Emotional Well-Being

Connect With Your Inner Source of Infinite Love
As human beings, we all have a desire to love and be loved. This is basic to being human and is our deepest emotional need. In order to love others, and to fully accept the love of others, we must first love ourselves.
The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation for Cognitive Health and Learning
It seems like everyone's looking for a way to boost brain function these days. Currently, estimates show that around 55 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with dementia, while 6 million children are diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)[*][*].Meanwhile, college students and young professionals are clearing the shelves of the latest nootropics (AKA brain supplements), and the rest of the world...
Una Mente Sana Es Una Mente Dichosa
Ahora es un buen momento para cambiar tu definición de una mente sana, porque las definiciones actuales son muy cortas de lo que puede ser tu mente. Tu mente fue diseñada para brindarte la experiencia de la dicha, no solo en momentos especiales de alegría, sino en cualquier momento que desees. Ya sé que este nuevo estándar es una sorpresa...
A Healthy Mind Is a Blissful Mind
Now is a good time to change your definition of a healthy mind, because the current definitions fall so short of what your mind can be. Your mind was designed to give you the experience of bliss, not just in special moments of joy but any time you wish. I realize that this new standard comes as a surprise or...
7 Ways to Lift Yourself Out of Heavy Thoughts
Everyone can occasionally find themselves prey to heavy thoughts, which is a natural response to emotional sadness and anxiety. Forcing yourself to be positive under every circumstance is a constant strain and undesirable as a realistic view of life. If heavy thoughts keep returning, however, and begin to attach themselves, you need to know how to lift yourself out of...
Your Doshas and Your Heart
One reason that Ayurveda is holistic is that the doshas permeate everything—every quality in Nature, including human nature. We need to look beyond physical health to apply the doshas to how our emotions work, particularly when it comes to relationships and love.For centuries the heart has been considered a spiritual center, and in the system of Yoga, the heart is...
Ask Dr. Sheila: How Ayurveda Supports Resilience
There are many tools and practices to cultivate resilience, and the healing system of Ayurveda gives us some of the most practical and effective tools.
6 Ayurvedic Tips to Take Care of Your Mental Health
Let’s dive deep into the importance of taking care of your mental health and shed light on the ways in which you can create a community around yourself in the digital age. In the stone age, sitting by the fire at the end of the day with your loved ones was a way to reconnect and regroup.Physiologically speaking, it is...
How to Overcome Limiting Beliefs and Connect with Your True Nature
As children, we go from knowing ourselves as a field of infinite possibilities to a more limited identity. This limited, or conditioned, identity comes from outside of us. Instead of knowing ourselves from the inside, we begin to internalize our outer experiences and create a limited identity. We create stories about ourselves around these limitations and take them to be...
How to Cultivate Peace and Calm through the Healing Properties of Tamo Guna
Imagine a day without night, or a summer without winter. Things would be out of balance. Through proper application, quantity, and timing of tamas, it can be a medicine for us to arrive at a state of peace and harmony.
Ayurvedic Herbs for a Positive Mental State
Incorporate these Ayurvedic herbs in your rotation for a healthy and balanced state of being.
The Six Tastes and Emotions
From an Ayurvedic perspective, the phrase "you are what you eat" takes on a much more significant meaning. Beyond the physical impact of your diet, the food you eat can significantly alter your emotional state. Why do you crave sweets when you're missing a loved one? The answer can be found when we examine the emotional qualities of the six...
Staying Balanced Over the Holidays
In the Northern Hemisphere, fall is coming to an end and we move into the winter season. During this time of year, people all around the globe are also preparing for a season of holidays. Many cultures organized rituals and celebrations around seasonal transitions that honor the cycling of nature, and the end of the year brings us opportunities to...
Mental Health, Meditation, and Loving Presence: A Conversation with Gabriella Wright
Gabriella Wright appears on our video call and instantly exudes warmth and tenderness. At her home in California, wearing a white button-down, her hair loose and long, Wright settles in with a green juice and greets me just the same as the first time we spoke—with kindness, joy, and a sparkle in her eyes.It’s not because Wright hasn’t experienced hardships,...
Reiki-Inspired Practices for Self-Love
Energy is all around us, with the power to completely shift how we feel—including feelings of happiness, joy, sorrow, pain, and even self-love. With origins connected to divine love, the energy practice called Reiki can help inspire a sense of balance that leaves us feeling for peaceful, content, and all around harmonious with ourselves and the world around us.Up ahead,...
How to Cultivate Resilience in an Uncertain World
Imagine driving down a road and suddenly coming to a detour sign. Without warning, you are taken off course, heading from a smooth path onto a bumpy road. As you maneuver and adjust to the new circumstance, you strengthen your capacity to expand and adapt. This is resilience.Through a change in course, we hone into our unique strengths and skills,...
The Window of Tolerance: Insight Into Nervous System Regulation
It’s normal and beneficial for our nervous system to oscillate between anxiety (the upper/stuck ‘on’ portion of the window) and numbed out (the lower/stuck ‘off’ portion of the window). What becomes problematic is when we get stuck in one portion or the other.
Why Companies Are Considering Shorter Workweeks to Support Mental Health
For people with full-time jobs, working four days a week rather than five days could have lasting positive effects for individuals and for society as a whole. Bold companies in the United States and abroad who want to offer their employees better opportunities for work-life balance are testing the 32-hour workweek and finding positive results. Here are some benefits to...
Daily Habits and Practices for Mental Health
Our daily habits can largely influence how we feel and how we move through our lives. Our state of mind is a culmination of these daily choices, and we have the power to make small decisions every day to benefit our mental and emotional well-being.Much like we are encouraged to eat well and get regular exercise for our physical health,...
Creating Support During Difficult Times
As we create space for ourselves to be supported, we can show up more fully and with sustained commitment to the healing of those we seek to help.
Grounding in the Garden: How Planting Seeds Promotes Healing
Have you ever taken a walk through a garden and felt an immediate sense of relief? Spending time in nature is believed to have profound mental health benefits and manmade gardens are no different. Whether it’s a rose garden, herb garden, or vegetable garden, each can bring about feelings of peace and wonder — and have a grounding energy, too.Walking...
Four Daily Rituals to Adopt for a Healthier Mind
Thinking about ways to take better care of ourselves can get particularly overwhelming. This is especially true in our modern world as we have access to so many beneficial practices that we might start to feel the pressure to do it all — but none of that is good for our mental health. Starting small with daily rituals vs. throwing...
Six Steps to Nurturing a Healthy Mind at Work
Given that most working Americans spend over forty hours in the office each week, it comes as no surprise that prioritizing physical and mental well-being on the job has the potential to significantly increase happiness, engagement, and satisfaction. Caring for your mental health at work is one of the most important things that you can do to enhance your overall...
How Reading First Thing in the Morning Shifted My Mental Health
I was once someone who would wake up in a panic nearly every morning, rushing to open my laptop and get to work before 7 a.m. For years, I thought this is just how I functioned. After all, I worked from home and could eat my breakfast and guzzle down some caffeine while stomping my fingers on a keyboard. This...
How to Keep Your Peace During Uncertain Times
Learn to connect to your center and maintain peace of mind, no matter the circumstances.
A Soothing Crystal & Candle Grid Ritual to Seal Your Intentions
If you’re one of the many seekers that enjoys creating intentions, practicing mindful rituals and contemplating, you’ll enjoy this candle and crystal ritual to start your New Year off with uplifted spirits. Creating intentions helps us to find clarity before taking action, so that our thoughts, behaviors, and endeavors can be more aligned with our purpose. Our purpose can be...
Grounding Techniques to Help Root You in the Present Moment
Research continues to observe a clear connection between presence, focus, and psychological health. Yet, the tug of distractions, unwanted memories, challenging emotions, and rumination can persist, pulling your attention away and making it difficult to cope or concentrate on the present moment.Grounding can help bring you back.“The reason grounding exercises work so well at rooting you in the present moment...
Why Mental Health Is At the Center of Our Well-being
In today’s world, everything that we have ever known has changed. Everything that was, is no more, at least to a certain degree. Our lives are changing, for most, with a lack of feeling in control. Political angst all over the globe is creating a general anxiety that has yet found a place of sanctuary and impermanence of our livelihoods....
How To Embrace Uncertainty
In these uneasy times, it’s important to have coping and adapting mechanisms to help embrace and deal with uncertainty. Learn from Chopra today about handling uncertainty and the unknown.
Transmuting Trauma Through Somatic Practices
Traumas can leave a physical imprint, and your body often retains them until they are consciously processed and released. Here are three ways you can help release stored traumas.
Chore to Lifestyle: How to Adjust Your Mindset About Fitness and Wellness
Fitness and wellness is a powerful lifestyle. Things are always going to change, and here is my story of rebuilding myself after an injury. You can use these five lessons I learned to help your own journey and approach to integrating exercise.
Hug it Out! How and Why to Connect with Your Pets During Social Distancing
Pets add so much to your life on a daily basis. Now, more than ever, they can help you combat the serious loneliness, depression, and isolation that potentially comes along with this pandemic. Dogs, cats, hamsters, rats, lizards, fish, turtles, snakes, insects, birds—whatever your choice—all make great companions. Connecting with nonhuman life at a time when everyone is encouraged to...
7 Winter Activities to Keep You Grounded
Try these practices to ground your energy in the cooler months and expand your well-being.
How Yoga Helps You Develop Self-Compassion When Starting Something New
Throughout life as we come up against challenges, we begin to seek more knowledge about how to take care of ourselves, how to understand who we truly are, and how to live a life aligned with what lights us up. We know that to feel well and fulfilled, we need access to tools, skills, and experiences that are going to...
Pranayama for Mental Stillness
Simple breathing exercises to calm the mind and ground into the body.
Steady the Mind and Calm the Nerves with Yogic Breathing
One of the ways to support a healthy mind is to give it a break, and one of the best ways to give the mind a break is to practice breathwork. Breathwork brings your attention toward the breath as a focal point, taking your focus away from stressful thoughts.In yogic terms, breathwork is called pranayama. While breathwork has many benefits...
The Root Chakra: Muladhara
Discover the root chakra and its role in your sense of safety and security. Learn about the muladhara chakra meditations that can help activate it.
The Spiritual Value of Self-Love
Loving yourself is considered a key part of being happy and contented, but getting there is puzzling. Who is the self doing the loving, and how is it different from the self you are supposed to love? Aren’t they the same person?
How to Repair Your Relationships
Repair is the foundation of building trust. Here are some ways to give a stellar apology and mean it.
Three Ways to Cope with Trauma and Grief
How to address trauma and navigate your healing journey.
Forgiveness as a Spiritual Practice
Enlightened teachers of every faith have exemplified a willingness to let go of anger, resentment, and vengeance toward those who have harmed them. Major world religions extol the practice. Yet, how does one move from the anger of injustice to the peace of forgiveness? What happens to feelings of rage, sadness, disappointment, or anger stemming from an offense?The following steps...
Spiritual Luminaries: Thich Nhat Hanh
People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a...
The Benefits of Therapy
Being a therapist is as much about being present in your own personal work as it is about assisting your clients in their healing.
A Therapist’s Confessions: A New Consideration On Your Healing Journey
I have heard it all. “Isn’t that what friends are for?”, “Why would I pay someone to listen to me complain?” “What good is it going to do to dig up the past? I’m fine.” And my personal favorite, “(insert coping skill here): it’s cheaper than therapy!” Yup. I am a therapist. And these are some of the common themes...
Making Peace with Your Shadow Side
As a holistic psychiatrist many of my patients ask, “How can I love myself more?” Our inability to love and accept ourselves plays a large role the mental health crisis on the planet. We reject our appearance, our abilities in mind or body, our challenging personality traits, our family backgrounds, the conditions of our upbringing, our jobs, our bank account,...
A Three-Step Process for Managing Fear
Look up “fear” on dictionary.com, and you’ll find that the primary definition is “a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain etc. whether the threat is real or imagined.”I love this definition. Not only does it declare that the emotion arises from “impending danger, evil, pain, etc.,” but it also acknowledges that the threat may be imaginary, unreal.Ah yes,...
Getting Unstuck: To Boldly Go Where You’ve Never Been Before
We all get stuck following the same old routines and patterns and there’s often a certain sense of security and comfort in doing things the same way as we’ve always done them. The question therefore arises, “Why do I need to change?” Well, if your habits are healthy ones, such as brushing your teeth, exercising daily, getting a good night’s...
The Surprising Secret to Better Relationships
If you are connected to the outside world, which I think most of us are, then you are probably being inundated with messages about goal setting, new year’s resolutions, and the “new you”. Well, nothing against goal setting or intention creation, but what if instead of the “new you” it became about the “new us?”In my work as a therapist,...
Rediscover Your Feelings and Find Peace
A state of peace is among the most sought-after human experiences. You, like the rest of us, want it, yet you may struggle to achieve it.Why?One reason, according to spiritual teacher and self-help author Eckhart Tolle, is you may mistake peace for unconsciousness. However, in his guide to spiritual enlightenment, “The Power of Now,” Tolle describes peace in the reverse:...
Honoring Lost Loved Ones During the Holidays
Something about the twinkly lights, early dark nights, and the cooler temperatures makes us want to reflect. The holiday season could really be renamed, yearnings of yesterday because of all the feelings that come up during this time.Those sneaky nostalgia feelings combined with staying inside and all the interacting, or lack thereof, can bring up so many emotions. We may...
Keeping Your Drive: Flourishing as an Athlete During COVID-19
In response to the coronavirus crisis many competitions, groups, clubs, classes, and activities have been postponed or canceled. Even the Olympics have been postponed until 2021. While most people are supportive of such actions in support of public health, expectant participants have experienced a deep sense of frustration and loss, especially those whose competitive careers were abruptly cut short. Thankfully,...
5 Tips for Improving Your Listening in a Relationship
One of the most important components to a healthy and lasting relationship lies in your ability to communicate within intimate relationships. When communication is lacking or where there’s a breakdown in the lines, your ability to connect with your partner wanes, and you can begin to feel frustrated, anxious, and alone. If this is happening in your current relationship, it...
5 Habits That Add a Dose of Happy to the New Year
Have you ever noticed that New Year’s resolutions often focus on our external selves? We set goals to get fit, eat healthier, and lose weight. This year, why not focus on your inner self by setting a goal to cultivate happiness? Who doesn’t want “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is...
9 Shortcuts to Happiness
We all want to be happy, but in this busy world of ours, we sometimes get lost in the hustle and bustle. It’s important to stay focused on enjoying the journey, being joyful, and living a happy life.In Wayne Dyer’s words “There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way.” The really cool thing about happiness is it’s yours...