Would you say you are naturally a happy person? Or do you find people who are merry and happy a little intense or over the top? Modern psychology groups people into two groups optimists or pessimists and say that optimists tend to be happier than pessimists. Maharishi Ayurveda takes it a little deeper and looks towards the doshas and mental qualities of Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas for further understanding of how to increase happiness.
Just as the kiss of a mother brings joy to the child's heart, so too the glimpse of the beloved creates a flow of appreciation within the lover's heart. A kind word of appreciation can lift a persons day into a great day. A walk with your family dog or time spent stroking your cat also cultures finer feelings.
Kate smiled at me with bright eyes, self-assured and at ease. She looked healthy, vibrant and was very different from the anxious, frightened, overwrought young woman who for 6 months had slept 2-3 hours a night at times (and sometimes not at all). I asked her if she would be okay to share her story so that her experience may in some way serve others, and she was happy to do so.
How does food affect our moods? The food we eat has a significant influence on our minds and hearts. You could even say that the nature of our mind and feelings depends on the food we have eaten. And conversely, the state of our mind, emotions, intellect and senses — and our overall state of contentment — all these, in turn, affect the digestion, absorption and elimination of the food we have eaten. According to Maharishi Ayurveda, the digestive enzymes and metabolic processes are likened to a fire, called kaya agni in Sanskrit. How well we digest the food depends on the strength of our agni.
Depression is becoming more common among the overall population today. Recently I was asked to visit a local school to talk about depression and how Maharishi AyurVeda helps recovery from depression. It was both enlightening and alarming to see how aware these young adults were about depression, with a number having first hand experience of it within their communities. So this week we thought to look at the causes of depression and suggest key strategies for preventing or recovering from depression.
Happy Ayurvedic Valentine's Year. With just a few simple guidelines from Maharishi AyurVeda, you can celebrate Valentine's Day every single day of the year. The Council of Maharishi AyurVeda Physicians says that the key to happy relationships lies in an in-depth understanding of one of the sub-doshas of Pitta, called Sadhaka Pitta.
PUBLISHED: East Anglia Daily Times, May 2018. Picture: Dr Charlotte Bech/Barry Spivack If you’re looking for a prescription for stress-free living Dr Charlotte Bech may just be able to help. The Danish doctor, surgeon and expert on natural medicine says that using simple procedures, such as the right light, diet, oils, spices, mental and emotional training, yoga and meditation, make it possible to achieve, despite the demands of our [...]
In truth, we need more sleep than we think we need. All the research is pointing to a minimum of eight hours sleep that people actually need for the work that the brain needs to do overnight to be accomplished. Less sleep leaves us less capable, even if we don’t know it. Even an hour’s lack of sleep [each night] over a 10-day period leaves us as incompetent and incapable cognitively, as if we had missed a whole night’s sleep for one night. The only difference is we don’t recognise it. We don’t know it.
How does a doctor ensure their patient does what is best for their health, whether it’s taking medication regularly, quitting smoking, cutting down on alcohol, changing diet or getting more exercise? Good or bad health choices can mean the difference between good and bad outcomes, yet you can’t force a person to do the right thing. Breaking unhealthy lifestyle or eating habits has to be an [...]
Dr Charlotte Bech Charlotte Bech graduated as a medical doctor from the University of Copenhagen. After becoming a teacher of Transcendental Meditation (TM) in 1983, she trained in Maharishi AyurVeda in 1986. Charlotte is currently running a private clinic in Copenhagen Denmark, integrating modern medicine and Maharishi AyurVeda. She has taught TM to more than 1000 people, has given more than 30,000 Ayurvedic consultations and has created and [...]
I first learned about internal cleansing when, as a teenager, I developed an interest in self-development. I picked up a book called Hatha Yoga, in which the author described how in North India, people noticed the strange cleansing habits of a certain species of migrating bird.After travelling thousands of miles, the exhausted and bedraggled birds would land near lakes and rivers and, after taking in water, would insert [...]
The concept of the three Doshas – Vata, Pitta and Kapha – is most people’s route into understanding Ayurveda. It’s easy to grasp how Vata Dosha can be responsible for all movement, Pitta for all transformations and Kapha for all structure in our body and the world around us. But there is a deeper level of this understanding though and the three Doshas have their root or master [...]
Because of its unique ability to penetrate into cells and cross the brain-blood barrier, Ayurveda considers ghee to be a highly effective medium for transporting the healing nature of herbs very deep into our body tissues. For thousands of years Ayurveda has created numerous Ghritas or herbalised ghees – herbs infused into ghee in order to enhanced their therapeutic effects. How are Ghritas produced? Ayurvedic practitioner, Dr Donn Brennan [...]
I was an anxious teenager. If you were to have asked me why, or what I was anxious about, I’d have been hard pressed to answer. In those days, it was fashionable to be ‘cool’ and I became known for my cool demeanour. But I only accomplished this by suppressing the symptoms of underlying anxiety, such as tension in my shoulders, chest, stomach and legs. For me, [...]
According to the Beatles, “All you need is love, all you need is love, all you need is love, love, love is all you need, love is all you need”. It’s clear from record sales for the song, that many agreed with this message of love, but some argued that love is not enough; we also need practical things like somewhere to live, a good job, decent food, a [...]
Ayurveda considers Ojas to be the finest material substance in your body – as much in the realm of consciousness as it is in the realm of matter. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi AyurVeda, said that Ojas is a ‘lamp at the door’ – the junction point between consciousness and matter – lighting both inside and outside. Because of its role as a link [...]
