Health and Wellness

Aumenta Tu Resiliencia A Través del Yoga y la Meditación
“Nunca sabes lo fuerte que eres, hasta que ser fuerte es la única opción” – Bob MarleyEste artículo se publicó originalmente en inglés en noviembre de 2018.This article was originally published in English in November 2020.Todos esperamos encontrar algunos baches en el camino de la vida de vez en cuando. Hay momentos en que el bache es solo un pequeño...
Time for a Body, Mind, and Spirit Cleanse
The change of season, whether you’re moving from winter to spring or summer into autumn, is always a good time to reassess your life and clear out what no longer serves, making way for new exciting opportunities to enter. This can be done on all levels, physical, mental, and spiritual. Physical The physical includes both the inner and outer. Starting...
Deepak and Oprah’s Shared Vision
For thousands of years, people have used meditation to experience inner quiet and expanded awareness. As an ever-growing body of scientific data shows, meditation has the power to heal our body, calm our mind, and even rewire our brain for greater happiness, creativity, and love.During the past five decades, Deepak Chopra has taught countless people throughout the world how to...
How Meditation Can Help Lessen 7 Symptoms of Depression
Meditation can help you lessen your symptoms of depression. Learn how from the experts at Chopra today.
Grow Your Resilience through Yoga and Meditation
Who wouldn’t want to feel stronger when facing life’s challenges? Don’t just hope and pray for that resilience—practice yoga and meditation intentionally to draw it out and build it up.
How to Deal with Distractions While Meditating
Meditation is a skill like learning to ride a bike or drive a car. It takes time, discipline, and making mistakes before you feel you’ve mastered the skill. Sometimes, we fall into an it-looks-easy-so-it-should-be-easy mindset, which can cause a lot of frustration if you’re struggling to master a particular skill. Most skills require hours of practice.Meditating, and learning how to...
How to Start a Meditation Practice with Ease
Over the last several decades, scientific research into meditation has revealed a wealth of profound benefits. Daily meditation practice is a form of mindfulness that has been shown to positively impact your mind, body, emotions, relationships, and performance, as well as deepen your connection to spirit. Essentially, every layer of your life stands to benefit from making meditation a part...
5 Easy Meditation Techniques to Practice at Work
The workplace can be a source of anxiety, stress, and burnout. While there is no way to totally eliminate stress from the workplace, more businesses are recognizing the importance of holistic, evidence-based practices to improve the health and wellness of employees. This is due in part to research showing the many benefits of lower-stress employees, including improved work performance. Companies...
7 Types of Relaxation Meditation to Promote Restful Sleep
A good night’s sleep is of utmost importance. Sleep influences your overall health. Sleep, and the unfortunate lack thereof, deeply influences the workings of your brain and the functioning capacity of your body. Ask any new parent, any graduate student, or anyone going through a high-stress period or experiencing insomnia: sleep matters!Sleep Is the Cornerstone of a Healthy LifestyleAccording to...
7 Simple Mantras for Healing and Transformation
Mantras are vibrations that create desired effects, such as healing, transformation or self-awareness. Learn these 7 mantras to better meditate & help in your daily life.
What Happens to Your Brain When You Meditate?
Meditation is the process of focusing attention on inner silence rather than external activity—it is, in essence, a reminder that you are not a human doing but a human being. In meditation, you are purposefully paying non-judgmental attention to the experience of the current moment. While the mind has an affinity for future focus, mindfulness and meditation help bring focus...
Meditation’s 9 Greatest Gifts
All traditions and religions describe some form of enlightenment or spiritual awakening. Unfortunately, most people are spiritually asleep, some snoring soundly. Meditation is your wake-up call, when you rub the sleep of ignorance from your eyes and begin to enjoy the great bounty that awaits you.The good news is that you’re all already enlightened and perfect in every way—perfectly happy,...
The Foundations of a Spiritual Practice
You can think of a spiritual practice as something similar to building a beautiful, tall mansion set in lush gardens. This mansion is like no other. When finished, it will be filled with exquisite works of art, celestial music, and treasures beyond compare. Everything you could ever want or need will be in exactly the right place at the right...
The Virtues of Meditation
Meditation is entering the mainstream. Large companies offer courses on meditation and mindfulness for their employees. Doctors recommend techniques such as meditation to help reduce stress and improve health. Schools teach meditation to their students. What is creating such an interest in meditation?Paradigm ShiftThis is an era of great change in the world. Your inner world is deeply affected by...
Embrace the 5 Koshas in Your Yoga Practice
Are you ready to find your bliss? Learn more about the 5 koshas and how to embrace them in your yoga practice with the experts from Chopra.
The Importance of a Morning Breathing Practice
Learn how to start your day with breathing exercises that will help you start each morning right. Learn more from Chopra today.
2 Things to Avoid In Meditation
When it comes to meditation, you’re curious about it. Most likely, you’re convinced of the scientific benefits. You’d like to make meditation part of your life. You may have even tried a few times but the moment you close your eyes, thoughts, stories, and mental noise flood your mind. What seems like a simple process of finding inner peace feels...
3 Ways to Rid Yourself of Negative Thoughts
You’ve probably noticed that your mind engages in an inner dialogue. It never seems to stop, producing one thought after another. Like a difficult partner, the mind reminds you of what you did or did not do, what you said or shouldn’t have said, what you noticed or did not notice, and on and on. “I shouldn’t have said that.”...
Enhance Your Meditation Practice with Crystals
You may meditate, but have you taken your practice one step further by using crystals? Learn the benefits of crystals and how to us crystals in your meditation practice.
8 Ways to Make Daily Meditation a Habit
Are you having trouble sticking to your meditation practice? Perhaps you have every intention of meditating, but you run out of time each day. Or maybe you get flooded with texts and emails before the day officially gets started, so you skip your practice to get a head start. Perhaps you flat out don’t like meditating.There are many reasons you...
How to Fit Meditation Into Your Lifestyle
One of the major medical advances in recent decades has been the importance of lifestyle choices. Your body's cells eavesdrop on everything you say, do, and think, along with the food you eat, the sleep you get, and the exercise you take. Coursing through the bloodstream is a superhighway of information in chemical form. We are just beginning to understand...
5 Revealing Studies into Compassion
Compassion, wanting to reduce the pain of others, sometimes gets a bad rap. Some view it as a soft and fluffy virtue that allows others to walk all over you. However, giving and receiving compassion offers tremendous benefits for physical and psychological health.Skeptics might be surprised about the science that backs up the power of compassion. Researchers have been studying...
A Short and Easy Meditation Perfect for Summertime
Summer is here and that means vacation time for many of us. There are stirrings of excitement and anticipation as plans are made for outdoor activities, backyard barbeques, travel, or even just taking it easy. While this is fun, it can be easy to get swept up in the flurry of activities and begin to feel a bit stressed or...
The Art of Deep Diaphragmatic Breathing
Breath is the source of prana, or life force, and among the most basic of all human functions. Breathing consists of two phases: inhalation and exhalation. When you inhale, the diaphragm—a dome-shaped muscle separating the lungs from the abdominal cavity—contracts. This allows your lungs to expand and fill with air. On the exhale, the diaphragm returns to its normal position,...
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...
7 Ways Meditation Can Help You Reduce and Manage Stress
Thousands of years ago the Buddha said, “Life contains suffering.” The source of suffering can be profound, such as losing a loved one or discovering you have a serious illness. Most often, however, our suffering comes from the daily hassles of life. You get stuck in a traffic jam or the long line at the grocery. You have an unexpected...
Meditation: The What, Why, and How
Growing up in England in the ‘60s, we had all heard of meditation when The Beatles traveled to India to study with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In my early 20s, I was living and working in London, enjoying all the things that a young man could. In the early 70s, my job moved me to a smaller, provincial town on the...
5 Holistic Exercises to Help Reduce Anxiety
Anxiety affects 40 million adults, and one in eight children in the United States alone. This debilitating condition is often compounded by symptoms of depression and stress. Although medical attention is the primary intervention, medical care may be complimented with holistic exercises. A balance of personal efforts, combined with the guidance of a medical physician, has the potential to heal...
Airport Stress: How to Travel with Ease
Stress management is something that everyone knows is necessary, but when a stressful situation occurs, it can be hard to find a response that actually reduces the stress. Air travel is filled with more anxiety-producing situations than ever before. There are long lines for screening, delays, overbooked flights, and lost luggage to name a few.Let’s say you’re at the airport...
How to Use Vedic Astrology to Inform Your Meditation Practice
Jyotish (Vedic Astrology) and meditation are vast subjects that can each take many years, if not a whole lifetime, to fully understand. Jyotish helps you understand the effects of an external Universe on your life. Meditation brings you to the realization that the Universe is within you; you are the Universe.A reading of your Jyotish chart by a qualified astrologer...
5 Can't-Miss Things at a Deepak Chopra Meditation Retreat
Feeling stressed, burnt out, and disconnected from what you really want? It may be time for a meditation vacation. Here are five can’t-miss things you’ll experience at a Deepak Chopra meditation retreat to inspire you to treat yourself.1. Awakening to Greater Purpose and Fulfillment awakeninggreaterpurpose.jpg"It is a deep journey of going within to recognize your full potential and to understand...
Roadmap to Compassion: Fuel for Tough Times
Facing the unknown can be unsettling to say the least, and many around the globe are embarking on an era of uncertainty. The United States seems more divided than united, Brexit has turned the United Kingdom on its ear, and the Syrian refugee crisis continues to affect millions. Unfortunately, these problems are just the tip of the iceberg (the melting...
7 Essential Oils and Mudras for Emotional Healing and Balance
We've put together a list of emotional healing essential oils in combination with mudras (hand positions) that will help restore balance to your life. Check them out below.
Try the 5-Element Meditation to Embody the Sacred
When you find it difficult to escape the chaos of the world, try this five-element meditation to stay centered and at peace on a daily basis.
How Meditation Affects Heart Health
Decades ago, when the mind-body connection was first being studied, the original findings on meditation centered on heart attacks, strokes, and hypertension. A healthy heart needs to be disease-free. But “heart health” in holistic terms also includes the subtle and emotional qualities of the heart—tenderness, love, acceptance, and compassion. Your whole system, including how you breathe, think, and feel, meet...
7 Affirmations for Self-Healing
Help support yourself in life with these positive healing affirmations from the experts at Chopra and support the natural healing process.
How Meditation Helps Your Immune System Do its Job
Your immune system is one of the most critical, and most fascinating, aspects of the mind-body connection. For a long time, the ability of immune cells to attack invading disease organisms was considered purely physical, even though the mechanism was not completely understood.Then, in the ‘80s it was discovered that the immune system is highly intelligent; it became known as...
The Healing Power of Sound
Every morning after my meditation I balance my energy centers with sound vibrations. I like to meditate on a mantra—a sound that helps me slow down the excessive traffic of my thoughts. When I do this I feel certain that my entire being is balanced. It’s more than just a hope or an idea—it’s a very strong, clearly identifiable wave...
4 Ways to Deepen Your Meditation Practice
You’ve been meditating consistently for an extended period of time now, and you’re ready to take your practice to the next level. Perhaps you’ve now reached a plateau and you’re wondering if meditation is really working … or when you’ll arrive at the next stage. Inevitably, at some point, we all come to a place of expectation that something profound...
Guided Hypnotherapy Session to Enhance Mind-Body Integration
Hypnotherapy is an alternative therapy using the power of meditation and thought to alter feelings, symptoms, behaviors, thoughts, and habits in the mind and body.When you give yourself permission to tune away from the outside world, you create an opportunity to turn inward and strengthen the connection between your mind and body. These two aspects are often thought of as...
How Meditation Can Help You Manage Disease
Patients usually understand when I recommend meditation to control stress in their lives, even when I prescribe it for anxiety or depression. But when I suggest that my patients learn to meditate to help them lose weight, change bad habits, or deal with disease, they seem surprised. They always ask how meditation could possibly help them deal with things like...
Running as Meditation
“Sweat cleanses from the inside. It comes from places a shower will never reach." - Dr. George Sheehan, The Philosopher of RunningWhen asked when I started meditating, I always refer to when I began running about 12 years ago. With each run, I felt recharged, balanced, and ready to face whatever came my way. At the time, I had no...
5 Ways Meditation Can Benefit Businesses
In order to remain competitive in today’s market, successful companies need: To possess a clear vision of their goals Inspiration to be innovative in their approach to supplying products and services Leadership to guide individuals towards success Teamwork to enable employees to keep up in today’s global marketplace The practice of meditation helps to make all of this possible. The...
Access Inner Peace in a Noisy World
“Ping!” “Bringg!” “Beep!” “Tap, tap, tap!”Our lives are inundated with sounds, we hear them everywhere we go. Our sense of hearing is a beautiful one. We are lucky to hear the birds chirping to announce the break of dawn, the gurgle of a baby observing life innocently, or the voice of a loved one whispering sweet words in our ear....
How to Host a Group Meditation
There are many benefits to meditating with others. Meditation generates inner peace and the ability to connect with yourself at a deeper level. When you sit with others, it can be powerful to influence one another in a community setting.Benefits of Meditating in a GroupThere is power in numbers and creating intentions. Coming together with a shared intention can have...
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...
I Tried It: Meditation
(Article originally published in San Diego Magazine).My father’s death this past fall left me in a waking fog, completely adrift. I lost ten pounds and struggled through sleepless nights. I wondered if I would ever feel happy again. So I cleared my schedule and checked into a six-day spiritual boot camp. I had tried guided meditation before, but like most...
8 Secrets to Free Your Spirit and Find Joy
Joy is a divine quality of our true self, which is inherently lighthearted, playful, and free. You can see the full expression of this joy in young children who haven’t learned to worry or take themselves too seriously. They play and laugh freely, finding wonder in the smallest things. They are infinitely creative because they haven’t yet built up the...
Wouldn’t You Rather Be Meditating?
We might also ask, Wouldn’t you rather be peaceful, centered, and awake? Meditation is a time-honored practice for accessing a deeper state of pure awareness, beyond the noisy mental chatter that so often dominates our experience. Meditation is effortless, silently dissolving old conditioning and restoring our inherent state of balance and wellbeing. For thousands of years, people have used the...
Discover Meditation’s Healing Power
If you were to ask me what the most important experience of my life has been, I would say it was learning to meditate. Meditation has been the key to my creativity, wellbeing, and happiness. I have enjoyed it in my own life, and it continues to be one of the most powerful healing tools we offer at Chopra.Meditation takes...
Harness Your Mind’s Power to Heal and Transform
In the past few decades, there has been a revolution in how we perceive the body. What appears to be an object, a three-dimensional anatomical structure, is actually a process, a constant flow of energy and information.Consider that in this very moment, your body is changing as it reshuffles and exchanges its atoms and molecules with the rest of the...
Meditation and Yoga
Most of us can remember getting so absorbed in a suspenseful movie or masterful novel that the rest of the world dropped away and we were completely identified with the plot and characters. It’s just as easy to get caught up in our own stories and reactions – particularly when we’re feeling threatened in some way. For instance, imagine that...
Meditation and Yoga: Timeless Tools to Relieve Modern Stress
Most of us can remember getting so absorbed in a suspenseful movie or masterful novel that the rest of the world dropped away and we were completely identified with the plot and characters. It’s just as easy to get caught up in our own stories and reactions – particularly when we’re feeling threatened in some way. For instance, imagine that...
Cultivate Present Moment Awareness with the So Hum Meditation
The So Hum meditation is a simple but powerful technique that uses the breath and the repetition of a mantra to quiet the mind and relax the body. This meditation will help you move beyond your mind’s busy chatter to the peace of present moment awareness. Choose a place where you won’t be disturbed. Sit in a chair or on...
How Do You Stay Balanced?
Throughout my years of teaching at the Chopra Center, one of the questions that I am most frequently asked by students is, “What do YOU do to stay balanced?” The stress-producing assumption buried in that question is that balance is a static state that we can reach and hold onto. In reality, balance is a dynamic state. In every moment...
No Dust on the Mirror
We spend a good deal of time gazing at ourselves in the mirror with the physical eye, and into the mirror of our mind with an analytical eye, endeavoring in each case to size ourselves up in our own estimation as well as determining how others might evaluate us. Both of these mirrors are clouded with egoic dust, distorting our...
Three Small Shifts to Feel Good All Day Long
True health and wellbeing is a lifestyle that does not happen overnight. It is a series of gradual, subtle shifts. A gentle unfolding of a more balanced existence. One could certainly spend hundreds of hours reading, attending seminars, practicing, falling off the wagon, getting back on said wagon, and continually striving to get it “right.” While walking the path toward...
Harness Your Gifts and Fulfill Your Purpose
In his transformational book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, Deepak Chopra describes seven timeless principles for living a life filled with love, fulfillment, abundance, peace, and joy. One of these principles is known as the Law of Dharma. The word dharma is a Sanskrit term that can be translated as our purpose in life. The Law of Dharma states...
Clear Clutter and Enhance Your Environment
Perhaps the greatest gift of meditation is the way in which it cleanses the windows of perception, allowing us to experience our natural state of simple and open awareness. When we’re awake to our essential self, we feel happy, light, and at peace. In contrast, unhappiness is a state of complication and imbalance in our body, mind, and environment. Complications...
Freeing Yourself From Your Mind
The good news is that you can free yourself from your mind. This is the only true liberation. You can take the first step right now.Start listening to the voice in your head as often as you can. Pay particular attention to any repetitive thought patterns, those old audiotapes that have been playing in your head perhaps for many years.This...
Why Meditate?
During most of our waking lives, our minds are engaged in a continuous internal dialogue in which the meaning and emotional associations of one thought trigger the next. We hear a snippet of music and suddenly we’re thinking about the first time we heard that song with an old boyfriend or girlfriend and how that relationship ended. If we’re still...
Rewire Your Brain for Happiness
For decades, scientists believed that once we reached adulthood, our brain was incapable of any change beyond than the negative alterations associated with disease and aging. We now know that the brain is incredibly dynamic, with a potentially unlimited ability to change throughout our entire lifespan. At any age, new neural pathways can be created and refined, and our gray...
Find Your True Self Through Meditation
We weave lifes story from thoughts, feelings, emotions We live our life with expectations for the future meditation self discovery is a tool to find your true self.
Ayurvedic Rituals Of Self-Love
Ayurveda believes that your Self chose your body to fulfill your life’s purpose; it is crucial that you honor your life as a gift from the universe. The body you inhabit is an essential part of your journey as it is the carrier for your soul. Which is why it is important to express love towards all aspects of yourself.
Your Guide to Traditional Ayurvedic Massage
Many of us have had conventional massage that works to release tight muscles and create relaxation. In Western medicine, massage can be used for specific issues, such as musculoskeletal sports injuries and performance, massage for lymphatic drainage after cancer surgery, or for certain pain syndromes.Massage may indeed be the most primitive treatment for pain, and instinctually we massage areas of...
Ask Dr. Sheila: Ayurveda and Menstrual Health
Every month, Dr. Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer will be answering questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next month. This month, Dr. Sheila answers a question about Ayurveda for people who have periods.The traditional...
Why Deep Detoxification Is for Everyone
More people are aware than ever before of how many meanings the word “toxic” has. The subject of detoxification was completely ignored when I was in medical school, but the most recent research connects blood toxins and chronic inflammation, suddenly opening up new avenues for preventing lifestyle disorders like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and perhaps even many cancers...
Why You Should Become an Ayurvedic Lifestyle Teacher
As a physician, I have come to understand the impact that lifestyle choices have in preventing chronic disease. And although approximately 90% of chronic diseases can be prevented by lifestyle, we are seeing all chronic diseases on the rise around the globe.In an age where people have access to more information than ever before, people are more confused about what...
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...
Ask Dr. Sheila: Is Ghee Really Beneficial?
Every month, Dr, Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer will be answering questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next month. This month, Dr. Sheila answers a question about ghee.What is Ghee?Ghee, or clarified butter, is...
10 Pieces of Ayurvedic Wisdom for the New Year
The New Year brings about feelings of starting fresh and being inspired. During times of change, it’s helpful to have a guide, offering glimpses into the possibilities of the life you desire. It doesn’t have to be big changes; small changes every day can lead to major transformation. Here are some pieces of wisdom inspired by Ayurvedic teachings that can...
Coffee Benefits, According to Ayurveda
According to the National Coffee Association, coffee is one of the most sought-after commodities in the world. The history of drinking coffee begins with an Ethiopian goat herder who first discovered the effects of coffee beans when he noticed that his goats would dine on the beans and forego sleep. He shared this observation with a monk in a local...
The Benefits of Tongue Scraping
Tongue scraping is an important aspect of ayurvedic practices, learn today how to use a tongue scraper and how it can affect your overall well-being.
How and Why to Use a Neti Pot
Exercise, clean diet, and adequate sleep are a few of the more obvious ways to maintain your health. Your nose is another vital pathway to a healthy body.Nasal passages are the first line of defense against pollution, allergens, and other irritants; it’s important to keep them clean and functioning. A nasal wash, also known as a sinus rinse or irrigation,...
10 Ayurveda Tips to Stay Healthy and Boost Immunity Amid COVID-19
With the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) all over the news, now is a great time to do what you can to boost your immunity. Ayurveda has always taught that the host (human body) is the most important tool to defend any invasion. The concept of “individual immunity” (Vyadhi Kshamatva) depends upon your diet and lifestyle. Especially during a change...
5 Ways to Have More Energy Throughout the Day
Do you find yourself barely making it through the day? Are you exhausted long before it’s technically time to fall asleep? It’s not surprising that stress is a major cause of fatigue and yet this is the state of being many people have become accustomed to living. It’s important to start exploring ways to use the body and mind in...
4 Ayurvedic Self-Care Tips for Fall
Fall is the season of transition. Your finely tuned senses are usually the first to alert you that change is in the air. Nature is tuning in as well and in response knows it’s time to begin preparing for winter, and so must you.Fall is a time to truly nourish yourself and practice self-care by slowing down, reflecting, and renewing...
What is Ashwagandha
Learn about how the powerful Ashwagandha herb can improve and help your Ayurvedic healing. Let the experts at Chopra explain the benefits for you today!
An Ayurvedic Approach to Anxiety
The comprehensive Ayurvedic approach to anxiety includes meditation, yoga, dietary changes, and more. We also explore the use of herbs to calm nerves.
3-Day Weekend Ayurvedic Detox Plan You Can Do at Home
Learn our home remedy for detoxing the body that can facilitate your body’s release of toxins. Reverse some of the effects of chronic stress and detox at home in 3 days.
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.
Learn How to Improve Your Digestion With 6 Ayurvedic Practices
The healing tradition of Ayurveda teaches that health and wellbeing depends upon our ability to digest everything we take in from the environment. This includes not only tangible substances like food and drink, but also our experiences, emotions, and the impressions we take in via our sensory portals, namely our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. Agni is the Sanskrit...
Basic Principles of Ayurvedic Medicine
What is Ayurveda? It is considered by some scholars to be the oldest healing science in the world. When this broad science is applied to the prevention and treatment of illness, it is referred to as Ayurvedic medicine. The word medicine may be a bit of a misnomer, however, as Ayurveda uses little of it in the conventional sense. Unlike...
How Ayurvedic Spa Treatments Clear the Mind, Body, and Soul
The practice of Ayurvedic bodywork, which originated under the umbrella of Ayurvedic medicine, has long been a powerful means of detoxifying, replenishing, and restoring harmony to both body and mind. Ayurvedic bodywork is a specialized form of massage that balances the physical and energetic layers of your being.Though there are a number of traditional Ayurvedic practices and remedies, each one...
Learn All About Marma Point Therapy
Your body contains 108 marma points, or junctions of consciousness and matter. Learn about how marma therapy and massage can help you today.
The Many Benefits and Uses of Ashwagandha
Popular herbs such as lavender and chamomile are commonly found in many holistic products. These herbs, in the form of essential oils, are known for their calming effects, with many people turning to them for relief during periods of high stress. A lesser-known herb but one with similar benefits (in addition to many others) and gaining in popularity is ashwagandha....
What Is an Ayurvedic Massage?
There are a multitude of massage types. Uncover exactly what is involved in Ayurvedic massage, the types and techniques.
How to Cleanse, the Ayurvedic Way
Avoid the unhealthy fads of juice cleanses and the next newest thing and discover the healthy balance of the centuries old ayurvedic cleanse, panchakarma.
Everything You Need to Know About Panchakarma Treatments
Ayurveda is an elegant system of healing, first described around 5,000 years ago in ancient Vedic texts as comprehensive teachings on preserving and maintaining health. The fact that this ancient medicine is still in use today is a testament to the wisdom it holds when it comes to understanding the human potential to achieve a happy and wholesome life.Primordial in...
5 Benefits of a Shirodhara Treatment
What is shirodhara massage and how can it benefit you? Learn how an oil massage can improve your sleep, vata dosha, and more.
6 Essential Oils for Winter
As the new year gets underway, you may think that the thaw of spring is well on its way. But winter has only just begun! In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice in December marked the beginning of the return of light and the coming of longer days. Even so, you may still struggle with this cold, dark, and potentially...
How to Manage Holiday Stress: A Guide for Each Dosha
And so it begins. You deck the halls, prepare the food, get gussied up, and … whoosh! There is that debilitating wave of anxiety, aggravation, and … dread? Even for those who enjoy celebrating with family meals and company parties, this time of year can be triggering. Who hasn’t had a celebratory meal turn sour due to long-swallowed resentments or...
5 Vata-Balancing Strategies for Fall
Ahh, fall — the beautiful autumn foliage, pumpkin picking, and drinking warm apple cider as the air cools and the wind picks up. Just as doshas govern your constitution, they also govern the seasons. Summer has transitioned into fall, which is considered to be the Vata time of the year. The Vata dosha is made of the elements air and...
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...
6 Ayurvedic Travel Tips to Keep You Healthy and at Peace
Traveling can be exciting, full of treasured memories in the making. Part of the fun is the anticipation, waiting for the day to finally arrive when it’s time to head out on the open road or board the plane to your dream destination. Much time and effort is spent planning a trip—when it finally happens, the excitement is palpable. What...
Kapha Season: Clear Yourself Inside and Out
Spring is the season of rebirth, renewal, and fresh beginnings, and the ideal time for clearing out the old and making way for the new. As the buds stretch toward the light, you have the capacity to grow in new ways each time spring comes around. According to Ayurveda, spring is a Kapha season, comprised predominantly of the water and...
An Ayurvedic Approach to Cleansing Your Home
If you are wondering where to begin, a good place to start is “cleansing” the home. Most of us spend a great deal of time at home, and it becomes our sanctuary full of our creature comforts. Over time, natural accumulation occurs, both physically and energetically, which can impact the feeling of the house and also affect your psyche.For example,...
Harness the Power of Your Sensory Input
“Reality is a selective act of attention and interpretation.” This deeply profound insight (attributed to Chopra Center co-founder Dr. David Simon) reveals your hidden ability to influence the experience of life. You may consciously choose what you give your attention to and how you process what you perceive. Consider the phrase, “you are what you eat.” Dr. Simon’s understanding goes...
4 Gentle Cleansing Techniques for Spring
According to the principles of Ayurveda, spring is the cleansing season. The same way that you spring clean your home, this is a great time of year to cleanse the toxins from your body.While there are many cleanse programs available, some methods can be intimidating and extreme. The good news is that there are more subtle and gentle techniques that...
How to Balance and Recharge Your Diet This Spring
Ayurveda divides the year into three seasons based on the predominant dosha, or governing energetic quality, associated with each. Springtime, lasting from March through June, is governed by the Kapha dosha. Kapha combines the elements of earth and water, making Kapha a season of moist, heavy, and oily properties.You can notice these elemental qualities by observing nature. Spring brings showers...
11 Tips to Thrive in the Winter
The most difficult season for many people, especially as they grow older, is winter. The issues are cumulative—dropping temperatures, intermittent storms, seasonal cold and flu, and extra traffic hazards. When you add the additional stress and strain that many people experience over the holidays, “I can’t wait until spring” becomes the common sentiment.But the body-mind is designed with adaptability as...
4 Ayurveda-Inspired Practices for the Fall Season
Finding balance and happiness are lifelong processes. The ancient medical system of Ayurveda can provide guidance and tips along the way, especially as the season changes.According to Ayurvedic wisdom, as the days get shorter and darker, transitioning from Summer to Autumn, we’re moving out of pitta season and experience vata elements. In Ayurveda: The Science of Self-Healing Dr. Vasant Lad...
Summertime Ayurveda for Dogs: 6 Ways to Keep Your Pup Healthy This Season
It’s that time of year again when you get to enjoy longer days, more time outdoors, and generally more space to relax and experience life’s blessings. Each season brings its gifts, as well as its challenges.Ayurveda suggests that you make considerations for each season since they can have a strong impact on your body and mind. Being that Ayurveda is...
What Is Guggulu?
Discover the guggul herb and its many traditional uses in ayurveda with whole body benefits including joint, sinus, and skin relief.
5 Ayurveda-Inspired Springtime Activities
Finding harmony and inspiration is a lifelong process, and the ancient medical system of Ayurveda can provide guidance and tips along the way, especially as the season changes.According to Ayurvedic wisdom, as the snow is melting and the air is warming, transitioning from winter to spring, you’re moving out of Vata season and aligning with Kapha elements. As the days...
5 Practices to Balance Your Kapha This Spring
The changing of the seasons is always a marvelous sight to behold. If you live in an area where winter is bold and proud, spring is a long-awaited and welcoming season. The first flowers start to bloom, snow turns into rain, and the grass starts changing from brown to green once again. And as much as you’d like to trade...
How to Become an Early Riser
You likely know someone who has expressed his or her disdain for mornings. Or perhaps you’ve thought it yourself when the alarm goes off early Monday morning, or your kids wake you up before the sun rises. Then there are those who are up before their alarm even sounds, well rested and motivated to get a head start on their...
12 Ayurvedic Practices to Help Alleviate Spring Allergies
Spring is a time of beauty and sweet smells as nature unfurls from the heaviness of winter. It’s a time to soak in the sunshine, breathe in the new blooms and enjoy all the outdoors have to offer—that is, until allergies kick in.Allergies can be miserable with seemingly no end in sight. They keep your body in a perpetual battle...
Can’t Sleep? How to Treat Sleep Issues Without Medication
Sleep is vital to your health and well-being, but for some people, it’s elusive. According to the American Sleep Association, there are an estimated 50 to 70 million U.S. adults who experience some type of sleep loss or sleep disorder. Sleeping issues can interfere with the quality of your life, your physical health, and negatively affect your emotional balance, cognitive...
No Makeup Agenda: 9 Ways to Maintain Your Inner and Outer Glow
Humans have always appreciated and emulated beauty in all its forms as it has evolved over time. Recently, there has been a movement toward paring down the makeup routine in favor of a more natural look. While this trend sounds like a good idea, pulling it off places you in a bit of a quandary. You know beauty goes farther...
6 Ways to Fall Asleep Fast
Better sleep, better life! When you sleep well, you are not only healthier, but happier, too. And when you are healthier and happier, you are able to create stronger relationships, bring about stronger manifestations in your life, and enjoy increased productivity.But how do you fall asleep fast, rather than lying there with hundreds of thoughts running through your mind? Try...
7 Natural Ways to Prevent and Fight Off a Cold
During the winter months, your tendency to spend more time indoors, combined with the cool, dark external environment, can lead to an accumulation of earth and water elements in your body. In practical terms, this accumulation may look like: Fatigue Depression Weight gain Colds Flus By integrating the following Ayurvedic practices into your winter routine, you can stave off the...
The Inward Journey: How to Cultivate Well-being
Everyone seeks well-being, but there is little consensus on a firm definition for what it is or how best to foster it in your life. With so many defintions and approaches, it can feel difficult to know where to start. Deepak Chopra, MD, often speaks of the pillars of individual well-being as: Good sleep Stress management Movement Emotional balance Proper...
What Is Black Cohosh?
Black cohosh (cimicifuga racemosa) is a native North American plant that has been used for thousands of years by Native Americans to treat women’s health issues, as well as other conditions.A member of the buttercup family, black cohosh is a perennial shrub with serrated leaves and clusters of tiny white flowers. Herbal preparations are made from the plant’s roots and...
How to Use the Ayurvedic Herb Guduchi
Guduchi, or amrit, is considered to be effective for helping with a number of conditions, from mild allergies to inflammation. Discover the guduchi's benefits today!
What Is Holy Basil?
Discover the benefits of holy basil, a versatile Ayurvedic herb. Learn of its many forms, whether you're taking it in pill form or as holy basil tea.
5 Ayurvedic Spa Treatments to Balance Your Vata Dosha
In Ayurveda, Vata is the force that governs all movement in the body. When in balance, Vata can make you enthusiastic for life, clear thinking, intuitive, expressive, playful, and creative. In excess, though, it can manifest as pain, lack of appetite, tremors, coldness, constipation, anxiety, arthritis, racing thoughts, insomnia, and more.Even if it’s not your primary dosha, everyone has some...
What Is Amalaki?
Learn more about the Amalaki fruit, commonly known as Indian gooseberry. Discover the benefits and uses in ayurveda of Amalaki powder.
How to Get Restful Sleep
Restful sleep is the foundation for your mental and physical well-being. After a day of stimulating activity, your body needs deep sleep when your mind and body can rest and reset. When you’re well rested, you’re more alert, able to process new information more efficiently, and you make better decisions. On the other hand, when you’re sleep deprived, you’re more...
Expand Your Definition of Health With Ayurveda
An excerpt from Michelle’s book, The Wheel of Healing with Ayurveda: An Easy Guide to a Healthy Lifestyle, New World Library, May 12, 2015.When we think of health, we often refer to the physical body. If the body is strong and pain free, we declare that we are healthy. But if the body is experiencing aches and pains, or other...
Explore One of Ayurveda’s Most Popular Herbs: Triphala
The Ayurvedic formulary describes hundreds of plants that have the ability to keep us healthy as well as help us heal from disease. One of the most well-known and commonly used herbs is triphala, which means “three fruits.” As its name implies, triphala is a combination of the fruits of three plants, which are dried, ground into powder, and precisely...
Keeping Your Children Healthy: Doshas for Kids
Finding balance is one of the greatest challenges in an ever-changing world. And keeping yourself balanced is difficult enough before you add children to the mix. They too have their own doshas and their own daily imbalances, and it can be tricky to figure out what to do to help create harmony for them.The good news is that children tend...
5 Ayurvedic Detox Tips for Spring
Spring and fall are important times of the year to detoxify, according to Ayurveda. A spring detox is especially important as an antidote to the slower season of winter.To maintain health and balance in the long run, however, Ayurveda also recommends a daily detox protocol. If you don’t yet have one, spring is the best time to put one in...
7 Simple Ways to De-Stress
If you feel that stress is affecting your physical health and emotional well-being, you’re not alone. An estimated 75 to 90 percent of all doctor visits are for stress-related issues and ailments, and this is certainly what I see in my medical practice. But don’t let this information increase your stress levels, for there are simple practices that you can...
7-Day Detox Routine
According to Ayurveda, good health is dependent upon our capability to fully metabolize the nutritional, emotional, and sensory information that we ingest. When the digestive energies, known as Agni (fire), are robust, we create healthy tissue, eliminate waste products efficiently, and produce a subtle essence called Ojas. Ojas, which can be described as the source of vitality, is the basis...
How to Beat Unhealthy Habits With Ayurveda
The main thing standing in the way of optimal health is most likely you. There are two main categories of health problems: those that are linked to genes, injuries, or the environment and those that are a result of self-abuse. A lot of modern health concerns today are linked to the latter, and most of those are preventable.“Self-abuse” sounds harsh...
5 Luxurious Ayurvedic Spa Treatments
Ayurvedic spa treatments are the crème de la crème of the massage world. They've been tried and tested through the ages in India, not only for relaxation, but for health benefits such as improving circulation, toning the muscles, calming the nerves, lubricating the joints, and increasing mental alertness. They are also used for supreme detoxification, skin health, energy, stamina, and...
The Benefits of Triphala
Widely known for its laxative qualities, Triphala can also be used to balance the doshas. Learn more from the experts at Chopra.
15 Ayurvedic Practices to Improve Your Health
A balanced diet and daily exercise routine is only the beginning of achieving Ayurvedic health. Tap into some of Ayurveda's lesser-known ancient teachings.
How to Read Your Pulse
Your pulse is not just a number on a doctor's chart, it's the rhythm of consciousness in your body. Learn how to take your pulse.
A Vata-Pacifying Routine for Fall
Leaves cover the ground, school buses dot the roads, and there’s a crisp chill in the air. These are all signs that Vata season is upon us. If you’re a Vata type, you may have a history of getting sick with colds, sore throats, or the flu in the fall. And the media’s warnings of impending flu and cold viruses...
The Art of Digestion: Ayurveda’s Key to Perfect Health
In a world of advancing discovery and development, one eye-opening statistic is that Americans today use more medications than in any other country in the world. With all of our progress and evolution, the luxury of health still eludes us.While this cultural situation spirals in an “out of control” fashion, many individuals seek to expand their awareness and quality of...
The Inner Fire: The Key to Healthy Digestion and Detoxification
Aggravation of the doshas can dramatically affect the digestive fire, or Agni, in the human body. According to Ayurveda, the condition of the digestive fire determines the health of our entire being, which is why it's important to monitor how well your inner fire is burning. When the digestive fire is disturbed it generates toxins, also known as Ama. A...
Astrology and the Doshas
Dosha in astrology indicates our unique energy patterning that manifests as our physical, mental emotional characteristics Planets constellations are types of doshas.
How to Maintain an Ayurvedic Lifestyle While on Vacation
Summer brings with it beautiful weather, a change in daily activities and—for many people—a complete lifestyle makeover. Family reunions, summer camps, social activities, and vacations are in full swing, which can affect the time we rise and sleep, the nutritional choices we make, our exercise routine, and our schedule.Healthy habits take a long time to form, but sometimes not much...
Love Your Body
If we have been blessed with general good health, we may tend to take our body for granted, not paying attention to what a miracle it is that we can see the colors of the landscape, hold the hand of a loved one, savor a delicious meal, listen to our favorite music, and breathe in the scent of freshly mowed...
The Key to Perfect Health
"Making your doshas happy will make you happy. This is the secret to balancing the whole mind-body system.”In the past decade, personalized medicine has emerged as one of the most promising developments in modern healthcare, offering an approach that tailors medical care and treatment to an individual’s unique characteristics, including a person’s molecular and genetic profile. Advances in scientific research...
An Ayurvedic Approach to Seasonal Allergies
Our immune system is a complex and wonderful system. When in balance, it does a seamless job of identifying and eliminating potential threats to our health, such as toxins, bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. However, sometimes our immune system responds too vigorously to a substance in the environment that is usually harmless, such as pollen, animal dander, or mold. As...
Ignite Your Immune System
Every day we confront challenges to our health. Viruses, bacteria, and toxins are all around us, but our bodies manage to ward off the great majority of them. Why is it, then, that sometimes our defenses can’t keep up? The answer lies in the health and balance of our immune system, the body’s primary defense against infectious disease. The human...
Stay in Balance During Vata Season
In Ayurveda winter is known as “Vata season” because the season is characterized by some of teh same quare marked by some of the same qualities that characterize Vata: cold, dry, light, clear, and moving.As long as these qualities are in balance, a person whose dosha is predominantly Vata will be healthy, creative, and exuberant. But when too much Vata...
Heal Naturally with Ayurveda
Ayurveda teaches that good health depends upon our body’s ability to metabolize all aspects of life, assimilating that which nurtures us, and eliminating the rest. When we can’t completely digest our food, experiences, and emotions, toxic residue gets stored in our bodily tissue, creating imbalance and – ultimately – disease.Thousands of years ago, the ancient ayurvedic physicians developed panchakarma, an...
Living Perfect Health
Lack of vital energy is a problem that usually defies conventional allopathic medicine. In most cases, if you go to a doctor complaining of nagging fatigue and flagging enthusiasm for life, you will have a series of blood tests to rule out the diseases that sometimes cause these symptoms. The chances are high that the tests will come back normal...
Eating to Balance Your Mind-Body Type
Eating to Balance Your Mind-Body TypeAyurveda teaches that all health-related measures—whether an exercise program, dietary plan or herbal supplement—must be based on an understanding of an individual’s unique mind-body type, known as a dosha. Your dosha reflects your innate tendencies, including your temperament, metabolism, energy level, learning style, and many other aspects of your body, mind, and emotions. To figure...
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...
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,...
The Key to Keeping an Active and Healthy Lifestyle with a Busy Schedule
Let’s face it, although many of us strive to be the healthiest, best version of ourselves, sometimes our hectic lives can make us feel like this is not within our reach. Many of us succumb to the demands that our everyday lives bring and leave our health and well-being to the last second. However, our health should be molded into...
The Healing Benefits of Salt Water
It’s hard to imagine our world without salt. In fact, it would be impossible since salt — or, sodium, rather — plays such an important role in the human body’s natural functions, and in Mother Nature. “Salt is closely tied, along with water, to the origins of life and, thus has numerous enlivening properties,” says Chaye McIntosh, the clinical director...
5 Foods and Herbs for Radiant Skin
Contrary to what the billion-dollar skin care industry would have you believe, the health of your skin actually starts on the inside. And while spa days and facials are a wonderful way to treat yourself, you don't need to be spending hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on your skincare routine.In fact, the health of your skin depends largely on what...
On Earth Day, Celebrate Your Extended Body
“The trees are our lungs, the rivers our circulation, the air our breath, and the earth our body” –Deepak ChopraApril 22 is Earth Day. Started in 1970, it began as a day to bring awareness to the intimate connection between the health of our environment and our collective public health. It’s not just an esoteric philosophical idea that we are...
Practices for Renewal this Spring
We begin Spring with the hope of a post-pandemic new normal on the horizon. The path to healing and rejuvenation is through consciously releasing the emotions of a year defined by COVID-19. April is a good time to set intentions for discovery, renewal, connection, and service.Here is a practice to get “unstuck” and move forward for this new phase of...
3 Holiday Gifts That Don’t Cost a Penny
Sometimes the best gifts don't come from your wallet. Discover these 3 free gift ideas for Christmas, Hanukkah, or any occasion for a meaningful gift.
Mind-Body Approaches to Preventing Breast Cancer
The topic of breast cancer is large and may feel overwhelming. This article takes a look at some of the key points to be aware of in terms of causes and lifestyle changes that may help reduce your risk.October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States, giving us an opportunity to bring awareness to the most common...
Breathing for Life: The Mind-Body Healing Benefits of Pranayama
Discover the breath of life with our four deep breathing techniques. Learn how the deep breathing yoga practice of pranayama can heal your mind and body.
Prácticas Diarias para el Bienestar Espiritual, Mental, Emocional y Física
Cuando muchas personas piensan en la salud, sólo consideran sus cuerpos físicos. Si desea una vida vibrante y saludable, asegúrese de prestar atención también a sus cuerpos espirituales, mentales y emocionales. Aquí puedes aprender cómo.En general, los estadounidenses no se encuentran en un excelente estado de salud. Uno de los factores que contribuyen es que la mayoría de las personas...
5 Prácticas de Mente-Cuerpo para Aumentar su Energía
Este enfoque suele provocar un aumento de los niveles de azúcar en la sangre, y el inevitable colapso del azúcar; un breve pico de energía desequilibrada; o nerviosismo provocado por la sobre estimulación del sistema nervioso.
Spring Detox! Essential Practices to Purify Your Life
An entire industry has emerged around the concept of detoxification—the notion that specific practices, diets, or products can scrub your body free of long-stored pollutants or poisons that can negatively impact your health. While it’s tempting to believe in the magic bullet—that one simple remedy or treatment could undo years of unhealthy lifestyle choices—you’d, unfortunately, be fooling yourself.The truth is...
Comfort in the Darkness: How Sleep Will Help Us the Most Right Now
In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet the character begins a soliloquy, asking himself, “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” He is contemplating life vs. death, pondering mortality and the meaning of life. He speaks of dreams, “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come…” Yet, while Shakespeare, through Hamlet, dove into the very heart of...
Anxious About the Coronavirus? Here Are Eight Practical Tips on How to Stay Calm and Support Your...
You’re likely seeing and hearing a lot about the novel coronavirus and the associated respiratory disease that it causes, COVID-19. Much of the news focuses on useful preventative measures that include washing your hands, using sanitizers and avoiding close contact with those that are sick, but it often ignores another important part to staying healthy — boosting your own immune...
The 10 Best Yoga Poses for Winter
Ayurveda teaches that winter is a primarily a Kapha season, with a strong influence of Vata energy. In the Ayurvedic healing system, like attracts like and opposites balance, so during this chilly season, you’ll want to invite grounding and warming postures into your practice to balance Vata’s cold and dry qualities. Meanwhile, stoking your inner flame with twists and invigorating...
8 Meditations and Mind-Body Practices to Help You Sleep
Sleep is a foundational component of the human experience. Along with wakefulness and dreaming, sleep is one of the three most familiar states of consciousness you experience on a daily basis. Despite its primary importance, however, in a modern busy life, sleep is often overlooked, undervalued, or taken for granted. In truth though, the importance of quality sleep cannot be...
5 Ways to Prevent Yourself from Overindulging During the Holidays
The holidays are a time to enjoy delicious mouth-watering meals and sweet delights. From seasonal pies, cookies, treats, and festive alcoholic drinks that abound in our homes and workplaces to delightful gifts of homemade goodness—we are surrounded by an abundance of opportunities to engage in the holiday spirit of mingling, merrymaking, and munching. It’s both delectable and downright difficult to...
14 Tips for Preventing Winter Weight Gain
While you may think that winter weight gain is inevitable with the colder, shorter days; the holiday bustle; and your inherent urge to hibernate more, consider these tips for taking charge of your weight and health.1. Eat Whole FoodsYou may have heard of the whole food movement. This eating style is focused on eating foods that are in their whole...
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,...
6 Ways to Find Motivation to Work Out This Winter
It’s recommended that adults get at least 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity—or a combination of both—throughout the week.During the winter months, fewer daylight hours, colder temps, and seasonal mood shifts can make it tough to stick to a regular workout routine.However, if you can stay motivated to exercise, your workouts...
7 Habits to Protect Your Brain and Help Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a type of brain disorder that causes problems with memory, behavior, and thinking. It affects more than 5 million Americans and 50 million people worldwide. It’s a devastating condition that takes a major toll on sufferers as well as their caregivers.Over time, many patients with this disorder develop debilitating cognitive problems. Although memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s...
The Neuroscience Behind Gratitude: How Does Cultivating Appreciation Affect Your Brain?
When you express feelings of gratitude for someone or something, you do more than making yourself happier. Gratitude rewires your brain and improves daily life.
7 Cooking Techniques to Create Healthier Meals
Healthy cooking methods capture flavor and lock in nutrients—with little-to-no extra fat or salt needed. Plus, when it comes to cooking vegetables such as carrots and broccoli, the cooking process actually preserves the nutrients and breaks down the vegetable’s tough outer layers and cellular structure, which makes it easier for your body to digest and absorb those nutrients. Whether you’re...
5 Health Benefits of Gratitude
Expressing gratitude is much more than the act of saying “thanks”—it’s the cultivation of a feeling that serves an important biological purpose. Gratitude, according to scientists, is a deep feeling of appreciation. Studies have linked practicing gratitude with an assortment of positive health impacts on physical and emotional well-being, including the following.1. Gratitude Can Lead to Greater Physical and Mental...
9 Natural Remedies for Stress and Anxiety
Stress and anxiety levels seem to be at all-time highs for too many. It’s crucial to know that there are natural antidotes, alternatives to pharmaceuticals, to help powerfully regulate these stressors.
Natural Remedies for an Upset Stomach
Whether it’s a bug, food sensitivity, stress, or something else that’s ailing you, when you feel sick to your stomach, what you want is simple: to make it go away—quickly. These nine stomachache remedies swoop in to the rescue. They all hail from nature, and they’re easily accessible and inexpensive.No matter what the root cause—a bug, food sensitivity, stomach flu,...
10 Tips for Eating Healthy
It’s been said that food is the best medicine. It’s true that the right foods will make us feel both energized and nourished. These 10 tips will make it easy to get started.Defaulting to what comes easy or is familiar can be a hindrance when it comes to cultivating health and well-being. Today’s fast-food culture is a perfect example; people...
7 Health Benefits of Mindfulness
You’re busy. In the race to finish the seemingly never-ending list of tasks, you speed up and multitask while thinking about what’s coming next or dwelling on what just happened. Through it all, you miss out on the present moment.Although you continue to do it, you know it’s not good for you or the people in your life. And so...
Aromatherapy: The Secret to Relaxation
We could all benefit from a bit of relaxation, whether it’s enjoying a spa day or taking moments to unwind. Making time for rest and relaxation is an important part of maintaining good health and well-being. For some, relaxing comes easy, while for others, it’s a bit of a challenge to suddenly shift gears, especially for those that are constantly...
A Guide to Practicing Mindfulness for Anxiety
One of my favorite spiritual teachers, Swami Satchidananda, once said that there is nothing in this world more valuable than your own peace. The first time I heard that statement the words sank so deeply into my being I was changed forever. I feel grateful when I am mindful enough to remember this simple wisdom in a moment of worry...
Why Self-Care Is the Best Medicine for Managing Stress
Self-care is the best medicine for managing stress. Indeed, it may be the only medicine for managing stress. Stress builds up as you move through the world. Bills to pay, mouths to feed, dreams to follow, bodily functions to manage, relationships to nourish, world news to process, social activism to make the world a kinder place—life is stressful! Even the...
5 Stress-Reducing Herbal Teas
Stress. Just hearing that word can conjure up feelings of anxiety. Life offers many stressors simply during day-to-day events. School, work, health issues, busy schedules, family drama—it seems that there is always something in life that can cause stress. As humans, our own internal response to a need we have that goes unmet causes stress within. While you don’t have...
5 Ways To Reverse Aging
Is your body aging too fast? Let Chopra help you identify ways that your body is aging too fast and how to reverse it.
8 Effective, Natural Antibiotics to Help Beat Infections
Learn more about the benefits of natural and herbal antibiotics to help remove harmful bacteria with Chopra's list of 8 natural antibiotics.
8 Reasons You May Be Gaining Weight Even If You’re Eating Healthy
"Have you started a diet and still have trouble losing weight? Learn which factors could be contributing to your weight gain despite eating healthier."
8 Incredible Health Benefits of Eating Ginger
Learn more about the proven health benefits of ginger and the uses of ginger from tea to meals and supplements.
4 Ways Seasonal Changes Can Affect Your Mood
If you find yourself feeling a little less happy go lucky—or, on the contrary, you have an extra skip in your step—as the seasons change, it’s not your imagination. It’s happening.Length of daylight plays a major role, but temperature and lifestyle also have a say. Not everyone reacts the same way to seasonal shifts. But if you find that your...
How Ginger Helps Fight Inflammation
Ginger is a powerful ginger anti-inflammatory. You can eat, drink, and take it as a supplement. Ginger tastes good as well! We've included smoothie recipes to enjoy.
7 Ways to Reboot Your Brain
Rebooting your brain can help remove patterns, habits & biases that limit you. Learn how to reboot your brain and fix these issues from Chopra.
Decongest Your Lymphatic System for Vibrant Health
Learn more about the importance of lymphatic health and the symptoms of a clogged lymphatic system. Our lymphatic cleanse can help you keep it healthy.
6 Ways to Boost Your Mood This Fall
As the days grow shorter, the leaves turn to shades of burnt orange, yellow, and red and are eventually released to blanket the earth. The air is a bit crisper. The seasonal change from shorts and sandals to jeans and boots is underway. Iced tea shifts to lattes. Fruits such as berries and tomatoes make room for pumpkins and squash...
10 Incredible Things That Happen to Your Body When You Relax
Relaxation may feel like an indulgence, but it is a necessity for not only your mind and soul, but also your physical body. Learn about relaxation’s health benefits and get started chilling out today!When most of society is over-scheduled, overstimulated, overworked, and overburdened, you need practical ways to counteract the deleterious health effects of a high-pressure lifestyle. Fortunately, there is...
Grounding the Human Body: The Healing Benefits of Earthing
Learn how grounding yourself to the Earth's electrical energy can have substantial healing benefits from the experts at Chopra.
Beginners Guide to Holistic Health
You may have been raised with a black and white approach to health. Why not take the best of both worlds? This approach to holistic healing might be for you.
Why Forgiveness Is Important for Your Health and Well-being
Forgiveness is a vital spiritual and emotional practice, and yet it is one of the hardest things to do. The idea of forgiveness can be conflicting as thoughts and emotions swirl around how or even if you could ever forgive someone who has wronged you or hurt you.Forgiveness isn’t easy, but your innate capacity for forgiveness offers hope that it...
Daily Practices for Spiritual, Mental, Emotional, and Physical Well-being
Here you can learn how to improve your spiritual wellness along with your physical, mental, and emotional health for a vibrant, healthy life.
How to Boost Your Immune System with 7 Foods & Home Remedies
With the fall season in full force and the transition to cooler days and nights, it is an important time of year to keep your immune system strong. As you likely have experienced, seasonal transitions, especially summer turning to fall, can put a little extra strain on your immune system.There are many ways to help keep your body strong and...
The Estrobolome: How the Gut Impacts Estrogen Levels, Metabolism, and More
Maintaining your gut health goes beyond digestion. Your gut affects your estrogen, which affects weight & libido. Balancing probiotics and estrogen is key to gut health.
How Music Relieves Stress and Helps You Relax
Music has been used for hundreds of years to restore harmony between mind and body. In recent decades, researchers have measured health-related advantages of music, particularly as they relate to stress reduction and relaxation induction.Stress can either increase the risk of or exacerbate serious health issues like anxiety, asthma, depression, gastrointestinal problems, heart disease, and obesity. On the flip side,...
7 Foods That Help Fight Type 2 Diabetes
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 100 million U.S. adults have diabetes or prediabetes. You may also know that living with diabetes can lead to many other health issues including inflammatory conditions, kidney disease, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and neurological issues. With the epidemic of diabetes, there are some important dietary considerations to know about. On the...
5 Physical Health Benefits of Spirituality
The benefits of spirituality to your heart and is known, but spiritual wellness can also help you physically by lowering your risk of depression, and improving sleep.
6 Nighttime Routines for Total Relaxation
Would you like to elevate your health, productivity, and mood? It is not as difficult as you might think. In fact, this task could be as simple as incorporating a few specific habits into your nighttime routine. The way in which you spend your evening hours can significantly influence the quality—and quantity—of your night’s sleep, which in turn has the...
6 Healing Powers of Ginseng
You have probably heard of the gnarly but potent root and brightly colored berry known as ginseng. Ginseng has been used in Asia and North America for centuries in both Native American medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Native Americans used ginseng both as a digestive tonic and to soothe headaches, whereas Traditional Chinese Medicine used ginseng to boost energy and...
The Harmful Effects of Chronic Stress
Everyone has a stress set point. In other words, your early childhood events imprint your corticotropin-releasing hormone, the peptide hormone involved in the stress response, at a certain level. This set point, or the programming in the emotional brain, determines how you typically react to stressors.Although this programming can feel as though its ingrained for life, it can be changed...
4 Tips to Improving Your Posture with Embodied Mindfulness
What is it about hunkering in front of a computer all day that’s so exhausting? It’s a wonder that a sedentary activity can cause your body so much fatigue but sitting up straight for hours at a stretch is undeniably backbreaking.As a result, technology-related posture aches and pains like rounded shoulders, hunched backs, tight hip flexors, and the dreaded “text...
8 Health Benefits of Cumin
Did you know cumin has many health benefits? Learn how to use this simple spice to improve your health from the experts at Chopra.
Do You Need a Wellness Vacation?
Do you ever want to press the reset button? Start fresh and get back to you? If a little rejuvenation and renewal sound good right about now, then a wellness vacation might be just what you need. What is a wellness vacation? Isn’t that redundant? Isn’t a vacation, a period of leisure and recreation, already attending to your well-being and...
Exploring Saucha: The Purity of Mind, Body, and Intention
Thanks to Marie Kondo and her Konmari Method, decluttering and finding what “sparks joy” is all the rage right now. Of course, spiritual practices around cleanliness and order are age-old practices, and the yogic teachings found in the Yoga Sutra contain powerful inspiration for how to create an inner environment for peace, joy, and freedom.Saucha means cleanliness or purity, and...
Do You Need a Metabolic Makeover?
Do you start off running with a brand-new diet each year only to lose steam after the first couple of weeks? Are you in a constant conversation with your bathroom scale that can either uplift or depress how you feel each day?Your metabolism keeps you energized and moving. If it slows, you are likely to feel its effects on your...
Nutrient Deficiencies Linked to Fatigue and How to Increase Energy Through Food
Is it a struggle to get out of bed in the morning? Do you find yourself saying no to activities because you don’t have the energy? Have you found that you crash frequently and need to take a nap to get through the day?If you frequently feel exhausted even after sleeping through the night, hit that afternoon slump daily, or...
5 Ways Cacao Benefits Your Body, Mind, and Soul
While you may have thought you needed a good excuse to enjoy a piece of dark chocolate, the truth is the delightful and ancient superfood ingredient found in high-quality dark chocolate, known as cacao, has more to offer your health than you may realize.In ancient texts, cacao was described as a sacred superfood, often referred to as food of the...
10 Easy Lifestyle Changes to Improve Your Mental Health
You were likely taught at a young age how to maintain your physical health. You were told to exercise, eat clean, and steer clear of junk food. Mental health and self-care, however, received less attention.Fortunately, discussing mental health in today’s world is less stigmatized than in years past, with many prioritizing it as highly as they do their physical health....
6 Reasons Why You Need a Health Coach
’Tis the season where you may envision a new year filled with health, renewed energy, honed habits, and hope for feeling your best. While you aspire to transform your health, you may have also found, through past attempts, that you have been left confused, deflated, and scattered with your general direction.You are not alone. You may be confused about which...
10 Habits to Help You Lose Weight and Keep It Off
To lose weight and keep it off, you must be willing to make changes. While there are multiple factors beyond your control that can affect your ability to lose weight (including genetics, race, and age), there is plenty you can do to experience the transformation you desire. Are you ready to make wellness changes that stick?Creating the right kind of...
Transform Winter into a Restorative Season
With the holiday season behind you, pause for a moment to reflect on how you experience winter. Was your holiday activity so frenetic that you wound up exhausted? Did you go through an annual cycle where you felt more stressed than uplifted, much less rested? Some people get the winter blues or even suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) due...
7 Steps to Embracing Mind-Body Wholeness in the New Year
If you want next year to be better than ever, you need to think about making changes—meaning improvements—in your life. Instead of picking out a single bad habit or negative part of your life, which is how the vast majority of people approach New Year’s resolutions, do something different: go into the whole issue of how people actually change—or don’t....
3 Steps for Achieving Your Health Goals in the New Year
The New Year is often revered as a special time to make changes in your life for the good, turn over a new leaf, and set some productive goals for your health and more. Some of the more common New Year’s health goals include: Getting a gym membership Losing weight Eating healthier Doing more yoga Over the years, you have...
3 Ways to Strengthen Your Bones
A meaningful yoga sutra reads Sthira sukham asanum. This Sanskrit phrase translates to “steadiness and ease within posture.” The movement portion of yoga, asana, focuses on building a strong foundation—an aligned, steady body, which only then is capable of fluid and easy movement.The bones are your most basic element of structure and stability. Not only do bones create the framework...
3 Strategies to Remain Centered During the Holidays
The holidays are here! This may be your favorite time of the year, celebrating with loved ones and taking a pause form your busy and hectic life. However, the holidays can be stressful as well, giving rise to emotions as varied as loneliness and grief, and to feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Family gatherings can be downright stressful and emotionally draining!Here...
The Impact of Holiday Stress on the Mind and Body
‘Tis the season for joyful gatherings with family, remembering your blessings, and celebrations. But it can also be a season full of expectations and stress as you scramble to deck the halls, bake endless batches of cookies, and pick out the perfect presents. Even festive demands create stress on the mind and body; understanding the way that your body copes...
5 Benefits of Moving Your Body Every Day
Learn more about the everyday benefits of movement from Chopra with everything from better mood to an improved sex life.
The Mind-Body Impact of Anger—and How to Control it
Have you ever noticed that the strong feelings you associate with negative emotions like anger and jealousy have the ability to grab your attention again and again over hours, days, weeks, or sometimes years? Meanwhile, the so-called positive emotions like joy and contentment simply fade away? What is it about some emotions that make them seem so much more powerful...
3 Steps to a Stress-Free Thanksgiving
As the leaves turn into autumn’s golden and crimson glory, and the weather has you cozying up for colder days and nights, it’s likely you sense Thanksgiving is right around the corner. While the festive gatherings and communal feasts sound enticing and celebratory, there is often a prevailing holiday question: How can you make peace with your plate this year?Spanning...
3 Ways Music Can Heal and Transform
Music is a holy place, a cathedral so majestic that we can sense the magnificence of the universe, and also a hovel so simple and private that none of us can plumb its deepest secrets.–Don Campbell, author of The Mozart EffectA fundamental aspect of the human experience is the art and science of music. Existing far into the depths of...
5 Healing Modalities That Could Change Your Life
There are many types of healing one goes through, be it mental, spiritual, or physical. Learn how these 5 traditional practices can heal and rejuvenate.
6 Secrets to Maintain Youthful Energy
According to data from the World Bank, people are living longer than ever. Average life expectancy worldwide increased from 52 years in 1960, to 72 years in 2016 (for males and females). While the added time seems innately like a blessing, some may find it a curse. With age and experience comes the various trials of life: changing jobs, retiring,...
7 Natural Ways To Address Acid Reflux
Acid reflux is a common medical condition. While medication is a common treatment, there are some natural ways you can try. The experts at Chopra have 7 natural ways to help treat acid reflux.
The New Science of Positive Aging
Although many believe it's the years in your life, it’s actually the life in your years. As your life expectancy improves so does the amount of pressure you can feel as you attempt to keep living well for as long as possible.According to 2014 U.S. government data, it is realistic to expect up to 20 years of living, laughing, loving,...
7 Reasons You Should Sweat Every Day
Sweating is unavoidable, especially during the hot days of summer. You may try your best to avoid it, especially since it can be accompanied by an odor that may be unpleasant. However, despite its accompanying annoyances, sweating does more than simply keep you cool.The use of sweating as a potential healing tool has been embraced for years by cultures around...
How to Improve Gut Health with Natural Probiotics
When you sit down to a meal or grab a quick snack, you are not just eating for your health, but you are also eating for the health of your microbiome. Your microbiome, the ecosystem of microbes living primarily in your digestive tract, is a delicate and wise system that is responsible for governing almost every system in your body....
How Practicing Self-Care Can Improve Every Aspect of Your Life
Turbulence. Chaos. Frustration. These words may describe your days. You are over-stimulated, frenzied, stressed, exhausted, fatigued, and desperate as you attempt to cope with the challenges of modern life. If this sounds all too familiar, you’re not alone. You live in a culture of compulsive over activity—a society driven to work harder, faster, and longer to accomplish more in less...
10 Tips on the Benefits of Drinking Lemon Water
Check out our ten tips on the benefits of hot lemon water and why you should start incorporating it into your daily life.
Reducing Inflammation Starts with the Vagus Nerve
Learn about the vagus nerve and how it plays a role in inflammation. Learn vagus nerve massages and other ways to naturally reduce inflammation.
Mind-Body Benefits of Houseplants: 5 Plants That Don’t Require a Green Thumb
Even the most devoted city dwellers can find tranquility in a sunset, stand awestruck at the base of a snowcapped mountain range, and breathe a little deeper in the presence of gentle ocean waves.Modern life leads many people to spend their days inside—looking at computer screens behind concrete walls. Americans spend so much time as indoor animals (up to 90...
How to Live a Healthy Life with Celiac Disease
You may have heard about celiac disease more often in recent years due to the rise in gluten-free diets and the growing availability of gluten-free products. But what is celiac disease?Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition that can develop when people with a genetic predisposition to the disease consumes gluten. When someone with celiac disease eats gluten, the body reacts...
Managing Menopause: Lifestyle and Nutrition Changes to Ease Symptoms
Hormones are chemical messengers that are released by different glands and travel through the bloodstream to influence organs and processes throughout the body. The endocrine system is made up of glands such as the thyroid, adrenals, pituitary, ovaries, testes, and pancreas, which work together to control the levels of different hormones and help the body function and maintain balance.Each woman...
What Is the Secret to a Healthy Gut Microbiome?
Most of us were taught that to stay healthy, we need to avoid bacteria, viruses, and other microbes. This has led many people to take hygiene vigilance too far, with the constant use of hand sanitizers, household disinfectants, and other antibacterial products. While being clean is beneficial, the attempt to create a sterile environment can weaken our immune system and...
13 Health Conditions Linked to the Gut Microbiome
Almost two decades ago, the term “gut microbiome” was coined to describe the trillions of microbes that reside in your gut. Scientists once thought that these microbes were just hitching a ride and you’d be better off without them. However, we now know they are critical to your overall health and wellness.Clocking in at 3 to 5 pounds, your gut...
How to Design a Customized Self-Care Routine for You
Self-care has become quite the buzzword. Hashtags such as #selfcare or #selfcaresunday pepper social media feeds as people display activities, quotes, foods, etc., that reflect their “self-care” lifestyle. Numerous books and magazine articles are dedicated to this trending topic. It’s overwhelming, with the amount of information available, to figure out what this is really about and if it’s something you...
Chronic Stress and Inflammation: The Hidden Culprits Behind Disease and How to Eliminate Them
We all face stress at work. No matter what kind of job you have, every day brings minor hassles such as traffic jams, boring commutes, computer breakdowns, short-tempered clients, sensory overload, and tight deadlines. Sometimes you barely notice you’re living with chronic stress because you’ve learned to adapt to it. Feeling tired, distracted, irritated, and plagued by a nagging sense...
4 Steps for Lifelong Energy
Despite all the standard advice about exercise – much of it is very worthwhile – the issue of having energy all your life runs deeper than just getting more exercise. At present, more than half of young adults regularly exercise, in contrast to the obesity epidemic that is occurring at the same time, but there's a steady decline in exercise...
10 Things You Can Learn from Your Poop
Hardly a day goes by without a research study or article being published about the gut microbiome. When it comes to cutting-edge innovations in medicine, all signs point to the microbiome. As Hippocrates said, “All disease begins in the gut.”The central location of your microbiome is your gut, which contains trillions microbes. If you want to optimize your health, bio...
3 Lifestyle Hacks to Dampen Inflammation
Inflammation is a natural and needed process in the body; it is part of an effective immune system response. The body uses beneficial acute inflammatory reactions to direct blood flow, immune cells, and nutrients to areas in need of healing, such as wounds and infections. But when inflammation gets out of hand or occurs in the wrong place, it can...
5 Lessons for Focusing on Community from Those Who Live to 100
In the past three articles in this series, we learned about people who live in Blue Zones (areas in the world where there is a high rate of centenarians) and how cultivating a healthy diet, having a purpose, and staying active are all factors that are involved in their longevity.This series of articles is based on a 2004 study led...
Spring Reset for Your Home, Body, and Mind
Spring is a time of renewal and cleansing, making it the perfect season for deep cleaning the house and organizing desk drawers. But why stop there?While a clean and organized living space can be beneficial on its own, the same cleansing principals can be applied to your body and mind. And what better time for restoration than after winter when...
What to Look for in a Good Doctor
Everyone is a patient and healer in some respect. Your body is constantly breaking down and repairing itself whether you realize it or not. If you have ever been to a doctor, whether for yourself or for a loved one, you know there are as many types of doctors as there are patients. Each doctor has a unique personality (rapport),...
8 Ways to Overcome Belly Bloating
Are you tired of walking around feeling bloated? You feel bloated in your belly when air or gas is trapped in your gastrointestinal tract. It can be uncomfortable, frustrating, and even embarrassing to experience on a daily basis. Sometimes bloating can be an internal feeling of feeling full in the lower abdomen while other times there is physical distension that...
Is Matcha Good for You?
Matcha (from the Japanese roots matsu, “to rub,” and cha, meaning “tea”) comes from Japan and has been enjoyed for thousands of years. Today it’s the hip health trend in town.Matcha is derived from the green tea leaves of the camellia sinesis plant. This is the same plant used to make green tea. However, matcha leaves are not steeped and...
The Side Effects of Worrying—and What to Do Instead
Mild levels of worry can be helpful as you prep for what’s to come. But if you’re reaching worrywart levels, how does worrying affect the body?
Coping with Weight Means Coping with Life
Eating is a natural part of digestive rhythms set in your genes, largely controlled by two hormones, leptin and ghrelin. When these hormones are in balance, the alternation between being hungry and being satisfied is also in balance. But these simple facts about the physiology are beside the point when weight becomes a problem.A Whole-System Approach to Weight ControlThe real...
5 Lessons for Staying Active from Those Who Live to 100
There are many factors that can go into a long, healthy life—and what better place to start than by adopting the habits from those already living a long and healthy life? Let’s take a look at the exercise habits practiced by people living happily into their hundreds, in parts of the world known as “Blue Zones.”The StudyIn the past two...
A Better Answer to Chronic Stress
If an epidemic is defined as a disease that affects whole populations without having a medical cure, then the epidemic of modern life is stress.Stress itself is not a disease, but it instead leads to a breakdown in the body's internal balance, or homeostasis, and from that point onward, if the stress isn't relieved, damage occurs from within. Ironically, most...
The Do's and Don'ts of an Anti-Inflammatory Diet
Inflammation has always been a medical mystery, but now it has become an enemy of long-term health. On the one hand, when your skin turns red, swollen, and painful after you burn yourself, which triggers acute inflammation, the response is normal and beneficial. Extra red blood cells, immune cells, and antioxidants are rushing to the wounded site to heal it....
Loneliness Harms Your Health: Here’s How to Find Meaningful Connections
The desire for meaningful social connections is inherent in human nature. Loneliness or perceived isolation results in difficult and painful emotions that arise when a person experiences a discrepancy between her desired and actual social relationships.Loneliness is pervasive. Since 1980, the percentage of American adults older than 45 years who say they are lonely has doubled from 20 percent to...
3 Ways to Improve Your Sleep Cycles During Winter
According to the Ayurvedic calendar, winter is ruled by the Vata dosha. Vata combines the earth elements of air and ether, or space. The cold and dark days of winter are often characterized by feelings of dryness, fast-paced movement, and lightness—all qualities of Vata’s earth elements.Individuals with an already-strong Vata constitution may find it difficult to get good sleep during...
8 Ways to Combat Dehydration
When planning your nutrition, the focus is often on making healthy food choices and fluid intake can be easily forgotten. With so many beverage options to choose from it can be easy to drink beverages that do not provide your body with adequate hydration. Or, it’s possible that you might forget to drink fluids altogether, because you’re just too busy.Adequate...
How to Be Your Own Medical Advocate
When the average person goes to the doctor, shows up at the ER, or enters the hospital, the possibility of controlling what happens next is minimal. We put ourselves in the hands of the medical machine, which in reality rests upon individual people—doctors, nurses, physician’s assistants, and so on. Human behavior involves lapses and mistakes, and these get magnified in...
5 Reasons Hibernating During Winter Is Good for You
The winter blahs can certainly get you feeling sleepy, lethargic, and downright uninspired. It’s cold and dark, and people tend to get worn down from the holiday festivities. Rather than fighting the feeling that tells you to hibernate, why not listen to your body?According to Ayurvedic doctor Virender Sodhi, “Your body is nature's pharmacy, it has everything you need to...
Sleep, the Miracle Drug that Resets Your Body and Mind
The following is an excerpt from the new book by Suhas G. Kshirsagar BAMS, MD—Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life.In sleep labs all over the world, researchers study the body’s response to rest. They look at the correlation between sleep and mood, weight management, and cognitive function. Groups of people may share similar sleep characteristics. Shift workers, for example, are...
Sleep: The Most Overlooked Key to Vibrant Health
Getting abundant, restful sleep is one of the best ways to improve your physical health and emotional well-being. As you slumber, your body may seem inert, but in fact, it’s actively engaging in many processes to repair and renew itself, such as: Eliminating accumulated stress and physical toxins, including the amyloid that can build up in the brain and lead...
Smiling Is Powerful Medicine: Research on How Smiling Can Improve Your Health, and Relationships
No matter where you find yourself on this planet or what language you speak, you’ll know a smile when you see one. While cross-cultural studies reveal slightly different meanings ascribed to smiling, they appear throughout the lifespan of all human (and some non-human) beings. Scientists have identified three different kinds of authentic smiles as well as identified the traits of...
Develop Health Resolutions with the Help of These 5 Intentions
Typically, New Year’s resolutions describe an end goal. Common goals are to drink more water, lose weight, eat more vegetables, or exercise more. While health goals centered around specific actions may work temporarily, you often finish the year feeling somewhat behind the eight ball. You have done the action, but now what?This season, try shifting your New Year’s resolution to...
Circadian Rhythms and Your Internal Clock: 4 Ways to Sync with the Winter Season
The winter blahs are not all in your head! The time of year between the winter holidays and the rebirth of spring can bring them on. Shifting seasons, less daylight, and colder weather lead to more time spent indoors, and a tendency to be less active can push your mood, hormones, and mindset out of balance.There are biological and physiological...
8 Routine Habits That May Be Stressing You Out
With the chaos across the globe and in your everyday life, it can be easy to overlook seemingly minor stressors. Sometimes it’s easy to identify the daily habits that induce stress such as consuming large quantities of caffeine, overloading on processed foods, or overscheduling appointments and activities to the point of burnout. But often the daily habits that heighten stress...
5 Positive Holiday Tips for Those in Recovery
It is not unusual for those in recovery to feel both excited and anxious about the holiday season. Right now, you are healing your mind and your body. You want to remain on this healing journey without any interferences.Recovery can mean something different to each person overcoming addiction. One way to aid in the process is to follow the R.E.C.O.V.E.R.Y....
The Benefits of Therapeutic Breast Massage
Breast health is too often ignored until after a problem arises. It’s an area of the body with powerful associations that sometimes makes women hesitant to seek care, despite the fact that the vast majority of them experience breast discomfort at some point. Whether it’s breast congestion, abnormalities such as lumps or cysts, diagnostic tests, or surgical procedures, any breast...
Eating for Wholeness and Emotional Well-Being
There are different entry points on the path toward emotional well-being. Since each individual is unique, what works for you may not work for someone else. One thing that is consistent, however, is the need to keep your body healthy to help you move through all life’s experiences with strength and beauty.Humans are complex beings and you must honor that...
Top Aromatherapy Blends for Fall
Brisk fall days can spark a hankering for spiced chai lattes and freshly baked apple pie. They can beckon you to wander outside, take in a breath of crisp, earthy air, and feel the crunch of leaves under your feet as you meander along a street or trail­.You can savor the sensory experiences of fall by bringing their aromas indoors...
7 Homeopathic Remedies for Your First-Aid Kit
Whether you’re feeling the onset of a cold or looking for a natural topical for a insect bite, homeopathic remedies can help you. Keep these homeopathic care ideas.
Cancer Prevention: How Mind, Body, and Medicine Creates Optimism
Cancer is viewed as a unique kind of threat because of the dread it inspires, but in many ways we’ve reached a tipping point where hope and optimism are replacing fear. A healing lifestyle that includes meditation, dietary changes, and a more serious approach to stress is key. Let me go into some detail because cancer is such an important,...
How to Reverse the Effects of Chronic Stress
Acute stress, which is short term and the most common form of stress, can be motivating and some even find it exciting when experienced in low doses. Chronic stress, however, provides zero positive advantages. On the contrary, it can wreak havoc on your body and mind.Fortunately, you don’t have to fall victim to the effects of chronic stress, regardless of...
7 Lifestyle Shifts to Harness Your Body's Wisdom to Feel Vibrant
Imagine if you had, within your body, every prescription you needed to feel healthy, vibrant, and energized. Great news: Just like Glinda the Good Witch said in The Wizard of Oz, “You're capable of more than you know.”The first step in harnessing your body’s natural pharmacy is to look for obstacles to good health in your lifestyle or environment; recognize...
A Before-Bed Routine for Restful Sleep
According to happiness researcher Gretchen Rubin, what you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while. Since you go to sleep every day (well, late-night study sessions, new parenthood, and the occasional all-nighter aside), how you go to bed can make a huge difference in the quality of sleep you get.Getting a good night’s sleep...
6 Myths About Aging: How to View Maturing in a Positive Light
Aging is a natural process in life. Every single day you are older than you were the day before. Stereotypes about aging would have you believe that as you get older your health suffers, you become a burden to your families, your sleep patterns change, your mind is less sharp and flexible, and you become grumpier.According to Mark Twain, “Age...
Dos and Don’ts of Sun Exposure: How to Protect Your Skin
As the days get longer, nature beckons you outside for a summer full of fun. The sun invites you to sit, relax, and play in its warmth. Your family and friends get together on the beach, in your backyard, or at a local park for hours on end. Life is good, and it’s natural to want to embrace as much...
5 Signs You’re Working Too Hard Toward Your Health Goals
During a routine visit, your doctor tells you that you have high blood pressure. Panic-stricken, you join a gym, buy an annual pass to a yoga studio, and hire a nutritionist. After doing all of those things, you take your blood pressure, and it’s even higher than before. You ask yourself, “What is happening? I’m determined to lower my blood...
Addiction Recovery: Meditation and Yoga for Healing
Many individuals recovering from addiction feel they’ve lost touch with how their minds and bodies feel, because addiction serves as a way to numb and disconnect you from your mind and body.Many studies have observed the effect of yoga and meditation on the fight-or-flight response, which is the body’s natural reaction to stressful and life-threatening situations. While this response is...
How to Use Stress to Your Advantage
Stress is usually characterized as an unpleasant and unwelcome feeling that expresses itself both physically and mentally. The effects of stress range from irritability and anxiety to raised blood pressure and heart disease. When you think of stress in these terms, it’s no wonder you spend so much time trying to manage or avoid it altogether.But what if, instead of...
Quit These 5 Habits to Help Reduce Anxiety
Nervousness, panic attacks, road rage, and feelings of sadness plague more Americans than you might think. According to CCHR International, 36 million Americans were taking anti-anxiety drugs and 41 million Americans were taking antidepressants in 2014.Anxiety disorders are the most common form of mental illness in the U.S., and many people don’t seek help because they are uncertain of how...
Can Lifestyle Changes Reduce Your Risk of Heart Attack?
Doing what you can to prevent heart attacks, strokes, and death is an important endeavor in your pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. And often, lowering your cholesterol is part of that conversation with your doctor or medical practitioner. However, the first step to take when assessing the importance of lowering your cholesterol is to identify your primary goal. For instance,...
The Power of the Brain-Gut Connection: 5 Ways to Combat Stress’ Impact on Digestion
If you have ever “choked under pressure” or felt your “stomach in knots” when faced with a difficult decision, you are familiar with the powerful ways in which stress can influence digestion. Emotions create physiological changes in your body, and stress is no exception. In broad terms, stress refers to any real or perceived threat or demand. Such stressors elicit...
Spring Cleaning: 5 Ways to Renew Your Mind and Body
Spring cleaning is a ritual some people enjoy and others skip, but whatever your attitude might be, spring is a time of renewal and freshness. Your body is programmed by evolution to sense the awakening of spring, but what about your mind? Mind and body are intimately connected, so spring is already affecting your whole system. In short, you are...
The Caregiver’s Guide to Self-Care: Part II
In my part one of this guide, I discussed some of the lessons I learned about caring for myself while caring for my grandfather. Here is the second half of the guide, highlighting five more self-care tips.Engage in Uplifting ActivitiesThere is a quote by Walt Whitman that states, “Keep your face toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind...
The Caregiver’s Guide to Self-Care: Part I
“Never give from the depths of your well, but from your overflow.”--RumiAt 22 I decided to put my career on hold and return home to take care of my grandfather who was struggling with Parkinson’s disease and dementia. I devoted my life to his daily care, determined he would not end up in a nursing home, surrounded by strangers. He...
How to Make Self-Care a Priority
Throughout life, you’re taught to extend love outwards—to be kind to others, to share, to shower others with compassion, empathy, and generosity. Yet, when it comes to directing all those gifts to yourself, it often feels less natural. If you’re inclined to live your life with feelings of guilt, shame, and perhaps self-loathing, it can be challenging to replace that...
How to Improve Your Mood with a Healthy Gut
Your mood can be affected by a variety of factors, including thought patterns, chemical imbalances, and sleep quality. But what about your gut? While you may not think of your gut as a vital contributor to how you feel, research is increasingly suggesting that perhaps you should.One theory gaining traction in the medical community is that your gut can function...
Understanding the Differences Between White and Brown Fat
The term “fat” often has a negative connotation these days, but fat doesn’t have to be something that’s negative. The key is understanding how your body uses fat to function properly.Body weight, body proportions, and being “overweight” can mean many things for different people and cultures. Being overweight used to be a sign of privilege (i.e., you were wealthy enough...
Do Probiotics Really Work?
Can supplementing with probiotics really help reduce belly bloat and IBS symptoms? How do you know which ones are good and which ones are a waste of money?Well—to be frank, our poop and all the bugs that live in there are the great new frontier in medicine. Who knew!? The health of the 100 trillion bugs in your gut (which...
Can the Mediterranean Diet Save Your Life?
There always seems to be a “diet du jour” out there. In the ’70s and ’80s, it was Atkins; in the ’90s and early 2000s, it was South Beach. Today, people are embracing variations of the Paleo or Caveman diet, the Whole30 program, and dietary approaches that depend on protein shakes and vitamin supplements.While some of these diets can, in...
4 Myths About Dieting and Weight Loss
When it comes to overall health and weight loss, there’s an excess of advice out there. Unfortunately, most of it is terrible, misguided, outdated, and scientifically disproven.This ubiquitously poor advice can create weight-loss roadblocks and even damage your health. Here are four prevalent misguided myths that drive me nuts.Myth #1: All Calories are Created EqualA calorie is a calorie, right?...
5 Healthy Habits to Adopt in the New Year
You can probably think of a daily habit you perform—perhaps it’s checking Twitter first thing every morning or taking a shower before bed. Whatever the habit may be, it is typically automatic, meaning you don’t give it much thought, if any at all.Luckily, as a human, you have the ability to choose which habits you’d like to adopt and which...
Epigenetics: 6 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Genes
This is the time to make next year successful in advance through important decisions that will last and actually work. Traditionally, the New Year prompts all kinds of resolutions (which only 8 percent of people keep, according to Forbes magazine), but almost no one, I imagine, resolves to improve their genes.The fact that this is even possible might sound mysterious,...
What You Need to Know About Osteoporosis
The human body is remarkable. It’s constantly replacing dying cells with new cells in order to maintain function and keep you as healthy as possible. The living tissue inside your body keeps everything running smoothly, and your bone is no exception. As a living tissue, your bone can both increase and decrease in quality. Osteoporosis occurs when there is an...
5 Ways to Build Mental Stamina Over the Holidays
The holiday season is often referred to as the most wonderful time of the year. There are countless holiday songs and movies that remind you of the joy you should be feeling from November through the New Year.But if these annual reminders fully expressed the sentiments of its listening audience, it would acknowledge not just the joyous part of the...
7 Strategies for a Happy, Healthy Holiday Season
The holidays are a wonderful time of year with joy, cheer, and gratitude in abundance. Everywhere you look, people seem to be in high spirits: being kind to one another, taking time to pause and reflect, and taking care of those less fortunate.On the flip slide, the holidays can also become a source of overwhelm with work parties, buying gifts,...
How to Use Aromatherapy for Optimized Health and Well-Being
It’s no secret that scent can have a powerful effect on your life. Just a hint of a particular aroma can conjure memories—both good and bad. It can even have a physical effect on you, depending on what you associate with that aroma.It’s why cultures for centuries have used the sense of smell as a pathway to encourage health and...
4 Aromatherapy Recipes to Boost Your Immune System
With colder climates creeping, it’s the perfect time to explore new ways to boost your immune system against the common cold, flu, and other respiratory ailments.While there are many products on the market that address these issues, aromatherapy offers a natural way to soothe and protect yourself.Aromatherapy is an incredible healing art and science, supporting and enhancing immunity and mind-body...
6 Powerful Ways to Activate Your Genes for Good Health
For decades, medical scientists believed that genes determined our biological destiny. If cancer, heart disease, or diabetes were part of our family history, developing these diseases seemed inevitable. However, thanks to a growing body of genetic research, we now know that genes are not our destiny. While we can’t alter the structure of our genes or the sequence of our...
5 Ways Meditation May Reduce Your Risk of Cancer
Nearly every person has experienced cancer in some way. Whether you have had a bout with cancer yourself or have known someone who has, one thing is for sure, cancer has become a prevalent world problem.According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. While there are many things that can purportedly lower your risk...
4 Common Sources of Fatigue—and How to Re-energize
Fatigue is a lack of energy, motivation, and/or concentration. The all-too-worn-out phrase, “it takes energy to make energy,” gets at the crux of the “chicken or egg” problem. How can such a nebulous word hold so much power over you? You would think that just as a day only has 24 hours, you too only have so much energy at...
Garbage In, Garbage Out: How to Fuel Your Body and Mind
Fueling your body and your mind is something you do every single day. Most of us are consuming three meals a day. The average American consumes 15.5 hours of media each day. With obesity and stress levels rising, how can you optimize what you use to fuel your body and mind as a way to strengthen health and restore peace?4...
Physical Pain as a Teacher: 5 Life Practices
We all experience physical pain at some point in our lives. The pain could be acute from a broken bone, or it could be ongoing from a serious, chronic condition. Often, pain can produce a tremendous amount of suffering, but it can also be a catalyst for growth and wisdom. Here are five practices that can help reduce unnecessary suffering...
Infographic: 10 Ways to De-Stress Your Mind and Body
There’s good stress and there’s bad stress. Do you know the difference? And how are you dealing yours? Learn 10 tried-and-true tactics to manage your stress, so you can get on the path to living a healthy and balanced life.infographic-10-ways-to-de-stress-your-mind-and-body.jpgThis infographic was created with Visme
The Importance of Vitamin D
Are you getting enough vitamin D? According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, two thirds of the U.S. population was deficient in vitamin D from 2001 to 2006. And this is a vitamin you don’t want to be deficient in: Vitamin D not only helps keep your bones strong, it also plays a role in the...
7 Toxins in Personal Products You Should Avoid
The average American is exposed to more than 100 chemicals from the cosmetics and other personal care products they use each morning, according to Harvard’s School of Public Health. Unfortunately, labels such as “natural,” “botanical” or “made with organic ingredients” don’t necessarily mean the products are safe because these terms have no legal definition. Furthermore, in the United States, the...
5 Reasons to Spend More Time Outside
During your childhood, the comforting embrace of the great outdoors may have been the only place you wanted to be. Maybe you couldn’t wait to wake up on a weekend morning or get home from school so you could flee from the indoors and explore that ditch behind your house, toss a ball in the park, or watch caterpillars inch...
6 Ways to Maintain Your Post-Cleanse Euphoria
The feeling during and soon after completing a cleanse can be quite euphoric. Abundance of energy, better digestion, clearer skin, and restful sleep are just a few of the many benefits experienced. Though, if you’re not on a regimented routine of healthy eating, this euphoria may dwindle when you return to your daily life. We all want to feel this...
Environmental Detox: Cleaning Product Safety
You may have a clean home with shiny countertops and fragrant air—but, if you use standard cleaning products, at what cost? The chemicals you find in average household cleaning products are nothing to smirk at. In 2014, poison control centers in the United States served 2.2 million people who were exposed to dangerous chemicals—and household cleaners tied as the second...
5 Environmental Toxins and How to Reduce Your Exposure
Toxins exist everywhere—from air to food to furniture. While it’s impossible to eliminate all exposure to toxins, you can increase your awareness of what you’re potentially being exposed to, and how you can limit your exposure. The following five toxins are commonly found in homes and communities. Note that this is not a comprehensive list of toxins, nor a comprehensive...
Eating Seasonally for Your Dosha, Plus 3 Springtime Recipes
The ancient Ayurvedic text, Sushrita Samhita, states: “He whose doshas are in balance, whose appetite is good…and whose Self, mind, and senses remain full of bliss, is called a healthy person.” Eating specific foods can help balance your dosha—and so can eating according to the season. As you move into springtime, explore these time-honored diet tips that can help you...
7 Health Benefits of Owning a Pet
There are few things better than coming home from a stressful day at work to an excited dog or cat that is able to provide you with the comfort and support you so desperately seek. Whether you’re at your best or feeling your absolute worst, pets always remain right by your side. More than just a furry, loyal companion, pets...
8 Ways to Improve Your Sleep Habits
Sleep is critical for good health and well-being. However, due to our busy lifestyles, millions of us do not get enough sleep—a problem that can lead to lack of attention, irritability, digestive issues, poor judgement, and drowsiness during the day.Sleep deficiency has also been linked to more serious physical health issues, including diabetes, high blood pressure, immune deficiencies, increased risk...
5 Tips to Energize Your Way into Spring
The spring season is a time of renewal and rejuvenation. As beautiful spring flowers slowly emerge from the earth, humans, too, must slowly emerge from the heaviness of winter and embrace this season of sunshine and blossoms. Now is the perfect time to integrate the lightness and energy of spring into your body, mind, and spirit, and like a rebirth,...
Non-Surgical Ways to Manage Knee Osteoarthritis
If you have osteoarthritis (OA) in your knees, you’re not alone. Of the weight-bearing joints, knees are the most commonly affected; by age 85, nearly one in every two people may develop symptomatic knee OA. There are lifestyle, diet, and supplement choices that can help keep your knees as healthy as possible (see 3 Considerations for Maintaining Healthy, Happy Joints)....
The Mindfulness Diet: The Link between Mindfulness, Blood Sugar, and Weight
Do you struggle with maintaining a healthy weight and a balanced relationship with food? Almost every week, a new diet emerges in the media, proclaiming a quick fix and promising better health. These are hard to ignore when we’re on a mission to shed pounds.Unfortunately, most fad diets don’t address the underlying mindset and ingrained habits that can trigger your...
Low-Level Laser Therapy: Healing Benefits and Risks
Do you wear long sleeves, sunscreen, and sunglasses to protect yourself from the sun? Despite the highly publicized hazards of sunlight exposure, using sunlight as a healing therapy dates back to ancient civilizations in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, when individuals would sunbathe to heal certain conditions.Today, the sun is not the only source for healing light. Targeted light therapies, such...
3 Considerations for Maintaining Happy, Healthy Joints
Located throughout your body, joints play a key role in your mobility and overall well-being. While a variety of factors can affect your joints, such as injuries, inflammation, muscle atrophy, and overuse, there are things that you can do to protect your joints and prevent degeneration. The following lifestyle, diet, and supplement recommendations could help keep your joints healthy for...
Functional Medicine: What’s All the Hype?
Do you feel that taking pills doesn’t solve the underlying issue, and want to work with a practitioner who thinks the same way? Fortunately, a growing number of clinicians are practicing functional medicine (FM): an evidence-based clinical approach that addresses the environmental influences and imbalances that underlie disease—with the idea that when these are addressed, the body can return to...
5 Strategies to Help Balance Your Thyroid
The thyroid gland is small, yet it has a mighty impact on every cell in your body. It secretes hormones that influence metabolism, bone growth, temperature regulation, mental clarity, and more.Unfortunately, thyroid dysfunction is extremely common—experienced by approximately 20 million Americans. Many cases go undiagnosed. Symptoms can range from fatigue and weight gain (from an underactive thyroid) to irritability and...
How to Make Cleansing and Detoxing Part of Your Life
The value of pure food, water, and air has become increasingly evident in today’s society. With this newfound attitude, we have become more conscious than ever about toxins. The human body is almost miraculously efficient at removing chemical and bacterial toxins from the bloodstream. The kidneys and the immune system, which do this invaluable work, don't exist in isolation, however....
The Role of Energy and Stress in Fertility
It’s easy to become obsessed with your diet, temperature, and ovulation schedule when you’re trying to get pregnant.These things can actually exacerbate your infertility. We often rely on outside people and things to tell us what’s going on in our body—and that’s part of the problem.Energy is an overlooked area in fertility. And yet, it’s made all the difference for...
8 Acupressure Points to Relieve Headaches
Headaches are frequent cause for concern: Every 10 seconds, someone in the United States goes to the emergency room for a headache or migraine. The three most common types of headaches—tension headaches, cluster headaches, and migraines—can range from mild aches to a debilitating pains, and are often difficult to treat.While your primary focus may be to relieve the pain you...
Heal Your Gut with the 4R Program
An unhealthy gut doesn’t always mean digestive issues—symptoms range from fatigue to acne, the 4R program addresses underlying problems with this gut health protocol.
8 Acupressure Points to Reduce Stress
Long ago, when your hunter-gatherer ancestors came across a bear in the woods, they experienced what is now called stress: elevated heart rate, quick breathing, and tense muscles. This response quickened their reflexes, spurring them to fight or run—which would not only potentially save their lives, but also process the stress response out of their systems.Unfortunately, these days, you can’t...
7 Ways to Avoid the Winter Blahs
Whether you live in sunny California or you're buried under a foot of snow in Michigan, the winter blahs can make you want to hibernate. Winter causes a mild case of the blues in about 25 percent of people in the U.S. About 6 percent suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. People with the winter blues often have less energy and...
10 New Year’s Practices to Improve Your Emotional Health
As you reflect back on the past year, identify opportunities for taking your emotional health to the next level next year. It’s important to be aware that anytime you set an important goal and actively move toward it, you can come up against resistance, either from yourself or other people. Have you ever set a new goal and then heard...
5 Aromatherapy Recipes to End Holiday Stress
The spicy, sweet aromas of the holiday season can spark joyful memories, strong emotions, and big appetites. They can also offer health benefits. Pure essential oils such as cinnamon, clove, pine, orange, peppermint, and frankincense—all classic holiday scents—can help you weather seasonal stress.Essential oils are synergistic blends of chemical compounds that plants produce to defend themselves against pathogens and to...
Q&A with Dr. Weil: Why Do Women Live Longer than Men?
Question:I heard that men's life expectancy is catching up to women's. But I don't understand why women typically live longer than men. Is it a difference in lifestyles, or due to some kind of inbuilt genetic advantage?Answer:You ask an age-old question that modern science still hasn’t answered definitively. But we do know that among most animal species, females tend to...
How Your Genes Can Make You Happier
When people think about genes, they tend to apply the words “good” or “bad” to them. Someone with talent or unusual beauty "must have good genes," we say. And ourselves? Depending on how your life is going, you may thank your genes or feel victimized by them. Most of the time, however, the average person will assume that their genes...
How Gratitude Can Make You Healthier
The mind-body connection is quickly coming of age. We’ve moved from the early stage when researchers were challenged to prove that our thoughts affect our bodies. The next stage was focused on how toxic mental patterns can harm us. Now a new phase has dawned, where “positive psychology” is the main focus. Gratitude is the prefect example of positive psychology.In...
Gemstones: 3 Stones for Energizing, Calming, and Clarity
Energy is everywhere—even when you can’t see it. Everything in existence vibrates at a subatomic level, according to quantum physics. And at its core, is energy. Voice recordings, satellites, body scans, and heat can sense energy.There is a more basic way of sensing energy without the assistance of modern technology. Thousands of years ago, before our minds were cluttered with...
Seasonal Affective Disorder: 10 Ways to Stay Mentally Strong this Season
For many people, the autumn season represents the start of school, football games, and pumpkin-spiced lattes. For some, it can mark the beginning of a series of unpleasant symptoms associated with seasonal change.People can experience varying seasonal symptoms, including the “winter blues,” which can begin in the fall, and a clinical disorder known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or seasonal...
3 Healthy Habits to Help You Banish Stress
We all know how unpleasant and uncomfortable stress can feel, but just how unhealthy is it? While studies have shown short-term stress can help boost the immune system, chronic stress can have significant negative effects that leave us susceptible to illness.Let’s face it: we can’t eliminate stress completely. It’s part of being human. However, we don’t have to be helpless...
The Health Risks of Obesity, and How to Prevent Becoming Overweight
Being overweight or obese isn’t just a cosmetic issue. Both conditions put your health at risk and can contribute a number of diseases, including diabetes and cancer. That risk only increases in individuals who have a family history of health problems, have a sedentary lifestyle, smoke, or have an unhealthy diet.Despite the mounting research about the risks of excessive weight,...
Mindful Walking Practice: How to Get Started
After a long day sitting in an office, seated meditation might seem unappealing. On days when you want to get out into nature, try walking meditation instead.Walking meditation, also known as mindful walking, is an active practice that requires you to be consciously aware and moving in the environment rather than sitting down with your eyes closed. The practice brings...
Gut Instincts: Why Microbes and Probiotics Matter to Your Health
The digestive tract works like an assembly line in reverse. Instead of creating food, the digestive tract breaks it down into basic parts to make it easier to absorb and metabolize. As efficient as the digestive tract is, a large portion of the energy stored in food is not processed and metabolized by the human body. Undigested food travels through...
Microbiome 101: It`s a Small World After All
The microbiome is the world of microorganisms—too small to be seen without a microscope—that exists in our environment, as well as on, in, and within our body tissue.When the microbes on, or in, the body have established themselves as residents, they‘re considered the microbiome—the microbial populations in that environment. If you haven’t heard of the term microbiome before, add it...
The 4 Elements for Happier, Healthier Pets
If you’re a pet owner, you want them to be safe, healthy, and happy. And that means being aware of their environment.Pets are sensitive by nature; their environment can have a profound effect on their behavior and level of anxiety. Fortunately, pets respond quickly to positive environmental changes.Here are some tips that will balance the elements in your home environment...
What Happens to My Body on Hormone Birth Control?
When you use a hormone-based birth control method like the pill, the patch, or the ring, your body receives a controlled dose of two hormones: estrogen and progesterone. Together, they have the power to prevent ovulation while thinning the uterine lining (endometrium) to make it harder for the fertilized egg to attach. They also produce thickening of the cervical mucus,...
The Key to Staying Young: Flexible Mind, Flexible Body
Youth is as much an attitude as it is a number. With a more flexible mind and body, everyday living can be easier. Suddenly, the world is with—not against—you, and the years just fade away.These days, a flexible attitude and approach to living is more pertinent than ever. We’re living 15 to 20 years longer than previous generations. As Deepak...
Create an Outdoor Sanctuary in Your Own Backyard
From relaxing in the hammock to barbecuing or gardening, your yard becomes a sanctuary in summer. Whether you work or play outdoors, your surroundings can help foster your well-being beyond the benefits of fresh air. This summer, turn your outdoor space into an oasis of health for you and your family. The key is to balance the five elements—air, water,...
Do I Have to Medicate to Manage Menopause?
Few physiological processes in life generate so many expectations as menopause. It encompasses a range of changes, from physical and psychological to social and cultural.Menopause is the process by which the female ovaries cease the hormonal production of estrogen and progesterone, and therefore stop ovulating. Medically speaking, menopause is the absence of the menstrual period for over a year. The...
9 Mindful Activities to Get You Fit
For many people, the idea of getting fit is more of a chore than an inspiring or uplifting activity. With this mindset it’s easy to procrastinate or postpone a workout rather than to embrace the opportunity to actively strengthen and move your body. When you do eventually make it to the gym or get out for a walk or run,...
The Holistic Approach to Birth Control
Birth control is one of the most challenging decisions people have to make. Having all the information is key, here are some holistic birth control options.
How to Pick the Best Doctor for You
When choosing the right, or “best” physician, the first step is to remember that you’re choosing the best physician for you, as an individual. This takes into account your definition of health and your goals for healing and wellness. Your best physician is one who shares your perspective on health so that they can give you guidance and recommendations that...
5 Mind-Body Practices to Boost Your Energy
The mid-afternoon slump hits when your energy supply is exhausted and your tank is on empty. The activity of the day has begun to wane, along with your enthusiasm, vitality, and drive. The quick and easy fix for this decline in energy often comes in the form of a snack loaded with sugar or caffeine. A candy bar or espresso...
Are the Health Benefits of Alcohol Overhyped?
Ever since humans first started drinking fermented beverages, there probably has been debate about its benefits and its drawbacks. While it’s common knowledge that binge drinking and chronic overconsumption can lead to serious health and social issues, when it comes to moderate alcohol consumption, medical experts disagree. Some say that light drinking may be good for your health while others...
5 Ways to Reduce Inflammation
I wasn’t always an empowered participant in my health. But when I started connecting the dots between my diet and lifestyle, chronic inflammation, and disease, a light bulb turned on. Why? Because our daily choices are at the root of chronic inflammation. Over the past decade, I’ve renovated everything from my grocery cart to my makeup bag to my mind...
7 Healthy Habits to Help Prevent Postpartum Depression
One of the hardest things for a mom-to-be to hear is that after nine months of expecting what is supposed to be one of the most important and miraculous experiences in life, instead of feeling joyful, they might feel sad, anxious, or depressed, and unable to enjoy their newborn.Postpartum depression (PPD) is a condition where the new mom experiences some...
5 Ways to Be Happier
“Happy” is a challenging word. To some, it suggests spiritual bliss. To others, it indicates sensual pleasure. To me, it means a fundamental, persistent state of contentment and serenity. From that place, a person can still experience a variety of emotional highs and lows, knowing that these are fleeting by nature and that contentment will return.How can you secure this...
How to Detox From Sugar in 10 Days
Sugar is the root cause of obesity and many chronic illnesses. Learn how to cleanse your body from sugar in just 10 days with the experts from Chopra.
It’s Not Your Fault You’re Fat
The message pushed on us by our own government, health agencies, professional organizations and especially the food industry is this:It’s your fault you are fat. Just eat less and exercise more.But is that actually true? Do 70 percent of Americans wake up every day thinking, “I want to be fat. How can I eat more and exercise less today?” Are...
5 Ways Beans Boost Your Heart Health
If you want an inexpensive and delicious way to improve your heart health, add more beans to your diet. Beans are a low-fat, high-fiber protein source, and they provide multiple phytochemicals that help reduce your risk of many health conditions, including heart disease.Beans belong to a family of foods known as legumes, which are plants whose seeds are contained within...
5 Ways to Nurture Your Inner Fire
Agni, or digestive fire, processes more than just food in your body—it helps you assimilate all aspects of your daily life including your experiences. If your Agni is strong, your body is better able to absorb nutrients and process events. If Agni is weak, however, toxins, or Ama, can start to build.As such Agni plays a crucial role in your...
How to Use Coconut Oil for Whole-Body Health
Coconut oil has become a popular superfood, but there is more to it than meets the eye. Find out how the benefits of coconut oil massage can support your joints & more.
10 Tips for Growing Younger
Most of the time we judge our age by what the calendar says, but that’s just a number. You also have a biological age, which is determined by how old you think you are. Your expectations reinforce your interpretation, so if you think you’re growing old, you are. The truth is that you can slow down the aging process, and...
Transition to Fall: How to Stay Healthy Through the Season Change
As we begin to transition from summer into the cooler season of fall, we find ourselves shifting gears and coming back into more structured routines. For some people, this might mean planning daily activities around pets, school, work, homework, meal times, exercise, time with friends and family, and personal down time for focused rejuvenation. For others, moving into the fall...
7 Top Cancer-Fighting Foods
One of the most concerning things I’ve heard in my medical practice, was when a cancer patient asked her doctor what she should eat during her treatment, and her physician answered, “you can eat anything you want.” He couldn’t have been more wrong.Because we truly are what we eat, during times of challenge for the mind or body, nutrition is...
What Does Your Poop Say About You?
From the time we’re born until the time we die, there are a few things that are inevitable. One of those things is the need to eat. Another one of those things, therefore, is the need to poop. Everything in this universe that has life is constantly in one stage of digestion or another, ultimately resulting in elimination and the...
Sitting Disease: The New Health Epidemic
Sitting is the new smoking. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys report that 50-70 percent of people spend six or more hours sitting every day.An inactive lifestyle is shown to shorten your lifespan, cause hormonal changes, and increase inflammation. Sitting dormant for hours on end, combined with a lack of exercise has been proven to cause type-II diabetes, heart...
The Power of Color
What is Color Therapy, also known as Chromotherapy? Colors are infused with healing powers, the 7 colors of the rainbow improve balance & healing in the mind & body.
10 Ways to De-stress Your Mind and Body
There’s good stress … and then there’s bad stress. Do you know the difference? And how are you dealing yours? It’s important to be aware of what stresses you out, so you can build a relationship with your biggest stressors and manage the way you react to them.Some stress is healthy … it kicks in to protect you in times...
Do-it-Yourself, All-Natural SPF
The only way to be absolutely sure of what’s in your sunscreen is by making it yourself. Reduce your toxic load of chemicals with this safe sunscreen recipe.DIY Safe Sunscreen Recipe 1/2 cup olive oil 1/4 cup fractionated coconut oil 1/4 cup beeswax 2 tablespoons zinc oxide 1 teaspoon vitamin E 2 tablespoons shea butter 12 drops Helichrysum essential oil...
5 Ways to Get Started in an Ayurvedic Lifestyle
The first time I heard the word Ayurveda was a few years ago. I became a bit overwhelmed as I began learning about the Ayurvedic practices and routines. How could I do the morning routine if I had to rush to work and take my kids to school? How could I have the time to meditate in the afternoon?After some...
6 Ways to Create a Sacred Space at Home
It can be very difficult to cultivate inner peace if our surroundings are chaotic or cluttered. Cleaning is an everyday task that few of us can avoid, and it provides the perfect opportunity to become one with everything you focus your awareness on (yes, even the toilet). This can be done by giving your cleaning tasks your full attention and...
The Brain Explained: 6 Scientific Terms Demystified
While “brain” is a term many are familiar with, the specific scientific ideas and Greek words associated with brain science can feel unnecessarily overwhelming. To clarify the common confusion and demystify the befuddling details, here are a half a dozen terms with explanations and descriptions that I hope will not only be educational, but also interesting and empowering. Brain =A...
Stress: A Badge of Honor or a Code Word for Fear?
According to the Center for Disease Control, 80% of visits to the doctor are believed to be stress-related. Yet what is “stress” if not fear, anxiety, and worry dressed up in more socially acceptable clothing? While we tend to view worry, anxiety, and fear as signs of weakness, most of us are perfectly willing to admit that we’re stressed.In fact,...
10 Ways to Detox Your Every Day
With all the hype about detoxes and cleanses circulating today, it can be overwhelming to know how to actually detox the right way.Ayurveda considers this build-up of toxins to be the underlying cause of all disease. So how do you minimize the toxins that come into your life, and maximize the toxins that go out?Toxins enter our worlds by what...
Vedanta: Our Path to Freedom
Vedanta is the awakening from unreal to real, from ignorance to bliss. It teaches that anything we can experience with our senses only exists in our mind, which also doesn’t exist. And yet, in realizing that nothingness, Vedanta opens the door to a freedom beyond anything we can imagine. Vedanta is our journey home.Somewhere—hidden deep within us—is the little spark...
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...
7 Mind-Body Practices to Transform Your Relationship with Stress
If you were to eavesdrop on the conversations taking place around you, stress would likely be one of the most common words you would hear. People talk about feeling stressed about their work, the economy, global politics, deadlines, their relationships, and just about everything else. Many suffer from the emotional and physical consequences of chronic stress, which include accelerated aging...
How to Create an Exercise Routine for Your Dosha
Our bodies are designed for physical activity—to move and breathe and circulate our vital life energy. More than 5,000 years ago, the master Ayurvedic physician Charaka wrote, “From physical exercise, one gets lightness, a capacity for work, firmness, tolerance of difficulties, elimination of impurities, and stimulation of digestion.”In fact, getting regular exercise is one of the most powerful things you...
Manage Your Time to Manage Your Stress
Stressed out because you have too much to do? You’re not alone. A busy calendar is one of the biggest contributors to stress. When we have a lot on our plates, we end up hurrying through our day and multitasking, which will only exacerbate stress levels.Deepak Chopra has some advice to the busy bees of the world looking to reduce...
Sleep to Combat Stress
Restful sleep is an essential key to staying healthy and vital. When you’re well-rested, you can approach stressful situations more calmly, yet sleep is so often neglected or underemphasized.There is even a tendency for people to boast about how little sleep they can get by on. In reality, a lack of restful sleep disrupts the body’s innate balance, weakens the...
Allowing Evolution: A Way to Greater Health and Wellbeing
“Everything is continuously changing, including your thoughts, feelings, and molecules. Accept that change is a part of life. Evolution calls upon us to adapt to change with creativity.” - Dr. David SimonLife is a process of constant change. On a physical level, we are constantly evolving based on what is going on around us. Our bodies react to our environment...
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...
6 Stories That Will Make You Believe in the Power of Your Mind to Heal You
My book Mind Over Medicine is full of data scientifically proving that the mind can heal – or harm – the body. But data can be dry, and sometimes what resonates most deeply within our souls are stories. So sit back, grab a cup of tea, and let’s have story time. I’m going to tell you a few true stories...
Nourishment
Mantra: I nourish the universe and the universe nourishes me.“Finding the hidden dimensions in yourself is the only way to fulfill your deepest hunger.”–Deepak Chopra Modern life is often so fast and hectic that we forget to nourish ourselves. Everyone deserves to thrive, which depends on paying attention to every level of mind and body. There’s a different kind of...
7 Steps to a Healthy Heart
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women, but it is preventable and controllable. Many lifestyle-related factors are known to have a direct impact on cardiovascular health. To celebrate American Heart Month this February, take the following steps which are an important foundation to an integrative approach to heart health.1) Eat a diet with plenty...
Ask Dr. Weil: Listen to a new Q&A broadcast on Chopra Radio
This month we’re pleased to feature a special radio show with Andrew Weil, M.D., a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and natural health. In the past four decades, Dr. Weil has written many best-selling books on mind-body wellness, founded the Arizona Institute for Integrative Medicine, and launched the True Food Kitchen restaurant chain offering delicious, healthy meals based on the...
Winter, Stress, and Vedic Astrology
During the dark winter season when there is a limited amount of light, it is especially important to reconnect with friends and loved ones and with our deeper self. Reconnecting gives us emotional nourishment, enlivens our mind, and expands our experience of the inner light of consciousness. While forming the intention to reconnect may feel easy, many of us find...
Change Your Story, Change Your Body
When I talk to people struggling with excess weight, the same themes repeat themselves, often for decades. Does any of this sound familiar? • “I’ve tried everything, but nothing has worked. I might as well give up.” • “I must be genetically programmed to be overweight.” • “I’m too old to start all over again.” • “I know I should...
Six New Year’s Resolutions
Getting healthy need not be overwhelming. Here are six simple, straightforward ways to get on track toward optimum health in the new year.1. Post It on the Fridge! Adopt the Anti-Inflammatory Diet The anti-inflammatory diet isn't a weight-loss program (although you can lose weight on it) or a temporary eating plan. It is a lifelong guide intended to counteract chronic...
How and Why We Summon the Sacred
No doubt about it. The time, or zeit, is certainly jumping with Geist, a spirit of a most spectacular character. An arcing rainbow of colors is rising today from the world’s spiritual traditions, given power by the urgent questing of so many people all over the world for unmediated experience of the Source and for guidance into a future that...
Introduction to Jyotish: Vedic Astrology
Learn to understand the cosmic influences on your life's journey with jyotish astrology. Find out more about the vedic astrology meaning and how it forecasts life's trends.
New Book from Deepak! What Are You Hungry For?
A mind-body approach is the key to lifelong wellbeing.After promoting this message worldwide for thirty years, Deepak Chopra focuses on the huge problem of weight control in America with exciting new concepts. What Are You Hungry For? is the breakthrough book that can bring weight under effortless control by linking it to personal fulfillment in every area of a reader’s...
Gratitude: A Doorway to Higher Consciousness
Gratitude is something all of us understand. For instance, saying “thank you” when we receive a gift takes hardly any thought or effort. It just seems to come forth naturally. In the same way, when someone thanks us for something we did for them, this too feels natural and welcome. In fact, giving and receiving gratitude is so familiar that...
New Clinical Study: Endorphinate
New Clinical Study Finds that Endorphinate® Provides Effective, Safe Relief for Chronic Anxiety, Depression, Cravings, and Pain HypersensitivityGroundbreaking research recently published in the Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science* (JBBS) shows that the nutraceutical Endorphinate® is a clinically effective and safe treatment for chronic emotional and physical distress, including anxiety, anger, depression, cravings, and pain hypersensitivity.Developed by a team of...
Sound Sense: Nurturing Healing Through Our Sensory Connections
According to ancient Vedic wisdom, the known universe began with sound, and out of sound came movement, energy, and matter. Today we know that sound is a sequence of vibrating waves that travel through air or water, and modern science tells us that all the particles that make up the matter in the universe are in a state of vibration....
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...
Choose Love
Learn how to choose love and focus your attention on what really matters in life with these tips from the experts from Chopra.
Love Longer, Live Longer
If you and your sweetie vow “until death do us part,” you may, in fact, be hedging your bets. A recent study by researchers at Duke University suggests that married couples live longer and adapt better to illness or disease than single folks. This study focused on the effects of not having a spouse, or permanent partner, during midlife. The...
How to Release the Past and Return to Love
We have all experienced loss, heartache, and sorrow. Nobody wants to go through emotional pain, but it is inevitable. Here is how to let go of past trauma.
The 3 Secrets to Ending the Struggle and Making Your Life Work
A Free Global Online Event with Neale Donald WalschJoin bestselling author and spiritual messenger Neale Donald Walsch as he reveals the secret to ending your feelings of emptiness, separation or hopelessness by making a simple shift in your life and following three simple steps.Discover how to . . . Engage each day with renewed purpose, energy, and excitement Experience deeper,...
Addiction Recovery
“Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask yourself if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.” −Deepak ChopraRelapse, or the fear of relapse, is one of the most challenging parts of maintaining recovery from an addiction. Whether a person has stopped drug or alcohol abuse, smoking,...
A Modern Glimpse into Ancient Relaxation Practices
Relaxation techniques such as yoga and meditation have been around for thousands of years. Countless generations have shown us that engaging in these practices can help us live healthier, more balanced lives. But, the question arises: How? How do these activities – as simple as breathing or even thinking – affect our bodies in such profoundly positive ways? By what...
Making a Case for Teaching Mindfulness in the Schools
Mindfulness is a way of being and thinking that grows out of paying attention, on purpose and without judgment, to what is happening in the present moment. When we are mindful, we deliberately slow down to notice what is happening inside us (our thoughts, feelings, and body sensations), and what is happening outside us, in our environment. The intention is...
The Healing Benefits of Turmeric
If you’re looking for a simple and delicious way to enhance your mind-body health, the beautiful yellow spice known as turmeric is a pharmacy unto itself. A wealth of scientific studies has demonstrated the health benefits of turmeric on the digestive,cardiovascular, rheumatic, and immune systems.As recent research shows:• Turmeric has a protective effect on the liver and can help reduce...
Planting the Seeds of Change
Whether you garden in containers on a balcony or on half an acre out back, you can nourish your body and save the planet at the same time.Save the planet? It’s easier than it sounds. Growing a vegetable garden is the right thing to do – on so many levels. You get fit, you get healthy, you eat local, and...
Unleash the Power of Your Super Brain
We are living in a golden age of brain research. New breakthroughs emerge every month, revealing the astonishing power of the brain to heal, create, and evolve. Where scientists once believed that the brain’s hardwiring couldn’t be changed, we now know that the brain is constantly evolving, and our ability to rewire our brains remains intact from birth to the...
Springtime Renewal
Awaken your senses with clean, safe aromatherapy.Clear the AirWhat could be bad about meditating or decompressing amidst the fresh clean-linen scent of an aromatherapy candle or room freshener?Not to stress you out or anything, but those much-loved scented candles and room sprays that so many of us use when we are seeking a bit of relaxation may, in fact, be...
Healing Through the 5 Senses
In this very moment you are seamlessly connected to the cosmos. The same deep intelligence that streams through the rivers flows through your bloodstream, and the same breath that nourishes your cells animates the life of a rain forest. Although it may seem like you are separate from the world “out there,” in reality your body and the universe are...
Healing from Depression
It is not news that depression has become a kind of invisible epidemic, afflicting approximately 121 million people worldwide. The World Health Organization ranks depression as one of the world’s most disabling diseases, and our best estimates from population studies show that approximately twenty percent of people will experience a serious, clinical depression during the course of their lifetime.While depression...
5 Steps for Creating Healthy Habits
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...
Hit the Road
Taking annual vacations really is good for you.Get Out of TownAsk your doctor: It appears that going on vacation may not be an icing-on-the-cake type of indulgence – it may actually be necessary for good health.In a powerful study published in the journal of Psychosomatic Medicine, researchers Karen Matthews and Brooks Gump studied a group of men who were at...
Reset Your Brain for Peace and Wellbeing
If we look at how most people manage their day, taking time for peace and quiet is last on their list. They don’t see the difference between a brain that is multi-tasking – which our brains do brilliantly – and a brain that is overloaded. Yet finding some peace and quiet has tremendous benefits for the brain. It allows itself...
The Gifts of a Mythic Life
I have come to believe that life is allied with myth in order that we may advance along an evolutionary path that carries us nearer to the spiritual source that lures us into greater becoming. It is for this that myth remains closer than breathing, nearer than our hands and feet. I think it is built into our very being....
Brotherhood
New Memoir from Deepak and Sanjiv Chopra! Brotherhood: Dharma, Destiny, and the American DreamIn Brotherhood, Deepak and Sanjiv Chopra reveal the story of their personal struggles and triumphs as doctors, immigrants, and brothers. They were born in the ferment of liberated India after 1947, as an age-old culture reinvented its future. For the young, this meant looking to the West.The...
An Integrative Healing Approach to Chronic Pain
This month we had an opportunity to sit down with Medical Director of Mind-Body Medical Group, Dr. Sheila Patel, to discuss chronic pain – a complex health issue that affects hundreds of millions of people through the world. As Dr. Patel describes, there is a lot of misunderstanding in both the mainstream medical community as well as the general public...
The Inspired Workplace
It is no secret that in today’s modern workplace, we are faced daily with an ever-growing number of responsibilities, challenges, and fires that must be put out with urgency. Our boundaries are constantly pushed, our limits continually defied. We face demands from our colleagues, our leaders, and ourselves. Every moment is an opportunity for greatness, for rising to the occasion—or...
Bringing Yoga Home
If you find that fighting traffic and your schedule to get to a yoga class is creating more stress than relief, then bringing yoga into your home can be a way to infuse your practice with a simple and welcome ease. Practicing yoga at home can save you time, energy, and money, and perhaps even set you up for greater...
Is Enlightenment Really Attainable?
Enlightenment is generally considered to be an out-of-reach goal, attainable by only a few of the most evolved yogis, monks, and sages. What many people do not realize is that if we find the right path, this seemingly unreachable goal can become a reality for every one of us. As Deepak Chopra notes in his book Super Brain, we are...
10 Paths to Emotional Sea Level
In my book Spontaneous Happiness, I write about lifestyle practices that can help people achieve and maintain happy lives. Bear in mind that by “happy,” I am not referring to endless bliss. Despite what many in the media proclaim these days, such a state is neither achievable nor desirable. Instead, these practices are designed to help most people reach and...
Heal Your Body, Calm Your Mind
Three Simple Steps To Wholeness That You Can Take Right NowWe’re just one month into 2013, and you may still be riding the wave of inspiration that comes with fresh starts and new beginnings. It’s also possible that you are feeling a dip in your motivation if the changes you are seeking are taking longer than you expected or you’ve...
To Have More, Give All
Commitment is the ultimate assertion of human freedom. It releases all the energy you possess and enables you to take quantum leaps in creativity. When you set a one-pointed intention and absolutely refuse to allow obstacles to dissipate the focused quality of your attention, you engage the infinite organizing power of the universe.There is no limit to your ability to...
Chopra Center Certifications
Chopra Center Certifications offers teacher certification programs in meditation & Ayurvedic lifestyle. Transform your life, with meditation teacher training.
Chopra Addiction & Wellness Center
The Chopra Addiction and Wellness Center is the first truly holistic addiction treatment program, combining the latest in modern Western medicine with the traditional healing arts of the East. Founded on the principles from the Freedom from Addiction program developed by Deepak Chopra, M.D. and David Simon, M.D., the program emphasizes physical, emotional and spiritual healing. In addition to the...
Healing the Source of Emotional Pain, Part II
In yesterday's post we explored the roots of emotional pain and several practices for healing this pain. Today we will look at another body-centered approach that can help when you feel stuck in repetitive patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting.Tune into Your Body The word emotion comes from the Latin term emovere, which means “to set in motion.” As the...
Healing the Source of Emotional Pain
The human mind, inherently impatient, triggers emotional reactions when our ideas about how things should be collide with how things are. We sometimes torment ourselves about choices we’ve made, words we’ve spoken, and the path not taken. Or we dwell on the future, postponing our happiness with thoughts about what is missing or wrong in the present moment.These thoughts and...
Ayurveda Q&A
Question: I have taken the Chopra Center's Ayurvedic Dosha Quiz, and my scores tell me that I have a Pitta body and a Vata mind. Which lifestyle and diet do I need to follow in order to stay in balance?Answer: It’s important to keep in mind that each of us has the elements of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha in our...
Healing Wisdom
Every emotion has a beginning and an end. Like an ocean wave, even the most painful feeling crests and dissipates. In our confusion, however, we sometimes block the natural flow of emotions by holding on to resentment, hurt, hostility, regret, or grievance – at great cost to our emotional and physical wellbeing.To release the toxicity of stored emotions and open...
Mindful Eating
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...
Deepak’s Guide to Holistic Health
The word holistic has come to refer to everything from organic food and massage therapy to herbal supplements and Eastern healing practices, all of which are undeniably valuable and evidence of a growing consciousness that earlier generations only dreamed of. The Chopra Center defines holistic in its original sense, as related to wholeness. Wholeness is the union of mind, body,...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
Why Eating More Plants Is Key To Health
We all want to be healthy, but what does true health mean? Oftentimes, people think it’s about their weight, the way they look, counting calories, dieting, and restriction. But true health is really about feeling your best.
5 Family-Friendly Healthy Winter Dishes
When you think of winter, you probably imagine heavy soups and casseroles or steaming mugs of herbal tea or cocoa. While those hearty foods are all delicious and comforting on a chilly day, there’s so much more variety you can enjoy with healthy winter dishes.Take advantage of the extra time spent indoors to get creative in the kitchen and discover...
7 Keto-Friendly Recipes for Winter
Have you heard of the ketogenic diet? It’s a diet trend that is similar to the Atkins diet from the 70s. It’s a low-carb, high-fat way of eating. The purpose of eating minimal carbohydrates is to put the body into a state of ketosis, where it’s burning fat as energy instead of glucose. This happens when not enough glucose is...
10 Real-Food Snacks to Boost Your Energy
Snacking is something most people do every day and oftentimes it’s centered around an event or activity. Going to a movie? Get some goodies. Jumping in the car for a road trip? Pack the snacks. Hungry at the beach? Bust out the refreshments! But snacks aren’t always a good idea because, in the standard American diet, snack foods often aren’t...
5 Warming Winter Recipes That Are Nutritious & Delicious
Brrrr, winter is here, and you can feel it in the air. Fall has ended, and the mornings and nights are colder with each passing day. You can bundle up by the fire, wear an extra layer of clothing, or perhaps a beanie, but keeping yourself warm starts on the inside. Your body maintains its temperature as best it can,...
6 Healthy Harvest Foods to Enjoy This Winter
Big soup pots simmering on your stove, cozy nights by the fire, and mugs of warming tea—wintertime is cherished by many as a time to nourish, restore, and snuggle up for the cold days and long nights. While there are many health benefits that derive from a seasonal eating approach, the winter months can present a small conundrum because it...
10 Time-Saving Tips for Healthy Meal Prep
Meal prep. Do those two words make you think of hours upon hours in the kitchen? Not only time in the kitchen cooking, but also loads of dishes and clean up? Not to mention the time it takes to do the grocery shopping. But before you can even do the grocery shopping, you need to do the meal planning. And...
7 Winter Breakfast Foods That Seem Indulgent But Are Actually Healthy
When you think about breakfast in the winter, what comes to mind? Is it a big stack of pancakes with butter and warm maple syrup? Or maybe large cinnamon rolls with sweet icing on top? Muffins, scones, croissants, breakfast sandwiches with egg and cheese … anything that is warm and indulgent sounds good during the winter months.Although those foods sound...
Neutralize Your Body pH With the Right Foods
Your body functions optimally with a pH of 7.4. Find out the best foods to eat to achieve the ideal acidic-alkaline balance, improving your mental & physical performance.
Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes for the Whole Family
Thanksgiving is a holiday centered around family and food. Everyone joins around a dinner table and eats together in thankfulness. While the most important part about Thanksgiving is gratitude and connection, it helps when there is a table full of delicious food. Not only that, but it can be healthy too.Most Thanksgiving recipes are loaded with fat, sugar, and calories....
5 Foods That Are High in Vitamin D
Sunshine is unreliable, particularly in winter. Sun exposure, for your daily vitamin D, may not be possible. It's a good idea to find foods high in vitamin D.
Is Breakfast Really the Most Important Meal of the Day?
Breakfast is an important meal to include in your daily eating pattern. Just make sure it’s healthy, and you'll reap benefits ranging from better focus to an increased metabolism and feeling fuller.Mornings can be complicated and can even feel impossible at times. Fitting in a healthy breakfast can seem like an uphill battle you don't want to fight, but it...
What Is Vedic Cooking?
Ayurveda, an ancient, holistic practice rooted historically in India, is guided by two main principles: The mind and the body are connected. The mind has the utmost power to heal the body. Within that framework, being healthy depends on harmony between the two. In fact, living an Ayurvedic or “vedic” life is all about balance and, not surprisingly, vedic cooking...
10 Foods That Help Fight Stress
Stress is a word everyone is familiar with and a feeling that everyone experiences. There are different kinds of stress—mental, physical, emotional—but the body responds in the same way no matter what the stressor is.Your adrenal glands, which are grape-sized glands that sit on top of your kidneys, are responsible for your body’s stress response. The stress response includes hormones...
What Vegetables & Fruit Should You Refrigerate?
Should you refrigerate apples? What about grapes, cucumbers, or onions? Minimize food waste with our comprehensive produce refrigeration guide.
12 Foods to Enhance Brain Functioning
The brain. It’s a complex organ! You would love to have a brain that functions more optimally, right? You may think you’re stuck with the brain you have—and that’s true to a point—but you can optimize the functioning of your cognitive abilities with your diet. How cool is that?There are certain foods that enhance brain functioning and help improve memory....
15 Nutrient-Dense Foods to Add to Your Diet
Your diet is supposed to include so many vitamins and minerals and anti-inflammatories and antioxidants and more! If you want to elevate your way of eating for higher energy and vibrant health, you'll need to select some powerhouse food choices. Follow this guide to learn where to start.Let’s review—from a holistic perspective—different practices that may be affecting the nutritional density...
10 Energizing Foods to Add to Your Diet
Even if your day starts with coming off a good night’s sleep, engaging in a strong workout, and savoring your morning coffee, you still might be faltering come afternoon. Some food might help perk you up!Many folks are falling onto the couch at the end of the day without a drop of energy to spare. Some foods, however, are natural...
7 Plant-Based Foods That Are High in Iron
Iron, or (Fe), is known as one of the most common elements on earth, making up five percent of the earth’s crust. Iron is an essential trace mineral imperative for a healthy body—from energy production, to transporting oxygen in the blood, to cognitive function, to a more balanced mood, iron is a nutrient you want to make sure to include...
Eat These 5 Fermented Foods to Improve Digestion
Fermented foods are receiving quite a buzz these days. Everything related to gut health is seen more on health and nutrition blogs and found on grocery store shelves. But will fermented foods’ benefits help you?What Are Fermented Foods?Let’s start at the beginning. Fermented foods are foods that have undergone the fermentation process. Fermentation is a process that uses bacteria or...
How to Incorporate More Omega-3s Into Your Daily Diet
You've probably heard a lot about omega fats and their importance, but what about their unique makeup is so special? Well, it turns out, they are not only special, but they are also essential. Why? Because your body can't make them on its own so you must get them from the foods you eat. Let's explore why these particular fats...
6 Health Benefits of Garlic
You likely know garlic well, as it is a popular ingredient in almost every culture’s cuisine around the world. Considered a potent sulfurous vegetable (yes, it’s considered a vegetable—it’s part of the onion family), the effects of garlic can be imbibed in a variety of ways from raw to fermented and sautéed to capsuled as dietary supplements.Garlic’s nutritional qualities make...
9 Health Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar has many medical uses and benefits. Learn the 9 best from the experts at Chopra today.
5 Ways to Incorporate More High-Fiber Foods in Your Diet
Fiber is something you are likely familiar with. Commercials on TV try to sell you dry fiber crackers and chalky powders to make you more regular. If you’re constipated, prune juice always seems to be recommended as the cure for what ails. But a high-fiber diet doesn’t have to be gross and unsatisfying. You can achieve healthy digestion while enjoying...
Are Organic Foods Really Better for You?
American consumers fill their grocery baskets with organic foods now more than ever, according to a survey conducted by the Organic Trade Association. In 2018, organic food sales in the U.S. hit a new record—$52.5 billion—an increase of 6.3 percent from the year prior.Some people think organic foods tout more health benefits, flavor, and safety—for humans, animals, and the planet—than...
Chlorella vs. Spirulina: What’s the Difference?
Chlorella vs spirulina, what are they and what are they're benefits? Learn more about these twins and what they can do for you.
5 Health Benefits of Probiotics
Probiotics is a word that you’ve likely heard—whether your friend at the gym told you about her kombucha drink that has probiotics or you saw an advertisement on TV trying to sell you on a probiotic supplement. When you read any article related to gut health, probiotics are usually the main focus and for good reason. Probiotics have been proven...
5 Foods That Improve Memory and Focus
What would your life be like if you had a spectacular memory and could remember everything you ever read, heard, or saw? That is not reality. With so many distractions, it’s easy for your mind to wander and lose focus, which can also be called “brain fog.” Because of that, you become forgetful. But what if your short- and long-term...
Healthy Fat vs. Unhealthy Fat: What's the Difference?
What comes to your mind when you think of fat? Do you believe it’s good, bad, or are you indifferent? There are many varying viewpoints, and studies show about half of consumers are confused and don’t know which are good or bad. Let’s clear up some confusion by exploring the different types of fats.The truth is your body needs fat,...
The Health Benefits of Cinnamon
Cinnamon, a spice derived from the bark of the cinnamon tree, has maintained its popularity for thousands of years. This valuable spice originated in Asia, having particular popularity in Sri Lanka and India. Today it is grown in several climates worldwide, and available in nearly every supermarket.Cinnamon is used in several forms: Cinnamon capsules as supplements Cinnamon added as a...
9 Healing Foods to Boost Your Immune System
Imagine having an immune system so strong that you can be around those who are sick, but not get their sickness. Wouldn’t that be amazing? You wouldn’t have to miss work or lie in bed all day, but you could power through the common cold and flu season untouched. The key to this is a strong immune system. How can...
3 Health Benefits of Raw Honey
There are so many medicinal foods found on the earth, and raw honey is no exception. Not only is it medicinal, but it’s also sweet and delicious. It’s used as a sweetener in tea and desserts, and it gets drizzled over acai bowls and yogurt. Some people even just enjoy it by the spoonful!How Is Honey Made?But what is honey?...
Which Foods Are High in Fiber?
You’ve heard about the importance of fiber in your diet because of its many benefits—it keeps you regular, creates feelings of satiety, supports the digestive system, and helps in lowering cholesterol. However, do you know some of the other important roles it plays?Aside from the roughage that sweeps through your digestive tract, pushing remaining contents through the body, how is...
6 Plant-Based Healthy Fats to Include in Your Diet
Low-fat diets are a thing of the past, avocado toast is on everyone’s plate, and coconut oil is being added to coffee. A big change from the low-fat diet trend in the 90s, right? Contrary to the beliefs of the past, eating fat does not make you fat. But quality and type of fat is important for other aspects of...
8 Surprising Benefits of Blueberries
There is nothing quite like a bowl of fresh blueberries to snack on. The popular plump and sweet little berries are so tasty that they are sometimes referred to as nature’s candy. Blueberries have taken center stage for their vast and dynamic health benefits. From rich antioxidant properties to notable anti-inflammatory relief, blueberries are worth ensuring they land on your...
The Anatomy of a Nutrition Facts Label
At their best, nutrition facts labels are helpful. They provide information about the macronutrient content of a food (i.e., the types of nutrients required in large amounts in the diet) including fat, protein, and carbohydrates.However, knowledge is not always power. You may feel overwhelmed by the information on a nutrition facts label. How much fat is too much? What is...
A Look at 4 Popular Diet Plans: Which Is Best for You?
The word diet doesn’t necessarily mean deprivation. It’s a term that you may hear and instantly associate with drinking detox drinks and eating rice cakes to lose weight. But that’s not the case. A diet is just a specific way of eating. Your diet is the food that you consume on a daily basis.Which diet is best for you? What...
What Is the Difference Between a Plant-based and Vegetarian Diet?
They may seem like synonyms. However, “vegetarianism” and “plant-based” are not interchangeable dietary terms. Not only can the motivation to adopt one diet over the other vary, but the guidelines, pros, and cons for each also come with distinctions worth knowing.What Is a Plant-based Diet?With a plant-based diet, also sometimes called a whole-foods diet, you follow these basic principles: Vegetables,...
Uncovering the Paleo Diet: What You Need to Know
The paleo diet, often referred to as the caveman diet or hunter-gatherer diet, is based on the premise that genetically you are almost identical to your stone-age ancestors. The paleo diet plan is set up accordingly: if your caveman ancestors did not eat it, then neither should you, hence the name paleo diet—short for paleolithic diet. This popular primal eating...
7 Vegan Breakfasts to Jump-Start Your Morning
The alarm rings. You get ready, rush out the door, head toward a drive-through to grab coffee, then crash a couple hours later once the caffeine wears off. Sound familiar? Mornings can get pretty hectic, and if you don’t make time to eat breakfast, you won’t have any fuel in your body.Or maybe you do eat breakfast, but you grab...
The In’s and Out’s of Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting (IF) continues to have its moment. Click around the internet and you’ll find that it lands in nearly every top diet trends round-up. Albeit popular, it isn’t new.Fasting is one of the oldest dietary interventions and healing traditions known to us. It’s been part of human culture and religion for thousands of years.Today, intermittent fasting has arguably helped...
10 Paleo Lunch Ideas
If you follow a paleo diet, the typical brown-bag or toss-in-a-cooler-bag lunch of a sandwich, chips, cookie, and soda won’t do. The paleo diet mimics what people hunted, gathered, and ate during the Paleolithic era more than 10,000 years ago: meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. The diet typically excludes foods created by modern farming: processed sugar, dairy, legumes,...
7 Health Food Trends You Should Know About in 2019
A new year means new beginnings. And new beginnings are the start of new trends including in the health food space. The health industry is constantly changing and evolving, which is fantastic because with each year comes new information; without change, the market remains stagnant and outdated. So what is 2019 going to bring in health food trends?Let’s first take...
7 Healthy Eating Rituals to Improve Your Meals
Ritual has been known to give people a sense of connection and presence. In cultures far and wide, various types of ritual have been celebrated, cherished, and passed down through the generations. As with any other area of your life, you can create ritual with your eating.One of the most important ways to ritualize your eating is through customized rituals...
5 Nutrients Your Body Needs During Winter
Winter: the weather is colder, days are shorter, and your body works overtime to keep your system healthy. As seasons change, so do the needs of your body. Think about winter—there is less sunshine, more cases of the flu, and increased exhaustion from demanding schedules as a new year begins. Between December and March, your body needs extra attention in...
How to Eat Well at Holiday Parties
While holiday parties are meant to be social, festive, and fun, you might find yourself worried about how to stay mindful with your health goals—while still having a good time—amid the array of party spreads coming your way this holiday season.While reckless indulging is probably not what you want for yourself, feeling restricted is no fun either. You likely want...
7 Ingredients That Help Your Digestion
As Hippocrates said, “All health begins in the gut.” While your digestion is known as the root of your health, eating for a healthy digestion can be both complex and confusing. The overall quality of food has diminished through over-processing, and the busyness and stress of modern life can wreak havoc on your digestive systems.Below you will find some healing...
6 Steps to Ease Into a Vegetarian Diet
Transitioning into a new way of eating should be slow and steady. When you make a massive change or go “cold turkey” with something, it’s less likely to last for the long-term. And with any lifestyle change, having a reason why you’re doing it will help further the success. Make a decision to change based on your why and then...
7 Strategies to Aid Your Digestion on Thanksgiving
Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls—the Thanksgiving table is full of food! Not to mention the pumpkin pie and other desserts. Every family has their own traditions and different dishes they serve on Thanksgiving, but every Thanksgiving table has one thing in common—there’s a lot of food! Your digestive system has to do a...
5 Ways to Boost Your Immunity
Who has time for getting sick? I know I don’t! Whether it’s just a common cold or something as miserable as the stomach flu, it always seems to come at the most inconvenient times—especially during the fall and winter season when kids are in school and the holidays are in full swing.The more things you can do to boost your...
8 Healthier, Real-Food Halloween Treats
With Halloween just around the corner, you may be wondering how to keep you and your family healthy during the most sugary holiday of the year. While most Halloweens will be chock full of conventional, sugary candy, there are quite a few natural, real-food snacks for you to incorporate, too.Once you (and your family) develop a taste for healthy real-food...
5 High-Sodium Foods to Avoid Today
Consuming too much sodium is not ideal for a healthy diet. But with the foods that make up the standard American diet (SAD), many people consume too much sodium every day. The 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that male and female adults should consume no more than 2300 mg of sodium per day. The Centers for Disease Control and...
8 Nut Butters Chock Full O’Health
There was a time where the only “nut butter” you saw on the grocery store shelves was peanut butter—of varying quality and nutritional benefit. Today, when you walk down the nut butter aisle in most grocery and health food stores, you will find a variety of nut butters, seed butters, and delightful combinations of the two. Nut and seed butters...
Add These 4 Fall Harvest Foods to Your Diet
Autumn is the season of the harvest—a plentiful time to forage and gather. During the most colorful and abundant season of the year, you may find yourself wanting to cook delicious fall soups and stews. It’s time to savor the applause of nature’s harvest and bounty. Here are four fall harvest foods—seasonal produce specific to fall—for you to try this...
Is a Gluten-Free Diet Right for You?
Gluten-free diets are common. Research shows that approximately 1 percent of the population worldwide has celiac disease (gluten intolerance), and nearly 10 percent of people in the U.S. are gluten sensitive. Gluten is the protein found in many grains in the form of gliadin or glutinens.Grains containing gluten include: Wheat Spelt Barley Rye Farro Kamut Triticale When to Go Gluten...
7 Anti-Inflammatory Foods and Spices to Include in Your Diet
Why do you need to know about anti-inflammatory foods and spices? Evidence shows that chronic inflammation is at the root of many different diseases—from a simple sinus infection to cancer. If inflammation is an underlying cause of sickness and disease, it makes sense to reduce inflammation as much as possible.Using food as your medicine is one way to reduce the...
6 Nutrient-Packed Fall Vegetables
When summer turns to fall, it’s more than just a weather change. Although the days get shorter and the nights get colder, the freshest produce changes, too! Many vegetables that aren’t in season during the summer months come alive in fall. Fall produce is more grounded—think root vegetables. The veggies listed below are packed with nutrients and should be included...
6 Benefits of Turmeric—The Queen of Spices
Turmeric! This wonder spice has been in the news as study after study touts its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, wound-healing, pain-relieving, anti-arthritic, anti-dementia, and even anti-cancer properties. According to Dr. Michael Greger, author of How Not to Die, more than 5,000 articles have been published in medical journals about the health benefits of curcumin, the pigment that gives turmeric its bright yellow...
Spirulina: The Superfood for Energy
Have you heard of spirulina? Don’t be surprised if you haven’t! It’s not a food that is commonly found in the standard American diet. However, it’s incredibly nutrient-dense, which means it provides a variety of different vitamins and minerals. Spirulina’s long history reaches back to the Aztec civilization, but the superfood became popular in modern times when NASA discovered that...
5 Dinner Recipes with 9 Ingredients or Less
Convenience is key when it comes to cooking. Between work, family, school, exercise, obligations—life just gets busy! Not everyone has time to spend hours slaving over the stove every night after work. Nor would anyone want to!There is nothing better than a quick and easy recipe that doesn’t have a laundry list of ingredients. And the good news is that...
Which Foods Lower Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure is a term most people are familiar with, but what exactly is it? Blood pressure is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the pressure of the blood circulating through your vessels. Simple, right? But blood pressure is extremely important to your overall heart health.According to the American Heart Association, your blood pressure is measured in two ways: Systolic...
10 Anti-Aging Foods to Add to Your Diet
Your outer beauty and radiance are a direct reflection of your inner health. The foods you eat unequivocally influence your personal fountain of youth down to a cellular level. One essential quality to include in your quest to look and feel your best is food high in powerful antioxidants. Anti-aging products can only take you skin deep, you must begin...
What You Need to Know About 5 Popular Condiments
Sauces and condiments play a large role in many diets. Any food item you consume daily—including condiments—has the potential to affect your health. The ingredients in leading American condiments could be undoing your dietary health goals.Below you will find five of the most common condiments, with explanations for why they might not be optimal for your health, along with suggestions...
5 Health Benefits of Quinoa
Quinoa (pronounced “keen-wah”) is known as an ancient Andean grain, but it’s not a grain—it’s a seed! Quinoa seeds originated and is cultivated in South America along the Andes mountains. It comes from a stress-tolerant plant known as an Amaranthacean and has been cultivated for 4,000–5,000 years. It has become a staple in many modern diets.Is Quinoa Healthy?Because quinoa is...
5 Ways to Use Food as Medicine
“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”—Ayurvedic proverbIt’s hard not to notice the books, documentaries, and podcasts that present research on the association between diet and chronic disease or illness. Emotional well-being is also affected by diet, something that can be overlooked when seeking treatment for mental health issues....
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...
6 Ingredients That Aren’t as Healthy As You May Think
When looking at a nutrition label, most people think it’s important to look at the calories, fats, sugars, etc. However, the ingredients are just as important as anything else on the nutrition label. Those calories, fats, and sugars are all made up of the ingredients that are in that product.What about “healthy” foods? Are ingredients important in healthy packaged products,...
6 Superstar Spices of Ayurveda, Plus 3 Recipes
Ayurveda considers food to be one of the most important pillars of health. You have heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” Ayurveda takes this one step further—you are what you eat and how you digest what you eat. Digestion is the cornerstone of health and immunity in Ayurveda. This is where the magic of spices comes in.Spices have...
6 Light and Easy Summer Dinner Recipes
While summer is a longed-for season to savor, your days may be more playful and social. Added to the expansive days and heat of summer, you may be a little tuckered out by the end of the day. Luckily, the seasonal foods of summer are generally lighter, fresher, and much quicker to prepare.Here are six simple, quick, and delicious recipes...
5 Vegan and Gluten-Free Cooling Summer Recipes
Ayurvedic healing rests on the simple, yet profound principle that like increases like and opposites decrease each other (or, as Hippocrates wisely put it, “opposites are the cure for opposites”). So to find balance during the hot summer (Pitta) days, you may counteract the warm weather by including more of what Ayurveda considers “cooling” foods, while limiting or avoiding “heating”...
Electrolytes: The Hidden Key to Summer Hydration
Staying hydrated is key to many functions in the human body, and in summer heat, it can be difficult to maintain your hydration. One of the largest roles that water plays in the body is regulating internal temperature. Other benefits include maintaining oral health and preventing bladder cancer. The body’s ability to stay cool in hot weather is dependent upon...
10 Popular Diets Explained
Vegan or paleo? Gluten-free or whole grain? Whole food or fat-free? What you should eat gets a lot of press. Wanting to eat healthily is a great first step, but when it comes to aligning with a particular eating style, there are many factors to consider.People are often confused about which dietary approach to choose in order to obtain optimal...
The Vedic Chef: 3 Ayurvedic Recipes that Balance All 6 Tastes
In Ayurveda, there are six tastes that you can include in every meal: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent. Meals with all six tastes are great opportunities to help balance flavors and nutrition for better health for everyone in your family (or whoever you are serving).The following three recipes are built from many small dishes and include all six...
3 Ways to Practice Ahimsa in Your Diet
In the Yoga Sutras, the sage Patanjali outlines eight limbs of yoga. The first of these limbs he deems the yamas. The five yamas outline five restraints that an individual can practice in order to reach spiritual awakening. The first of these yamas is the practice of ahimsa.Ahimsa is a Sanskrit term that means nonviolence, both to yourself and the...
5 Foods That Are Full of Lycopene
If you haven’t heard of lycopene before, it’s time to get familiar with lycopene foods that fight cancer, help the heart, & reduce inflammation.
The Whys and Whats of GMOs
Since the beginning of modern agriculture, humans have been genetically influencing crops by cross-breeding to produce desired qualities. In recent times, scientists have leveraged the use of biotechnology to speed up this process and make it more reliable. The process of altering the genetic makeup of a plant to produce desirable characteristics is known as genetic engineering, or GE.For now...
7 Common Myths of Healthy Eating
Eating healthy is expensive. Healthy food doesn’t taste good. You won’t get enough calcium if you don’t consume dairy products.Have you heard those statements before? Or maybe you’ve said those things to yourself. “Healthy eating” has a lot of myths attached to it. Let’s dispell these myths about healthy eating and celebrate everything that a healthy diet has to offer....
Anti-inflammatory Diet: What to Add and Avoid
Summer is the ultimate season for traveling, adventuring, and being outdoors with family and friends. In order to enjoy all of these activities it’s important for you to be in good health so that you aren’t held back from the things you love to do the most. It’s important to nourish your body with an anti-inflammatory diet to keep you...
10 Plant-Based Protein Sources for Vegans
Vegans don’t consume any products that come from an animal-based source or animal protein. All macronutrients like protein, carbohydrates, and fat are only consumed through plant-based sources—which can make it challenging to get enough protein. A common question many vegans are asked is, “How do you get enough protein?” Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to get adequate amounts...
Do Vitamins Make You Healthy?
A variety of multivitamins are available. You can find everything from chewy tablets and candy-like gummies to freeze-dried and pulverized “real-food supplements.” According to the National Institutes of Health, one-third of Americans take some sort of a daily multivitamin. However, science is still struggling to answer the underlying question: do vitamins make you healthier?While the idea of vitamin supplementation is...
Avoid These 7 Foods to Reduce Bloating
Bloating is a build-up of gas in the digestive system, which can make your stomach bulge. Bloating is uncomfortable and painful; it’s that bowling-ball-in-the-stomach feeling.Sometimes bloating feels like intense pain that you can’t shake. If you experience bloating, whether it’s on a daily basis or from time to time, avoid these seven foods that have been shown to increase, or...
3 Reasons to Include Spring Greens in Your Diet
While winter meals rely mainly on nutrient-dense, shelf-stable dietary staples, spring brings out your inner hunter-gatherer. Fresh and bright fruit and vegetable options are springing up in grocery stores. One of the first available foods, and most important dietary staples, of the springtime Ayurvedic diet is leafy green vegetables.Here are three reasons to reach for your greens this spring.1. They...
10 High-Nutrient Leafy Greens That Aren’t Kale
Kale gets a lot of press for good reason. Studies have found that it’s packed with nutrients like beta-carotene and vitamin C, and it’s also high in fiber. Kale quickly became the king of greens because it’s so versatile. Because of its high fiber content, kale holds up well in just about any method of cooking. Steam, sauté, bake, or...
Learn to Fast the Healthy Way
Discussions about improvements for health frequently focus on additions to your diet and exercise plan. You resolve to exercise more, eat more vegetables, take more supplements, or drink more water. However, one of the simplest strategies to improve your longevity and decrease disease could lie in taking in less.Fasting, or a periodic refraining from food, drink, or both, is an...
A Dietitian Breaks Down 4 Popular Diets
Many of you may be focused on healthy weight management at the end of the year. With the seemingly endless string of fad diets, differing “expert” opinions, and conflicting information out there, it can be hard to grasp why some styles of eating come highly recommended by dietitians. The following is a breakdown of four popular diets as explained by...
6 Lessons in Healthy Eating from Those Who Live to 100
A long, healthy life is about much more than good genes; it’s highly dependent on building healthy habits. Habits—both good and bad—are an integral part of your everyday life. Part of forming healthy habits is to become intentional with them until they become ingrained into your daily routine. It will take effort on your part, but if the payoff could...
5 Habits of People Who Have a Healthy Relationship with Food
Like many people, I did not have a healthy relationship with food growing up. I was raised with a mother who suffered from poverty consciousness and we were, in fact, living for many years at poverty level. The mentality about food was either feast or famine. When we went to a buffet or gathering where food was present, my mom...
How to “Wine” The Ayurvedic Way
Wine has been around for thousands of years, both as a beverage and as a medicine. Researchers have found Egyptian vessels dating from as early as 3150 B.C. that contained remnants of wine. It is believed that the containers originally held large vessels of wine with dissolved herbs that was used as an early form of herbal medicine.The culture of...
5 Quick and Healthy Go-To Breakfasts
You may find yourself struggling to fit a healthy breakfast into your life. Between getting the kids ready for school, trying to get some exercise, and getting to the office on time, there is little time left to prepare a healthy meal. In addition to rushing in the morning you may feel overwhelmed by the variety of breakfast choices and...
Top 6 Natural Sweeteners
Sugar intake is at an all-time high in the United States. In response to these statistics and warnings from medical professionals, consumers are beginning to search out other sweetener alternatives. Artificial sweeteners are not a healthier alternative to processed sugar because they are made up of chemicals that have their own set of negative side effects. With this all said,...
Lunch: The Most Important Meal of the Day
Your nutrition is defined by the answers to three simple questions: What do you eat? How do you eat? When do you eat? While most conversations about nutrition focus on the first question, the “how” and “when” are just as important to our digestion and well-being.With so many recommendations floating around, it can be hard to decide what meal pattern...
Thrive Over 65: Nutrition Tips for Seniors
When it comes to aging, there is no “one size fits all” plan. Vitality varies from person to person. However, there are many ways you can help combat some of the health concerns commonly associated with aging.Most gerontologists agree that the root cause of physiological losses associated with aging—i.e., loss of muscle, skin elasticity, or changes to organ function—result from...
9 Ways to Detox at Home
You may have been led to believe that in order to detox your body you need to follow an extreme diet plan—like fasting, removing all fats, or restricting yourself to only fresh-pressed juices for several days in a row. But did you know that it is possible to incorporate smaller and more realistic detox practices into your daily routine at...
Top 5 Plant-Based Superfoods to Beat Stress
There is no shortage of stress in daily life. Your kids won’t stop fighting. Your flight is delayed. Your boss gives you a tight deadline. You try to juggle all your responsibilities and still find time for yourself.These types of demands can contribute to emotional unrest and tension. No matter the source, stress often leads to physiological changes within the...
7 Healthy Eating Habits for Your Busy Work Day
Do you find it challenging to prioritize your health during your workday? Between meetings, constant emails, and never-ending tasks, it may seem like there is no time to take care of yourself. If you find yourself skipping meals, drinking multiple cups of coffee per day, or hitting the candy drawer several times a day, it’s time to make a shift.Some...
6 Tricks to Stock Your Fridge Like a Health Food Nut
Good intentions to eat healthy and lose weight can easily be sabotaged by high stress and long work hours. You buy the vegetables to make a tofu stir-fry, but when you arrive home from work or picking up the kids from day care, you’re over hungry. As a result, while you’re chopping veggies, you find yourself snacking on gummy bears...
Top 6 Foods to Improve Your Digestion
Have you ever heard the saying, “You are what you eat?” It’s true—and you are what you digest and absorb, too. You could be eating the healthiest food in the world, but if you are not able to break down your food efficiently and absorb the nutrients, then you are missing out on a big opportunity for nourishment.The first place...
Heart-Healthy Fats: 5 Steps to Balance Omega Fatty Acids
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the U.S. It’s undeniably an important topic of health discussion and research, with leaders such as the USDA making the following recommendations for dietary interventions: Avoid high-cholesterol foods Choose low-fat or no-fat animal products Replace butter and lard with plant-based oils such as margarine Dietitians and...
6 Cookbooks for Easy, Clean Meals
Do you ever find yourself getting tired of cooking the same recipes? It can feel overwhelming to search for new recipes online and in cookbooks, and most of them seem complicated and too long to make. But before throwing in the towel and going back to your staples, know there are easy-to-follow and delicious recipes out there.Whether you have a...
Vegetarian Cooking: 10 Ways to Make Meatless Meals More Flavorful
Avoiding meat doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice flavor. Everyone has his or her own reason for choosing a vegetarian diet, and health is a common one. When you design a meal, of course you need to make sure it’s going to be full of nutrients, good proteins, and fats. But you need to make sure it’s going to taste...
5 Savvy Tips for the Farmers’ Market
Local markets have traditionally served as a place to not only buy and sell goods, but also as a hub of community activity. These days, especially in the U.S. where conventional grocery stores rule the land and social capital is on the decline, farmers’ markets have reinvigorated this sense of community.Connection is a great reason to shop at a farmers’...
5 Fresh Summertime Sauces to Take Your BBQ to the Next Level
Summertime is upon us, which means laying by the pool, weekend camping trips, fresh watermelon … and barbeques! The tricky part of backyard BBQs is they are always filled with calorie-laden potato salads and unhealthy hot dogs and burgers. Think it’s impossible to host a healthy BBQ for your family and friends? Think again: These recipes are easy to make...
3 Smoothie Recipes to Spark Energy
Over the past few years, smoothies have evolved to become a popular way to consume highly beneficial nutrients through the blending of real food ingredients. The ease of creating a nutrient-packed beverage that can be taken on-the-go is quite appealing, especially in a fast-paced world. This trend has influenced the creation of some pretty unique smoothie recipes, making some people...
6 Holistic Ways to Fight Sugar Cravings
How many times have you told yourself that you are not going to eat any more sugar and then found yourself digging into the next cupcake or candy bar in sight? If you experience cravings for sugar (like many people) you might feel like you have no “willpower” when it comes to sweets, and may even feel like you're addicted...
Spring Produce: The 10 Healthiest Springtime Picks
Mother Nature knows what your body needs. Each season, the Earth produces a different set of produce specific to your geographic location. Of course, with the advent of harvesting year-round and the ability to ship virtually anywhere in the world, you can get just about any type of produce you want, anytime you want, in your local grocery store.Instead of...
The Health Benefits of Coconut Oil, How to Use it
Coconut oil has become a popular ingredient of discussion over the past several years. It’s made from drying the kernel or the coconut meat and comes in several different types. The most common types of coconut oil that you will see are virgin coconut oil (unrefined) and refined. Virgin coconut oil has a tropical scent and flavor, whereas refined coconut...
8 Foods to Keep Your Heart Healthy and Lower Your Cholesterol
Over the past few decades, there has been considerable debate about which foods are harmful for heart health. First, it was widespread that butter increases cholesterol levels and it was safer to consume margarine. Then, it came out that margarine—which contains trans fat—was, in fact, harmful for heart health, and that butter was healthier. While it is clear that trans...
5 Superfoods That Belong in Your Diet
I realize “superfood” carries a certain hype, but some foods do earn that status. Food is medicine, and some foods are more powerful medicines than others. Food is the most powerful tool to create optimal health. Food is the first and most powerful drug in my arsenal to treat patients. These five superfoods are examples of foods that you should...
Is Coffee Good or Bad for You?
“Dr. Hyman, I’m so confused about coffee,” patients say to me, “One day I read that it’s so bad for me and the next it’s good for me. Why all the conflicting information?”Let’s face it: Americans love their coffee, which is the number one source of antioxidants in our diet. In a recent animal study, researchers saw improvements in non-alcoholic...
7 Budget-Friendly Tips for Shopping Organic
Do you often find yourself on the fence regarding whether or not to buy organic food? We hear so much about the benefits of organic versus conventional food, and yet the price tag is enough to make even the most fervent foodie cringe. The belief that organic food can only be afforded by the wealthy needs to be changed.Fortunately, there...
6 Ways to Lose Weight Without Dieting
Diets are not the answer for long-term weight loss. If you’re tired of losing and gaining the same 20 pounds over and over again, you probably already know that.For the past 50 years, most people have turned to restrictive diets and intense exercise as the answers to weight loss. However, since the early 1960s the prevalence of obesity among adults...
How to Make a Healing Bone Broth
Bone broths have been part of traditional diets around the world for thousands of years. You’ve probably used them for soups or other dishes for flavor, but did you know that they also have incredible healing capacities?Why Bone Broth Is Good for YouThere’s a reason your grandmother always fed you chicken soup with traditional bone broth when you were sick.Traditional...
H2O Breakdown: 5 Types of Water and How They Impact Your Health
Many of us may feel squeamish about drinking water straight from the tap. But are the other water options better? Is purified water, such as distilled water, really all that safe to drink? Is alkaline water the elixir for good health and longevity? In the United States, we’re fortunate to have one of the safest water supplies in the world,...
Sustainable Seafood: Fish to Eat and Fish to Avoid for Optimal Health
Identifying the best sources of fish and other seafood can be overwhelming. If you’re looking for seafood sources that benefit not only your health, but also the environment, it adds another layer of confusion.According to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), nearly three billion people rely on seafood as a major source of protein around the world. Luckily, some great organizations...
7 Leafy Greens: A Nutritional Comparison
Not all leafy green vegetables are created equal. Read this guide from Chopra to understand which leafy greens are best for your diet!
4 Key Nutrients in Your Leafy Greens
Do you wrinkle your nose at the thought of eating more leafy green vegetables each day? While leafy greens may be an acquired taste, they are one of the most important foods that you can consume to benefit your health. You have plenty of options to choose from—such as spinach, kale, swiss chard, romaine lettuce, arugula, and collard greens. If...
6 Ways to Cool Down with Cucumbers, Plus Recipes
Summer offers limitless opportunities to move and frolic in the sunshine. As joyous as all those backyard BBQs, trips to the beach, and swimming in the lake may be, sometimes all that fun in the sun can overheat your body.Fortunately, there’s a great way to cool off, both from the inside out and the outside in, using something you probably...
Protein: Building Blocks for Life
In your body, the role of protein spans well beyond building strong muscles. You may be surprised to learn that protein is involved in almost every body function, including protecting the body from foreign particles (such as bacteria), orchestrating chemical reactions in cells, coordinating processes between cells, providing structure to cells, and transporting important molecules throughout the body. In short,...
Calm Chronic Inflammation with Cherries and Berries
Spring and summer are the seasons of mouth-watering cherries and berries. These fresh, sweet-tasting snacks not only delight the palate; they come with a gift of taming chronic, systemic inflammation.Eating anti-inflammatory foods (and avoiding foods that cause inflammation, such as refined grains, sugar, and hydrogenated fats) can help keep inflammation in check and reduce disease risk. Such is the case...
Balance Your pH for Better Health
To lay a solid foundation for good health, it is important for your body to maintain a balance between two basic types of chemical compounds—acids and alkalis. The measurement of these compounds in your body’s fluids—such as blood, saliva, and urine—is known as the pH. Measuring your pH can help you gauge when your body is out of balance. Your...
5 Health Benefits from Drinking Tea and Coffee
Coffee and tea not only provide cozy morning rituals and boosts of energy during midday slumps; these hot drinks have also been long acknowledged for their medicinal properties, which primarily come from the caffeine and antioxidants found in coffee beans and tea leaves. While coffee is higher in both caffeine and antioxidants than tea, you can drink more tea throughout...
Q&A with Dr. Weil: New Year's Resolution—Best Food to Lose?
Question: I'm resolved to make the coming year a healthy one. If I should give up one food, what would it be? And alternatively, if I should add one food to my diet, what would you suggest?Answer:Congratulations on making such a sensible resolution. My top recommendation for a food you should give up is sweetened drinks of all kinds.Although these...
Q&A with Dr. Weil: Can Chicken Soup Banish Colds?
Question: Is chicken soup really good for colds, or is this just an old wives’ tale?Answer: In some cultures, chicken soup has long been a traditional cold remedy. I've read that Maimonides, the Jewish physician and philosopher, recommended it back in the 12th century.But there's more than folk wisdom at work here. At least one scientific study suggests that a...
Do You Have a Food Intolerance or Food Allergy?
People often use the terms “food intolerance” and “food allergy” interchangeably. The two, however, do not mean the same thing.Not only do they have different definitions, their effects on the body require distinct solutions. Learn how to determine if you have a food intolerance or food allergy, and what is the best course of action for each one. What Is...
Is Cholesterol Really an Issue?
Remember when eggs and butter were deemed to be bad for you because they could raise your cholesterol levels? Now you hear they may be OK to eat after all, and maybe high cholesterol isn’t really the issue we once thought it was. With all this flip-flopping back and forth, how do you know what to believe? Is cholesterol really...
12 Foods to Help You Focus
Staying focused in today’s world can be a challenge. Technology presents countless distractions. The constant ping from your smartphone—alerting you to the latest social media notification or text message—can cause even the most focused individual to become scattered.But technology isn’t solely to blame. Stress can add to the challenge. Aging can also play a role as your ability to ignore...
6 Foods That Fight Inflammation
Chronic inflammation can be unrelenting, often leaving sufferers without a clear resolution. Fortunately, diet can play a big role in reversing chronic inflammation.Unlike an infection or acute inflammation, which is the body’s natural response to healing a major trauma, chronic inflammation is persistent. Research suggests that chronic inflammation may lead to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and even dementia.Some foods such...
9 Ways to Stay Hydrated Without Drinking Water
As the temperature rises, our bodies adjust to stay cool and balanced. Staying hydrated is a critical part of maintaining that balance.How do you know when you’re properly hydrated? Begin by paying attention to feelings of thirst as well as your water intake throughout the day. If you’re not sure, just look at your urine; if it’s light and clear,...
The Difference Between Fasting, Juicing, and Detoxing
Learn what detoxing, fasting, and juicing are and how they differ. Find out more about the benefits and drawbacks of the latest health trends.
Everything You Need to Know About Seaweed
Some 10,000 types of seaweed exist throughout the world, according to the Canadian Museum of Nature. With so many varieties, it’s no wonder that this sea vegetable has been used for more than a millennia. Ancient Chinese texts refer to this mineral-rich nutrient, noting, “There is no swelling that is not relieved by seaweed.”Of the thousands of varieties of seaweed,...
How to Take Control of Your Overeating
What is insanity? Albert Einstein has been widely credited for describing insanity as doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. This is how many people approach dieting and weight loss: they move from one diet to next, each one failing like the last.Managing your weight is not about the diet or the dietician; it’s all about...
Cheap Eats and Recipes for the Health Conscious
Eating healthy on a budget sounds difficult, but the truth is eating homemade meals can be far less expensive than dining out. Plus, you know exactly what you’re putting into your body. No hidden chemicals, artificial flavoring or coloring, sodium, fats, or sugars. And, more often that not, homemade meals taste better than their mass-produced counterparts.Still, there are some tricks...
Why Healthy Fats Won’t Make You Fat
Many people still believe that eating fat makes you fat. As it turns out, the idea that low-fat diets are healthy was a myth, and the low-fat craze of the 1990s did a huge disservice to our bodies and our brains.Healthy fats and oils play a critical role in the function of many parts of the body. For example your...
How to Spring Clean and Revamp Your Fridge and Pantry for Optimal Health
Spring cleaning isn’t just for your closets. This is your chance to get rid of excess baggage in your kitchen, too. With a fridge and pantry full of nutritious, whole foods you’ll be able to make healthier meal choices and create the foundation for optimal health. Bonus: You’ll feel lighter, too.The first step to cleaning your fridge and pantry is...
The Health-Conscious Cookbook: Fast and Easy Breakfasts
You’ve heard it from mom and many others over the years because it’s true: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. To pack your day with power and punch, load up with nutrients first thing in the a.m. If you’re short on time, try these recipes that will help you start your morning on a high note. Quick...
The Health-Conscious Cookbook: Cooling Summer Recipes
Ayurvedic healing rests on the simple, yet profound principle that like increases like and opposites decrease each other. So as we look at how to find balance during the hot summer (Pitta) days, we should counteract the weather by including more juicy, cooling foods with high-water content in your diet, while limiting or avoiding heating foods.Cooling foods include: Grains like...
Best Foods for a Healthy Pregnancy
When a woman gets pregnant, she usually becomes more aware of what she eats; but there is a lot of confusion regarding diet and pregnancy, especially if it’s her first baby. Pregnant women receive so much conflicting and unsolicited advice, they end up not knowing what to eat or what to avoid.The first advice I give them is that pregnancy...
The Health-Conscious Cookbook: Picnic Recipes
Longer, warmer days means more time outside. Take your next meal with you to the beach, park, or playground for a picnic the whole family will love. Here are four non-traditional picnic recipes that are full of color and flavor. So ditch the silverware and grab a blanket and some sunscreen, instead. These recipes only require fingers to lick and...
Marinated Tofu Thai Wrap with Sauce
This vegtable-packed wrap is perfect for a meal on the go, full of flavor and great for lunch or dinner!IngredientsChicken or Fish Variation Replace tofu with 2 ounces of grilled chicken or fish, add the nutty dipping sauce, and roll up as directed.Nutty Dipping Sauce (Per 2-tablespoon serving using ghee): ¼ teaspoon ghee or sesame oil 1 clove garlic, minced...
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...
Restorative Yoga: The Basics + 5 Poses
There are certain physical movements that are so beneficial to the body, mind, and spirit that they can be practiced daily or weekly. Gentle yoga poses that stretch the body and help to calm the nervous system are wonderful additions to any daily ritual. Incorporating restorative yoga poses such as Child’s Pose, Legs Up the Wall, and gentle spinal twists...
The Power of Chair Yoga, Plus Exercises
Chair yoga is for everyone. Using a chair as a prop for yoga can be an expression of creativity as well as a useful, supportive, and empowering tool. A chair of any kind is an excellent prop and can support you in a fulfilling yoga practice.Here are some people who may wish to practice yoga with the aid of a...
6 Yin Yoga Poses for Winter
Wintertime is a wonderful time to practice yin yoga. The darker, colder days make for wonderful opportunities to turn inward—physically, mentally, and emotionally. Yin yoga is a slow, grounding practice that helps to calm the nervous system and bring awareness to the body-mind connection. With origins in Chinese Medicine, Buddhism, and yoga, yin yoga is an introverted and often stationary...
Embrace Your Unique Anatomy in Your Yoga Practice
There is not a single pose in the entire yoga lexicon that every human body can achieve. Let that sink in for a moment.In a world that would have you believe that if you just work harder, longer, and faster, you too can achieve chiseled abs, a perfect split, and put your leg behind your head, the latest research in...
5 Yoga Poses to Improve Your Posture
Stand up straight! Don’t slouch! These are reminders you probably heard growing up, but healthy posture truly is an important element of overall wellness. Harvard Medical School defines “good posture” as: Chin parallel to the floor Shoulders even (roll your shoulders up, back, and down to help achieve this) Neutral spine (no flexing or arching to overemphasize the curve in...
Yoga Props 101: Blocks, Straps, Blankets, and Bolsters
While it is true that you need nothing but your body and breath to practice yoga, yoga props are extremely useful in helping to create sthira (steadiness) and sukha (comfort) in your yoga practice. By no means limited to beginners, props help to accommodate anatomical differences, tight muscles/joints, and limited ranges of motion. If you’ve ever wondered how to efficiently...
Chakra Check-In: Poses and Affirmations to Reassess Your Life
It’s halfway through the year (already!), and it’s a good time for a personal check-in: Are you on a path of happiness? Are you following your bliss? Are you taking time to attend to your body, mind, heart, and spirit? Using the chakras as a framework for reflection allows for a holistic assessment. In yoga philosophy, the Chakras are wheels...
6 Yoga Poses to Support Your Body During Spring Cleaning
Whether it’s heavy-duty decluttering or regular upkeep, spring cleaning can take its toll on your body. This time of year often stirs a desire to release the old (things, habits, patterns, people) that no longer serve your highest, best selves to make space for new inspiration.Remember: Outer order creates inner calm, and cleaning is a great stress buster! Dusting, scrubbing,...
Achoo! Gentle Yoga Practice for When You Have the Sniffles
Getting back into the swing of things after the holidays or travel (or just dealing with life) sometimes lends itself to a case of the common cold. You know what it’s like: foggy head, stuffy nose, scratchy throat, dry eyes, general feeling of malaise. And before long, you sound just like Kermit the Frog!Rest, hydration, and time are often the...
5 Minutes of Yoga: A Quick Sequence to Do When You’re Short on Time
It would sure be lovely if you had two hours a day to practice yoga, but in this fast-paced world, you’re lucky if you can snag a minute in Downward-Facing Dog on some days. Author Gretchen Rubin says “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while,” so in that spirit, here is a...
6 Benefits of Yoga for Seniors
Getting older presents many gifts—maturity, grace, wisdom, experience, and perspective, to name a few. Growing older can also carry many challenges.Physically, it becomes harder to keep extra weight off. According to the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, over one third of adults 65 and older are obese.Risk of life-threatening illnesses, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain types of...
Why Yogis Need Regular Massage
Some practitioners argue that yoga is comparable to self-massage. While there may be some truth in that, the fact remains that nothing compares to relaxing, letting go, and receiving conscious, loving, intentional touch from a skilled massage therapist. A recent documentary on the Andaman tribe, one of the longest-living tribes on an isolated island in the Bay of Bengal, highlighted...
What to Expect at a Yoga and Meditation Retreat
You know you need to take a break when you can’t even remember the last time you took a vacation. You’re interested in going on a retreat, but not sure when you’ll find the time go, which retreat to try, or what to expect.There are dozens of different types of retreats out there, from power yoga vacations and Vino and...
Yoga Off the Mat … and On the Commute
For many of us, the act of driving is an aspect of our lives that we take for granted. Getting behind the wheel to go to work, school, the store, or on a road trip seems so routine that most of us rarely give it a second thought.Despite this fact, driving is a highly complex activity made possible by the...
Yoga Can Heal Your Life
Yoga is a profound integrative practice to heal your body, mind, and spirit. Here are just a few of the healing benefits: Stress relief. As scientific studies have found, yoga lowers heart rates, reduces blood pressure, and decreases the production of stress hormones such as cortisol. High levels of cortisol are linked to depression, osteoporosis, and abdominal weight gain. Greater...
Yoga After 50
The story we are typically told about aging is that it is a downward slope: we get older, weaker, frailer, and sicker. Upon seeing images of young yogis, an older person might think, I can’t do that. That’s not for me.Sure, there are flexible young women in my yoga classes, but there’s also Kate, a beautiful white-haired woman with a...
Exploring the Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga is a unique practice that blends the wisdom of India’s 5,000-year-old yogic tradition with the principles of Deepak Chopra’s best-selling book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. These principles can be briefly summarized as follows:1. Law of Pure PotentialityOur essential nature is pure consciousness, the infinite source of everything that exists in the physical...
Yoga practice
Cultivating a daily yoga practice allows us to explore our inner world every time we step on the mat, creating a deeper connection with our bodies as well as with our mind and spirit. Yoga puts us in touch with our essential nature. As the spiritual Law of Pure Potentiality states, our true self is pure awareness and unbounded potential.By...
Mastering the Art of Resilience
Everyone has a certain level of resilience. From time to time, we all experience stress, emotional upsets, and challenges in our lives. Resilience is the ability to withstand these situations, quickly recover from them, and be able to return to balance and harmony. Often our resilience depends on the resources we have to call upon, which could include friends and...
How to Change Your Life: The Chopra Coaching Certification Program
As the saying goes, “teach what you most need to learn.”As a coach since 2003, the director of a mindfulness and performance program for UC San Diego Health’s Center for Mindfulness, and the developer and director of the Chopra Coach Certification program, I’ve met a lot of folks over the years and found this to be true time and time...
The Best Way to Get Unstuck
Sticky is a useful term for experiences that leave a deep impression, because they stick around and at the same time stick like glue. If you find yourself feeling the same emotion over and over again—for example, frustration, anger, anxiety, or depression—you are not living in the present. Instead, the past is coming back for an unwanted visit.Here are three...
8 Ways to Heal Your Soul After a Loss
Grief and loss are natural life experiences; feelings of grief can be a process you move through. How you start healing after a loss determines how you deal with loss.
What Is Your Role in the Crisis? Be Generous of Spirit
There’s a beautiful image in the Indian spiritual tradition—a tree so laden with fruit that its branches bow down close to earth. Delighted, people rush up to take advantage of this fruit so freely given. What the tree represents is generosity of spirit. When your spirit overflows, it is only natural to give freely of yourself. This is known as...
6 Tools for Cultivating Self-Compassion During the COVID-19 Pandemic
“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”—The Dalai LamaThe past few months have been an experience unlike any other in recent human history. Businesses are shut down, schools are closed, and the activity of entire cities has ground to a halt. On top of this, the global healthcare system is strained to its limits, and...
10 Healthy Habits of Successful People
While there is no magical button you can press to become successful in life, there are certain habits that the most successful people have in common. There have been countless studies done and books written about how to be, do, and have whatever you want in this lifetime; however, without certain habits in place, the canvas for a successful life...
6 Healthy Ways to Manage Social Anxiety
“I just don’t want to go.”“Ugh, I’d rather stay home.” “Just thinking about going to that party is giving me so much anxiety.” “Maybe I’ll go for a little while and hide in the corner.” Though often confused and conflated with being shy or an introvert, social anxiety is a distinct disorder that can have a serious negative impact on...
5 Ways to Show Gratitude in Your Workplace
Have you ever received a thank-you gift from a colleague or client? Been recognized or awarded for your hard work? Received a shout out for your contributions or input? Then you know how meaningful it can be to be appreciated and seen. Even a heartfelt “thanks!” can leave you glowing. No matter where you work, a little thanks and acknowledgment...
10 Morning Habits to Start Your Day Off Right
Discover positive ways to start the day with 10 simple habits that you can use to create a healthy morning routine that will set you up for success.
How to Stop Overthinking
If you overthink, you’re not alone—you’re human. Every single person ruminates at one time or another. Why? Humans have an unquenchable need to know things and feel in control.You prepare and prepare some more to try and avoid unwanted surprises or challenges. The challenge is, however, that life automatically comes with endless challenges. Like a game of Whac-A-Mole, when one...
The Importance of Doing Nothing: Art of Relaxation
“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.” –Lao TzuDoing nothing probably sounds good, but when is the last time you really did it? Turned off your devices? Practiced some deep breathing? Stared off into space? Smelled the roses? The art of doing nothing is sweet!A visit to Italy will soon have you embracing the concept of dolce far...
How to Choose the Best Lifestyle
Every day you make choices, big and small, and these change all the time. But surrounding these daily choices are decisions you’ve made about your lifestyle that remain the same. These decisions have been widely disseminated once it was realized, about three decades ago, that your well-being, and especially your health, depends on your lifestyle.What Is the Best Lifestyle?You have...
20 Baby Steps Toward Self-Improvement
It is a basic human desire to want to grow, improve, and evolve. Over the course of a lifetime, events big and small contribute to how you spiritually and mentally mature. Everything from having a baby to earning a master’s degree can cause you to grow in leaps and bounds. However, it’s not just the big choices that shape your...
5 Techniques That Declutter and Simplify From Marie Kondo
Spring is a time of cleansing and renewal. Nature reveals itself in its simplest slate—the snow melts, while the plants are not yet sprung. The ground seems to swell with potential but restrain from bursting into life until the weather warms.People, too, tend to ritualistically simplify during this time. Spring cleaning of your home is a common practice, while you...
10 Spiritual Self-Care Tips To Be Happy
When is the last time you nurtured your spirit? Plenty is said about the importance of nurturing the physical body through diet and exercise, but the spiritual body is often forgotten or ignored. In order to live a happy and thriving life, all of your aspects (mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual) must be acknowledged in order to maintain overall well-being.Notice...
4 Health Benefits of Adult Friendships—and How to Create New Ones
When you think of the lifestyle choices you make to stay healthy, diet and exercise are typically the first to spring to mind. At a young age, you’re told that fruits and vegetables are nutritious and running around outside is better for you than hours spent in front of the television. According to research, social connections should be added to...
8 Simple Ways to Improve Your Mood in 5 Minutes or Less
Mood plays an important role in determining your quality of life. It can affect your perception of the world, influence your relationships, and affect your mental and physical health.Have you wondered how to improve your mood? Fortunately, the simplest of pleasures can elevate your mood and cost next to nothing in both time and money. Research supports the efficacy of...
How Journaling Can Help You Heal
Journaling is a healthy practice for your mind and your spirit. Learn more about the benefits of journaling. Using a journal prompts emotional healing.
Embracing Responsibility: The Gateway to Freedom
“A sign of wisdom and maturity is when you come to terms with the realization that your decisions cause your rewards and consequences. You are responsible for your life, and your ultimate success depends on the choices you make.” - Dennis Waitley, motivational speaker and authorA key milestone in your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual growth is the cultivation of...
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,...
What to Do When You’re in a Funk
We’ve all had experiences of life’s highest of highs—falling in love, getting the job we’re excited about, or achieving a meaningful goal. And, then there are the times when you may find yourself in a downright funk and unable to access any level of satisfaction or contentment. When life is flowing, it feels amazing—and when you can’t seem to pick...
8 Simple Tips to Help You Simplify Your Life
With books like The More of Less by Josh Becker and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, people are talking about the effects of simplicity. Is simplicity really the solution? That may depend on the question.Simplicity will: Clear the clutter Create order Reduce overconsumption Simplify decision-making But despite what many are saying, simplicity won’t “make you happy.”...
8 Limiting Beliefs That Are Holding You Back from Success
You have infinite potential but sometimes your results don’t reflect that potential. Deeply ingrained unconscious beliefs (feelings of certainty about what something means) are influencing these results in ways you cannot see. When you have a deep belief, even unconsciously, it can sabotage your potential through the actions or non-actions you take based on the belief. That then creates the...
Mindful Confrontation: 9 Steps to Handle Conflict in a Healthy Way
Confrontations can be overwhelming, disappointing, unpleasant, and sometimes terrifying. Confrontations can also often come with a negative connotation, implying some sort of unfair treatment to another human being or maybe even feel like a type of bullying. However, confrontation is a healthy avenue for you to stand up for yourself and your beliefs—to be heard and not silenced by inaction...
Spring Renewal: 5 Helpful Hints to Refresh Your Mindset
Spring is the best time of year for out with the old and in with the new. Along these lines, you may be taking the time to physically clean out your living space, pack up winter gear, and prepare for the warmer climate. You may also be thinking of dusting the house and opening up some windows to let a...
How to Become a Morning Person
While it’s true that some people are naturally larks (morning people) and others are owls (night people), you need not restrict yourself to being one or the other. Yoga and meditation practices can teach you to be flexible and adaptable in body and mind, but what about habit?If you want to take advice from the research that says morning people...
3 Lessons in Having Purpose from Those Who Live to 100
In the first part of this series about lessons from those who live to 100, we learned about people who live in Blue Zones (areas in the world where there is a high rate of centenarians.) Part One focused on how cultivating a healthy diet is one of the factors involved with increased longevity.To recap, this series is based on...
7 Ways to Avoid the Winter Hibernation Trap
Winter introduces you to colder temperatures, darker skies, and an overall gloomier feel when you walk out the door. So it’s no wonder your natural inclination is to avoid all of it. Why battle the snow or put on an extra three layers of warm clothing when you have the option to remain in the comfort of your home?Health Consequences...
Gifts that Give: 8 Gifts that Inspire Compassion
Holiday shopping can be a drag to say the least. It’s not easy during the hectic holiday season to search high and low for the perfect gift, and material items often lack true meaning. What if your gift could inspire someone to lead a more compassionate and fulfilling life? That would truly be a gift that keeps on giving.Here are...
5 Steps to Connect with Your True Self on Vacation
As a kid, vacation was a thing of magic. Anticipating the chance to explore new places and try new wonderful things, you would fanaticize about all that lay ahead. You would make detailed plans or pack your suitcase weeks in advance, annoying your parents with your enthusiasm and the constant barrage of asking how many days until you left.These days,...
How to Elevate the World Through Your Own Happiness
There’s a lot going on in the world right now that can leave you feeling helpless and hopeless. It’s tempting to want to retreat into your own little bubble with thoughts like, what could little ol’ me possibly do to shift the political climate, the worldwide hunger epidemic, and seemingly growing divisiveness between people on opposite sides of an imagined...
The Deepak You Don’t Know: My Dad Before Meditation
Often, when people first meet me and find out who my father is, one of the first questions they ask is, “What was it like growing up with Deepak as your father?” And I understand, my father is an amazing man who has helped so many people heal themselves. But what people don’t know is that my dad didn’t become...
The Rise of the Sober Social Scene
Movies from the 80s and 90s depicted a lot of good times associated with copious amounts of alcohol and drunkenness. Bars and pubs seemed to be the only places people ever went to have a good time. Now with coffee houses and juice bars making more appearances, gathering places without alcohol seem to be more acceptable.There are more people doing...
5 Healing Benefits of Listening to Music
Music is a universal language. It has the unique ability to communicate with you and connect you to the Universe in ways you can’t find elsewhere.If you’re open to its healing powers, music often resonates on a level much deeper than cognitive comprehension; it reaches your soul. Whether you listen to classical, grunge, pop, singer/songwriter, alternative, rock, bluegrass, country, or...
5 Good Reasons to Embrace Spring Cleaning
Spring is in the air. As you pack up those sweaters and snow boots in exchange for oxfords and boat shoes, it’s the perfect time to take a look around your house and see what needs to be cleared out. Outer organization contributes to calming inner chaos. This means that spring cleaning isn’t just good for your home, it’s also...
Spring Cleaning: 4 Ways to Cultivate New Beginnings
Spring signifies new growth, birth, and the vitality that comes from getting back outside and enjoying the fresh air. Sometimes associated with spring cleaning, it also is a chance for change or fresh starts. How can you take advantage of this transformative time of year?Plant New SeedsPlanting seeds in your garden at this time of year is a wonderful way...
What to Do When Your Loved One is an Alcoholic
When you are in the midst of the empty bottles, broken promises, and never-ending lies due to a loved one’s excessive drinking, it can feel like you’re all alone in the world. The shameful and sinking feeling that someone might find out the horror you’re experiencing can make you want to crawl into a hole. You are not alone.In the...
6 Ways to Beat the Post-Holiday Blues
Your fridge is filled with week-old leftovers and the cookie bin is still laden with crumbs, reminding you of your guilt-ridden nightly visits. As you look at your overstuffed recycling bin, you sigh heavily. All the excitement is over and the demands of work are starting to pile up again.But what if you looked at things a little differently? The...
11 Tips for Cultivating Intentional Habits
If you’re like the majority of other people, you make resolutions each December that you never actually attain. Or perhaps you start off strong on your path to achieving your goal only to drop off after a few weeks. You might even successfully keep your resolution, but still have lots of things in your life you want to tweak or...
4 Benefits of Owning a Pet
“Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That’s the problem.” - A.A. MilneAnimals can be some of the best teachers in life, if you simply pay attention to the way they live, love, and interact with the world around them.They possess an incredibly grounding energy that: Teaches us how to stay present (they’re rarely worried about the future...
5 Principles to Overcome Burnout
You wake up almost as tired as when you fell asleep, four hours ago. After hitting the snooze button twice, you stumble to the kitchen and chug a quart of coffee. It doesn’t help. Your face in the mirror looks like the child you might have had with Voldemort. You can barely squeeze into your last-resort “fat pants.” Getting your...
Corporate Calm: 7 Steps to Sharing Mind-Body Wellness in the Workplace
Over the past few decades, mind-body wellness has had a noticeable impact on the corporate landscape. More and more businesses, both large and small, have been integrating a holistic, consciousness-based approach to wellness and productivity for their employees and business models. The benefits of yoga, meditation, breath work, and other mind-body modalities have been embraced by some of the most...
The Surprising Truth of Sufficiency
We each have the choice in any setting to step back and let go of the mindset of scarcity. Once we let go of scarcity, we discover the surprising truth of sufficiency.By sufficiency, I don’t mean a quantity of anything. Sufficiency isn’t two steps up from poverty or one step short of abundance. It isn’t a measure of barely enough...
Can You Recognize Fear?
If you’re like me, whenever you decide to stretch your wings, try something new, or consider a leap of faith, your inner critic pipes up with a hundred cautionary tales and reasons why things might not work out.At the best of times, we are able to separate ourselves from this harsh inner critic. Far more often however, we buy into...
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...
How to Live Your Sadhana Every Day
Discover the meaning of Sadhana and how to let go of your ego and embrace a spiritual life. Open your heart with Sadhana yoga and practices today.
Why I Believe in the Embodied Project
For years, I’ve been practicing self-love and what it means to truly be the change I wish to see in the world. I learned at a very young age that aligning my mind, my body, and my spirit was the only way for me to have true peace in life.My name is Nitika Chopra, and it’s for these reasons that...
7 Benefits of a Daily Affirmation Plan
Stay positive and grateful, even after you manifest the things you want. Find out more about the benefits of positive morning affirmations in your daily life.
A Woman’s Journey to Wholeness
Understanding what women want, a question that Freud once asked in abject frustration, is a path to an authentic relationship with yourself and others. One of my most popular books, A Woman’s Book of Life, addresses this very question. It discusses how women grow and change in seven-year cycles throughout their lifespan—and what to expect when they are changing.Knowing and...
7 Steps for Dealing With Difficult People
Don't let a difficult person get you down. These tips and books on dealing with difficult family members will help you rise above and find compassion in difficulties.
How to Create Healthy Habits in the New Year
It’s the time of the year to dream about new healthy habits and commit to leaving behind negative patterns that don’t align with your true self. Many people promise to eat a healthier diet, start working out, read more, or watch less television, but only a few succeed in the long run. Use these tips to make sure your self-improvement...
How to Stop Procrastinating
Ugh! I’m so full, I can’t breathe!” says Rose as she finishes her cheeseburger. “And I’ve got to lose weight … I think I’ll have the crème brûlée” Across the table, her oncologist friend, Linda, lights up, handling the stress of treating cancer patients by smoking like a chimney. Meanwhile Barb is complaining about her 27-year-old son, Randy. “If he...
6 Lessons You Can Learn From Traveling
After traveling through Europe, China, Africa, South and Central America, and much of the Caribbean, I decided that Americans have a lot to learn from other cultures, and from the unpredictable nature of life away from home. Here are six of the most valuable travel lessons learned that North Americans may find helpful in their everyday lives.Slow DownWe are always...
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...
10 Myths Busted: What Really Happens at a Meditation Retreat
Thinking of heading off for a week on a yoga or meditation retreat? I’ve heard some funny stories over the years I’ve spent running retreats and workshops at the Chopra Center: reasons why people didn’t sign up, stories they’ve heard from friends, preconceived ideas of what really happens when they take a week off from their life to retreat …Here’s...
Surrendering Beyond the Comfort Zone
“To love is to move the soul of the house, to love is to fly without wings” ~ Mario QuintanaLove is the affect of connection—the emotional perception of the connecting forces of nature. It’s that feeling of being harmoniously integrated and whole. It’s timeless joy.We sensually experience our environment with the senses of smell, taste, touch, hearing, and sight. Our...
A Quiz That Predicts Your Longevity
If you have a conscientious doctor, you’ve probably been asked important health questions such as: Are you eating a mostly vegetable based diet? Are you avoiding sugar and limiting glucose-spiking carbohydrates like white pasta and bread? Are you choosing organic? Are you avoiding habits that can harm your health, such as cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol intake, and drinking too much...
Do Be Do Be Do
About a year and a half ago I attended my first official meditation retreat. It was with Deepak Chopra and The Chopra Center. Prior to this, I was what would be described as a "crisis meditator" tapping into the practice at the most expected of times (i.e., New Year's resolution) or the most desperate times (i.e., overly stressed, overwhelmed, etc)....
5 Ways to Become a Magnet for Love
For those seeking love, the questions surrounding love can be plentiful. Once I do find it how do I keep it alive? Here is how to become a love magnet.
Why I Chose to Teach Healing and the Mystical Laws
About six years ago, as I was getting dressed in a hotel room preparing for a lecture, I heard the CNN reporter from my television pose the question to the viewers just as the network was about to break into a commercial, “Do miracles really happen? One man believes they do. He claims he was healed through his faith in...
Honoring the Divine in You
Explore the science and mythology of archetypes—powerful energies within literature, history, mythology, and religion that personify our core identities.
Concepts to Calm and Comfort
I am going to assume that y’all are already on board with my obsessive belief that we are undergoing a transformation of human consciousness. I could be wrong, but let’s just say I’m not. It seems that this change is imminent, if not already upon us. In Eckhart Tolle’s image, blossoms are opening in individual human beings all over our...
The Formula for Happiness
In my book, The Joy Diet, I wrote that yearning is the internal map of the course your life was meant to follow. I believe I wrote something like, “Your destiny pulls you through life by the heart.” Recently, I’ve realized that yearning is, indeed, a valuable indication of our best future, but it contains an energy that can push...
The Three Qualities of Awareness
About 2,600 years ago, when Siddhartha Gautama (the soon-to-be Buddha) sat down under the bodhi tree, his resolve was to realize his true nature. Siddhartha had a profound interest in truth, and the questions “Who am I?” and “What is reality?” impelled him to look even more deeply within and shine a light on his own awareness.As a Zen story...
Workwell
Dear friend,I hope that this email finds you feeling balanced, centered, healthy – and happy. Here at the Chopra Center we are excited about the launch of our Workplace Wellbeing program, founded on the principle of wholeness. As the world’s great wisdom traditions teach, wholeness is our natural state of balance, harmony, and wellbeing. When we’re living in wholeness, we...
Healing the Heart
In Egyptian mythology, there is a story that says that when a person dies, the soul travels to a different dimension to undergo a life review. In that timeless, spaceless realm, the god Anubis places the recently deceased’s astral heart on a scale to weigh it against the feather of truth. If the heart is lighter than the feather, then...
How to Break Out of a Rut
In every moment of our existence, we have access to an infinity of choices. As a result of conditioning, however, most of us tend to act in predictable, repetitious ways. The process is like driving a car down the same dirt road many times. Over time, the wheels carve out ruts in the dirt and the car automatically follows the...
4 Ways to Get Unstuck
1. Cultivate the Healing Power of GratitudeGratitude is an immensely powerful force that we can use to expand our happiness, create loving relationships, and even improve our health.Many scientific studies, including research by renowned psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, have found that people who consciously focus on gratitude experience greater emotional wellbeing and physical health than those who don’t....
Creating Balance in Life | 7 Tips for Mind-Body Balance
One of the guiding principles of mind-body balance is the interconnection of all things. Read our seven tips for how to create balance in your body and mind.
Cultivate the Healing Power of Gratitude
Gratitude is an immensely powerful force that we can use to expand our happiness, create loving relationships, and even improve our health.Many scientific studies, including research by renowned psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, have found that people who consciously focus on gratitude experience greater emotional well-being and physical health than those who don’t. In comparison with control groups, those...
Awaken to Love
Most of us did not receive formal instructions on how to love. As we were growing up, we learned by observing our parents, siblings, and caregivers, who may or may not have been competent at managing and expressing their emotions. If your parents, like so many, were emotional amateurs, you likely have experienced challenges in meeting your love needs as...
The 7 Laws of Enlightened Relationships
Most people envision an ideal intimate relationship based upon shared interests, open communication, mutual nurturing, and passion. When they’re unable to create this level of emotional connection, they conclude that they need to work harder to create “serious” relationships. It has been my experience, however, that lighthearted relationships are generally more desirable and longer lasting.Although there’s no proven formula that...