Ayurveda’s THREE PILLARS of Health

Ayurveda (5000-year-old body wisdom tradition and mother science to yoga) is like a wise old grandma who knows her stuff. She's got these three secrets to keep you healthy, well-balanced, and thriving.

These are Food, Sleep, and the observance of Brahmacharya, the wise use of our sexual and vital energy. Brahmacharya means moving towards the supreme consciousness or simply keeping God (whatever that means to YOU)in one's mind while performing every action.

When supported by these three pillars, the body has good strength, complexion, and growth. Simply balancing these three aspects of your life can significantly impact your mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Food, Sleep, and Sex are the three core ways we nourish ourselves. Good, healthy food, deep rest, and an intimate, intentional exchange of your energy with another person or a creative project, whether personal, business or even creating a baby, is a wise use of our vital sexual/ creative energy.

We need nourishment on all three levels.

Nature, universal consciousness, the divine, God…rewards us for doing the things that feel good when we do them in the right amount (not too much, not too little) and at the right time. Ayurveda helps us determine the things that will help us THRIVE and feel vibrant as human beings and an expression and reflection of this divinity.

When we practice self-care -deep sleep, eating healthy, and nourishing relationships (with ourselves and others), we can more easily let go of the things that make us feel bad, deplete us, or give us a temporary “high” like late nights on Amazon, fast food, double shots of espresso, and loveless sex.

Let’s break it down.

 

PILLAR #1 - FOOD

Health starts in the digestive system. According to Ayurveda, choosing the right foods for your unique body, the season, and even the time of day we eat is essential to optimal health.

"When Diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need" -AYURVEDIC PROVERB

When we overeat, undereat, eat the wrong foods for our unique body, or eat the foods out of season in our ecosystem (think squashes and pumpkin in the summer), our belly suffers. Poor digestion is at the root of so many health issues, for example, acid reflux, celiac disease, appendicitis, Crohn’s disease, IBS, constipation, gallstones…the list goes on.

We live busy lives and often skip lunch, opting for a Starbucks and a protein bar, eat in cars (my L.A. friends), eat in front of our computers and televisions, and check social media.

WHAT YOU PUT IN YOUR BODY (AND WHEN) GIVES YOU THE POWER TO LIVE YOUR DHARMA (LIFE’S PURPOSE).

The human body is not like my plug-in, battery-operated car. The food you put in your body fuels you to become the incredible, creative, and powerful person you’re meant to be.

Ayurveda doesn’t look at food in terms of calories, fat content, or nutritional “value.” Instead, it sees food as having certain qualities or specific holistic energies (such as hot/cold, oily/dry, light/heavy, dry/wet). We, too, can be analyzed for our qualities that depend on our unique energetic make-up (dosha) and where we tend to go out of balance.

You know the people you call hot-headed or cool as a cucumber, heavy or light, soft or hard? Even how you refer to yourself. I know I tend towards dry, cold, and light - you? You can choose the foods appropriate for your unique body when you identify your qualities. Also, you learn how to prepare and combine the best foods for optimal digestion.

Ayurveda teaches that like increases like. For example, are you someone who is “hot-tempered” by nature? If so, eating hot and spicy foods will increase heat in the body and mind. If you feel heavy, produce excess mucus (wet), and have difficulty moving in the morning, then eating light foods, warming, and drying would help to balance the body. The more we do this, the more out of balance and dis-eased we become. We’re only addressing food here, but this also goes for exercise, sleep, and all lifestyle choices.

PILLAR #2 - SLEEP

“Happiness, misery, nourishment, emaciation, strength, weakness, virility, sterility, knowledge, ignorance, life and death - all these occur depending on proper or improper sleep.”

— CARAKA SAMHITA

The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that insufficient sleep is a public health epidemic—a widespread disease occurrence in a community. Most of us are not sleeping enough but think we're "just fine." We believe it doesn’t get any better. We're accustomed to feeling tired, low energy, overwhelmed, and brain fogged.

We’ve turned into a culture of constipated, sleep-deprived walking zombies. When you walk into a pharmacy/ health food store these days, it’s overwhelming how many laxatives and sleep aids are on the shelves. Not only that, but when we don’t get the sleep we need (at the right time), our body holds onto toxins that would naturally be processed, digested, and burned during the midnight hours while in a deep slumber. Those undigested toxins eventually turn into dis-ease.

The list of auto-immune issues due to sleep deprivation is jaw-dropping - from Grave’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, MS, lupus, psoriasis, fibromyalgia, obesity, plus over 80 more..... even allergies are a less severe manifestation of aberrant autoimmune response. The sleep-deprived have also been known to suffer from higher cancer rates, reduced quality of life, and lower productivity at work.

We live such busy, fast-paced lives with our attention pulled in a million directions that insomnia and other sleep issues are becoming more the “norm” than the exception. Yikes!

See, Ayurveda is a sleep connoisseur. It says, "Get your Zzzs, honey!" Quality shut-eye is the secret sauce to rejuvenation. So, tuck yourself in, bid farewell to those late-night Netflix binges, and let your dreams take the wheel. Your body will thank you for it.

PILLAR #3 - BRAHMACHARYA

Brahmacharya is typically translated as “going after Brahman” or “behavior that leads to Brahman,” with Brahman being the Divine creator, or Higher Self, in Hinduism and yoga. It is often associated with celibacy.

Brahmacharya is also frequently translated as the wise use of our sexual energy. When we harmoniously use our sexual energy, our entire life is infused with creativity around projects, our business, our artistic expression, or even in creating a baby.

Ayurveda sees sexual energy as the most refined aspect of our life energy. The more energy we have, the better we feel. More than just sex, this pillar is about vital energy maintenance. How do we use our attention and our body? One interpretation that the ancients understood is “to walk with God.” This is when we try to use our energy in alignment with the Higher Self - whatever your understanding of that may be God, the Devine, consciousness, intuition, Frank…😊

For instance, when you check in with your heart or higher self before making a decision, your choices align more with your highest intentions and the higher good.

When balanced, our senses feed our good choices and become more attuned to balance. When they are out of balance, they lead us to the people, cravings, foods, activities, and places…that bring us into deeper states of imbalance. In Ayurveda, like increase like. The more we do it, eat it, think it, etc., the more we do it, eat it, and think it.

The first way we get out of balance is by upsetting the digestive system. You can feel and notice this, or it may be cumulative upset. The body creates Ama (undigested physical and emotional toxins) when we have weak digestion. When we do not digest things well, they build up in the system and ROT. Think of Ama as a beige-colored, slimy sludge (like thick snot) that smothers the movement of energy in the digestive tract. Gross right? You may experience this as constipation, bloating, acne, weight gain, bad breath.…the list goes on.

On the mental/emotional level, you may experience this Ama as an accumulation of undigested life experiences. This is where we store negativity, old stories, and unprocessed emotions. If you’re someone who quickly points the finger, blames, or is offended or angered by others, the news, the state of the world, or even the weather, then this is built up, Ama. One of my teachers says, “Ama is like a sludgy mind mucus dripping down from your brain and putting out the fire of sweetness in your heart.”

Ama can also accumulate due to the environment that we live in. Drinking unfiltered/ polluted water or breathing in polluted air regularly can build up ama in the system. Our bodies are like metal chairs. Leaving a metal chair outside to weather the elements for a long time will naturally age. Sometimes, disease is a natural process of aging and decay.

However, Ayurveda teaches us how to slow down the natural process so that we can stay vital, vibrant, and thriving longer. Of course, death is inevitable. As my wise father used to say, “Nobody is getting out of here alive.” However, Ayurveda gives us the tools to fool the Grim Reaper for as long as possible.

Ayurveda teaches us the importance of the mind in how the body ages and experiences time. If we continue stressing ourselves out, burning the candle, trying to DO too much, and suffering from lack of sleep - the aging process speeds up.

The clock slows down the more grounded, present, and calm we are. Stress ages us! No matter how much money you spend on fancy anti-aging products, the fact is that just slowing down and chilling out in the present moment will have 10x the benefits.

When we slow down, we can notice and listen to the signs our body sends us. Instead of blowing through and ignoring the signs with another late night at the office, or on the computer jacked up on caffeine, or staring at yet another episode of your favorite Amazon show…you can pay attention to what the body truly, deeply, madly NEEDS. You can start to pay attention to the 3 PILLARS OF YOUR HEALTH - food, sleep, and sex.

When we slow down and eat healthy foods, we sleep better. When we sleep better, we have better cravings and make better decisions, and when we feel healthy and well-rested, our sexual energy can flow in the most highly aligned ways. When we pay attention to these three pillars of health, we can avoid a complicated, busy life, which can be enough to correct many health challenges. Our body is intelligent; when we let our own body’s wisdom run the show, our true essence, joy, creativity, and sexiness can flow naturally. It’s meant to. That’s how you were designed….and you deserve it.

XO,

Paula

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