Ayurvedic model of living mirrors the way humans were originally designed to live, in harmony with the environment. The balance of life depends on how well we adjust to the changing environment and the everyday context with its sensory stimuli and social interactions. The state of balance is called wellbeing and it’s marked by feelings of safety and comfort.
The art of Ayurvedic living is maintaining a degree of wellbeing in varying situations of life.
Good tolerance levels, emotional intelligence and resilience are cornerstones for productive and creative life where full human potential can manifest in a higher state of awareness. To achieve our potentials, we need to take positive action, every day with disciplined repetition. The effort we make for maintaining wellbeing resonates in the field of consciousness in a form of a reward, the value of which far exceeds the bother.
Ayurveda is a lifestyle choice to live according to the laws of nature because we do not live in the wilderness anymore where there was no choice but to live according to nature’s cycles. It is a decision and an effort to adhere to these laws by executing them along the course of life. However, the rewards are far, far greater than the efforts put into it.
Safety and Comfort
Wellbeing implies safety and comfort. When we are out of danger and in our own element, out of the fight, flight or freeze states, we manifest the best of ourselves. Our autonomic nervous system, the one that guides all physiology under the bonnet such as breathing and heartbeat, is able to manifest health, growth and restoration. Our bodymind becomes more intelligent in the game of adjustment to the changing world, the environment, the surrounding, the people. Internally the body is able to repair from wear and tear, recognise and discard forms and functions that do not belong there. Externally, it is able to adapt to every situation, be resilient towards the pressures from the environment and relate to other living beings and Nature from a place of loving kindness.
The Art of Ayurveda
Ayurveda provides a perfect model for finding safety and comfort. The healing principle of Ayurveda, the law of opposites, is the most common sense and practical model out there. The principle is the most basic concept that everyone can understand and put in practice.
The act of balancing through opposites is wired in our bodies and by that principle the body adjusts to the environment. When it’s hot we sweat, when it’s cold we shiver. When we feel dry we hydrate or moisturise. It is instinctive and it often goes unnoticed. However, we can harness the principle and use our intelligence to create wellbeing. That is what the art of Ayurveda is about. Observing feelings arising from the bodymind and if that feeling is uncomfortable then finding a way to balance that with an opposite feeling. Hot and cold, heavy and light, dry and moist and so on.
The aim of Ayurveda is to bring us to a place of safety and comfort by using the principle of opposites. Finding balance between two opposite ends of a spectrum, say hot and cold, means we find a place of safety and comfort somewhere along that line. The place on the line changes because sometimes we enjoy heat, sometimes we want to cool down.
Constructive interference
By the laws of physics, when two oscillators transmitting a wave of same frequency encounter, they waves amplify each other. This is called constructive interference. When we have a rhythmic natural routine in our lives and act from the place of wellbeing, we live in sync with the cosmic rhythms of Mother Nature. This affinity creates an amplified wave which impacts our experience of life. We feel more, we sense more, we are more detached from the objects of desire and the so-called happy coincidences start occurring more and more frequently. There is an elated feeling like someone is helping us on our journey of life and indeed, it is the Mother Nature paving the way. Her support is the great reward we make our efforts for.
Ayurvedic daily and seasonal routines might seem mundane in the context of transcendental experiences with Mother Nature. However, these little efforts we make to receive the gifts of the Goddess are powerful because they are the ones that create the rhythmic wave. The little things create big results and the resonance between us and the universe create larger than life experiences.
The Grace of Mother Nature
The gifts of Mother Nature are abundant. However, she wants us to show we’re worth it. She wants us to get out of bed and live according to her cycles, respect her design and promote the wellbeing of the whole, participate in the evolutionary flow, be a positive presence in the game of life. Once we do this, we enter her graces and get a chance to experience the full human potential, elevate your life to something where radiant wellbeing, strength, resilience, kindness, compassion, love, joy, vitality and creativity are a default setting. Collaborating with Mother Nature gives her immense pleasure and she will reward us with the magic of life.
P.s. I was inspired by Dandapani to write this article. His book The Power of Unwavering Focus is worth reading.
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