PranaBeing blog: Inputs

Ayurveda asserts that one of the three pillars of health is aahara, inputs. This is commonly translated as “food.” But inputs actually comprise much more than what we put in our mouths. Inputs include food, water, breath, and perceptions.

Consider that everything we take in physically, through sensory experience as well as through the mind, is an input to our system. Every input is subject to the process of digestion.

These two factors—the inputs, and the capacity to digest—determine the outputs.

Outputs include body tissues, thoughts, emotions, and actions.

When you want to make any change in your health, relationships, or your capacity to perform action, look to your inputs.

What are you taking in as food, water, breath and perceptions? How is it supporting or undermining you?

If you want to learn more about how to optimize your inputs toward actualizing your desired outputs, consider inquiring about an Ayurvedic Health Consultation.

Leave a comment below: what inputs are supporting you? Which ones are undermining you? Can you see how your inputs are connected to the quality of your body tissues, mental and emotional default, and your capacity to perform action?

PranaBeing blog: Tough Questions

Would you prefer to:

a) succeed at your objective by doing things in a way that reinforces detrimental habits and self-concepts?

OR

b) fail at your objective in a way that reveals or disrupts detrimental habits and self-concepts?

Is getting what you think you want the limiting factor in your existence?

When is the last time you got what you wanted? (It happened today. Did you even notice?) How long did the satisfaction last?

On the other hand, what’s the story of your latest failure? Are you using that experience to reinforce self-loathing or as a catalyst for self-discovery?

Well then, what is the limiting factor in your existence?

Says who?

(If you are going to use these questions as tools, it helps to write down your answers). Leave a comment and share what you discover.

PranaBeing Blog: Information vs. Awareness

Information does not equal awareness.

Having read or heard or seen something, knowing how to do something, or even going through the motions of what we know how to do does not guarantee awareness. Even experience itself does not guarantee awareness, though all of these things (reading, listening, learning, experiencing, and doing) have the potential to awaken awareness within us.

Awareness has to do with conscious engagement. The more aware we are, the more present we are to what is happening now.

Awareness requires sentience. As we become more aware, we become increasingly conscious of the myriad stirrings aroused within our being in response to this moment.

It is only through awareness that skillful action becomes available. Skillful action is an expression of integration.

yogah karmasu kausalam - Bhagavad Gita 2.50

Yoga is skill-in-action

Without awareness, we are like a blindfolded person equipped with every type of headlamp and spotlight known to man, thrashing about in darkness.

We have gotten very good at generating, gathering, and exchanging information. Let’s get better at becoming more aware.

Are you using the tools, knowledge and practices (i.e. what you do regularly) in your life to help you become more aware? How does life change when you do?