PREVENT CHRONIC ILLNESS WITH aYURVEDA
Pain or discomfort that reappears over and over again is a sad reality for many people. It could be migraines, digestive problems, neck and back pain or other symptoms of imbalance in the system. With an Ayurvedic approach, you can prevent and avoid transient discomfort from developing into chronic conditions.
Seen through Ayurveda, your body will always signal an imbalance at a fairly early stage. Often it starts with mild discomfort or pain. If only the symptoms are treated, the cause does not change, so the pain returns and, unfortunately, often with increasing strength.
These are signals that there is an imbalance somewhere in the body and if they are ignored, they can develop into a chronic condition. That is why it’s so important that you listen to your body and react as soon as it starts showing signs of imbalance.
From transient symptoms to chronic pain
When you hear histories of illness from people living with chronic diseases, the symptoms often crept up on them and developed into a chronic condition over time. Therefore, you should react as soon as you notice an imbalance. This is where you have the opportunity to prevent pain or discomfort from becoming a regular part of your life.
When we are in great imbalance, we tend to seek out what isn’t good for us and reject what is good for us. It becomes a way to soothe and drown out the real cause of the imbalance.
The Ayurvedic approach to disease operates with a six-step process in which we go from healthy to chronically ill. It’s a process in which we become more and more unbalanced, both physically and mentally, if we don’t change what is creating the imbalance. In the early stages, we can still make corrections on our own, and stage four is characterized by getting a real diagnosis, perhaps from the doctor.
An imbalance may be due to many different things – diet, stress, unresolved relationships or other tiggering issues. Causes that we, for various reasons, ignore or have difficulty facing and which we, therefore, instead try to soothe and drown out with various forms of stimuli, such as food, alcohol, sex and entertainment.
Start small – three concrete ideas
When you need to change something, it’s always easier to start small and preferably with one step at a time. That way, it’s more manageable and you can also get a better feel for what works and why it works. If you have an experience that something in your life is pulling in the wrong direction, try to feel it. The answer is inside you, and you know well what it is that you need to change – often your intuition is shrouded.
Here are some concrete tools you can use to open your intuition again.
1. Meditation
When you meditate, it’s a way to raise your consciousness and inner state. It gives you the opportunity to feel yourself, and you can literally raise yourself out of the state of consciousness that created your challenge.
A problem cannot be solved on the same level of thinking, the same level of consciousness [that created it] (Einstein)
If you need help getting started with meditation, you are welcome to start with this body scan exercise. You can use it over and over again and it can act as an anchor that brings you back to yourself when discomfort, doubt or fear arises.
2. Put it into words – write a journal
Write down your thoughts for a period of time. It could be stray thoughts from the day or conscious reflections on your emotional patterns – when do those feelings and thoughts arise and what does it show you? Often, this inner exploration will help you figure out where the imbalance is coming from. Perhaps you can identify recurring themes in your journal, which, in turn, makes it easier for you to decode your body’s signals?
3. Use your nearest and dearest
If you feel that something in your life is out of balance, it can help to talk to someone who knows you well and who is close to you. A conversation about something that is just a feeling or sensation can help you concretize it and those close to you may also have some ideas for how you can change it and create more zest and health in your life.
Give yourself space
When you make room to feel, the answers often arise naturally. Start with little adjustments. That way, you can feel if you are heading in the right direction – perhaps your diet or your daily routines need adjusting. It could also be a general balance in your life that is tipping to one side and that is about what and how you prioritize.
Often we don’t prioritize ourselves, as we always put the needs of others first. If we are to be something for other people, then we must be something for ourselves first.
When you do something good for yourself, you also do something good for those around you. The more good you do for yourself, the more you can give to others. Allow yourself to turn your awareness inward and feel.
Ayurveda helps you to feel yourself
With Ayurvedic health science and its approach, you gain access to many different tools that can help you raise your awareness so you become better at feeling and following your intuition. That way, you will feel any imbalance as soon as it creeps in, and you will be able to more easily adjust and prevent it from dwelling and developing into chronic pain. Ayurveda is an approach that provides inspiration to practice living a life closer to yourself using daily rituals, yoga, meditation, diet, sleep and more. All measures that can be practiced in a normal everyday life and that help you to feel yourself and be in touch with your consciousness.
With love
Nordic Ayurveda
