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Good heart health is easy to achieve with just a few simple principles © Shutterstock
Ayurveda places the heart at the centre of different physical and spiritual principles. Stress, anxiety, tension, blood pressure, wrong dietary and lifestyle choices affect the health of our hearts. For a healthy heart, you need both emotions (bhava) and the spirit (prana) to be healthy. Here is what Dr Partap Chauhan, director, Jiva Ayurveda recommends.
Understand the interplay of emotions and the heart: The heart is sensitive to emotional turmoil. When your mind is assaulted by emotions, it takes a toll on the heart health. Consistent emotional upheavals deeply impact your heart health. In Ayurvedic terms, when you are emotional, your mind is either in the state of Rajas (passion, anger, attachment, desire, etc.) or Tamas (moody, jealous, guilt, shame, embarrassment, etc.), and neither of these states is healthy. Health blossoms when your mind is in the state of Sattva and you experience joy, serenity, cheerfulness and euphoria. How do you attain Sattva? Slow down , ground yourself with reality and take a moment to introspect. Get out of exhilarating environments, seek silence and calmness. Seek the company of people you find calming and reassuring. That is what you need for a healthy heart.
Manage Agni and Ama: It surely helps in keeping your emotions in the state of Sattva if your body is healthy. Ayurveda considers two things very important to maintain health strong Agni (digestion) and absence of Ama (toxins). When both are true, your body produces Ojas, your immunity is high, you have no diseases and there is no psychological burden of a diseased body. That will make your heart lighter and carefree to enjoy what life has in store for you. Remember, stress and anxiety are outcomes of mental Ama. Once you learn to expel that, you will never have another reason to worry about your mind or heart. If you want to reduce Ama, the food you eat to nourish your body is equally important.
What you need to do for good heart health:
Prayers and meditation: When you hear bells ring in a temple, or when you hear Azaan or the choir sing, why does it make your heart calm? There are frequencies in nature that have a calming effect on the mind and body. Sit down in a calm place every morning and chant Om for 15 minutes. When you open your eyes you will feel Sattvic. That means you have just nourished your mind and remove mental Ama. Other ways to nourish your mind are through meditation and listening to soothing music.
Stay active, reject addiction: Mild exercises keep your heart strong and promote good metabolism. Just brisk-walking for 20-30 minutes every day will burn calories, reduce cholesterol and flush toxins. Also, when you exercise or practise yoga on a regular basis, you no longer feel the urge to satisfy your addictions.