Anuradha Sridharan

  In a discourse that I attended recently, the speaker shared about five main factors that disturb the state of our mind: Giving high importance to oneself (in other words, egoistic) Jealousy Too many desires Dwelling in the past or future that leads to regret, grudges, or worry Focusing only on the negatives in the past, present or future Humility is the antidote to overcoming the feeling of high self-importance. Feeling a sense of love and genuine happiness for the other person's successes/victories is the antidote to overcoming jealousy that we might feel towards him/her . Contentment and gratitude are the antidotes to reducing our desires. Acceptance, letting go, and forgiveness are the antidotes to avoid dwelling in the past. Having unshakeable trust in the Divine plans and a strong belief that everything will turn out for the good, with a sense of surrender are the antidotes to avoid worrying about the future. The mind is habituated to tune itself to the negatives that might...

 In the past 10 days, I had the opportunity to observe and participate in the Yoga therapy-specific techniques offered to the participants of SVYASA Arogyadhama - an integrative medicine hospital, as part of my MSc Yoga Internship.  Firstly, it was heartening to note that those who come for treatment procedures are referred to as "participants" and not as "patients". The experience was eye-opening in many ways.  As I was reading through various case files and summaries, stress and disturbed sleep emerged as a common pattern among many participants with ailments such as obesity, hypertension, GERD, urticaria, etc. They were neither smoking nor drinking alcohol.  We often hear about how the quality of life deteriorates with non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, asthma, high BP, etc. It was also devastating to see participants diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and the inability to do basic movements by the participant (and the impact on his/her caretaker). W...