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HOLISTIC HEALTH
THE
CHOPRA CENTER
2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | learn@chopra.com 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009
2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009
There is a growing body of research establishing the inextricable connection of the mind, body, and spirit and the value of health practices that encompass all three aspects. The following guide to holistic health wont tell you what kind of diet to follow or whether you need to take vitamins. It instead offers practices to help you experience your own innate wholeness and your own inextricable connection to the universe as you nurture your mind, body, and spirit.
2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009
How do you make choices that keep you in harmony with your inner intelligence and rhythms? By tuning into your bodys messages. Your body always expresses itself through signals of comfort and discomfort. When choosing a certain path or behavior, ask your body, How do you feel about this? If your body sends a signal of physical or emotional distress, pay attention and consider a different choice. If your body sends a signal of comfort and eagerness, proceed. Whereas the mind lives in the past and the future, the body resides in the now and never doubts itself. It knows the truth and will guide you toward the most evolutionary choices.
4. CULTIVATE SELF-REFERRAL
When you become aware of the observer in the midst of the observation, then you go into choiceless awareness. Your reference point shifts from your ego to choiceless awareness, and you experience a state known as self-referral, which has certain characteristics. You feel neither superior nor inferior; you are detached from outcome; you are defenseless; you are in touch with your feelings and you feel what you feel; youre not obsessed with power, money, or control; and youre not easily offended. In this state of consciousness, there is automatically freedom, because all the things that imprison us are the very things that youre not. You know youre not attached to outcome; youre not obsessed with power or control; youre not denying your feelings; youre not feeling superior or inferior. In self-referral you have infinite freedom and are able to make spontaneous evolutionary choices. Its the same as being in the flow of dharma. Youre not anticipating a response and youre not victimized by memory. Youre literally in the flow of the evolutionary impulse of the universe.
2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009
5. BE GENEROUS OF SPIRIT
Wholeness is generous because it feels no lack. No matter how much you give, if you give freely more will come to you. On the other hand, if you feel a pinch of lack underneath, it wont be easy to give and you wont experience the joy of giving and receiving. Generosity begins at the level of the soul, which has an inexhaustible source of the two things that are vital to life: energy and awareness. When you know at the deepest levels that you can never run short of these two things, you will become generous of spirit and giving on any level will feel natural and easy. Here are the major gifts we all can give when were generous of spirit: Offering yourself first. This refers means sharing the real you instead of the false self that most people offer the world. The false self is something we develop to fit into societys expectations and win external approval, while the real self is open and vulnerable. It doesnt feel a division between one soul and another. While social conditioning can make it feel frightening to offer the real you, as is so often the case, fear gives false counsel. When you offer the real you, you become stronger, stripping yourself of the flimsy suit of armor that was an illusion all along. When you share your true self, you offer the wholeness of spirit. Dont withhold the truth. Whatever is false blocks spirit and prevents the flow of energy and awareness. Every time you speak your truth, you establish your own wholeness and evolution. This isnt about standing up for absolute truths but about being authentic and honest on the most intimate scale. In families where someone has an alcohol or drug addiction and the other family members keep silent, they feel a sense of helplessness and the problems fester. Speaking the truth opens up options and empowers you. It shows caring.
2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009
Be a force for harmony and coherence. Wholeness is a state of harmony, while fragmentation is a state of conflict. The soul is a harmonizing influence that can transform any situation if you stay aware and focus your intentions. In the face of conflict, you can act as a peaceful influence, whether silently of speaking up if that is needed. Place your trust in abundance. Since wholeness contains everything, it draws on the infinite resources of spirit. Trust that there will always be enough of what your soul has to give enough love, compassion, caring, intelligence, creativity, and attention. Abundance is about trusting the flow, knowing that wholeness doesnt have holes in it and never leaves a void. You can be generous with all the gifts of the soul and more will flow in.
2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009
2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009