Health and Wellness

As the saying goes, “teach what you most need to learn.”

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.

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 years before symptoms appear.

Celebrating Earth Day is an opportunity for you to explore your intimate relationship with the Earth. As you look at this relationship through an Ayurvedic perspective, you can see that you are not separate from the Earth but are one interconnected physical body.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.