How to Create High Quality Mind: Sattva, Rajas, Tamas
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Let's chat about how to create a high quality mind by learning about sattva, rajas and tamas.
Cause, you know all that time, money and care we spend taking care of our bodies?!
Well, what if I told you...the mind is actually more important than the body! *big smile* To create a healthier body, we must start with a healthier mind.
The mind is the control center, the driver, of all we think and do.
When the mind makes choices, whether right or wrong, the body follows suit.
Example, if our mind chooses to get up early for exercise, breathing, and meditation, the body will do so. The body will feel energized and good based on that decision.
Flip side, if our mind chooses to sleep in, rush out the door, grab a coffee (for energy!) and pastry to go, the body will feel the effects of that rush and will only have nutrition as good as we've made time for.
These are choices. The body doesn't make them, the mind does.
The mind can generate worry or peace. The mind can be full of agitation or thrive in creativity. The mind can be totally dull and complacent or it can choose to rise to new challenges in order to evolve and contribute. The mind can see the glass half empty or half full.
The mind tells us stories by how it perceives the world and drives us to make decisions based on those perceptions.
The first step to creating a healthier mind, is to understand its three qualities.
You likely already know about the three doshas, which are the three energies created from the five elements that create all matter.
These are called the trigunas. "Guna" means quality, "tri" means three, so three qualities of the mind.
The trigunas are sattva, rajas, and tamas.
Sattva is total purity and does not cause disease. However rajas and tamas can cause disease.
Sattva: intelligence, harmony, purity of thought and action, balance, generosity, stability. Inward focus. Creates peace, unconditional happiness, love and contentment and always have a forward lean. They are looking to make things better and to be of service.
Sattvic people are happy and grateful for what they have. We all (the entire WORLD) needs 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.
Rajasic people are attached to the outcome of our goals, which can cause suffering because we likely will never feel satisfied. Most of us live in rajas!
Tamas: darkness, ignorance, close mindedness, lack of awareness, obstruction, decay. Downward focus. In the mind it causes complacency, apathy, fear, depression, dullness, heaviness.
Tamasic people can be complacent and dull, while sucking up the energy from people around them. They can also instigate conflict, violence, hatred, and destruction. If you were tamasic, you would not be on this site, reading this post.
How to become more sattvic
1) Be of service. Volunteer. Give selflessly for no expectation of reward. Give of yourself because you love it.
2) Eat sattvic foods including grains, fruits, veggies, nuts, oils, and sweet dairy like milk and ghee. Eliminate tamasic foods like alcohol, fast food, frozen food, canned/stale foods, refined sugars, soda.
3) Surround yourself with positive and loving people
4) Be practical and realistic — face the truth and accept yourself, as is
5) Do daily pranayama and meditation
6) Avoid all media with with stressful or aggressive topics
So while taking care of your bod is good, taking care of your mind will get you to the next level. As a practice, choose one of these things to start to build a more sattvic mind.
Share what you will do in the comments below.
Together we can lift ourselves, and then our family, and then...the world around us.
It's time for all of us to rise one by one and to create a more sattvic world.
Take this lesson with you! Download the Sattvic Cheat Sheet here.
Love you. Keep bringing Ayurveda to life.