Living the Ayurvedic Life

A Complete Guide to Balancing and Healing the Energies of the Body

Description

• Reveals how making small, strategic changes to habits and behaviors in daily life can lead to better physical, mental, and spiritual well-being

• Explores breathing practices, sleep habits, the energetic effects of specific foods, and different types of fasting

• Explains how exercise and yoga, massage, bathing, and sexual energy retention can increase vitality

In this classic guide to Ayurvedic principles, Indian artist, teacher, and scholar of tantra, Harish Johari reveals how making small, strategic changes to habits and behaviors in daily life can lead to better physical, mental, and spiritual well-being no matter what your current age or state of health.

The author explains the three types of energy (gunas) in the Ayurvedic tradition—sattva (essence), rajas (activity), and tamas (inertia)—and how they influence our emotional patterns, mental habits, and physical health as well as how we can cultivate or suppress each type of energy. He explores the power of breath, including the specific effects of breathing through the left and right nostrils. He also looks at the energizing effects of waking up just before sunrise and offers guidance on developing healthy sleep habits.

Revealing the far-reaching effects of diet, Johari explores the impact that specific foods have on the body and mind for each Ayurvedic body type as well as the power of fasting. He also explains appropriate yoga and exercise practices for different ages, the healing effects of massage and meditation, the influences of different gemstones on the body and mind, and how sexual energy retention can increase vitality.

Sharing a practical set of principles for daily living based on thousands of years of Ayurvedic science, this guide will help you develop habits for a healthier, happier, and more balanced life.

About the author(s)

Harish Johari (1934–1999) was a distinguished North Indian author, Tantric scholar, poet, musician, composer, artist, and gemologist who held degrees in philosophy and literature and made it his life's work to introduce the culture of his homeland to the West.
Here is a hot link to a web site dedicated to Harish Johari's work that was set up by his students. http://www.sanatansociety.com/artists_authors/aa_harish_johari.htm

Vatsala Sperling, Ph.D., fluent in a number of Indian languages and Sanskrit, learned these traditional stories at her mother’s feet and enjoys introducing them to children of the Western world. Before marrying and moving to the United States, she was the chief of Clinical Microbiological Services at the largest children’s hospital in India. The author of Classic Tales from India, she lives in Vermont with her husband and son.

Reviews

“In a world increasingly dependent on quick fixes and surface-level approaches to health, this book is a vital reminder of the depths and wisdom of true healing. Ayurveda offers a complete system of well-being—one that embraces the whole person through diet, daily routines, seasonal balance, and cleansing practices that work in harmony with nature. For those of us in the modern Western world, where our health care often treats symptoms rather than root causes, this knowledge is profoundly needed. Johari opens the door to an ancient science that can restore balance, vitality, and genuine wholeness in our lives.”

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