Healing Wisdom

How Meditation Helps Transform Your Suffering
The dictionary defines suffering as the state of undergoing pain distress or hardship. Suffering is unpleasantness. Suffering can involve physical pain and mental distress. In every life, there will be pain, both physical and emotional, that comes from outside of you—the death of a loved one, contracting an illness, a ski accident, or stubbed toe. Even the Dalai Lama has...
Detox Your Home: 3 Ways to Remove Indoor Air Pollution
Spring is traditionally a time of renewal. The air gets warmer, plants form new buds, animals return from their wintertime retreats, and many embrace the urge to thoroughly clean their homes.Typically, spring cleaning includes a focus on the things you see daily—the cluttered drawers, dusty curtains, and smudged mirror. However, the most important area to be cleaned is perhaps the...
11 Yoga Poses and a Meditation for Transitioning from Winter to Spring
“Again, the season of Spring has comeAnd a spring-source rises under everything,A moon sliding from the shadows.”-RumiThe Spring Equinox has come and gone, meaning the days are once again getting longer than the nights. As the seasons change, so too should your self-care practices, so that you may maintain harmony with Mother Nature. Utilize this yoga and meditation practice to...
Qi Gong’s Healing Sounds Practice
Do you ever find it challenging to sit on your meditation cushion and simply meditate, while thoughts continue to zoom by, hooking your attention? You’re not alone. It can be challenging to meditate with mind chatter, especially when the thoughts only seem to get louder the longer you sit. However, there are ways to relax the body and mind, and...
From Chaos to Calm in an Instant: How to Create a Positive Anchor
Life is stressful. It’s just the way it is … There’s nothing I can do about it … I can’t take a vacation, I’m too busy … I don’t have time to work out … I can’t get sick right now, I have too much to do.The stressors of day-to-day living can be brutally overwhelming. Left unmanaged, stress will slowly...
How to Use Sound to Heal Yourself
Discover the transformative power of sound healing and tune yourself to vibrations of health, happiness, and unity.
The Miracle of Meditation
It’s hard to believe that in 2005, I could barely walk, and now I can ski down black diamonds and trek in the Himalayas. It’s hard to believe that I once thought meditation was a bunch of Southern California woo-woo hippie talk, and now I research its effectiveness. It’s hard to believe that less than a decade ago, I thought...
10 Steps to Awakening Self-Compassion
Self-compassion involves becoming aware of the presence of suffering in our bodies, emotions, thoughts, and actions—and then taking steps to diminish the suffering. Compassion is the natural and spontaneous feeling that arises when we witness suffering, and that triggers our taking action to alleviate the suffering. While it may sound easy, practicing compassion for ourselves is the more difficult of...
The Art of Grounding
From time to time we have the opportunity to speak publicly about something that is meaningful in our lives. In these moments, if we can find ways to ground ourselves and connect with our true self, we may be able to say what we really want to say in the way we really want to say it.I recently had an...
Meditation Q&A with Deepak
Question: I came across an article that you wrote about meditation in which you said that to to be content in life spiritually, emotionally, physically and mentally, you should ask yourself three questions everyday before you meditation and wait for the answer: “Who am I?” “What do I want?” and “What is my dharma or purpose in life?”What should I...
Regaining Balance in Your Daily Routine
As fall approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, many of us are trying to re-establish the routines that kept us grounded before we began riding the whimsical waves of summer.If you’re finding it difficult to return to the familiarity of your daily routine, or finding one that works for you, the holistic healing system known as Ayurveda offers some powerful daily...
Herbal Healing: Nature’s Pharmacy in Ayurveda
Disease is an obstacle in the way of being able to identify with our true Self. To overcome this obstacle, the sophisticated science of Ayurveda offers many solutions to roga (disease) through Dravyaguṇa karma, the practice of Ayurvedic Pharmacology.Dravya means substance, and every substance on earth can be used medicinally depending on the guṇa, the qualities or attributes of the...
Healing Through Nature with Plants
In Ayurveda, as well as in all traditional healing systems, the ancient healers and seers did not see humans and nature as separate entities. The foundations of healing were rooted in the idea that we are intimately connected to nature, and that nature, including the plant world, can facilitate our healing.Ayurveda describes almost 20,000 plants with medicinal potential and documented...
9 Practices for Seasonal Detoxification
During transitions between any season, it is an ideal time to sit back and reflect on what may be out of balance in our lives, then take steps to restore our equilibrium.Ayurveda recommends a seasonal cleansing, purification, and renewal process in which we eliminate whatever physical and emotional toxicities we have accumulated during the prior months, allowing our mind-body to...
The Benefits of Ayurveda Self-Massage “Abhyanga”
A daily Abhyanga massage will balance the doshas and enhance your well-being and longevity. Learn more about abhyanga from Chopra today.
7 Ayurveda Tips to Keep You Cool This Summer
Ah, summer—long days of sunshine, picnics, vacations, gatherings with friends and family, ice cream, and good reads are just some of the things that you get to indulge in during this wonderful season!In Ayurveda, every season is governed by a unique element and its associated dosha. It’s no surprise that the warm (and sometimes hot or very hot depending on...
Is there an Ayurvedic view of plastic surgery?
Dear Deepak,Lately, out of my insecurities, I have been toying with the idea of doing plastic surgery for my nose. Yet at the same time, I am aware that I want to develop my spiritual life (I have been practicing yoga for 11 years and I’ve been teaching it for the past three years) in more depth. I am starting...
How to Balance a Pitta body and a Vata Mind?
According to Ayurveda, the body is DNA woven with food and, therefore, the most direct way to affect the body is through what we take in through our mouth. Since your body is predominantly Pitta, you will want to focus on Pitta-balancing foods, spices, and teas.
Relief from Chronic Yeast Infections
Question: I suffer from recurring yeast infections. I have tried over-the-counter medications, but the problem is worse than ever. I love sweets and I have cut back. Is the yeast an internal problem as well as vaginal?Answer: It’s important to keep in mind that all infectious agents live perpetually in our environment. Illness is due as much to the quality...
How to Help a Daughter with an Autoimmune Disorder
Question: My daughter has just been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, the same one that I have! I feel terrible . . . as if I’ve passed it on to her. What can I do to help her?Answer: Don’t add insult to injury by blaming yourself for your daughter’s situation. Most autoimmune disorders have a genetic component, but we have...
Help for Sore Throats
Question: I am constantly getting sore throats that often don’t develop into colds or anything else. What do you think it is and how can I prevent these sore throats?Answer: Recurrent sore throats or upper respiratory tract infections are either due to suppression of your immunity or repeated exposure to irritants in your environment. We would recommend that you first...
A Mind-Body Approach to Diabetes
Part of truly appreciating our human experience is enjoying the sweetness of life. A perfectly ripe peach. A fresh slice of homemade bread. A scoop of chocolate ice cream. In life’s paradoxical way, however, at the same time that we have greater access to the world’s rich variety of sweet delicacies than ever before, the number of people with difficulties...
5 Tips to End Insomnia and Get Restful Sleep
According to Ayurveda, sleep is the nursemaid to humanity. During deep, restful sleep, our body recovers from stress and we wake up feeling refreshed, clear-minded, and energized. Unfortunately, with the turbulence in people’s personal lives and in the world at large, many of us suffer from insomnia and a lack of adequate rest.While sleep medication can provide a temporary altered...
A Timeless Treatment for Modern Stress
The Shirodhara Will Help You Let Go into Present-Moment BlissThe shirodhara is one of the most well-known and powerful treatments in Ayurveda, the holistic system of traditional medicine that developed in India over 5,000 years ago. In ancient Sanskrit, shiro means head, and dhara means flow. Hence, shirodhara is a continuous stream of warm oil that is gently poured over...
5 Tips to Prevent Jet Lag
We received many interesting questions about sleep in response to Dr. Valencia Porter’s article on the keys to restful sleep in our July newsletter. One reader asked about the problem of jet lag. Here is Dr. Porter’s response:Thanks to the advances of modern aviation, it is possible for us to cross multiple time zones in a short period of time,...
Conscious Eating for Perfect Weight
What is perfect weight? It is tempting to think that there is a certain number on a scale that defines a person’s “perfect” weight. The problem with this, as many recognize, is that even when they reach their goal weight, they still don’t feel healthy and vital. On the other hand, some people may not meet the criteria for “ideal...
Make Ayurveda Work for You
Almost two years ago, I attended the Chopra Center’s Perfect Health with Panchakarma program, and the experience was transformational. The classes were chock full of valuable tips to help live a healthy, balanced lifestyle from the perspective of Ayurveda, a 5,000-year-old healing system that originated in India.In fact, so many tips and tools were provided that initially I felt a...
Treating Migraine Headaches
QuestionFor many years I have suffered from migraine headaches. Sometimes I have to miss work because the pain is so debilitating. I’ve tried conventional medical treatment, but it hasn’t helped very much. I’m wondering what alternative and complementary approaches you could suggest.The Doctors RespondHeadaches are an extremely common problem for human beings. Studies have estimated that about 90 percent of...
Eating a Balanced Diet the Ayurvedic Way
Long before the U.S. FDA issued recommended daily allowances for fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, we listened to our taste buds to determine which substances were edible, how much of each to consume, and how to create balance in our bodymind. A core concept in the ancient Ayurvedic healing system is the six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.A...
Healing Through Nature
NamastéShhh, can you hear it?Can you hear the sound?I think I can.Wait. First I must thank my mind for weaving thoughts, emotion.Instantaneously transformed, feelings.Wait. First I must thank my intellect for being so smart.Ideas to fix, evaluate, discriminate.Wait. First I must thank my ego for defending with vigilance.Vast universe, infinite perceived threat.Ahh!Gratitude allows silence to emerge!There it is. Now I...
Natural Allergy Relief
As springtime begins in the Northern Hemisphere, the landscape is alive with nature’s beautiful expression, enlivening our senses with an infinite variety of color, scents, and forms. Unfortunately, for those of us with sensitivities to pollen, spring can also be a time of watery eyes, chapped noses, and other allergic symptoms. The healing system known as Ayurveda offers some time-honored...
Ayurvedic Approaches to Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic condition of the joints in which the cartilage cushioning the ends of the bones gradually loses its elasticity and wears away. Without the protective cartilage, the bones begin to rub against each other, causing stiffness, inflammation, and loss of movement. It can occur in any of the body’s joints but most often develops in the...
Ayurvedic Approaches to Osteoarthritis–Part II
This is the second part of a special two-part series on Ayurvedic approaches to treating osteoarthritis. In Part I, Dr. Sheila Patel discussed research showing the benefits of various ayurvedic herbs and meditation in treating this disorder. Read Part I here. In Part II, she looks at how yoga can help people coping with osteoarthritis increase mobility and flexibility, relieve...
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,...
From Celiac to the Soul: How I Embrace My Journey of Chronic Illness
I was a freshman at my dream school, feeling decisive and motivated to pursue a career in finance, and had even landed an exciting internship at a hedge fund in New York City. My life felt comfortable and in control. I grew up learning that if you work hard and go to a good school, you will get a good...
Spiritually Sassy: The Birth of a Movement
If you’ve looked at the sprawl of spirituality and wondered Where do I fit in?, then this spiritually sassy message is for you.
Reconnect Your Mind, Body and Soul with These Four Ways to Navigate the Stages Grief
If you are experiencing grief right now, remember that your path may be unique but you are never alone. Here are four ways to help you navigate the five stages of grief in your own time.Everybody experiences grief at some point in their lives. We tend to associate grief with death, but other losses also trigger grief, such as separation...
6 Herbs to Boost Your Immunity This Winter Season
With winter comes a rise in common infectious illnesses such as colds and flu. Stay healthy this season by keeping your immune system strong. Keep reading to learn about six immune-boosting herbs and how to use them.During the winter months, you may notice an increase in common illnesses such as the flu, and cold-like symptoms, including respiratory infections, strep throat,...
Clear Your Energy and Lift Your Spirits With the Sacred Art of Smudging
The ancient ritual of burning plants to clear your energy can help you start anew. Learn about smudging using herbs like sage from Chopra today.
The Wheel of Awareness
In an interdisciplinary field that combines all sciences into one framework called Interpersonal Neurobiology, we see the mind as an emergent, self-organizing process that regulates the flow of energy and information. This definition reveals how this aspect of mind is both within and between us, and helps us clarify how a healthy mind is one that moves these inner and...
You Can Transform Your Own Biology
To date, one of biology’s greatest achievements, mapping the human genome, is only just beginning to translate into medical advances. But in 2014 there will likely be more headlines about another type of study in genetics that is already impacting everyone.We are referring to a different aspect of our genome, which radically revises a model that is decades old, dating...
Ahimsa: The Cosmic Law of Non-Hurting
Peace for one must be peace for all.Prosperity for one must be abundance for all.Food for one must be health for all.Harmony cannot be achieved at any level while any form of life suffers.It is the divine drive within us to strive for peace – to feel good, to have plenty of food, and to laugh and thrive in the...
Moksha: Ending the Cycle of Emotional Pain
In the Vedic wisdom tradition, moksha is the liberation of the soul from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, or samsara. It is considered to be the end of all suffering. According to Advaita Vedanta, we can attain moksha through the realization that we are, in fact, Brahman – the source of all that is. When we achieve this...
The Wheel of Understanding
A young mother recently brought her two-year-old son to see me in the emergency department of a small rural hospital. He had been playing with a toy truck with small removable wheels. They were fun because they were made of a soft plastic that gripped surfaces like a speeding Baja Bug on the dusty desert road from Tijuana to La...
Dispelling Five Myths About Your Brain
How many of us grew up believing that the brain we are born with is the brain we get for the rest of our lives? How many of us still believe that the brain consists of a set number of nerve cells that we slowly lose as we get older, never to be replaced. And, how about the notion that...
A Mind-Body Approach to Carbohydrates
In a world plagued by food shortage that are reaching crisis level, carbohydrates are the easiest salvation and yet the greatest temptation to abuse. Ironically, the same is true in prosperous countries but for opposite reasons. Where food is desperately needed, vast portions of the ecosystem are obliterated to make way for a small handful of crops, particularly rice and...
What Are the Causes of Back Pain?
Let the experts at Chopra help you understand the common cause of back pain, treatments for it, and how to prevent it going forward.
Why Is Asthma on the Rise?
Asthma is one of the most common diseases in the world, with as many as 300 million sufferers. We’ve all seen what an asthma attack looks like, the typical symptoms being shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing, and tightness in the chest. Because natural breathing is something most of us take for granted, asthma is a distressing disruption. Each day you...
The Fat You Eat: A Study in Paradox
The whole issue of fat in the diet should be simple, as it once was. Doctors followed the dictum of “fat puts on fat,” assigning blame for overweight on a fatty diet. Of the three major sources of calories – fats, proteins, and carbohydrates – the one with the most calories per gram (8) is fat. It only makes sense...
Take Charge of Your Own Wellness
A basic outline for prevention has existed for more than thirty years, but wellness has had a hard time making real headway. Old habits are hard to break. Our society has a magic bullet fixation, waiting for the next miracle drug to cure us of every ill. Doctors receive no economic benefit from pushing prevention over drugs and surgery. For...
Lighten Up: The Healing Power of Laughter
The healing system of Ayurveda teaches us that nourishing our five senses enlivens our health and well-being. I have found that it’s just as important to cultivate our sixth sense . . . our sense of humor.We’ve all found ourselves facing difficult circumstances, mired in worry. When a good friend calls and has us laughing at ourselves, we’re reminded that...
Being Alert to Sleep Apnea
Modern life has been hard on sleep. Millions of people resort to sleep aids, either over the counter or by prescription, in an effort to pass the night without insomnia or disrupted sleep. But as common as it is for us to complain when we didn’t get a good night’s sleep, there’s a very common disruption that tends to get...
Type 2 Diabetes and the Circle of Life
Type 2 diabetes has become an increasing problem in modern America. Because it is chiefly linked to obesity, as more people become overweight, and as the age of gaining weight reaches down into childhood, a largely preventable disease turns into an epidemic. The litany about such lifestyle disorders is now familiar to almost everyone. The changes that prevent Type 2...
7 Ways to Nurture Your Immune System This Holiday Season
Hundreds of studies over the past decade have found that the level of stress or comfort we feel in our lives influences our immune cells. When we are experiencing a lot of emotional turbulence, our immune cells receive confusing messages from our brain. It’s as if our immune cells are constantly eavesdropping on our internal dialogue. When our mind is...
Alzheimer’s Disease (Part 2)
In the first post we confronted the primary fact about Alzheimer’s disease – fear and terror – which is a psychological reality, not a piece of scientific data. Our minds are the window to reality. Any form of mental illness is frightening to the patient because their grip on reality has become tenuous, if not delusional. The same disorder is...
Alzheimer’s Disease: How to Face Fear With Knowledge (Part 1)
Few people feel comfortable thinking about the aging process, but discomfort turns to fear when it comes to the brain. Medically, everyone’s brain slows down in some way as they age. This doesn’t have to be a source of fear – to be older is often to be calmer, wiser, more at peace. Those desirable states are mental. The brain...
No More Laughing at Fat Kids
It’s a paradox that a problem like childhood obesity should crop up in a country like America where we are flooded with information about nutrition. At any age, obesity is generally considered a lifestyle disorder. Only a small percentage of patients suffers from hormonal issues, for example. For everyone else, weight gain is related to choices that we can make...
Why is Asthma More Prevalent Than Ever?
Asthma is one of the most common diseases in the world, with as many as 300 million sufferers. We’ve all seen what an asthma attack looks like, the typical symptoms being shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing, and tightness in the chest. Because easy, natural breathing is something everyone takes for granted, asthma is a distressing disruption. Each day you breathe...
Are You Depressed?
It’s not news that depression has become a kind of invisible epidemic, afflicting millions of people. We live at a time when depression is approached as a disease. That has a good side. Depressed people are not judged against as weak or self-indulgent, as if they only need to try harder to lift themselves out of their sadness. Yet depression,...
How People Actually Lose Weight
Our bodies are designed to remain in balance, and when they go out of balance, a natural mechanism has been interfered with. Usually this occurs through decisions that we make that turn into habits. Decisions are conscious and can be reversed. Habits are unconscious and are considerably harder to reverse. Even so, the more awareness you can bring to any...
Find the Perfect Partner for You
According to The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, when we’re expressing our unique gifts and talents in service of humanity, we expand abundance, joy, and peace in our own lives as well as in the lives of others. This is the spiritual law of “dharma” or purpose in life. As the Chopra Center’s Human Resources consultant, Traci Porterfield uses her...
Deepak Chopra’s Weekly Health Tip
While most of us don’t spend much time thinking about our colon, it plays a vital role in our health, balance, and energy levels. Everything we ingest, is eventually processed in our colon, which is exposed to all the indigestible toxins that are left after we have absorbed everything that is nourishing. After many years of exposure, these toxins can...
Smoothies vs. Juices: Which Is Better?
In the heat of summer, there is nothing more refreshing than a big smoothie or a glass of fresh juice. But are smoothies and juices actually healthy? When it comes to your health, which is better?The truth is, there is no right or wrong answer to that question. When it comes to smoothies vs. juices, the choice depends on what...
Hypertension: A Lifestyle Disorder Needs a Lifetime of Attention
The term “lifestyle disorder” had to be invented to describe hypertension. Almost no aspect of daily life – diet, sleep, exercise, work, and stress – can be implicated. Your blood pressure responds to these things quite sensitively. This implies an optimistic attitude, because for many sufferers, a change in lifestyle serves as good prevention. But optimism is lost if lifestyle...
Featured Recipe: Mediterranean Pasta
Autumn has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, and we’re entering the period known in Ayurveda as “Vata season.” Vata is the mind-body principle of air and space, and this is the time when we need to pay particular attention to staying warm and grounded, so that the imbalances in Vata don’t leave us anxious, spacy, and prone to insomnia, digestive...
Your Third Chakra: Find Power & and Warrior Energy in Your Solar Plexus & Manipura Chakra
Learn about the meaning of manipura chakra, the third chakra. Solar plexus chakra healing can be a powerful tool in tapping into the power of transformation.
5 Yoga Practices for Mind-Body Balance
When people hear the word yoga, they usually think of the physical postures or asanas, which offer so many profound benefits for our body’s flexibility, strength, and balance. Even if yoga only enhanced physical fitness, the time spent in practice would be fully justified, yet yoga offers much more than just a way to exercise the body; it also helps...
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?
Fall in Love with Nature
Although much of the time we view ourselves as separate from nature and our surroundings, we are all actually part of the same wholeness. Everything you do affects the nature around you and everything that happens in nature influences you.
My Wellness Journey by Devi Brown, Chopra Global's Chief Impact Officer
From entertainment journalism to primordial sound meditation, Devi Brown’s journey to the wellness community has been one of exploration, learning, and embracing.
5 Tips to Cultivate Personal Power and Self-Confidence
When you step into your power, you cultivate self-esteem and personal worth. A new sense of freedom emerges, doubts fall away, and you quit being a marionette to other people’s expectations or vulnerable to external circumstances. This new confidence allows you to let go of the need to judge, criticize, or compare yourself to others. When you claim your power,...
The Health Benefits of Practicing Compassion
Compassion is changing before our eyes. A religious concept associated with Jesus and Buddha (known as “the Compassionate One”) is being researched today through brain scans and positive psychology. In positive psychology your aim is to reach a state of well-being. The actions of a compassionate person, being kind and sympathetic, turn out to bring personal benefits as well. This...
Free Yourself From Past Challenges Through Forgiveness
Finding the gifts in past challenges is one of the most key elements to living a life of emotional freedom. In order to move toward becoming the person you aspire to be, it’s important to lighten your load so you can free up valuable energy. The most challenging, traumatic and painful incidents of your life often carry the most weight,...
3 Steps to Loving Your Every Emotion
Your spouse is growing distant. You’re terrified of losing your job. Your teenager is driving you insane. On the inside, you’re falling apart. But from the outside, no one would ever know.No matter your struggles, you shouldn’t hide your sorrow, deny your fear, or stifle your anger. You may think you’ve crafted a mighty shield between you and your pain,...
How to Establish a Healthy Emotional Life
Editor’s Note: The following excerpt was adapted from The Wheel of Healing: An Easy Guide to an Ayurvedic Lifestyle.Did you know that it’s just as important to process your emotions as it is to process your meals? When you don’t process your food properly, your body accumulates toxins, develops free radicals, and creates cellular instability that leads to illnesses such...