits, and what you use to cover up what you’re feeling. Do you pick up the chocolate when you feel overwhelmed or exhausted at work?
- Give yourself loving attention and give yourself what you need. Before eating, take a moment to close your eyes. Bring your attention to your belly and breathe slowly. Ask yourself, “What do I really need?” Before eating, check in – Am I hungry, or am I just angry (tired, lonely, exhausted, bored, etc.)? This is the crucial moment where we have the capacity to move from the unconscious realm of compulsive and dysfunctional behaviors into the realm of awareness. This is healing.
- Self massage. This is one of the single best ways to tell your body, “I love you.” Check out this post for a complete overview on how to oil your body machine.
- Relax. Relaxation has been scientifically proven to help in weight balancing. When we are under stress, our body produces a hormone called cortisol. When we have too much stress, this hormone actually tells our body to store excess fat for some impending doom. Bringing your awareness to your bones is a great way to ease into the parasympathetic nervous system. Notice the space between your right jaw ans right collar bone, and then your left jaw and left collar bone. Map it. And check out the Lineage of Love for more Body Yantra and other tools to find more ease.
~Katie
10 Ways to Improve Your Sleep and Love Life Immediately
Whether you suffer from insomnia or sleep like a log, the ancient teachings of the Vedas tell us that the way we set up our bedroom can have a powerful impact on the depth and quality of our sleep. It can also boost the sensuality-factor for deeper connection with our loved one.
Vastu shastra (literally the ”science of construction or architecture”) is an ancient science that arranges dwellings in accordance with natural elements and directional alignments. Think Indian feng shui.
Here is my modern interpretation on a simple vastu bedroom wisdom. Use it to optimize your sacred sleep chamber. In general, these pointers will help you create an atmosphere that begs for sensual ritual and deep sleep:
- Keep the room light and airy. Open windows as much as the seasons allow.
- Keep the temperature mild and pleasant. I recommend avoiding overheating or over-air conditioning the room. Make sure your body feels comfortable. Sometimes just feeling cold is enough to cause insomnia.
- Get rid of the clutter. There should be nothing in the bedroom that reminds you of work. Move the stacks of papers you need to file at the office out of this sacred sleep chamber. Take the spare change and those piles of mail off the top of your dresser. (Go do it now, you know you have a stack like that!)
- Bring in harmony by keeping the room clean, well-painted and orderly.
- The room should be private.
- The room should be empty of machines or technologies. They kill the buzz of sensuality, and increase restlessness in the body and mind.
- Create some boundaries on your e-life. Life changes when we make the adult decision to turn off our electronic devices after 9pm. Seriously, the iphone may be one sexy technological wonder, but your significant other is sexier. If you are single, relish this time alone to read your favorite books.
- Avoid all forms of news media in the bedroom.
- The room should smell good, but not too scented. Avoid heavy incense. Use fresh romantic scents such as ylang ylang, sandalwood, jasmine, and rose.
- The bed should be comfortable, not sag in the middle, and made with sheets should be made of natural organic fibers.
This article was originally published on the Yoga Journal blog on September 13, 2013.
Continue ReadingSharon Gannon Writes a Special Essay for Shakti School!
Jivamukti Yoga founder, Sharon Gannon, wrote a special essay for my book, Heathy, Happy, Sexy. It didn't make the final edit, but it was so beautiful, I wanted to include it here in our blog. Enjoy!
Ayurveda and Yoga by Sharon Gannon
My first experience with ayurvedic healing happened in the early nineties. I am in a small town in South India. The air is stifling. It is the afternoon and I’m sitting on a rusty metal bench in a tiny, dirt-floor room with 4 other people all waiting to see the doctor. I have come with a friend of mine to offer support. She hasn’t been feeling well for the past week or so. She says that her body aches all over; she has lost interest in food and finds it difficult to get out of bed in the morning. She feels not only physically tired, but also emotionally depressed, with a recurring feeling of “what’s the use?” hanging over her like a dark cloud. Finally the doctor calls us into his office. He asks her what’s the matter, and she tells him how she has been feeling. He then asks her a matter of fact question: “So, madam, do you want to feel better?” to which she replies, “Yes.” “Okay then get up. Spread your feet apart, stand up straight, release your arms by your sides,” he commands in a heavy Indian accent, and although somewhat startled by his tone of voice, she obeys. “Now start the shaking of your body, lift your right foot off the floor and shake it, then your left, now each hand and arm, shake your head, let your jaw relax, move around—move, move—get down on the floor and roll around—move, come on, don’t stop—shake all over.” He had her movin’ and shakin’ for a good five minutes without a stop, while I just sat in a corner and watched. Then he said, “Okay, you will feel better now, please give me 20 rupees.” We paid and walked out of the Ayurvedic clinic—both of us laughing uncontrollably. My friend was cured of her malaise by moving her body. You could say she shook her sickness off.
Since that first encounter I have learned that ayurvedic doctors will often prescribe shaking your body when you don’t feel well as the first step in the treatment of sickness. Personally I have often used shaking as medicine to provide a boost when I was feeling stressed or out of sorts. Through intentional shaking, you not only increase circulation of blood, but also circulation of prana—the universal life force that animates and connects the physical body to more subtle aspects of a person—emotional, mental and spiritual. When prana is flowing through one’s body, the result can be felt as “upliftment,” optimism and even ecstasy. Many ayurvedic and yogic practitioners say that the first things to do when ill health occurs, before ingesting any type of medicine, are:
- Mentally concentrate on the area concerned and imagine that it is being charged with prana—positive life force—and consciously breathe into the area where pain or lethargy is felt.
- Bring the concentration of prana into physical movement by shaking, whirling, rolling and/or performing yoga asanas.
- Massage the body, preferably with oil.
Shaking, as well as the above modalities, are ways to bring forth life’s essential vitality: your old unconscious ways of being get shaken up, and you can then reset your objectives. Our culture is founded on the concept and practical application of confinement—some examples being all that is viewed as normal in our lives: animals in factory farms, pet birds in cages, dogs on leashes, bridles and saddles on horses, fenced in land, trees planted in rows, bonsai trees, dammed up rivers, as well as human beings living in cramped apartments or houses, property lines clearly defined, not to mention the confinement of our bodies in clothes and shoes which inhibit freedom of movement. For those of us constrained by those cultural norms, shaking is nothing less than a radical, revolutionary action. Shaking was my introduction to ayurveda and my curiosity has only increased over the years as I have deepened my studies and practice of yoga and tried to understand their relationship, as well as how a vegan lifestyle fits it to these ancient systems.
Ayurveda and yoga are sister sciences used conjointly in India for centuries to bring about health and happiness, two important goals of life. Although possible, it is difficult to arrive at a state of happiness without health, and vice-versa. Ayurveda teaches us how to have a long and healthy life, and yoga gives us a reason to live by teaching us how to most efficiently use this precious life to attain enlightenment—ultimate happiness. The Sanskrit term ayurveda means science or knowledge of life, and the word yoga means to join, referring to reuniting with the Divine source of all existence—that whose nature is bliss, boundless joy, eternal happiness.
These two self-help systems, and they can be considered self-help systems because they are designed to help the small self reunite with the eternal Self—the source of all healing and happiness—have been around for thousands of years and were first described in the ancient Indian Sanskrit texts, the Vedas. To grasp how ayurveda and yoga work to bring about healing and happiness we must first understand that these ancient texts provide a holistic view of the individual and do not limit a person to just a physical body. The ancient texts describe each person as having not one but five bodies: a physical, energetic, emotional, intellectual and bliss body. Or in Sanskrit terms: anamayakosha, pranamayakosha, manomayakosha, vijnanamayakosha and anandamayakosha. These “bodies” are like sheaths or coverings, which together comprise the jiva or individual soul giving it mobility by providing it with a complex instrument with which to navigate through material life and even beyond.
Of all the five bodies the energetic, or pranamayakosha, is the bridge which links the physical body to the more subtle aspects of the person and ultimately to the universal blissful soul or atman. Because of the importance of the energetic body to the health of the whole body, many ayurveda and yoga practices focus on techniques to increase circulation and balance and direct prana—the vital life force—with the intention to balance and integrate all the bodies of the self. When all the five bodies are working together there is a feeling of completeness and wholeness. When they are in conflict, disease results, which can show up in the physical body as well as in any of the bodies. For example a person can appear to be physically healthy but feel ill at ease in their mind or in their heart.
In the traditions of both ayurveda and yoga, the body is not viewed as separate from the mind, so when we talk about health it isn’t just confined to health for the physical body without addressing the more subtle aspects the mind. The Sanskrit word for mind is manas. Manas means mind, yes, as in intellect and thinking, but more precisely it means the mind and heart together. One’s thoughts and feelings comprise manas. Yoga and ayurveda perceive that true health and happiness can only be attained when the thinking mind and the feeling heart come together and are not in conflict. When that harmony is achieved the physical body benefits, as do all the bodies, which together comprise the individual entity.
In order to create a true state of health for the individual we must consider the whole person, so it is important to know what constitutes a whole person—what each of the five bodies is made of. Here is a simplified explanation: The physical body is composed of the food we eat, as well as the five elements and the water we drink; the energetic body is made of prana or life force; the emotional body is made of feelings; the mental body is made of thoughts; and the spirit body is the soul, the composition of which is bliss. The soul is always blissful and happy. The experiences of life are designed to increase the bliss of the soul. Because of various karmas that are ripening, a person may or may not allow this inner bliss and happiness to filter into his or her mind and physical body. When a person ignorantly identifies with the physical body as separate from the mind, or with the mind as separate from the heart, or with the heart as separate from the soul, for example, the result is usually unhappiness, stress, suffering and subsequent illness. The systems of ayurveda and yoga are concerned with bringing about health and happiness for body and mind. They recognize that this health and happiness must come from the inner source, the soul, which is always blissful. The job of any health-promoting system is to remove obstacles to allow the inner Self, the blissful soul, to shine through the various layers of body and mind. This is an important consideration when we are trying to understand the relationship between ayurveda and yoga. Both systems are practical, not theoretical, and they both focus on removing obstacles through the modification or elimination of toxins to bring about the sought after goals of health and happiness. Ayurveda and yoga both use as their foundation the inherent perfection and natural happiness of the true Self or soul.
Health and happiness become suppressed due to toxins. Toxins may be physical or mental. Physical toxins may come from the food we eat, the air we breathe and the environment we live in. Mental toxins come from negative emotions such as anger, jealousy, greed, sadness, etc. All toxins appear in our system according to our karmas, or the actions we have taken in our past in relation to others and our self. Our karmas will determine our physical makeup at the time of our birth. Each of us has a particular body type that expresses our personality. Ayurveda refers to these constitutional types as doshas. Ayurveda and yoga deal with purifying our karmas by eliminating physical and mental toxins and rebalancing the doshas so that a healthy and happy individual can shine through.
Ayurveda deals mainly with the elimination of toxins from the physical body and yoga with eliminating toxins from the mind (or manas). Of course the body and mind are integrally connected and what you do to the body affects the mind and what you think and feel affects the body. Training your mind to let go of habitual negative emotional responses can eliminate toxins from the mind. Ayurveda helps you choose the best diet for your body type or dosha. Yoga helps you to choose the best diet for your enlightenment. As you learn to consciously direct the actions of body and mind you are able to let go of toxic negative emotions, all of which contribute to a lack of self-confidence. When toxins are let go of, true Self-confidence results. True Self-confidence comes about when the self can connect to the source of happiness through the eternal Self or soul—the atman, whose nature is composed of satchidananda: truth, consciousness and mostly bliss. Diseases both physical and mental come about from being ill at ease, not comfortable and not happy, and this discomfort can be traced to a disconnection to the atman, to one’s eternally blissful soul. The physical body cannot be ignored; after all we are spiritual beings having a physical experience. We cannot experience health or happiness by depriving others of health or happiness. When your food choices come from a place of compassion, then you are more likely to quickly bring the body and mind into harmony and achieve your goal of health and happiness. A vegan diet is the most compassionate diet because it causes the least amount of harm to the animals, to the planet, to other human beings and to ourselves. Eating a vegan diet not only contributes to physical health, but to mental health as well, by helping an individual overcome negative emotions by promoting gentleness and kindness over greed and selfishness. I realize that some ayurvedic practitioners advocate eating milk products, especially ghee and even some meat, for physical health reasons. I cannot align myself with this reasoning. Perhaps at one time in our historical past we did not have the consciousness to realize the impact of our choices on the planet and ourselves. But today it could not be more crystal clear. If we are to utilize the sacred wisdom from the past, then we must be able to discern the essential truth in that wisdom and utilize it for the happiness of all and let go of any self-serving motives. I have met such an enlightened ayurvedic practitioner, Dr. Gabriel Cousens, who at his Tree of Life vegan clinic in Arizona gave me a full-on, 7-day, ayurvedic panchakarma treatment without the use of any animal products, using coconut oil to replace ghee. I think he represents compassion in action, able to honor tradition while rebirthing it into a vital application for the present world—true spiritual activism.
We all want to be happy; some of us even want enlightenment. The enlightened sages tell us that our true nature is happiness. But if that is so then why is it so hard to be happy? How do we reconnect to this happiness? Yoga teaches that what ever we want in life we can have, if we provide it for someone else. So if we want happiness then we should focus on contributing to the happiness of others. In order to do that effectively we must find ways to allow goodness, kindness and compassion to override the self-centeredness of our ego, which tends to hold on to and identify with toxic negative emotions.
If we want to move towards health and happiness we might try to understand who we are as individual physical personalities. Sickness could be thought of as an imbalance of energy. Determining your ayurvedic constitution can be a valuable first step towards good health. Once you know what elements may be predominating in your system then you can take actions to counteract the ill effects that may be caused by imbalances of the doshas. Dosha is the Sanskrit term that describes a person’s physical and mental disposition or constitution. The doshas are drawn from the natural elements that make up our world. These elements are: Ether, Air, Fire and Water. Each of us is born with a body composed of combinations of these elements in different degrees, making each body unique:
- The combination of ether and air results in vata dosha.
- The combination of fire and water results in pitta dosha
- The combination of water and earth results in kapha dosha
Vata, pitta and kapha each have their own attributes. These attributes show up in qualities of mind and physical body. The general attributes associated with Vata are talkative, impulsive, excitable, touchy, restless, intellectually active, reflective, moody, creative, imaginative, changeable, fearful, imaginative, unpredictable, anxious. The general attributes associated with Pitta are responsive, knowledgeable, judgmental, critical, sociable, passionate, fiery, fanatical, logical, precise, intellectual, aggressive, ambitious, and physically active. The general attributes associated with Kapha are passive, peaceful, calm, cool, firm, careful, quiet, stable, steady, sturdy, stubborn, greedy, possessive, caring, tolerant.
It is interesting to note that although the dosha system is thousands of years old and of Indian origin, in our western medical system we have a similar typing developed by Dr. William Sheldon (1898-1977), who was an American psychologist who devoted his life to observing human bodies and temperaments. He grouped body type and temperament according to the way that the human embryo develops in the mother’s womb. He named these three elements: Endomorphy, Mesomorphy and Ectomorphy, for they seemed to derive from the three developing tissue layers of the human embryo during gestation. The ectoderm develops into the brain and nervous system and so would correspond to vata dosha; the mesoderm contributes to muscles and the circulatory system, so would correspond to pitta dosha; and the endoderm grows into the organs of digestion, which would correspond to kapha dosha. Just as in the dosha system, no one person is totally and exclusively only one type. We all are made up of components in various degrees with one component usually dominating.
Although I am a yoga practitioner and I admit my knowledge of ayurveda is very limited, still I have found that a basic understanding of the doshas has enhanced my practice and provided me with direction as well as a greater degree of tolerance so as to better assist the students who come to me for instruction.
In a person’s lifetime, the three doshas provide structure. Infancy and childhood is a time for kapha, pitta predominates during the active time of adulthood, and vata governs old age, a time for reflection. In a typical Jivamukti Yoga class we go through all of the three doshas but in reverse as to how they appear in a lifetime. For example, the beginning of the class is under the direction of vata, when there is chanting, listening to the teacher give a teaching and mentally setting your intention for the practice. After we have focused the mind, we move into the pitta portion of the class, when we move the body in a series of asanas creating heat. The class culminates with cooling and calming down into quiet relaxation and meditation, a time for kapha. So each yoga session can be like a profound rebirthing.
Chanting the sacred syllable OM is a good way to begin a class as it provides a sort of preview to the experiences that will unfold during the rest of the class. OM can be broken down into these three sound components: AH-OO-MMM, which corresponds to the three doshas, vata, pitta and kapha, respectively. The vata processes control activity from the navel to the feet. The pitta processes control activity from the navel to the heart. The kapha processes control activity from the heart to the top of the head. So while chanting ah-oo-mmm, one should be able to feel these doshas operating energetically in their body in the following way:
AH: The sound vibration is felt in the lower part of the body from the navel down to the feet. Feel the sound vibrate there. This will bring grounding to any imbalances of vata.
OO: The sound vibration is felt from the navel upward and around the heart area. Let it circulate there, balancing and cooling the fiery pitta dosha.
MMM: This sound can be felt as vibrating in the throat and into the head, bringing calmness and serenity into the brain and throughout the nervous system by balancing the kapha dosha.
The three humors of the body—gas, bile and phlegm—correspond to these three doshas. When there is too much gas, there is an imbalance of vata, the air/ether element; when there is too much bile, there is an imbalance of pitta, the fire element; and when there is too much phlegm, there is an imbalance of kapha, the water/earth element. Because all imbalances are imbalances of energy, yoga addresses this with practices that may include pranayama and asana to help release, balance, and direct energy in a more positive healthy way. Yoga asanas are appropriate for all dosha types, but to achieve the most benefit there should be a different emphasis for each person according to their dosha. A yoga teacher who knows something about the doshas can use that knowledge to better diagnose when particular students are having trouble in a class and then be able to help these students work to overcome the imbalances of the doshas.
Once I was teaching a yoga class where the focus was on ayurveda. I began by giving a brief but intriguing summary outlining the characteristics of the three doshas and had promised that during the class we would discover what dosha each person was. At some point I instructed everyone to go up into a headstand and to silently count their breaths. After about 2 minutes I asked a person whom I suspected was a typical kapha type to tell me what breath they were on, to which they replied 30. I then asked the red haired student next to them, who was now doing many difficult variations what breath they were on, to which they shouted loudly in pitta like fashion “108.” Then I turned to a student who had just come down out of the asana and was in child’s pose, “how many breaths did you hold your headstand for?” “Oh I forgot, I think I lost count.”
The following provides simplified, generic guidelines for how to identify doshas as they might be expressed through the behavior of yoga students in a classroom setting and how the teacher can help particular students according to their dosha. Of course these guidelines can be applied to oneself as well.
Vata types tend to be talkative, impulsive, excitable, touchy, restless, active, and moody.
They often will give up too soon and “space out,” sometimes just sitting down and watching the rest of the class, checking their cell phone or leaving in the middle of a class to go to the bathroom. They lack will power and stamina. Their breath will come in stops and starts with much hesitation. Or they will start out fine but won’t be able to sustain themselves. They want a light practice and don’t want to work hard. They may be undecided as to which asana they want to do. That is why they should come to class and be told want to do. Left at home they won’t be able to decide or to concentrate. A home practice, unless it is a fixed series, will be difficult for a vata personality to sustain. When vata is in a state of equilibrium they may have bursts of energy and want to do many asanas or take many yoga classes. But this commitment is usually short lived. Pain for them is excruciating, they have low tolerance and can burst into tears at the slightest discomfort.
What to do? Vata needs to develop steadiness, stability, endurance and the ability to bear a certain amount of discomfort. They benefit from removing distractions from their practice—encourage them to leave their bags and turn off their phones. They need to concentrate on making their breath even and smooth. Sun salutations, standing asanas, as well as inversions, forward bends and lateral twists will help.
Pitta types usually can bear a lot of pain, as their tolerance level is high. They sweat easily and profusely. Pittas will show mastery over asanas faster than other types. They put maximum effort and enthusiasm into their practice. They can become prideful of their accomplishments and can become too strict, rigid and dogmatic in their practice.
What to do? Pitta needs to concentrate on slow, full breaths and not be in a hurry. They should not get overly dramatic and fanatical. Realize that the vata’s natural tendency will be to compete, but instead of competing with others, they can be encouraged to use their natural aggression to challenge themselves towards developing slow full breaths. Instead of winning, which pushes us into the future, help them be in the present moment. Sun salutations done with smooth slow steady breathing is good for pitta. They should stay in inversions and twists while working to develop good mental intentions. Back bends are very good for them if they are able to direct their energy towards letting go of negative emotions while in the backbend instead of pushing themselves to impress or be the best. All asanas should be done with special attention to the mental state. They must strive to overcome anger and pride while practicing asanas.
Kapha types can tend to be lazy and give in to inertia. But once they become committed to a practice they tend to stick to it. They tend not to get too excited about asanas. They exert their effort in a non-aggressive way at a slow pace without fear. They are usually happy go lucky. They don’t complain much, and usually don’t ask many questions, content to allow understanding to naturally arise in time with practice.
What to do? Kapha needs to let go, especially of the exhale. They need to concentrate on exhaling as much as inhaling. Kaphas like to conserve and so have a tendency to hold their breath. They benefit greatly through the practice of vinyasa and sun salutations. Inversions and back bending are also very helpful in balancing kapha dosha due to the hormonal and circulatory stimulation that these asanas provide.
The systems of ayurveda and yoga have been borrowing from each other for centuries so much so that it may be hard to decipher just what came from where. In our contemporary times, when we practice yoga or ayurveda we can’t help but to receive benefits from both systems. This merger took a dramatic turn during the 13th century C.E. when a small group of yogic practitioners known as the Nath yogis in northern India under the leadership of Swatmarama yogi, codified the practices of yoga into a book known as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. The book was revolutionary for many reasons. The title means to shed light on how to attain yoga: happiness, bliss and ecstasy, Self-realization, the realization of the oneness of being beyond all duality—that in itself is a pretty impressive promise! The book was meant to provide a supplement to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, written well over a thousand years before, which dealt primarily with mental obstacles to enlightenment. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika provided more practical, hands-on techniques to overcome obstacles and eliminate toxins. At the time of publication it was assumed that a yogi should not only be a master of yoga but also be well versed in the practices of ayurveda, so it comes as no surprise that the techniques described in the Hatha Yoga Pradipka contain elements no doubt borrowed from the ayurveda system by these adventurous yogis from the 13th century, who were able to blend ayurvedic and yoga methods into a system that worked in tandem to increase health and happiness. We all owe a great debt to them.
Check out the rest of the Healthy, Happy, Sexy bonuses here
How Real Deal Christians Schooled This Yogini on Love and Forgiveness
Yoga-mat-carrying-chics could learn something from bible-carrying chics. I should know. I got schooled by some sassy, suit-wearing lady-preachers this past year when I moved back down south to Virginia, land of the notorious Bible Belt.
A few months back I had a big ole’ fat case of the poor-me’s. A mind gremlin had actually wrapped her slimy webbed palms around my head and heart. She was ruthless, loudly blaring things into my heart space that made me wanna’ give up on my dreams and get in bed with a box of Chex-mix and a block of cheese.
Luckily, my mama (Vera) was around to pull me out of funk-city, dragging me kicking and screaming to a bible study. The last time I had been to bible class I was wearing MC-hammer pants, braiding friendship bracelets and listing to Toni Braxton. Needless to say, I was less than thrilled at the prospect of revisiting that awkward time of my embodiment.
“I demand it,” she said. “You are coming with me to my ‘little’ bible study.”
My mom always calls it her “little” bible study. Its as if by adding a diminutive qualifier to the whole charade she can somehow fool all the other non-Christians into overlooking what clearly proved to be a Jesusy-Tantrik, Christ-Worshipin’, Lady-Witch gathering, complete with scented oils, speaking in tongues and the laying of hands.
Little, my ass. There is nothing little about my mamas bible study. Not only are most of the women buxom and juicy, but the unapologetic spiritual dexterity and prayer-filled dedication of these Jesus-loving ladies made me wonder if we yogini gals had a few things to learn from them.
Let me explain….
About half-way through the study’s lesson on faith and surrender, it became obvious to the group that I wasn’t sharing much (an oddity for me in any lady-group circle, let me assure you). With much trepidation, I admitted to the group of women that I didn’t feel comfortable sharing and connecting with them because I could feel myself holding so much pain and anger against the Christian church.
“What are you angry about,” said the leader-lady, a no-nonsense woman with a loving matriarchal tone.
“Well, Im angry that a bunch of middle aged southern men made me feel so bad for being a sexual, sensual creature. Im angry that at the age of 13 I had to sign a “promise” stating that I would never have sex before marriage. I am angry that I was subjected to lock-ins at the age 14 where me and my Jewish friends were shown graphic low-fi videos depicting non-Christians’ eventual resting place – the fiery lakes of Satan’s, teeth-gnashing hot wonderland. I was angry that I was stuffed full of Krispee Creme donuts and Mr. Pibb throughout the night, and at a hazy, sugar-drugged 3 AM, asked whether or not I wanted to be a child of God or not. I was so angry, and even sadder, that the single most intimate aspects of myself – my body, my sexuality and my connection to the Divine Creator of the Universe was co-opted by a patriarchal religious system that was so afraid of my vagina that they wanted to keep it on lock-down through prepubescent pseudo-contracts and fattening me up with donut creme".
As I finished my tear-stained rant, the preacher-woman stood up and came over by my side. She put her hands on my head and I closed my eyes as she entered into some sort of Christ-loving lady-trance.
“Lord,” she proclaimed, “Free Katie from this burden she is carrying, oh Divine One. Lord, may all the thoughts inside Katie that were placed into her by these men in bad suits and bad hair cuts, be removed from her right here and right now. We know Lord, that she is your sacred jewel, your most beloved possession. Lord, we know that she was created by you, in perfection. May all these thoughts and feelings she has inside of her that tell her she is damaged, that she is dirty, that she is shamed, be removed from her right here and right now, Oh Lord. This child of God is a light for your love. This is how you see her, Oh Lord, and let her see herself in this way from here on out.”
As she continued praying and laying hands over me, I felt the store house of years of 13-year old-girl-sadness and angst leave my body. I felt relief, knowing that there was a group of people that embodied Christ’s nonjudgmental love and acceptance. With my eyes closed, I saw my whole body fill up with light, tears streaming down my face, as I let this woman of God midwife the exorcism of the thought-forms that the southern Baptist charade had mistakenly planted into my body.
Slowly, each of the ten women came over and put their hands on me. I felt safe, knowing that these women loved me for exactly who I was as they cried out Amen and whispered “Yes, Jesus.” I felt healed. I was being healed by the MAMAS of the Christian realms. I felt the whole wily band of Christ’s cheerleaders placing their loving mama-hands on the wounds that had wrapped themselves on my heart like tentacles.
But Jesus wasn’t done with me yet…
The leader-mama actually got down under the tall table, on hands and knees, in her sleek black lady-suit, and anointed my feet with oil, just like in old-school Bible times. She freaking anointed me with oil. She was fearless. She put it on my feet, praying that I may be protected wherever I walked.
She put it on my hands, saying that my hands would act as servants of love in the world. She put it on my forehead, saying that my mind would be a clear vessel for Christ. Finally she looked up at me and said, “Now Katie, do you FORGIVE them? Do you forgive those men in suits? Do you forgive the church?”
Oh hot damn. She was asking ME to be the forgiving one. Not the men in the suits or the church, but ME. She was asking me to do what Jesus Christ would have done. She was skilled at her craft and I was ready. “Yes,” I whispered. And I did forgive. And forgiveness washed through me like a cool river. Like love.
These women, acting on behalf of the love of Christ, saved me.
I got saved – saved for the second time. Not like the first time, out of fear-coercion and childish innocence, but saved out of love and forgiveness. I was saved from the memories that lived in me of how bad Christianity had been to me. I was saved from all the anger that I was carrying around. I was saved from myself and my own limited view of what it means to be on the real-deal spiritual path. I was saved from that limited sense of self that told me that I knew what I needed. I got saved.
My Christianity may never look like my parents’ version, the Church’s version, or even that wild group of Christian lady-witches’ version. But what I do know is that I am a Guardian of Love, chosen by Christ to continue to forgive and love, forgive and love, forgive and love. Thats how Jesus is alive in me.
And that was how my mama’s ‘little’ bible study went down.
To conclude, here is what I learned from real-deal Christian mamas:
i. They aren’t impressed with the political and economic use of Christianity – they are impressed by acts of great trust and love.
ii. Lots of cool Christian women (and men I assume) are NOT happy with the way things have been going down in the Christian church. That real-deal preacher woman told me that oftentimes it is the very leaders of religion that are closest to “the devil” himself. I knew that, but to have a preacher woman SAY it. Word.
iii. Prayer is something Christians go to – like everyday – to help support one another and themselves. These ladies are praying for each other ON THE DAILY. When was the last time you sat your hot yoga-toned bootie down and PRAYED for your friends? Maybe we could start being fearless enough to do that for ourselves and selfless enough to do it for one another.
iv. Circles are good for study. These women get together weekly to deeply study their sacred text – the Bible. When was the last time you got together with your yoga mates to dig deep into the Sutras or Rumi or a rad Tantric text? We can learn so much from these mamas. Gather in circles. Talk to one another. Not in your “yoga voice,” but in your most vulnerable, real-deal voice. You know, the voice that your friends from high school would recognize as you. Bring the spiritual book of your choice, it doesn’t matter. The bible says that when 2 or more are gathered in “my name,” Love appears.
v. Real-deal Christians are doing the same thing that real-deal yogis or Buddhists or Hindus or Jews are doing. Call yourself whatever you want – the end game is the same for all of us. Its love. L-O-V-E, love.
What lessons have you learned from unlikely places that change how you practice yoga – on the mat, and in life?
~Katie