Disease begins in the mind
How does disease start in our bodies?
How many times do we hear this said by therapists, new age seekers and modern medicine? We may nod our head in agreement but never dig deep into what it really means. We can investigate and simplify the explanation for this.
Firstly, if the word ‘disease’ is broken down, it means lack of ease/ comfort. This can manifest physically or mentally but where does it begin?
Ayurveda recognises 6 stages of disease
Accumulation: Eating the wrong type and amount of food at the wrong time e.g getting home at 9pm and eating a full size dinner (misuse of intelligence). On waking there maybe a feeling of discomfort or heaviness but breakfast is always at (7/8/9) so you eat again before last nights meal is digested. There may be a slight feeling of discomfort but you think nothing of it. Toxins begin to accumulate.
Aggravation: Moderate symptoms e.g. burping, constipation, burning sensation in stomach, excess mucous.
Overflow: The toxins begin to move through the body and the symptoms become more obvious, dry skin, burning sensations, loss of appetite.
Relocation: Toxins deposit in areas of the body that due to your constitution (to know this may require a consultation) are prone to disease (your weak spots)
Manifestation: Symptoms become too obvious to ignore, gout, skin irritations, swelling. This is normally the stage at which we seek medical help.
Differentiation/diagnosis: The diagnosis is made and treatment begins, if not too late.
This whole chain of events begins with the misuse of intelligence/ mistake of the intellect allowing the mind to make the wrong decision.
Here is an example of mistake of intellect: Banana smoothies before bed in winter: Celebrity chefs may tell you that bananas are full of potassium, magnesuim etc. but if we examine the some of the qualities of winter, heavy, cold, unctuous etc it becomes clear the cold, heavy unctuous qualities of a banana will lead to a build up of mucous.
This is the same for many other foods such as cold milk (including the nut juices disguised as milk), bread, pasta, ice cream, muffins, pumpkin (even if they are organic the qualities remain the same). In summary we change clothes to suit the seasons so why do we persist with the same diet all year round.
If this is something that interests and makes sense to you, at Sadhana Yoga Therapy and Ayurveda you can learn how to cook for the seasons, your constitution and most importantly your health.