Rejuvenation rests upon a particular life-style. It is not a short-term therapy or something that can be achieved through taking a few medications. In fact, our life style should always be rejuvenating, even if we want to experience ordinary happiness and well-being.
One of the great problems in the modern world is that most of us are following highly stressful, if not toxic and disturbing life-styles. This includes not only our dietary habits but also our work, entertainment and associations. We have little time for ourselves and our personal well-being. Sometimes clients tell me that they do not have the time for the Yoga and Ayurveda practices that I recommend to make them healthy. My answer is: “Does this mean that you have the time to be sick?”
Clearly our health and well-being is the most important factor that we have in our lives, without which we cannot do anything else. Medical expenses are our biggest expense, particularly as we grow older. To create a healthy tree, one must first nourish the root. The root of our lives is our life-style. If we don’t create a long-term wellness sustaining life-style for ourselves, nothing else that we do can be successful.
We should follow the diet, herbs, exercise, life-style and spiritual practices that promote our overall well-being. In addition, we need to engage in special periodic renewal and rejuvenative practices, which require a supportive environment and a favorable time of the year. We must create the matrix or field for rejuvenating energies to be able to flow and develop, so that we can sustain them through the rest of the year.
Climates and Seasons for Rejuvenation
For rejuvenation practices, certain times and places, seasons and climates are preferable, though we can also modify the environment in the buildings where we live and work. The main outer enemies of rejuvenation are cold, wind and dryness.
Excessive heat or moisture is also not good. Warmth, moistness and still air are helpful.
Timing of rejuvenation practices is particularly important if one does not live in a good climate for rejuvenation. Relative to the seasons in temperate climates, the best time for rejuvenation therapies is during the late spring to mid-summer, which is April to July, when Nature is undergoing growth and expansion. May is usually the best month in most places. Autumn is a time for tonification or building up bodily bulk and strength as a preparation for the challenges of the winter season.
This can aid in rejuvenation, but does not carry the revitalizing prana that prevails in the spring. Yet spring is also a time of purification and we need to cleanse the body from the toxins and stress of winter before being able to energize it at a higher level.
Probably the best geographical areas for rejuvenation are tropical locations where there is adequate but not excessive warmth and moisture, and not too much wind. This usually requires a slight elevation in the hills and mountains, not the dense heat of the jungle, low lying tropical areas or locations on the sea. This is usually an altitude of fifteen hundred to four thousand feet depending upon the area.
One can follow rejuvenation practices in these areas almost any time of the year;
though the spring is better to the extent that season may exist in the tropics. One should avoid the rainy season, particularly when the rains are heavy or frequent, or winds are high, and start rejuvenation practices after the main rains have ended.
Tropical streams, lakes and pools have strong rejuvenating powers, as do the tropical plants, flowers and fruit. Yet one must be careful with the beach, as the wind and the ocean waves can absorb or take away one’s energy. The ocean has a magnetic energy that can draw our energy into it.
Tropical islands like Hawaii that have such moderate elevations are particularly healing, where there are mountains and hills by the sea to draw the prana down. Yet there are many such locations in Central and South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, the Pacific Islands and other parts of the world, which have hills by the sea or inland. The Himalayan foothills or some of the hill and mountain regions of South India are particularly good in this regard. Such hill and low mountain locations in temperate regions can be good for rejuvenation, but during the appropriate seasons of late spring and summer.
Mountain elevations are particularly good for rejuvenation of the mind. At high elevations, the Sun is stronger and the sky more blue bringing in a powerful healing prana for the mind and heart for expanding awareness. In the mountains, the elements of air and space have a special rejuvenating power for our consciousness. That is why yogis and mystics often retire into the mountains.
However, such mountain climates are usually not favorable for rejuvenation in the fall and winter, and are not always helpful in the case of Vata dosha individuals who suffer from lightness and dryness and need strong physical rejuvenation. In addition, care must be taken to avoid too much sun or wind in mountain regions, as the sun can take away our energy quickly in these areas. In general mountain regions around three to eight thousand feet are best for rejuvenation of the mind, as higher altitudes tend to be too harsh.
Relative to the seasons, besides spring, the middle of winter around the winter solstice can be a helpful time for rejuvenation of the mind, which can benefit from the energies of introversion and inaction prevalent at this time, provided one avoids exposure to the cold and wind. Our inner prana is awake in the winter and we can use that winter rest of our outer faculties to allow it to regenerate itself.
In general, too much sunshine and sun bathing is not good for rejuvenation practices, though a certain amount, half an hour up to an hour a day in some instances can be helpful. The Sun can take our prana away if we expose ourselves too much to it, though it can give us prana if we take the right amount of it. Air conditioners, however, can be depleting as well as being too close to heaters or fire sources.
Yet one can create a rejuvenation climate in various locations wherever nature is strong, where there is some degree of moisture and where the rejuvenation rooms and accommodations are properly built. One can design a special rejuvenation hut or room to mitigate against negative outer climate factors. A rejuvenation room should not be exposed to cold, wind, sun, heat or other strong environmental influences. In this way special rejuvenation gardens, accommodations, Yoga and Ayurveda spa centers can be created that can compensate for negative environmental influences, which are hard to entirely avoid. Ashrams and Yoga retreat and sadhana centers can provide such accommodations as well.
Rejuvenation Environment in the Home
One can prepare one’s own home to aid in rejuvenation practices. After all, the home is where we are located most of the time. After time spent at special retreat centers, rejuvenation should be continued at home in order to sustain its best results. But there must be peace and quiet in the home, including a good natural home environment for this purpose. If the home is a place of conflict or disturbance, it cannot be helpful in healing body or mind.
It is important to keep certain plants in the house or treatment area that promote rejuvenation and longevity. These include aloe, holy basil (tulsi), hibiscus and tropical fig trees (ashvattha, udambara, Bengal fig). Flowers in the house are very important for a healing environment including marigold, lily, rose, gardenia, jasmine and other flowers with sweet and stimulating aromas. Some can be grown in the house if possible, or in the garden, or bought as cut flowers. We should learn to bring in and adorn our home with the beauty of nature.
The burning of incense in the house is very helpful, particularly gentle aromas
like sandalwood, jasmine, rose, champak or loban. The burning of ghee lamps is also very important, or lamps with sesame or mustard oil, or fragrant candles.
Water should be present in the house in the form of fountains, basins or other structures.
Performing regular puja or devotional worship in the house using flower offerings helps immensely, as does maintaining a meditation room that is not used for other purposes. It is best to make one’s entire home a temple but at least a special sacred room and altar should be maintained. One’s bedroom should be a place of peace and be open to the light of the sun. The home overall should be well ventilated and allow fresh air to come in.
Rejuvenation, Rest, Relaxation and Sleep
Rejuvenation requires a reduction of both physical and mental movement.
Ayurvedic rejuvenation therapy involves placing a patient in a special rejuvenation hut and avoiding all activity during the process of treatment. Less radical measures can be taken up for those not ready for this, but a reduction in physical activity and mental stimulation is essential for all forms of rejuvenation.
Every day we undergo a mini-death and rebirth. This is the process of sleep.
The state of deep sleep provides us our natural daily rejuvenation that we cannot live without. In deep sleep we return to the original Prana of the soul and experience our connection with the Divine Mother. If we have a good deep sleep we awake fresh, renewed and revitalized for another day. If we fail to achieve a good deep sleep we awake drowsy, tired, irritable or even disturbed and disoriented.
Rejuvenation requires adequate rest, relaxation and sleep. Many of us today are sleep deprived. We travel too much, over stimulate the mind and senses, and keep odd hours that go against our biological rhythms. Even if we sleep enough hours, our sleep is disturbed by agitated dreams and is not entirely restful. Cultivating deep sleep is an important aspect of rejuvenation therapy.
Yet even better than ordinary deep sleep is the wakeful deep sleep that arises through meditation. This can be developed through special meditation practices or learning the art of Yoga nidra or yogic sleep. Rejuvenation of the mind requires sustaining this deeper restful wakefulness. It is helpful for the body as well.
Yet too much sleep, particularly sleep during the day, reduces our longevity and can promote the toxins in the body. It increases Kapha dosha and creates heaviness in body and mind. It is important to take our main sleep during the prime hours of
midnight to five AM. However, short afternoon rests can be helpful during rejuvenation therapy, particularly for those whose energy is particularly low, like many Vata types.
Rejuvenation also requires relaxation. True relaxation, however, is not simply a relaxation of the muscles of the body. A deep relaxation of the nervous system is required, which means turning our awareness, focus and attention within. This depends upon being able to surrender to the Divine presence within and around us, whatever name we wish to call it by, opening to the sacred nature of all life. It means letting go of the ego and our need to control things and letting things and people be what they are.
Yoga asanas can help us relax and are designed primarily for this purpose, particularly sitting poses, but can only work if combined with peace of mind and turning our energy within. Otherwise, asanas like other exercise forms can stimulate our nerves and senses and disturb us further if we approach them with too much effort or movement.
Ultimately, rejuvenation of the body depends upon letting go of body consciousness – forgetting that we are the body – and letting our awareness return to pure light which is its true nature. When we let go of body consciousness, we relax our ego grip upon life as a whole. We de-tense the body as it were. We remove our toxic thoughts, emotions and urges that disturb the body’s natural harmony. Our body is a marvelous instrument that we must respect. Its own natural intelligence can heal and rejuvenate us. But we must move our awareness within to allow nature to do its magic with the body, letting it become a divine instrument.
Conserving our own Nature
Most of us now recognize the need to conserve the natural resources in the world around us. Yet we also should strive to conserve the natural resources within ourselves, which means our own vitality and awareness, and the cosmic powers that are behind our own soul. This is not an abstract matter but requires reducing unnecessary stimulation and irritation to our mind and senses, avoiding emotional reactions, and reducing unnecessary movement and activity. We must learn to conserve our vital energy and hold it deep within, not as a selfish hoarding but as an offering to the immortal consciousness at the core of our being. We must make sacred the elements within us: the earth, water, fire, air and space of our bodies and mind. Our body itself should become a temple for Yoga and meditation.
Begin by reducing unnecessary activity in your life, including unproductive and disturbing forms of entertainment. You can also reduce unnecessary possessions
around you. Remove clutter from both your home and your mind. It is simplicity that allows us to renew, not excess baggage, which can only weigh us down. Learn the simple art of living, which is the art of simple living – life in harmony with the cosmic life and light, not to be at the beck and call of social distractions. More importantly, learn to conserve your mental energy by avoiding unnecessary thought, worry, anxiety or anger. Learn to honor the Divine presence within your own heart that is your true Self and being.
Yet it is not just a matter of preserving our energy, we must preserve our integrity as well. This requires being true to ourselves and not throwing ourselves away upon the outer world and its enticements. Stand in your true Self and you are greater than the entire world, greater than all time and all circumstances. Learn to conserve your own Self, which is to live in harmony with your inner being, not letting yourself be dominated by the world and its agitation. Then you will never find yourself exhausted or defeated.