Lifestyle & Wellness - Ananda Wellness

The year 2020 taught us how to find peace and balance even when the answers seem totally unknown. Uncertainty and a need to know right now, to do away with the ‘grey’ is a challenge for most. So being forced to look uncertainty in the face and sit with its impact for the most part of 12 months, will have strengthened this psychic muscle.

In the spirit of venturing forth with this learning in place, here are some thoughts on intention setting and getting in ‘flow’ for 2021…

Part 2 of my post on sitting through and resetting from unpleasant feelings. (Part One is here).

To recap, we can release the ‘grip’ of unpleasant feelings that sometimes gets stuck within us and flattens us for hours or days by using awareness and release. This helps to loosen this grip within minutes by tapping into our neurobiological response whilst experiencing them and riding out the waves. The feeling of Vulnerability, Embarrassment, Disappointment, Frustration - just like this described in yesterday’s post - are usually experienced as being unpleasant and negative. In this light, most of us reach for distractions to avoid or suppress them. To help work through them a simple body scan can help at the outset, but at a deeper level it is important to acknowledge that these feelings need not necessarily or inherently be bad or negative but simply unpleasant and uncomfortable.

In honour of World Mental Health Day 10.10.20 I will be sharing a 2 part piece and a more specific blog post to help you identify these feelings and release them. This is part one, highlighting some of the feelings that can come up and lead us to use one or more forms of distraction to avoid or suppress them.

Lockdown again. What uncertain times we are in. Reaching out today to share in the collective feelings of frustration and trying to stay clear-headed in response to a phenomenon that is not really up to us. A few things going through my mind today..

1. How connected are we as a species, no matter how remote or isolated? Seemingly unconnected actions weave around us like a web, really driving home the point that we are One, pulsating, connected whole. Waves belonging to one ocean, truly.

2. If we can hang tight for another 6 weeks by doing the right things and adhering to what is set out for us as a community we can minimise the spread and get out to the other side sooner than if we kept delaying and furthering the uncertainty.

3. Nothing is really certain, so while we make plans we must also plan to be open, receptive and responsive to the moment. This means letting go of our most treasured hopes and plans if we must, by placing trust and faith in a bigger truth than we can conceptualise in our minds

Take the time to listen to the little cues from your body, and to prioritise yourself. The capacity to do this varies greatly from person to person but there is always some little inlet to this place. It is as simple as putting a few minutes to good use by listening to what your body and ‘inner sense’ is telling you on the daily. And then work from there. This can open the door to an amazing connection with yourself leading you to practice and strengthen that Gut Instinct that is the voice of the universe, having your back and guiding you toward the most amazing possibilities.

Ayurveda teaches that in order to optimise your health you must clear the accumulation of the doshas from your system. Any increase in the dosha can cause illness. They can be cleared through the bowel, bladder, stomach, lungs, uterus and skin. The classic herbal laxatives (encouraging bowel motions), diuretics (encouraging urination), emetics (encouraging vomiting), expectorants (encouraging clearing of mucus), emmenagogues (encouraging menstrual flow) and diaphoretics (encouraging sweating) do this.

To facilitate the clearing, Ayurveda recommends adherence to a routine of daily activities (dinacarya) that helps to optimise health. It is also called svasthavrtta, referring to healthy lifestyle habits.

The start of Autumn is a time when the air element (vayu) is predominant, and there is the tendency for erratic changes, windiness and movement. This has a tendency to aggravate ‘vata’ within us, that may have accumulated through summer.

When we are living our dharma our activity is Kriya or spontaneous right action. Spontaneously you are in the right place at the right time and it is easy for you, even though to another it looks very difficult. Kriya is frictionless, effortless activity which is in complete accordance with all the laws of nature. 

When you start moving out of kriya you encounter curbs, like those on a road. That’s the ‘karma zone’. Going out of kriya and into karma – action that binds you, that has attached to it a corrective force. We don’t live in a universe that is punitive but one that is always guiding us toward dharma with its unique and simple language.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), everything we do makes a demand on nature. The food we eat, the clothes we buy, the way we travel, everything. Added together, the demands made by each and every one of us are far too much for our planet. 50% too much, in fact. 

A good start toward making a difference is to first understand where your own impacts come from so you can make simple changes to your daily life, wherever possible. From all of our reading and research, here are some key things to consider in montoring and managing your impact..