You might be wondering why I talk about the mind all the time when mostly, it’s our bodies that we focus on being healthy and balanced. Because! If the mind is not healthy the body won’t be either. It starts with the mind first!
In addition to the three doshas (vata, pitta, kapha), there are three qualities of the mind or trigunas. “Guna” means quality, so we can think of them as energies, qualities, or states of mind. The trigunas are Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas (this Ayurveda thing keeps getting deeper, doesn’t it).
Sattva is pure harmony and does not cause disease. However rajas and tamas can cause disease if imbalanced.
Sattva: intelligence, harmony, purity of thought and action, balance, generosity, stabilty. Inward focus. Creates peace, unconditional happiness, love and contentment. We all need more Sattva!
Rajas: transformation, active, dominance, dutiful, power, prestige, attachment to the senses and desires, living through the ego. Outward focus. Helps us achieve our goals. Yet also is attached to the outcome of our goals, which in the end causes suffering because we are never satisfied. Most of us live in Rajas!
Tamas: darkness, ignorance, close mindedness, lack of awareness, obstruction, decay. Downward focus. In the mind it causes fear, depression, dullness, heaviness.
The goal is to move up the ladder to have more sattvic qualities. However if we were all solely sattvic, we’d just be sitting around happy all the time, but nothing would get done. So there is a balance. Even Tamas has it’s place when something “dies” or comes to an end.
Did you recognize yourself in any of these? The first step is purely awareness. Honestly, if you were tamasic, you would not be reading this blog. You would not give a flying fig about alternative holistic sciences. Here is a triguna chart that might help you put it together. Stay tuned for more information on diet (sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic foods) to help move you to a more sattvic state. For now, awareness is great!!
2 responses so far ↓
1 NinaKruse // Jun 28, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Boy this really hit home! Just reading gave me more of a sense of Sattva! Thanks Monica! This is reminding me of my mindful practices that help me to be more grounded than the Flying Vata that I am!
2 Monica // Jun 28, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Hooray!! We love sattva! My flying vata girl, you already know feels good and what doesn’t feel good in your own body. The trick now is to get your mind to help you make the right choices toward harmony and balance. You are already on your way…you are walking on your path (no running! it’s vata increasing…) :) xoxo
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