AYURVEDA AND BREATH by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (1997 Santa Monica, California)

Full audio by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at the bottom of this page.

Life has 4 characteristics. It exists, evolves, expresses and extinguishes. And for it to exist, evolve, express and extinguish, it depends on 5 elements. The earth, water, air, ether and fire. To make it more easy to understand we can say the 5 sense and its objects, sight, smell, taste, sound and touch. The study of life is ayurveda, veda means knowledge (Vid to know), ayur is life. According to ayruveda life is not rigid compartments. Existence is not a rigid compartment, it is a harmonious flow. Even these 5 elements of which the whole universe is made up of is not tight compartments of defined objects, they flow one into the other. Each one of the elements contains the rest 4. So the approach of ayurveda towards life is that of holistic. Some total. The subtlest in us is space of which the mind is made up of. And the gross is the earth element of which our bones and marrows and the skin and the structures are made up of. And further this is divided into 3 doshas, there is vata, pitha and kapha.

I think you are familiar with this term. It’s a way to understand the physiology, its characteristics, it’s reflection on the mind. When an illness comes, first it comes in the thought form. Or from the subtlest idea, the sound form. And then it manifests in the light form, i.e. in the aura. And then that illness manifests in the body, simple symptoms arise in the fluid form, which can be eradicated and then it manifests in the most gross form where it needs medication.

You might be aware of this aromatherapy these days, you know the colour therapy and aromatherapy. Just through fragrance, through smell an illness can be attended to, cured. It’s mostly the preventative aspect even before an illness arises, the aroma, through fragrance, through smell, through breath, that could be arrested. The holistic approach of ayurveda includes exercises, breathing and meditation. Breath is synonymous to life, our life is our breath, our breath is our life.

We can say that, for our practical purpose. Someone is not breathing that’s a sign, there is no life there (disciples laugh). Now what is the difference between breath and the different doshas in the body, this is very interesting to notice. The vata, pitha and kapha. These 3 doshas affect certain parts of the body more than the other part. Like vata dosha is predominant in the lower part of the body. Stomach, intestine, the gas, joint aches… all this happens with the vata. And then kapha, the middle part of the body. Cough… perhaps the work cough has come out of the word kapha (Guruji giggles). Close connection. Kapha affects the middle part of the body. And pitha the higher part of the body. Our head, hot temper, short temper is a sign of pitha. So vata, kapha and pitha are predominant in 3 parts of the body. Now, in yoga or in the breathing techniques, the 3-stage pranayama had effect on these 3 doshas. You might have noticed if you have done the pranayama, you feel that the doshas in your body have altered. Something in the body has changed, you don’t feel the same, you feel different, more balanced. A pranayama brings that balance in the system.

Though it feels a little hard to get into the practice of it, though the practice of it is not hard, to make it a habit becomes little hard, just like doing ab exercise. (Disciples laugh). Or any other exercise you do, you know, you feel little lousy to do it to begin with. But once you are set in the rhythm, or even jogging, you have to go for jogging, first you feel lazy. But once you start on it, then you notice how good you feel after doing the jog. So the 3 doshas are connected with definite part of the body and definite rhythms or ways of breathing patters, correct those doshas or brings the balances in those areas.

In the same way, in our fingers, you can find the 3 doshas and their nerve endings. E.g. the index finger is kapha, middle finger is vata, the ring finger is pitha. You see someone’s finger, the way the fingers formation you can see what doshas are running in the body. And doing some mudra pranayams, pressing those nerve endings in a very subtle way gentle way and breathing with the ujjay breath also balances the doshas in the body. First and foremost, that’s why it says, how to bring good health to your system… first-est by attending to the ether element that’s the mind element. If your mind is bogged with too many impressions, too many thoughts then it is draining your of your resistant power. That’s where it is preparing your body for some illness.

Your mind, if the mind is clear, calm, meditative, pleasant… that much resistance in the body would increase. Because it will not allow an illness to come into the body. The first remedy is calming down the mind, coming from the subtlest aspect of creation, the ether. And then, come to the air element, the breathing, aromatherapy, even all this can come there. And then light, colour therapy, what you can call… Light. Before an illness manifests in the body you can see that in the aura of a person. You know you’ve heard of the aura photography, some physicians have done research on that, especially on ulcer, cancer, diabetes. All these ailments, they have taken the photograph even 6 months before they could manifest in the body and they could find the spots. And by energizing the system with the prana (life energy/breath) you can clear the aura and prevent the illness before it comes.

That is what yoga does. Yoga means what? The purpose of yoga is stopping the sorrow before it arises. The Patanjali Yoga Sutra says that same, to burn the seed before it sprouts. And then comes water. Water element. Fasting with water, purifying the system with water can bring lot of balance in the system. And final recourse of course is different herbs, medicinal herbs, medicines and surgery. All this comes in the final stage when everything else fails. Or when we neglect the other steps then it becomes inevitable, you have to go through that. Our breath has a lot of secrets to offer to us because for every emotion there is a rhythm. When the breath slows down automatically the metabolism in the body is going down. When the metabolism goes down, the breath, which is corresponding to the metabolism, also slows down.

So, what happens in meditation? Toxins, they get released during meditation. So when you come out of meditation, if you do some pranayam again then those toxins go out of the system. Otherwise, what happens, many people after meditation feel much more tired. You might have heard or even experienced meditators they meditate for 1 hour/2 hours and afterwards they feel even more tired. They are not dynamic, they don’t feel so much energy to do things. This is because the toxins are released in the body but they are not going out of the body. It goes very slow, do you see what I’m saying? So they act at different levels but they compliment each other.

People normally ask questions after the knowledge sessions and Guruji answers aptly.

How young can you start a child on meditations?
About 8 – 10. For children we have to just brush up the human values in them, which they have, we have to just nourish them.

What about fasting?
Fasting does do some good to our system. Fasting gives rest to our digestive system. But should be proper with proper care where you see that if you are a pitha type of person just fasting is not too good. Not too much fasting. For vata and kapha people fasting is better. But lot of fluids water or juice. Liquids would be essential.

What do you think about homosexuality or bisexuality?
It is not the outside figure or object. It is just that sensation or pleasure that you feel inside, that is important. The outer is just a mirror to bring about the pleasure that you are inside. You see what I’m saying. So it is the movement of prana, the energy. You know? Because all the tendencies, the tastes and likes and dislikes in a person, they are not permanent. They keep changing. I’ve seen heterosexuals suddenly get the urge for the same sex and they get shaken and say ‘what is wrong with me, I was alright all these years’. And many people who think themselves as homosexuals suddenly they feel attracted to the people of the other sex also. And they come with this problem. So what I would say is you don’t have to label yourself as something, somebody. Instead of giving so much importance to a piece of flesh outside, turn within and look at the spirit, which is the source of joy. You know the joy of sex of one minute and the joy of the being is 1000 times more than that. So it’s a sustained joy, sustained flow of energy within you that makes you realize you are not just a body, you are not a man or a woman, you are not a piece of flesh, you are light, you are spirit. When we get into this identification, you will see that there is so much joy in life, unshakable joy and a lasting joy. You see people who are in all these bars and who go to these movies, if you see their faces you don’t see a sense of great satisfaction do you see that. They are not in bliss. Of course sex is part of life, we are not denying it. You go through it but what I’m saying is as you experience sex and go through this in life you can turn more towards the spirit and then we are supporting the life to evolve in that direction. It’s a very good balance, not denying at the same time not indulging. And this happens automatically, just attending to prana, the breath.

What is the best way to this level of bliss?
1 – Do meditation.
2 – Serve people around you. Get yourself into some service activity. You know the technique to get depressed is if you sit and all the time think what about me what about me, that’s good enough. You’ll get depressed thoroughly. (Disciples laugh). Seeing god within you is meditation, seeing god in the people around you is love or service. They go hand in hand.

I do hypnotherapies, I do hypnosis everyday and breath 5 times a minute is that almost the same thing?
Of course it will enhance what you already have. As far as I know hypnosis and meditation have 2 opposite mechanisms. In hypnosis I have seen that the oxygen consumption rate goes higher. But whereas meditation your metabolism goes down, oxygen consumption rate goes down. And if you’re meditating you cannot be hypnotized. Even anaesthesia does not work.

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Could you explain the channelling, mentally, emotionally, physically, I have seen they don’t look like they’re happy. Looks as if it affects them physically too and it’s just something I’ve wondered about?
You will see people who do the psychic reading, they are not very healthy often. They maybe exception to it but most of them people don’t look very bright or healthy. Do you see that? And they go through lots of ups and downs and lot of physical illnesses. What I would say is you don’t need to go into too much of those things, just go very simple and meditate and be happy. That should be good enough no? If we want to know everything in life there is no fun at all there is no suspense at all. If you know the result of the football match before it began, there is no fun, there is no thrill. Let there be some suspense in life and move with it. Of course nature will provide all that in abundance as we move in the path of love. I’d say that is most supreme, the path of love. Meditation, service. Once in while you can show your hand or call a psychic hotline and get some reading from them, doesn’t matter, so what. But the divinity is within us, which can operate things, can change things, not just prediction, prediction anyone can do. But when we are soaked in the spirit within us we can effect a change in our life and in anyone’s life for the better.