Ayurveda describes disease as the final expression of toxic accumulations in the mind-body physiology. Every impulse of life can be considered in terms of whether it brings nourishment or toxicity to body, mind, and spirit. A nourishing experience brings you health and happiness. A toxic experience brings misery and contributes to poor health. More>>
Featured Workshop
Are you experiencing Synchronicity? Ask yourself these questions: Do I see coincidences everyday? Am I happy?
What do coincidences tell us about our destiny?
Based on the New York Times Bestseller Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, this 4-day empowerment event known as SynchroDestiny Deepak, David, and Chopra Center educators guide you to discover your true power, essence, and reality. Does "chance" exist? What do coincidences teach us? Find out May 3-6 in Lake Tahoe, Nevada>>
Quantum Success by Sandra Anne Taylor Rarely does a book come along that covers every single aspect of the experience of success, from the science behind it to the tried and true techniques that really make it happen.
The consequences of toxic accumulation When our agni, or digestive fire is weak, we fail to completely metabolize our food and our experiences, resulting in the accumulation of toxic residues known in Ayurveda as ama. One sign of ama in the system is an unpleasant white “furry” coating on the tongue, which is particularly noticeable in the morning. The product of a strong agni is known as ojas. When ojas circulates, we experience a sense of well-being as every cell in our body expresses its unique talent in support of the entire physiology. More>>
Deepak, David, and the entire Chopra Center staff are pleased to bring Soul of Healing to the Chopra Center & Spa in Manhattan!
Soul of Healing is a five-day transformative journey filled with healing, balance, discovery, and awakening. Offered only once a year in the heart of New York City, Soul of Healing will help you clear your mind, lessen anxiety, detoxify your body, empower your nutrition, manage stress, re-center yourself, and bring peace into your life.
Call today to reserve your spot! 888.424.6772 x1639
email soul@chopra.com
What's in Store
Biochavan
Take $5 off your Biochavan order by entering the code: NAMASTE0207
Offer expires Feb. 28, 2007
Words of Wisdom
On life's journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.
—Buddha
We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.
—Dale E. Turner
How to Know God
A new DVD written by and featuring Deepak Chopra
Purify & Rejuvenate
This Namaste is dedicated to Purification and Rejuvenation. One must accompany the other to ensure that once cleansed, the body and mind can then strengthen. Whenever we have purified, cleansed, or detoxed the body or the mind, we must then replenish it with nurturing and nourishing behaviors.
In Sanskrit, the term for rejuvenation is rasayana (ra-sign-na) which means to nourish our basic tissues or vital substances. The Sanskrit term for detox is panchakarma (pancha-karma) a cleansing process once reserved only for ancient Indian royalty. Ayurveda - the science of life - teaches us that we need to seasonally purify and rejuvenate our minds, our bodies, and our souls to ensure a healthy balance. We need to take the time to cleanse and restore at least a few times a year to bring us back to center.
As we move through life and each day’s experiences we become more aware of the importance of the mind-body connection. Our modern lifestyle has the ability to disconnect us from our optimum health regimen which impacts our emotional state and then influences our physical state. Trying to stay on track each day with family, work, and relationships is not necessarily an easy process. There are many opportunities to spin out of balance: we can cram a meal into minutes between activities and chores, race from one event to the next, deny ourselves a chance to breathe in between, and then collapse in bed at the end of the day.
To recover from the buildup of toxins and stress, we may lay on the couch for hours watching TV until we pass out from weariness only to wake up unrested and weakened. As larger and larger workloads pile up on our desk making that work/life balance more difficult, we may begin to feel burnout; between cell phones, blackberries, emails, and the internet, we seem always to be “on call,” we may bring our daily stress into our relationships relegating those vital interactions to a third-class status instead of prioritizing them higher and filling them with love and compassion.
Are we living our lives with grace and ease? Or are we struggling to get by and forcing each moment? To compound the stress, the cold of the winter months helps to keep us indoors and become even more sedentary. Are we taking the time to fill that indoor time with meditation, yoga, and nourishing behaviors? Now may be the time for you to purify and rejuvenate – to rebirth your body, mind, and soul.
Everything on the planet needs to purify and rejuvenate – animals, plants, rivers, oceans, even volcanoes go through a rebirthing process. It is vital to our growth, maintenance, and survival not simply on a physical level but on an emotional and spiritual level as well.
In this edition of Namaste, Deepak teaches you a 7-step process to release emotional toxicity while David walks us through the yin and yang of Ayurvedic balance with a road map to identify nourishing and toxic experiences. Our Perfect Health spotlight is on panchakarma – its purpose, its process, and its benefits; This month’s featured workshop with Deepak is the classic high-achiever experience - SynchroDestiny - where you will learn to harness the power of coincidence in Lake Tahoe; and our Namaste contest is the chance to win a Renewal Weekend with Deepak and David in Albuquerque.
The Chopra Center announces two amazing yoga retreats for beginners and advanced yogis alike and we are still accepting enrollment for the emotional panchakarma experience Healing the Heart at the Crossings in Austin. We have a special recipe, meditation and yoga Q&A, quotes on purification and rejuvenation, and some guidance in nurturing the relationships in your life.
So take stock...take the time...to breathe deep, take care of your body and nurture your emotions. Weave meditation into your life; explore the detoxifying power of panchakarma; restore and renew with nourishing behaviors. Now is the perfect time to rebirth yourself.
Namaste,
The Chopra Center
As always we welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions at feedback@chopra.com.
Words of Wisdom
Agitation in body and mind creates disease and accelerates aging. Deep rest in body and mind reverses biological age.
—Deepak Chopra, MD
Happiness for me is largely a matter of digestion.
—Lin Yutang
My soul is dark with stormy riot,
Directly traceable to diet.
—Samuel Hoffenstein
Life is a creative process, not a journey of discovery or a school of learning. You're not discovering yourself, but recreating yourself. So don't try and figure out who you are, but establish who you want to be. You create your reality every minute, probably without realizing it. You can be, do, and have whatever you can imagine. Didn't I say you were gods?
—Neale Donald Walsch
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
—Apostle Paul
Life has left her footprints on my forehead.
But I have become a child again this morning.
The smile, seen through leaves and flowers,
is back to smooth away the wrinkles,
as the rains wipe away footprints on the beach.
Again a cycle of birth and death begins.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Living Perfect Health
Get Rid of Toxins A gentle, relaxing way to rid the body of toxins from our environment, emotional turbulance, and medicine saturation, Panchakarma is an extensive routine to purify the body and involves a series of steps tailored to your body type and requiring physician supervision over the course of a week. The process includes daily massages that are extremely pleasant and very relaxing.
Panchakarma is very gentle and doesn't push physical debris out of the cells, but it is said to push out the excess doshas, along with the ama that "sticks" to them, using the body's own channels of evacuation (sweat glands, urinary tract, intestines, etc).
An integral part of our Perfect Health program, Panchakarma is generally used as a seasonal treatment to ensure balance, or to dislodge specific physical and emotional ailments. Our "inpatient" treatment environment allows the body deeper rest, minimizing travel and outside distractions, maximizing detoxification and rejuvenation. You will return home balanced, restored, and rejuvenated. To learn more, call toll free 888.424.6772 x1639 or +1 760.494.1600 x1639, or ask your question here>>
Yoga Q & A
Q: Most of the people in my yoga class, including the instructor, have beautiful skin and hair, and appear to "glow." How does this happen? And, how can I have it too?
A: The essence of yoga is to find unity in the diversity of our multidimensionality. Everything we ingest and inhale is a part of everything else: keeping our physical bodies healthy and nurtured in turn brings health and wellbeing to our environment, and vice versa. Uncovering the layers that mask the essential unbounded nature of our physical, subtle, and causal body—our body, mind, and soul—is living in the true essence of yoga.
The vast majority of the cells in your body are derived from the food you eat. To create and maintain a healthy body, yogis pay attention to the food they consume, minimizing the toxicity they ingest while maximizing the nourishment they receive. According to Ayurveda, certain foods are said to be particularly conducive to a yogic lifestyle. These foods are known as sattvic, which means they contribute to the purity of the body. The four most sattvic foods revered by yogis are almonds, honey, milk, and ghee (clarified butter). Getting a daily dose of these foods along with regular exercise benefits the body, mind, and soul of a person dedicated to creating greater mind-body integration.
The ideal is to balance your whole system, mind and body. It is also vital that any type of exercise give more energy than it takes. Yoga, ideally combined with meditation, raises your mind body integration to a new level and uncovers the layers that mask your essential unbounded nature, bringing vitality and "glow" to your entire being.
An evolutionary life naturally ingests nourishment and releases toxicity. If every impulse of our experience were nurturing, we’d live long, healthy and happy lives. Since few of us were born into a household of enlightened beings, almost everyone has had experiences that have left some toxic residue More>>
Amalaki(Emblica officinalis), also known as Indian gooseberry, is considered the best herbal medicine for rejuvenation in Ayurveda. This valuable herb is one of the richest natural sources of antioxidant vitamins; its juice possesses almost 20 times as much vitamin C as orange juice. More>>
Earlybird Specials
There's still time to save with our Earlybird pricing!
Find yourself on the serene lakefront setting of Lake Tahoe for SynchroDestiny (60-day special expires Mar 3).
Let go of pain during Healing the Heart at The Crossings in Austin (30-day special expires Feb 9).
Meditate with Deepak on the beach in Florida (30-day special expires Feb 19).
For more information on savings for upcoming events, click here
Contest
In last month's contest, to re-instate Hope, we offered free registration to Healing the Heart Texas, March 9-11, 2007 so you may discover the best in others and yourself, and realize you are not alone. Kamana Sharma of Beltsville, Maryland, will rediscover Hope as the winner of Healing the Heart. Kamana, Congratulations!
This month we are offering 5 people who want to start or rejuvenate a meditation and yoga practice to Renewal Weekend New Mexico, April 20-22, 2007 A great start for beginners, this revitalizing weekend teaches you the basics of Ayurveda - the ancient healing practice of India - and how it complements modern western medicine. Yoga, meditation, and emotional wellbeing help to balance body and mind.
To qualify, and be our guest, you can choose to either set Daily Devotion as your home page and share the page with 10 friends, or send your Namaste email to 10 friends and a copy to us.
Send your email to namaste@chopra.com.We will reveal the winner in the next Namaste. Good luck!
Meditation Q & A
Q: Can meditation rejuvenate? If so, how?
A: Meditation, particularly with a mantra, leads the mind to ever more subtle levels of silence and stillness. As the mantra comes and goes in one's awareness, it begins to seek still subtler levels of thought until eventually thought is left behind. Because it is no longer caught up in thoughts of any kind, the mind is exposed to its own deepest nature, to pure awareness. The silence of pure awareness is extremely refreshing to the mind, which finds it increasingly easy not to cling to old thought patterns; rigid habits of thinking begin to fall away of their own accord. When this happens, the mind is actually healing, creating, rejuvenating, and renewing itself.
Massage in Minutes: Simple Techniques for Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere From our staff massage expert Grace Wilson offers techniques for giving a massage to anyone, anywhere—no table or oil required. Whether you have five minutes or fifty, sore legs or a stiff back, let the lead trainer from the Chopra Center for Wellbeing—Grace Wilson—help you give and get some relief. Get Yours Today>>
Biochavan
This Namaste is dedicated to Purification and Rejuvenation. One must accompany the other to ensure that once cleansed, the body and mind can then strengthen. Whenever we have purified, cleansed, or detoxed the body or the mind, we must then replenish it with nurturing and nourishing behaviors.
To recover from the buildup of toxins and stress, we may lay on the couch for hours watching TV until we pass out from weariness only to wake up unrested and weakened. As larger and larger workloads pile up on our desk making that work/life balance more difficult, we may begin to feel burnout; between cell phones, blackberries, emails, and the internet, we seem always to be “on call,” we may bring our daily stress into our relationships relegating those vital interactions to a third-class status instead of prioritizing them higher and filling them with love and compassion.
So take stock...take the time...to breathe deep, take care of your body and nurture your emotions. Weave meditation into your life; explore the detoxifying power of panchakarma; restore and renew with nourishing behaviors. Now is the perfect time to rebirth yourself.
Q: 
awareness, it begins to seek still subtler levels of thought until 
