Yoga and Ayurveda for mental well-being.
How does yoga help with mental health?
It is a connection,
A connection with ourself,
A connection with others.
It provides self-regulation.
It's about embodiment,
Being present and at home in our bodies.
It's being mindful on purpose in the present moment and being non-judgmental.
It's about self-knowledge and acceptance,
Getting to know and accept ourselves just as we are.
It's about self-care and compassion and the act of doing something for ourselves which really helps.
Obviously,
The big one is exercise,
Moving the body.
The first thing we want to do when we're looking at mental health is we really want to understand the role that our mind plays in contributing to our overall health.
Let's look at how Ayurveda and yoga view the mind.
Look at how you respond to life.
Ayurveda looks at the mind as a reflection of the reactions and responses we have to our external world.
Those impressions that we take in,
How are we,
Everything that we're seeing,
Touching,
Tasting,
Smelling,
Hearing,
All of those impressions,
They touch us and they're called vasanas.
Think of vasanas just like brushstrokes.
They're not permanent.
It's just information coming into the mind.
Really,
It's up to us how we work with that information that comes in.
How do we want to paint the picture?
How much color?
How many strokes?
How many layers?
However,
When we start to identify with very specific impressions,
The ones that become memories,
The ones that become those deep-seated patterns,
That's what we work with in yoga.
These vasanas that come in and stick,
They're called samskaras.
They're those deep-seated karmic patterns which are carried through our DNA.
Seeing both vasanas and samskaras as happening in the presence of what?
Of self.
They're like pictures appearing in a slideshow.
You can either freeze the frame and recount the memory,
Or you can just let the memory go like a passing parade.
However,
The self being immutable and unchanging has no comings and goings.
It's that stainless,
Pure,
And imperturbable presence in which everything is present.
Practice is like polishing a mirror.
The mirror is always reflecting the truth no matter how dirty it gets.
When we practice,
We remove the smudge marks.
We can see what's always been there,
Which is yourself.
Think of the body as the vehicle for that,
Or it's the instrument.
The body is not actually personal.
We take the physical body really personally,
But actually it's just a vehicle for us to experience ourselves.
Think about,
Do you give your car a hard time when it breaks down?
You might get a little angry and say,
But actually you don't take the malfunction of your car personally.
It's so interesting that we take any kind of issue with ourselves personally.
When something happens to our bodies,
That's when everything goes AWOL.
We look for blame.
Is it on the body?
Is it how we're thinking?
We make decisions.
We base our decisions on other people's ideas.
These kinds of choices usually lead to more and more chaos and confusion.
That's where we get these strong emotions like pain and depression and sadness and anxiety.
All these different emotions and states of mind,
They just come from one thing,
Which is doubt.
Is it this?
Is it that?
Will I lose my job?
How will I survive?
Will I regain my health?
Will I be safe?
The mind is always in this fluctuating state.
We're really looking for these thoughts to be resolved in some way.
Until the mind can find rest and a solution is found,
The crisis continues.
This is where we find ourselves right now in the world and obviously in our personal lives too.
How does Ayurveda help us?
Ayurveda's main tenet is harmony with nature.
We are inseparably part of nature.
We need to find a way back to that recognition,
That memory of that.
Learning that simplicity and contentment are the cornerstones of well-being.
Santosha,
That's the Sanskrit word for contentment.
That's really hard to find in a situation where what you're used to doing and how you're used to expressing yourself has been curtailed.
How can we find the joy in the simplicity?
Learning to be a human being rather than a human doing and learning that we are our own source of fulfillment through creativity.
What is Ayurveda?
Ayurveda is a science of health and healing.
Think of it as the therapeutic branch of yoga.
Yoga is not just a physical practice.
It is a technology for the eventual recognition of your true nature.
Once recognized,
So once you see yourself and you know yourself,
Then any practice is just this beautiful reminder because it just takes you back to that peace and that stillness and that oneness that you already are.
