Your Environment Can Affect Your Health

There are many factors that can cause your physiology to move away from that state of balance in which you enjoy perfect, complete health. One big factor is environment. Climate-temperatures outside, amount of humidity or number of sunny days, for example, the altitude of the place where you live, the levels and types of environmental pollution, the type of vibrational energy in the environment and the presence or absence of stress in the environment are all factors that can affect your health and well-being. For many of us, the place where we live may not always be in our control, but there is much we can all do to create microclimates and mini-environments in our homes and workspaces to suit our constitutions and needs for balance. Here are some suggestions to start you off; tune in to your mind and body to create even more individualized healthful spaces. 1. Set indoor temperatures to comfortable levels. If you are trying to keep Vata dosha in balance, you'll want warm temperatures and no drafts. Get extra humidity in the home or room by using a humidifier or setting pots of water on the radiator to counter the drying effect of Vata. To balance the heat of Pitta dosha, keep indoor temperatures relatively cooler. For Kapha, choose warm temperatures and a dry environment to counteract the dampness of Kapha. Dress in layers if you are trying to stay warmer than other folks at home. 2. Living 24/7 in climate-controlled environments can gradually weaken natural immunity, and resistance to weather fluctuations, allergens, pollutants and the like can diminish over time. If possible, let in fresh air into your living areas once in a while when it's comfortable outside, and let in natural early morning sunlight as well. 3. Green plants in living spaces are soothing to the eyes and the mind as well as suppliers of oxygen. According to ayurveda, the Holy Basil plant helps purify the environment of garavisha, environmental toxins. Holy Basil can be grown from seed in a pot on a sunny windowsill. Grow culinary herbs such as cilantro on your kitchen windowsill and snip them fresh when needed for garnish. Fragrant indoor flowering plants offer aromatic healing value. A quiet indoor water feature offers serenity if you are trying to balance Vata or Pitta. 4. Try to maintain the integrity of the different areas of your home. Do not bring work or entertainment into the bedroom. Do not work at the dinner table. If you exercise at home, get equipment that can be put away after use unless you can dedicate a separate area for exercise. Create personal spaces, however small, for every member of the family. Have a quiet space for the spiritual practice of your choice and/or for meditation. This space should be silent, clean and free of clutter. Diffusing aromas such as sandalwood can enhance the meditation experience. 5. Aromatherapy is a powerful means of creating balance in your environment. Aromas work through your sense of smell to balance the mind, heart and emotions. You can use single aromas or aroma blends. Use relaxing aromas such as Sweet Orange, Ylang ylang and Lavender to balance Vata, soothing aromas such as Rose to balance Pitta and spicy aromas such as Rosemary or Basil to balance Kapha. Aromatherapy is useful in creating positive vibrational energy in your immediate environment and in creating mental and emotional balance when you are feeling out of sorts. Aromatherapy at bedtime can help promote sleep and improve the quality of sleep. 6. Colors and décor have an important role to play in the way we feel. If you are trying to balance Vata, choose relaxing but warm colors, harmonizing tones, heavy materials like silk or wool and simple arrangements that don't distract the mind. Have a place for everything and keep everything in its place. For fiery Pitta, choose cooling, soothing colors, cool textures and fabrics (cottons and linens are ideal) and a clean, elegant look. If you are trying to balance Kapha, have fun mixing it up. Choose a palette of colors with plenty of contrasts, warm lively tones, and whimsy or a dash of frivolity in décor. 7. Finally, keep your living and work spaces scrupulously clean. Use natural cleaning materials--they won't damage your health and won't damage the environment. A clean, well-cared for home or work area is nurturing for the mind, the senses and the emotions.

Creating Your Peaceful Personal Space

For most of us, daily demands leave little true "me-time," when one can let go and just revel in the joy of being alive, the here and now. From the moment we awaken until the moment when we drift off to sleep, our minds are constantly racing ahead, trying to cram in just a little more into the day in the hopes of getting a little free time later - the "later" that somehow never becomes "now." Reclaiming your oases of personal space can become reality with some planning, and you can use these mini-breaks to keep you vital and charged so your productivity actually increases the rest of the time. Here are some of our favorite ways to create these oases: 1. When better to break the shackles than right when you wake up? Trade in your strident alarm or your DJ for the melodious, soothing chime of a zen clock. And when you open your eyes, spend three to five minutes taking deep, long breaths. Focus only on your breath and you'll feel yourself relaxed and ready for the day instead of anxious and irritable when you spring out of bed. 2. Take a little walk in the morning: not a stroll, but a brief walk to work or from the furthest corner of the parking lot or to the end of the block and back-something that gives you three to five minutes in the open air (and hopefully the morning sunlight) before you start your work day or your morning chores or school. As you walk, take in the sights and sounds of your immediate environment, and hum your favorite uplifting melody. Music has a way of lifting the spirits, especially when combined with soothing repetitive movement, as in walking. 3. Trade in the mid-morning cup of coffee for a hot fruit-and-spice herb tea. Sip it away from your work area and away from other folks, in silence. Shut your eyes between sips and focus on your breath. It's amazing how five minutes of silence can help you regain your equanimity and your focus. 4. After lunch, go outside for a few minutes. Ayurvedic healers highly recommend a few minutes of silent rest after the mid-day meal. If there's a fountain nearby, sit down by it: the sound of flowing water is an instant calming experience. Blooming trees, a bed of perennials, the ocean, a quiet park bench: anything calming will help rejuvenate you for the rest of the day. 5. Before bed, massage a little fragrant oil onto your lower arms and legs. Choose a light oil that won't stain your bed linens and work in long rhythmic strokes. You'll get the benefit of massage therapy and aroma therapy and a few minutes of blissful quiet, to wind down before you turn the lights out. Make these mini-breaks a habit, and by maximizing the benefit from the breaks with quiet, calming activities and silence, you can slowly accumulate significant benefit for body, mind, and spirit.

Surya Namaskar: Sun Salutation

Surya Namaskar or the Sun Salutation is a most complete series of postures. It is a very good exercise which takes only a few minutes to do and serves as a warm-up routine before the practice of yoga asanas. It is one of the best home exercises requiring little space, only eight by three feet. Be sure to have enough space to lie down, and enough clearance to stretch the arms above the head while standing. Surya namaskar consists of a sequence of twelve postures performed continuously and combined with synchronized breathing. Each position counteracts the preceding one producing a balance between flexions and extensions. The postures are as follows: 1. Namaskar - salute. Stand erect with feet together and join the palms in the center of the chest in the style of Indian salute and inhale. Then exhale and push the hands down straightening and lowering the arms until the elbows touch the sides. This standing pose is also known as tadaasana.
2. Chandraasan - crescent moon pose. Inhale and raise the arms above the head and extend the spine backwards arching the back from the waist and moving the hips forward. Let the eyes follow the hands while relaxing your neck.

3. Hastapadaasan - bending pose. Begin to exhale bending forward from the waist and place the hands on the floor besides each foot. Relax with your head and neck in a bending pose.
4. Surya darshan - sun gaze. Inhale and putting your weight on the hands stretch the right leg behind like a stick resting on the toes. Bend the knee and place it on the floor with your weight on the left foot and arch the spine backward. Lift the head and neck first up and then back. Roll the eyes up. The left foot remains between the hands. 5. Himalayan - mountain pose. Exhale and bring the left foot back in line with the right. Lift the hips up high like a mountain. Push the heels and head down and look at the toes with the head down between the arms. 6. Sashtang dandawat - lie down. Put the knees down first and then bring the chest down. See that eight parts of the body are touching the floor including two feet, two knees, two hands, the chest and the chin or forehead. Sashtang means eight limbs and dandawat means paying homage by touching the floor. Make sure the hips are slightly raised above the ground. Inhale and exhale in this position. Keep the feet together. 7. Bhujangaasan - cobra pose. Lower the pelvis and abdomen to the floor. Inhale and stretch the toes on the floor. Raise your head slowly up, arch the spine and neck and look up. Keep your legs together and the elbows alongside the body slightly bent and keep the shoulders down. 8. Himalaya aasan. Exhale and wiggle your toes forward allowing your feet to rest on the soles while your raise the hips as your did in number 5.

9. Surya darshan. Inhale and bring the right foot forward and assume pose number 4 exactly as before. 10. Hastapadaasan. Exhale and bring the right foot forward and assume pose number 3. 11. Chandraasan. Inhale and stretch up in a standing pose with your arms up and bend backwards like in pose number


12. Namaskar. Exhale and stand erect bringing the hands back to the center of the chest with palms together as in pose number 1.



These twelve exercises are one round of surya namaskar. In the second round, stretch the left leg behind in surya darshan. Surya namaskar is done for an even number of rounds like 2-4-6-8-10 or 12 rounds each day. When you complete each round you should be standing in the same spot as you stood before. When the hands are placed with the palms down on the floor in the third pose they should remain there until the tenth pose. A healthy person requires a minimum practice of 12 or 16 rounds of surya namaskar each day. Beginners should start by practicing 2 rounds the first week, 4 rounds the second week and gradually increase in even number. Surya namaskar may be practiced slowly or rapidly if desired, to increase agility and stamina. Surya namaskar's sequence of postures is most scientific as it completes the circuit within the body. The cycle of blood flowing in and out from the heart into the right and left sides of the body is completed.

Benefits of Meditation by Dr. Deepak Chopra

Physical impurities in cells have their equivalents in the mind: fear, anger, greed, compulsiveness, doubt, and other negative emotions. Operating at the quantum level, they can be as damaging to us as any chemical toxin. The mind body connection turns negative attitudes into chemical toxins, the so-called “stress hormones” that have been linked to many different diseases. Ayurveda lumps all negative tendencies together as “mental ama” which needs to be cleansed from the mind.It is not possible to purify the mind by thinking about it. An angry mind cannot conquer its own anger; fear cannot quench fear. Instead, a technique is required that goes beyond the domain where fear, anger, and all other forms of mental ama hold sway. This technique is meditation. If properly taught and used, meditation allows a person to become unstuck from the ama in his thoughts and emotions. In our Center we prescribe Primordial Sound Meditation, or PSM as a simple, natural way of accomplishing this goal.

As a young physician in the 1970s, I was attracted to meditation for two reasons, one personal, the other professional. The personal reason was the promise of inner growth, of reaching an expanded state of mental and spiritual development. The professional reason was the large body of research on meditation that established that this meditation was “real”, that is, it produced tangible benefits.

Meditation is not forcing your mind to be quiet; it’s finding the quiet that is already there. In fact, when you examine the background static of worry, resentment, wishful thinking, fantasy, unfulfilled hopes, and vague dreams in your head, it becomes clear that the internal dialogue going on inside is literally controlling us. Each of us is the victim of memory. That’s how the Ayurvedic masters diagnosed it thousands of years ago.

Behind the screen of our internal dialogue, there is something entirely different: the silence of a mind that is not imprisoned by the past. That is the silence we want to bring into our awareness through meditation. Why is this important? Because silence is the birthplace of happiness. Silence is where we get out bursts of inspiration, our tender feelings of compassion and empathy, our sense of love. These are all delicate emotions and the chaotic roar of the internal dialogue easily drowns them out. But when you discover the silence in your mind, you no longer have to pay attention to all those random images that trigger worry, anger, and pain.

How to Meditate:

When you are ready to begin, sit quietly holding your hands lightly at your side or in your lap. Now, with your eyes closed, start to breathe lightly and easily. Let your attention easily follow your breathing. Feel your breath entering your nostrils and flowing down into your lungs. Don’t inhale deeply or hold your breath, just breathe normally. When you exhale, let your attention follow the air up out of the lungs and softly through the nostrils.

Nothing is forced here. The breath is moving easily and gently; your attention is following it softly as it leaves swaying in the treetops. As your breathing relaxes, make it a little lighter. Again, don’t force this, but when you feel that your breathing wants to get a bit shallower and lighter, just let it happen. If you start to feel short of breath, don’t worry. This means that you need a little more air and that deep stresses are coming out. Or you might also be forcing your breathing to be lighter than it wants to be. Return to whatever rate of breathing your body feels comfortable with.

When you are comfortable with this effortless process, you can add the mantra “so hum” to the procedure, silently thinking the word “so” on each inhalation and “hum” on each exhalation. Continue this exercise for two or five minutes, just closing your eyes and focusing your mind on easy, natural breathing and silently repeating “so hum” with each cycle of your breath. What is happening with this exercise? You probably noticed that just by paying attention to your breathing you sank deeper and deeper into relaxation, and as you did so, your mind naturally became quieter. Did you sense that? If so, you probably experienced a few glimpses of complete silence, which you aren’t likely to have noticed, because I didn’t ask you to be on the lookout. If you had looked for silence it wouldn’t have appeared. Yet I imagine there were stretches where you lost track of time, which is a good indication that you were getting very near to the goal. Most people experience much fainter thoughts than usual, which is another good sign. As you gain experience with meditation, you’ll begin to feel the reappearance of youthful energy and vitality that is being released form a deeper level of the nervous system. This is a very profound change and the real fountain of youth. Although meditation has been wrapped in an aura of mysticism for many centuries, at its heart lies this extremely practical and non-mystical process of quieting the mind. It is the surreal way to open a channel of healing.

Time Magazine heralded Deepak Chopra as one of the 100 heroes and icons of the century, and credited him as "the poet-prophet of alternative medicine." Entertainment Weekly described Deepak Chopra as "Hollywood's man of the moment, one of publishing's best-selling and most prolific self-help authors." He is the author of more than 40 books and more than 100 audio, video and CD-Rom titles. He has been published on every continent, and in dozens of languages and his worldwide book sales exceed twenty million copies. Over a dozen of his books have landed on the New York Times Best-seller list. Toastmaster International recognized him as one of the top five outstanding speakers in the world. Through his over two decades of work since leaving his medical practice, Deepak continues to revolutionize common wisdom about the crucial connection between body, mind, spirit, and healing. His mission of "bridging the technological miracles of the west with the wisdom of the east" remains his thrust and provides the basis for his recognition as one of India's historically greatest ambassadors to the west. Chopra has been a keynote speaker at several academic institutions including Harvard Medical School, Harvard Business School, Harvard Divinity School, Kellogg School of Management, Stanford Business School and Wharton.