Many blessings of the New Year! 2024 is here and we are filled with the aspirations and potential of what newness holds. Although we are in the midst and depths of the winter season, there is a renewed spirit of going back to what is rather than what it should be. As we step into a new year, SILENCE beckons…always. Ayurveda is a lens we will look though for the next few weeks as it beckons us to embrace a rejuvenated and vibrant life through the remembrance of our true nature and the root cause of our suffering. I share my learnings from the Ayurveda Institute.

But, what does it mean to live a vibrant life?

To live in harmony with our true nature, our prakruti.

To live in harmony with the season in which we are in.

To live in harmony with our deepest aspirations and true intentions.

The transition into a new year presents an opportune moment to assess and realign our internal and external energies, ensuring a harmonious start to the upcoming chapters of the year. It is in these moments where we are able to pause and reflect on not only what brings us joy in our lives, but also what serves us the best on our path and journey–this can be in the way we spend our time, the foods we eat, the way we move our bodies. Taking time for self-reflection on our habit patterns of both external and internal activities allows us to find balance for our constitution.

The ultimate goal of Ayurveda is to be in balance with our natural state so that we are able to walk the path that brings us the most amount of happiness and joy in life. Below are a few questions to evaluate our daily routine and habits to realign ourselves with our truest and most vibrant selves.

Questions to Support My Agni (Fire element of my body and mind):

Are the foods I eat sit well with me?
Do I feel energetic after eating?
Do I feel joy in what I am eating?
Am I distracted at meals?

Questions to Support My Prana:

Do I wake up energized to take on the day?
What do I spend my free time doing?
Do I have a sense of joy and peace as I go on about my day?
Do I find time to move energy and prana within my body?
Do I take the time to be in communion with nature?

Questions to Support My Self:

Do I take time to process the day?
DO I TAKE THE TIME TO SIT IN SILENCE?
Do I have practices that support my peace?
Do I feel a sense of ease in my whole being?
In order to be fully present with my whole self, I must take the time to go inwards. It is in these moments that I become awake to what the universe is guiding me towards.

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The reflection questions above are just a sampling of all the ways to understand ourselves more to truly live in alignment with our true nature, our peak potential. When we shift the way we live and the way we think, the ease in which we flow with the world around us becomes intuitive and natural. But, as we know, it takes just a small step forward to begin that understanding.

As we enter the dawn of a new year, Ayurveda can be one of our guiding lights towards a healthier, more balanced existence. By integrating its timeless principles into our lives from various rich traditions, ancient, contemporary and indgenous wisdom practices, we embark on a journey of self-discovery, well-being, and conscious living, ensuring that the chapters of the coming year are written with vitality, purpose, and fulfillment.

May this year bring you true joy, true happiness, true peace, and a true sense of self-awakening.

I have borrowed heavily from a message received from the Ayurveda Institute that inspires the topics to be shared in the upcoming weeks. And as always, I look forward to our sitting together in SILENCE wherein in true healing is unravelling eternally. WHAT DOES SILENCE HAVE TO DO WITH HEALING? To be continued….

Warmly, in deep gratitude for our sitting together,
Supriti (Atma Sindoori Ananda)

Who or what is doing the experiencing, of our lives? This experiencing “I” in the question “Who am I?” Maybe we can just marvel at the efforts of people over millennia, from the Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree to the modern philosopher and neuroscientist who has asked themselves the question “Who am I?” is at the heart of the debate about the self.

Anil Ananthaswamy

If I deny the experience of consciounsess, I deny the existence of a perceiver. Where does the sense of I come from?

Francis Lucille

Where does your sense of self come from? A scientific look: Anil Ananthaswamy

Maybe we can just marvel at the efforts of people over millennia, from the Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree to the modern philosopher and neuroscientist who has asked themselves the question “Who am I?” Who or what is doing the experiencing, of our lives? This experiencing “I” in the question “Who am I?” is at the heart of the debate about the self.

Anil Ananthaswamy

If I deny the experience of consciousness, I deny the existence of a perceiver. Where does the sense of I come from?

Francis Lucille

We continue asking: Who Am I – and what is Silence n this context? 

Verbalizing how the Waking, Dream, Sleep and Deep Sleep States are experienced by us. What is it that experiences these states? Are we aware of our 1st thought upon waking and last thought before sleeping?

The age-old analogies with Sky and clouds, of the Stage vs the actors ont he stage, also explored soaking in the teachings of consciousness having an experience in the realm of matter and our lives described through a lens that reveals: The journey from matter to consiousness and back, where the fear of death is dissolving.

WINTER with AYURVEDA

We continue unravelling the age-old teachings of Ayurveda, balancing the elements of air, ether, water, fire and earth, that make up this universe of which this body is part of.

Daily Pranayama:1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7tth and 8th in the sequence practiced today completing the sequence!

8 UTGEET: We added Utgeet, Vocalizing “Hari Om” a Primordial sound, to our set of seven Pranayamas.

1. Bhastrika (Bellows breath) 
2. Kapalabhati follows (Shining Skull)
3. Anuoma Viloma (Alternate Nostril Breathing)
4. Agni Sara 
5. Brahmari (Bee’s Breath)
6. UTJAYI Breath (Breath of Victory)
7. SHEETALI & SHEETKARI -cooling breath – for anger, irritbility, cand other “fire” aggravated aspects of our body and mind.