When we achieve harmony between body, mind and soul, we gain insight into the universal mind, says Ayurvedic physician, teacher and – in my eyes – great guru Dr Vasant Lad, who also emphasises that the purpose of life is to learn – first about oneself. Dr Lad thus invites us to look and live “from the inside out”, because (all too often) instead of enjoying our total freedom, we are trapped in our own body frame. And I have experienced for myself that controlling wild mental horses can also lead to controlling wild (real) dogs …

It is important to know that even if the body is working with our help and is our mortal frame, or “mortal frame”. We are not (just) the body. The physical structure is only one part of us, and the other part is invisible – the energy, the soul, the spirit. “We are spirit, soul, pure consciousness, a conscious being,” emphasises Dr Vasant Lad. He explains that the ego is not a bad thing, of course, because it helps us to survive; it has sensory and motor functions, so we need it, but the key is to realise that “we ourselves do not stop at the ego”. We are therefore mind, soul and body!

Let’s love each other – so we don’t become trapped parrots!

The body is healed and cared for through proper nutrition and selected cleansing techniques and a healthy lifestyle, the mind is kept clear through meditation, yoga and pranayama (breathing techniques), and the soul is a source of joy and bliss. When we achieve harmony between body, mind and soul, we gain insight into the universal mind. And the purpose of life, so Dr. Lad, is to learn – first about oneself. Let us see and live “from the inside out”, urges the Ayurvedic guru. For all too often (just think of yourself), instead of enjoying total freedom, we find ourselves trapped in our own body.

Dr Lad reinforces this with the example of catching parrots, which in his native country of India are sometimes caught by setting a rope on which the parrots sit, and then, after a time when the parrots are relaxed, the catcher twists the rope so that the parrots end up in a position where they hang upside down, with their claws still holding on to the rope – firmly, so that they don’t fall upside down on the ground. Because they have lost their balance and because they do not immediately grasp what has happened to them, they forget that they have wings that could help them fly away and get out of a seemingly simple snare. So the poor parrots hang on until the hunter simply picks them up one by one from the rope. Do you ever feel like a parrot caught like that and forgetting it has wings?

As I said, we have a mind and a soul as well as a body, and it would be a shame to forget any part of this unique being we share. The whole being is worth loving. To love ourselves. This reminds me of the display on the aeroplane which dictates that if, in case of trouble, the oxygen masks fall out of the compartment above our heads, we put the mask on ourselves first, and then on the child who may be accompanying us. After all, if we ourselves are not equipped with oxygen, it will be difficult for us to hold it for someone else, will it not? This, of course, can also be mapped onto real life, where the system in which we operate – whether it is the profit, non-profit, public or private sector – requires us to act more or less constantly. And we are capable of it, but over the years perhaps not all of us to the same extent. So we have to love ourselves and not forget ourselves, even if we may feel bad when we think ‘gee, I can’t do my facial now when I should be doing this-and-that!’ or something like that.

Here, right here, we need to remind ourselves – perhaps a little more sternly – that we do need to like ourselves a little better.

Respect – the building block of good relations

Respect is absolutely a building block for good relationships, as Dr Vasant Lad also makes clear, but I would add that this is why it is essential to start with self-respect. The first and foremost relationship is with ourselves and we are responsible for our own well-being, says biochemist and physiotherapist Špela Jakša, who runs an online detox school under the auspices of her studio, The Fifth Element.

And as Dr Lad goes on to say, the Conscious Mind operates through the brain in 10% (understanding, planning, thinking, short-term memory, etc.), the Unconscious Mind operates in 90% (long-term memory, emotions, habits, behaviour patterns, addictions, etc.), while the Superconscious Mind operates in less than 1% (intuition, spiritual connection). We are therefore trapped in the first 10%. So let’s go for a walk alone more often and take time for ourselves and only ourselves. This will bring us closer to activating our superconscious mind.

And if we ever find ourselves in a situation similar to the example of the trapped parrots, let us remember Albert Einstein’s dictum from a long, long time ago that we cannot solve a problem with the same way of thinking that created (the) problem in the first place. So let us not forget that, like parrots with wings, we have not only a soul and a mind, but even a superconscious mind. We just need to awaken (and cultivate) it. This will surely lead us to the goal mentioned by Špela Jakša, among others – that the way to better health is (also) authenticity. And we are authentic when we are content. When we are happy in our own skin. When we are happy in our own body and with our own mind. And when our soul is also nurtured.

The body is a good friend, but the mind is sometimes a wild horse

According to Dr Lad, body and soul are linked through a healthy lifestyle and diet, and purification techniques where necessary. To connect the mind with the soul, let’s do the things we love to do. This is how we build relationships. And we build a bridge between mind and body through kindness and a sincere and positive attitude towards others, in whom we also perceive ourselves in such a positive way. The body is “completely innocent” and tells us what we need (thirst, hunger, need for recreation, etc.). The body is therefore our friend and we should care for it as a good friend.

The bigger challenge is the mind, which drives us after desires, passions, power, social positions, etc…; it is the mind that “gives us no peace”. (Just think of how, when we want to meditate, our minds go back and forth like wild horses.) Therefore, it is necessary to take care of the soul, which we will do if we do the things we really love to do. Let us observe ourselves more often – let us observe our thoughts, the workings of our brain; let us not be angry with our wild horses, and even if they are “wild”, let us forgive ourselves and be kind to ourselves. Through meditation, we can bring awareness to the core of our brain’s functioning, and in doing so, we can establish a relationship with ourselves and learn about ourselves. Learning is the point of relationships; we learn to react and to manage our reactions, both our own and those of others, says Dr Vasant Lad of the American Ayurvedic Institute.

In a way, all this is confirmed by Špela Jakša when she says that thoughts are the language of the brain and emotions are the language of the body, and therefore cannot be treated separately. Every thought we have ends up with a biological response from the body, which can either strengthen the immune system or undermine our health. And how true it is that there is one and only one person whose behaviour we can control – ourselves. So when we have a problem, the best first step is to think about how we can approach solving it. But of course it is not worth getting stuck in thinking about how something could have happened to us when it has happened, because we have no influence on the passage of time itself, only on how we feel about it and consequently express or not express (our feelings). Because, as Jakševa goes on to explain, holding on to emotions leads – logically, right? – to chronic stress and we can quickly speak of mental toxicity.

If in past blogs we have written about what to consume as food – also for the sake of beautiful skin (and let’s not forget – the state of our skin is only a mirror of our inner state!) – it is absolutely worth being aware of the consumption of information, especially in the light of relationships as one of their most important sources. And here we are back to relationships. It is clear that they stimulate in us lower and higher emotions. The lower ones, such as anger, fear, sadness, even anxiety, and, of course, on the other hand, joy, while the higher emotions, such as love, gratitude and kindness, are cultivated internally. So let us recall once again Dr Lad’s invitation to look and live “from within outwards”.

From wild horses to feral puppies

Let’s combine all this with Špela Jakša’s idea that learning, new movement patterns and ways of thinking change our brain chemistry, which in turn affects our body chemistry. How true this is, I tested on this December morning, which was ‘spiced up’ by my two beloved pooches, when they ran off after the village (dog) tramp, with one of my beloved pooches coming back to me so I could get him, and the other running off to freedom. But it happened that the ‘taprid’ and I chased her by the nose (meaning: the snout of the ‘taprid’) in pursuit of the ‘untaprid’, which led us far into the beautiful forest, but of course not along the familiar path, but through snowy ravines and areas covered with fallen trees, until I felt completely, but really completely, lost near my own home. Even the ‘tapriend’ puppy was now a stray, as the untrodden paths we took brought him the very interesting smells of wild animals and probably the aftermath of the night life of the forest, and my patience grew weaker and weaker as my strength and energy waned. It could have slowly gone completely wrong, but fortunately I recognised the inner signs of the outlines of despair, which stemmed from heartbreak, fatigue, emotional tension and irritability, and decided to use them in a different way. I used them to bridge the further steps uphill in the high, unshoveled snow until we reached a house a short distance away, by which I could orientate myself and realise – that we were not so far from home after all. It did take a little while to get back – and thankfully I got a call in the meantime that the other ‘dog refugee’ had been brought home safely by neighbours – but just the thought of knowing where we were was reassuring. (Not to mention the thought of the relief that the phone call brought, of course.)

And when I thought about how successfully I had transformed my initially negative emotions into positive attitudes, I became genuinely happy inside. It may seem unrelated, but it also made me think about how right my recent decision to have a Japanese facelift (the first time I’d ever had one in my life, but I immediately decided to take the six-treatment package) at Zlatobella was, because it showed me that I love myself and that I’m nurturing my relationship with myself. I am convinced that if this relationship was broken, the management of the inner reactions in situations like the one described with the ‘two lovely dogs’ would have been different.

So it is important not only to observe yourself – Ayurveda is based on being aware of yourself and having your self-awareness turned up to maximum – but above all to recognise the signs of stress in your body, especially if it is long-term, so that you can take appropriate action. And action starts with prevention, which means taking care of ourselves – whether that’s through healthy and good food, meditation or taking care of and pampering our skin.

(In addition to a regular beauty routine with the NANU cosmetic line, I would also recommend a visit to at Zlatobeli. Beli december je kot nalašč za to! 😀)

Source: www.ayurveda.com/videostream (‘Healing Relationships through Mind, Body & Consciousness’)