The Wellness Sense Read online

  The Wellness Sense

  Om Swami is a mystic who lives in the Himalayan foothills. An advanced yogin, Swami has done thousands of hours of intense meditation in complete seclusion in Himalayan caves and woods.

  Prior to renunciation, he founded and ran a multi million-dollar software company with offices in San Francisco, New York, Toronto, London, Sydney and India. Om Swami has a bachelor’s degree in business and an MBA from Sydney, Australia. He completely renounced his business interests a few years ago to pursue a full-time spiritual life.

  He is also the author of the best-selling If Truth be Told: A Monk’s Memoir. You can connect with him on his blog, omswami.com, which is read by millions all over the world.

  The Wellness Sense

  A Practical Guide to Your Physical and

  Emotional Health Based on

  Ayurvedic and Yogic Wisdom

  OM SWAMI

  First published in India in 2015 by Harper Element An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

  Worldwide publishing rights: Black Lotus Press Copyright © Om Swami 2015

  P-ISBN: 978-0-9940027-3-0

  E-ISBN: 978-0-9940027-0-9

  Om Swami asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  www.omswami.com

  The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts are as reported by him, and the publishers are not in any way liable for the same.

  This work is not a substitute for treatment or advice by a qualified health care professional.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

  This work is dedicated

  to the welfare of all sentient beings

  Acknowledgements

  When I wrote this book, it was extremely important for me to have my views validated by qualified medical professionals. I wanted to provide you authentic information that you could rely on, and not just a figment of my imagination. Because what you have in your hands is not merely an introduction to Ayurveda, but a detailed exposition of the collective wisdom contained in Ayurvedic and yogic scriptures. I wanted to eliminate even the slightest possibility of overrating my own experiences or misinterpreting medical texts in any way. To this effect, I am deeply indebted to the following brilliant and busy doctors, who not only took time out of their hectic schedules to read my manuscript but also provided comprehensive and insightful feedback:

  Vivek Tripathi, MBBS

  Renu Madan, BHMS

  Jayavani Pandey, BAMS

  Ravi Verma, MD

  Priyanka Sara, MD

  R.C. Pandey, MD

  Chetana Verma, MD

  L. Mahadevan, MD

  I would like to thank the commissioning editor at HarperCollins, Ajitha G.S., who not only agreed to publish this book so that it reaches a wider audience, but also personally reviewed the manuscript offering wonderful and candid feedback along the way.

  I would specially like to thank Sameer Mahale, national sales manager, at HarperCollins who saw the promise in this book and worked hard to ensure that it is released well within 2015.

  Also, I can’t thank enough my first editor, Ismita Tandon, for doing a magnificent job with the early draft of my work. I’m equally grateful to some very kind people, notably, John Coen, Camila Vicenci, Jocelyn Meli and Shaun Jenkins, who went the extra mile and gave me detailed feedback.

  My gratitude to Garima Om and Anju Modgil for going over the manuscript with impeccable attention to detail, reviewing each and every word.

  I would also like to thank Carl A. Harte for his thoughtful review, and Rea Mukherjee for the final scan.

  My gratitude to Saurabh Garge at HarperCollins for the beautiful cover design.

  And, above all, my deepest gratitude to Mother Nature for using me as an instrument and allowing the ancient wisdom to flow through.

  Contents

  Acknowledgements

  About This Book

  1. Introduction

  2. Mother Nature And Your Body

  The Five Great Elements

  The Seven Tissues

  3. The Three Physical Humours

  Vata

  Pitta

  Kapha

  4. Your Physical Constitution

  What Determines Your Constitution

  Evaluating Your Dosha

  Physical Attributes

  Mental Attributes

  Dual Constitution

  5. Your Mental Constitution

  Ignorance

  Passion

  Purity

  The Four Types Of Digestive Fires

  6. We Are What We Eat

  The Three Types Of Food

  Oxidative Damage And Tamasic Foods

  7. Medicine Cures, Food Heals

  The Six Tastes

  The Four Stages Of Food

  8. The Eating Sense

  Three Types Of Eaters

  Five Aspects Of The Eating Sense

  Seasons And Diet

  9. What To Eat

  Acidic And Alkaline Foods

  10. Life Cycle Of A Disease

  Five Causes Of A Disease

  11. The Four Killers

  Ama

  Indigestion

  Sugar

  Stress

  12. Mental Afflictions

  Fear

  Anger

  Hatred

  Jealousy

  Greed

  13. Physical Cleansing

  Colon Therapy

  Oesophageal Cleansing

  Respiratory Cleansing

  Sinus Cleansing

  14. Fasting And Pancha-Karma

  Types Of Fasting

  Pancha-Karma

  15. Mental Detoxification

  Visualization For Physical Health

  Erasing Psychic Imprints

  Witness Meditation – For Mental Health

  Mindfulness – Journal For Emotional Health

  16. In A Nutshell

  Appendix 1: Acidic And Alkaline Foods

  Appendix 2: The Five Sheaths

  Appendix 3: The Three Bodies

  Appendix 4: The Ten Energies

  Further Reading

  Also By Om Swami

  About This Book

  In these pages, I have combined my reflections on major Ayurvedic texts with my years of experience in yoga and tantra, to give you the essence of health and well-being. To make the most out of this book, read it patiently as if chewing gum, to enjoy and absorb the knowledge contained herein.

  Although I received my formal education in information technology and business, for years I have practised healing and experimented across the disciplines of astrology, mantra, tantra, meditation and alchemy. While Ayurvedic texts mostly focus on physical health, and yogic scriptures on mental well-being, tantric scriptures pay attention to the metaphysical aspects of our existence.

  When we synthesize the wisdom across the three disciplines of Ayurveda, yoga and tantra, we gain a unique and holistic understanding of health. Because all three insist that we are an integral part of nature, anything that happens in the play of nature affects us. Therefore, the more you are in harmony with nature, the more peaceful and healthy you will be. The objective of this book is to help you see how your body – your health and well-being – is intricately linked to Mother Nature, and
how living in harmony with nature brings changes in your own nature.

  I have always been passionate about health and natural remedies. So much so, I once owned an Ayurvedic health care company with a research team comprising some of the most brilliant Ayurvedic doctors in India. During the clinical trials of our products, I had the opportunity to meet and interview many patients. Except for Vishy’s example (in Chapter 6), all case studies in this book are real. I have only changed the names and, at times, places to protect the privacy of the individuals concerned. I have mostly used the masculine pronoun in general references for convenience purposes only; the teachings of Ayurveda and yoga are universally applicable.

  I hope this book motivates you to lead a more natural, healthier and more peaceful life.

  1

  Introduction

  Even though I grew up reading Ayurvedic, yogic and tantric scriptures expounding on health, yoga and alchemy, my own health was never good. For the greater part of my life, as a patient of asthma, I was allergic to pollen. I don’t remember a change of season when I didn’t fall sick. I was living proof of modern medicine’s belief that allergies could only be treated temporarily. I had given up my asthma medication with the help of a controlled diet. Yet, every year, at the dawn of spring, my asthma would get worse and I would start gobbling up cough syrups and cold and flu tablets. With a red nose, heavy head and a wheezing chest, I would increase the dosage of my inhalers and lose most of my appetite.

  My body needed rest, but time was perhaps the one thing I could not afford. My projects, teams and clients needed me every day, in five different time zones, and the immense stress at work left me gasping for breath. Exercising at the gym, playing badminton, eating organic food and taking supplements only helped a little. The fact remained that whenever seasons changed, I fell sick. I would notice those who remained mostly healthy, regardless of the pressure at work or the challenges at home they endured. Many of these healthy people even ate unhealthily, yet they remained mostly fit. I seriously wondered: ‘What is the secret to their health?’ There is no secret, really. In accordance with Ayurveda, I came to the conclusion that each one of us is truly different, and some of us are more prone to certain diseases than others. I accepted the fact that asthma was my way of life.

  A few years later, however, I renounced the material world and went to the Himalayas to begin my life as a monk. I stayed in the woods and caves for nearly thirteen months, and while there, I didn’t even so much as contract a common cold, let alone any major ailments or asthma. Surviving on one frugal meal a day – and sometimes just on snow – when I emerged from my hut many months later after intense meditation, I felt fitter and stronger than ever before. I meditated in open fields during spring and in caves during winters, yet there was no sign of any allergy.

  I had never felt this before: being completely free of any physical ailments for months at a stretch. This experience challenged my earlier conclusion. I figured that it’s never too late to take control of your well-being and, no matter what your genetic disposition, you can attain near-perfect health. Having said that, I observed that we, as a human race, fall ill more frequently and for longer durations than any other species. The animals we have tamed also fall sick more often than their wild counterparts.

  I reflected on my perfect health in the Himalayas and figured that there were many factors contributing to my well-being there. I realized that living in harmony with nature and adopting some of the yogic principles were the primary reasons why I did not fall sick at all. I examined the truths of Ayurvedic and yogic scriptures in a new light now. Just Ayurvedic concoctions, some yogasanas or tantric practices alone, were not sufficient to cure my illness. The key was to combine all of them. But, most notably, what had worked was leading a simple life in the most natural way. While in the woods, I was in constant touch with Mother Nature, and her incredible healing powers brought about profound changes in my body and mind.

  I do understand that many of us can’t afford to leave the hustle and bustle of the town even for a day, let alone go away and live in the woods for months. It is for this reason that I have written this book, because this is what is remarkable about Ayurveda and yoga: you do not have to live in the woods or in the Himalayas to be in touch with nature. An entire cosmos exists within you. You do not have to be flexible like a rubber doll either, because I won’t be asking you to assume any complicated postures. You just need the willingness to understand health in its entirety, and the discipline to take control of your physical and emotional well-being.

  Our body is the finest, in fact the only, medium of experiencing all pleasures and sorrows. In Ayurveda, as in yoga and tantra, the health of an individual is not just the state of his physical body but an aggregate of the body, senses, mind and soul. Your immune system is directly impacted by your state of mind. The more positive and happy you are, the stronger your immunity.

  According to Ayurveda, health and disease have the same source. When various entities (covered later in this book) are in harmony, it translates into health. And when they are in disequilibrium, they cause disorders. Your body is merely the seat of your consciousness. If your consciousness is afflicted, it will surely – without exception – result in physical disorders too. Mental afflictions create diseases in the physical body and physical diseases, in turn, disturb the state of mind.

  More often than not, an unhealthy mental state is the cause of illness – particularly with adults. You can treat the disease in the physical body, but that’s merely treating the symptom. Such a disease will recur. For example, you can take anti-allergy medication to avoid hay fever, but it will come back every year. To remain disease-free, it is important to have a healthy mind and a healthy body; they complement each other. And attaining a healthy body and healthy mind is the core philosophy of Ayurveda.

  The modern system of medicine is mostly symptom- driven. If I have a headache, it’ll tell me to take a painkiller. Ayurveda does not believe in treating symptoms. It advocates understanding the patient and treating the cause of the symptom and not the symptom itself. In order to do this, the ancient scriptures take a far more holistic approach to health by taking into account our lifestyle combined with our natural tendencies (which vary from one person to another). In other words, it understands that one man’s medicine could be another man’s poison. Yogurt, for example, may aid digestion in some people but cause indigestion in others.

  Further, just focussing on your physical health by way of better diet and exercise is only a fraction of the solution. The important part is taking care of your mental and emotional health. How you respond to what life throws at you affects your health in the most significant manner. You cannot choose your parents, your siblings, your country of birth and so forth. You cannot change your boss, your spouse, your children or your friends. The economy, the country and the state of society is largely beyond your control. You may have a few, if any, practical choices in these. You can, however, choose how you feel about those elements of your life and how you respond to them. The way you look at anything and the manner in which you accept or react are the two most important – if not the only – factors that determine your overall well-being. If you can either change your perspective or your response towards what you find disturbing, ninety per cent of the job is done. The remaining ten per cent is simply about body fitness. Yogic wisdom helps you gain mental equilibrium and Ayurveda, physical well-being.

  Yogic texts believe that as bliss is the natural state of your mind, health is the natural state of your body. When your mind is in its natural state, you feel peaceful naturally. Similarly, when your body is in its natural state – when the various constituents of your body, like humours (dosha), tissues (dhatu), digestive fire (agni), and energy flow (vayu) are in equilibrium – you are disease-free; you are healthy. Any thought that disturbs your mental balance is a negative thought even if it is about God. Conversely, any thought that gives you pe
ace is a positive thought. The more you fill your mind with positive thoughts, the better your state of mind will be. And that naturally results in better physical health.

  The Sanskrit word for health is svasthya; it means self-dependence or a sound state of the body and mind. If examined further, it means your natural state: sva means natural, and sthya means state or place. Ayurveda aims to restore your natural state, your balance, so you may be free of mental and physical afflictions.

  I’ve had patients successfully cure ulcers, cancers, migraines, obesity, hypertension, allergies, depression and many other ailments, by following the principles I share with you in this book. I am not suggesting that Ayurveda is a panacea. No system of medicine is. But when you combine the principles of Ayurveda with yogic thought, you make a giant leap in your understanding of the human body and its well-being. In this book, I introduce to you a holistic system of health and wellness.

  My goal is not to give you herbal remedies, because once again I don’t wish to treat symptoms. Besides, I’m not a medical professional but a meditation specialist and a tantric practitioner. There are plenty of Ayurvedic doctors out there whom you can consult for medicine. Having said that, the chances are that, once you adopt the principles and practices I am sharing here, you will not need to see a doctor again. For a healthy and long life, ancient yogic thought offers to you one of the most insightful, complete and scientific perspectives.

  I promise, by the time you finish reading this book, you will look upon your body and your health in a new way. You will learn how to take better care of yourself; you will know how to lead a healthier life in our present world – a world where we have all the comforts yet we are restless. We have organic breakfast on the table but no time to eat it; we have the most comfortable mattresses but little sleep. The key to wholesome living and well-being is entirely in your hands. You alone can take control of your physical and emotional health. Let me show you how.