5 factors that disturb the state of mind and how to overcome them

 In a discourse that I attended recently, the speaker shared about five main factors that disturb the state of our mind:

• Giving high importance to oneself (in other words, egoistic)
• Jealousy
• Too many desires
• Dwelling in the past or future that leads to regret, grudges, or worry
• Focusing only on the negatives in the past, present or future

Humility is the antidote to overcoming the feeling of high self-importance.

Feeling a sense of love and genuine happiness for the other person's successes/victories is the antidote to overcoming jealousy that we might feel towards him/her.

Contentment and gratitude are the antidotes to reducing our desires.

Acceptance, letting go, and forgiveness are the antidotes to avoid dwelling in the past.

Having unshakeable trust in the Divine plans and a strong belief that everything will turn out for the good, with a sense of surrender are the antidotes to avoid worrying about the future.

The mind is habituated to tune itself to the negatives that might have happened in the past, happening in the present, or may occur in the future.

Through consistent practice, one can consciously focus on the positives around us and can stay away from sources that feed negativity. 

Integrative Medicine

 In the past 10 days, I had the opportunity to observe and participate in the Yoga therapy-specific techniques offered to the participants of SVYASA Arogyadhama - an integrative medicine hospital, as part of my MSc Yoga Internship. 

Firstly, it was heartening to note that those who come for treatment procedures are referred to as "participants" and not as "patients".

The experience was eye-opening in many ways. 

As I was reading through various case files and summaries, stress and disturbed sleep emerged as a common pattern among many participants with ailments such as obesity, hypertension, GERD, urticaria, etc. They were neither smoking nor drinking alcohol. 

We often hear about how the quality of life deteriorates with non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, asthma, high BP, etc. It was also devastating to see participants diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and the inability to do basic movements by the participant (and the impact on his/her caretaker). While conducting the Pranayama class, I noticed how the wife of a participant with Parkinson's disease was using her hands to press the nostrils of her husband so that he could experience the passive practice of Nadi Shuddhi Pranayama (alternate nostril breathing).

Simple practices done consistently over time yield major improvements in our overall health. For eg, 9 rounds of deep breathing can help clear our rush of thoughts. But we succumb to the expectations of our mind that often crave more novel practices. 

Integrative medicine approaches health from multiple perspectives and effectively addresses modern-day ailments. Many people are now realizing the efficacy of the combination of Yoga, Ayurveda, naturopathy, and Siddha. At the same time, there are also so-called medical influencers on social media (backed by funding from vested interests) who blatantly dismiss them, and label them as "pseudo-science".  Modern medicine has a role to play, and so are our ancient medical streams. It is up to us to use our intellect, research, and evaluate what suits our body, mind, and disposition for both preventive as well as treatment of ailments.