Ayurveda and the Mind

A great inner adventure into the dimensions of Consciousness

Ayurveda has an integral view of the mind, physical body, and immortal Self.

The body is a crystallization of the deep-seated mental tendencies (from previous lives). Body, mind and spirit are one.

Most physical diseases are due to external factors like wrong diet, and exposure to pathogens. Most mental diseases arise from inner factors like wrong use of senses, and the accumulation of negative emotions. 

Our way of life breeds unhappiness. Ayurveda teaches harmony with nature and how to live in a state of balance. This requires changing how we live, think and perceive. We understand our own nature for our own happiness and well-being, and understand others for harmonious social interaction.

This is our third week of exploring Ayurveda: our doshas (elements and constitution), practices to balance our doshas and this week, our mind. Reference book Ayurveda and the Mind: the Healing of Consciousness, by Dr David Frawley.

What does Ayurveda say about this by our doshas. Remember that most people are a balance of 2 or even 3 and we all have some qualities of each.

People with high vata have minds that are quick and agile, and they are talkative and informed. When not balanced, their mind wanders, they can lack determination, and be spaced out and absent minded. They tend to feel fear and anxiety. They are also creative, social, and are good communicators.

People with high pitta have minds that are intelligent, perceptive, discriminating, and sharp. They have systematic, probing minds. They can also be opinionated, self-righteous, prone to anger, and may lack compassion.

People with kapha predominating are emotional, loving, feel devotion, and may be sentimental. They learn slowly and retain what they learn. They like to bring things into form and are good finishers. They tend to traditional beliefs, are friendly but not with strangers and can have issues with possessiveness and attachment. 

Prana, Tejas, and Ojas are the subtle components of vata, pitta, and kapha

Prana is primal life-force, the subtle energy of air and it coordinates breath, the senses and mind. On the subtle inner level, it governs higher states of consciousness. Through prana, we respond to life’s challenges, harmonize emotions, and feel balanced and creative.

Tejas is inner radiance, the subtle energy of fire. This is where we digest impressions and thoughts. On the subtle inner level development, it governs higher perceptual capacities, like perceiving and judging correctly. Through tejas, we have courage, fearlessness, and vigor.

Ojas is primal vigor, the subtle energy of water, and the essence of digested food, impressions, thoughts. The subtle inner level gives calm and nourishes higher states of consciousness. Ojas holds accumulated insights of will and spiritual aspiration, peace and contentment.

Building Prana Tejas and Ojas

We cannot heal the mind without improving and harmonizing our vital energies.

Vital essences derive from the essence of the nutrients from food, heat, and air. These are subtle and fed by impressions through the senses. 

Prana is life creating capacity both in having children and to rejuvenate body/mind. Absorb prana through food, liquid, breath. Carried by fluids of our body and absorbed through hearing and touch.

Tejas gives courage and daring, inward vigor and decisiveness. Tejas is the essence of heat and is fed visually.

Ojas promotes endurance for sex and sustained exercise. It is fed through taste and smell.

Understanding the Nature of the Mind

The mind is an object and its workings can be witnessed by the “perceiver”. Through witnessing, we get to know the mind’s activities, fluctuations in thoughts, feelings, and impressions. 

The mind is an instrument, like an eye is an instrument of seeing. Our brain is an instrument through which the more subtle mind works. We are not our mind.

Awareness is a constant unbroken sense of self or being, an ongoing ability to observe, witness and perceive. Awareness, unlike the mind, is not located in time and space. The mind is the instrument that awareness works through. True awareness is Pure Consciousness beyond the mental field. 

The mind is a kind of organism that is organically related to the physical body. The physical body is an organ of perception and expression. It exists to allow the mind to perceive and act.

The body is an object of perception for the mind. We observe our body acting. The mind is not in the brain, our mind moves with our awareness. The head is the center for the outer mind that works through the senses.

The heart is the center of the inner mind or feeling nature that transcends the senses. Ayurveda regards the “heart”, that core knowing deep inside of us, as the center of consciousness.

Pure consciousness transcends both mind and body and is inherently free of their problems and limitations.

Mind Constructs Reality Out of Points

The mind notices one thing at a time and forms a perspective in which we notice some things and ignore others in order to form a picture of reality. Reality eludes us because we can’t arrive at the whole through fragments. Each mind has its own points and perspectives. This is an expression of limitation.

The mind is volatile and always in motion and is the prime point from which ideas of time and space are constructed. The mind is more like a series of lightning flashes than a continuous stream of oil. It is never still, although there is a stillness beyond the mind.

When our awareness has withdrawn from the senses, the mind is still full of thoughts and feelings. It is like a screen that has no meaning apart from the images projected on it.

Experiments with our mind

Direct your attention to a tree - notice how through a series of shifting perceptions you are able to form a idea of the tree.

Examine your emotions. Notice that stronger emotions don’t last as long. See how closely love and hate are bound together. Emotions fluctuate like waves on the sea.

Notice thoughts and see how one follows the other in rapid succession in a compulsive and erratic flow, moving obsessively in its own memory grooves.

Examine ego or “I-thought”. The “I” is the inherent referential point, the center of the mind. 

As we learn to use the mind like a tool, we stop being dominated by impulses & conditioning. We go beyond the mind into the stillness of Consciousness itself.

Explore with us

Sunday free community class at 10AM Eastern and

Insight Timer Live at 11:30 Eastern for somatic inquiry on kapha dosha and the freeze response.