HeyMonicaB: A Blooming Resource on Ayurveda

If you want to change your body, you must first change your mind. Mistaken intellect is the first stage of disease! Whoa. Yep. Read it again. Mistaken intellect is the first stage of disease.

Think about it. Our health is based on every decision we make. Our bodies don’t act on their own. So, we may have cravings or desires, but these urges come from our mind. The key is to use our buddhi – our deep inner wisdom – to govern our bodies.

Our minds make our decisions whether helpful or counterintuitive for our bodies. We choose to have alcohol even though it may give a hangover. Nobody forces us to drink it. We might be prone to heart burn but choose to eat chips and salsa, anyway. Then when we get the heart burn, we take a pepcid to fix the symptom because we are uncomfortable. The kicker is that it’s our own fault!! We KNEW chips and salsa would have that effect and we chose to do it anyway. Just as we KNEW alcohol would give a hangover.

This is what I’m talking about. These are simple examples, but how many times have you heard people say, “I have to exercise more.” “I need to eat better.” “I need to quit smoking.” “I wish I didn’t spend so much money.” ALL of these things are because we choose them. That might be hard to read, but it’s true.

The BEST news of all of this is that…YOU choose. It’s up to you! You have the power to choose wisely and healthfully or to choose substances and lifestyles that are imbalancing. USE YOUR BUDDHI! Never forget that phrase. I use it a lot when I am making decisions. I wanted a beer tonight and I said, “No, you have to study and write in your blog. Beer will make you sleepy, so skip it.” I skipped the beer and I’m glad I did.

This is the first part of The Mind. Coming up are the three qualities of the mind (sattvic, rajas, tamas) which determine how willing you are to use your wisdom. I have tips to move you up the totem pole of willingness (if you are unwilling, you would not be reading this blog. see how that works?). So we’ll go through some stages of the mind together and see if we can tap into that BUDDHI (that’s fun to write and even more fun to say) that is waiting to blossom.