Dear friends, 

During this auspicious occasion of our Adi Guru’s 151st birth anniversary, I would like to share with you some thoughts on how our mental health is intimately connected with our physical health and our spiritual health. The eight-limbed yoga of Patanjali, known as Ashtanga Yoga, highlights this connection, and offers a very effective and well- balanced approach toward achieving the integration of physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Asanas and Pranayama nurture our Annamaya and Pranamaya koshas, that is, our physical body and energy flows. Three major monoamine neurotransmitters— dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin—are modulated by exercise, affecting brain function and working against neurological disorders.

Yama, Niyama, and Pratyahara nourish our Manomaya and Vignanamaya koshas, that is, our mental, emotional and intellectual well-being. And Dharana and Dhyana, leading to Samadhi, nourish our Anandamaya kosha. 

In the modern era, the Heartfulness Way offers us a set of simple practices to achieve the balanced state of Ashtanga Yoga. It is what Heartfulness stands for, and what it offers to the world. The teachings and methods of Heartfulness differ from those of older systems, in that they have been distilled into an essence, free from anything superfluous, so that everyone can experience well-being. In this message, we will explore some of the ways they help us to achieve better health.

As we evolve on our spiritual journey, our dependency on the outer koshas does reduce, but we still must care for the body and mind. Evolving spiritually does not diminish the value of physical and mental well-being, which are, by and large, influenced by our genetic makeup and the environmental impact we now know as epigenetics. I would like to extend our understanding of this environmental impact to also include our inner environment, created by our thoughts, emotions, and feelings.

Circadian rhythms, sleep, and the health of the nervous system

Sunday, March 31, 2002—10:00 a.m.

For you, humans, it is important to have a well-balanced life, and to comply with precise schedules in your practices, in all areas; we insist on this point. The biological clock is one of the reasons for this, but there 

are many others, particularly with relation to the vibratory density in which you move. Try, as much as possible, to conform to a regular observation of this aspect of life and to adopt some regularity in your

practices, which will help you to keep a good balance. From the infinitely great to the infinitely small, all living things are subjected to regularity and absolute precision of movement.

—Babuji 

Tuesday, May 8, 2001—8:00 a.m.

Each day is an opportunity for you to progress and grow. You tirelessly redo the same things and the same ritual concerning your abhyas.

You thus follow a universal rhythm; all your actions are repetitive. By respecting, to a certain extent, a schedule fitting the various activities that punctuate your days, you find your equilibrium. It is important to abide by strict rules, for your physical activities as well as for your spiritual exercises. Regularity is profitable at all levels. A human being

is made like that: he is being programmed by his biological clock at each point in time in his life.

—Babuji

The Heartfulness Way offers us a set of simple practices to achieve the balanced state of Ashtanga Yoga. It is what

Heartfulness stands for, and what it offers to the world. The teachings and methods of Heartfulness differ from those of older systems, in that they have been distilled

into an essence, free from anything superfluous, so that everyone can experience well-being. 

Our cells contain tiny molecular clocks that measure the 24-hour circadian rhythm. The clock-network decides when we are hungry or sleepy, and it can sense when the days are getting longer and shorter, triggering seasonal changes. The major clock is housed in the neurons of a small region of the brain known as the suprachiasmic nuclei. It is synchronized by exposure to light, and is a central pacemaker, checking the cycles of light and dark outside, and sending signals to synchronize the clocks throughout the cells of the rest of the body (Hastings, 1998). 

The 24-hour clock works at the molecular level, and uses a collection of proteins that are rhythmically synthesized and degraded each day. The 24-hour cycle in the levels of these proteins is controlled by a series of interconnected feedback loops, where the levels of the proteins precisely regulate their own production. 

Studying our circadian rhythms helps us understand the importance of caring for our physical health by living in tune with natural cycles. For example, let’s take sleep. When we sleep early and deeply, our Central Nervous System, including the brain, has the chance to detoxify daily, resulting in the health of the nervous system. 

Scientists have discovered the role of microglial cells and astrocytes (Garland, et al., 2022), which together remove the waste material that accumulates because of our mental activities. This process is called synaptic pruning. Together, these cells support regeneration and homeostasis of the nervous system. This happens during our sleep hours. In deep sleep, the brain contracts, squeezing all the waste material through the microglial intercellular space. 

When we do not have enough deep sleep, this intercellular space between the microglial cells remains narrow due to inflammatory processes involving the build-up of beta-amyloid and tau proteins. The beta- amyloid proteins clump together to form plaques, and the tau proteins form neurofibrillary tangles that collect inside the neurons, especially in the specific brain regions associated with memory. And as the level of beta-amyloid reaches a certain level, there is a rapid spread of tau throughout the brain (NIA, 2024). These proteins are associated with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. 

The genes responsible for activating the peptide chains that lead to beta- amyloid and tau protein build-up remain more active when there is a lack of sleep. The cascading effect is that amyloid-containing plaques and tau- containing neurofibrillary tangles build up in the brain, and the synaptic reserve is diminished. 

These processes contribute to our inability to learn new things and retain old learnings. The memory loss may eventually lead to dementia,

including Alzheimer’s. The greater the load of waste material in the brain, the greater will be the impact on our nervous system. Think over it—how often do you remain irritatable or short-tempered the next day, when you miss out on sleep! Who is the loser?

The effect of Heartfulness practices 

Removing the waste material is one challenge, but the greater challenge is how to avoid accumulating it in the first place. Where does it come from? It comes from mental and emotional activity. Back in 1971, Pujya Babuji Maharaj had a conversation with a group of young Danish abhyasis: 

Abhyasi 1: But what to do? There are thoughts all the time. 

Babuji: That is why I always say, “Treat your thoughts as uninvited guests.” They are there. But you attend to your own… 

Abhyasi, interrupting: Ignore them? 

Babuji: Yes, and if you must have thoughts, have good thoughts. But frankly speaking, bad thoughts are better. Because all those samskaras are now ready to leave us. Of course, on purpose we should not do it. We should not develop bad thoughts or habits. This we should not do. 

Abhyasi 2: But won’t thoughts always be there? 

Babuji: Yes, as long as we live, but meditation, I am telling you, through meditation they are very much reduced. Look here! They consume us! Thoughts consume us. 

Babuji shared this long before science understood the concept of toxicity in the brain. We know that thoughts are energy, and both the quality of that energy as well as its intensity affect our well-being. Thoughts consume us and especially the worries, chinta, which result in chita, meaning fire! And yoga is the antidote. As Patanjali advises in his second sutra: 

1.2 Yogaścittavrttinirodha 

Yoga is that state of being in which the ideational choice-making movement of the tendencies of the heart slows down and comes to a stop. 

As a result of regular practice, subtle body activity becomes progressively lighter, purer, and simpler, and the result is that less waste is produced. 

Both the quality and quantity of thoughts matter. For example, when you are angry, violent, greedy, jealous, deceitful, etc., the amount of energy used up is much more than when you are feeling calm and still. When you are angry, you can feel your body surging with energy. You feel hot, your heart races, and you cannot relax. More waste is generated in all parts of your body.

We know that thoughts are energy, and both the quality of that energy as well as its intensity affect our well-being. Thoughts consume us and especially the worries, chinta, which result in chita, meaning fire! And yoga is the antidote. 
 

Resentment is an emotion of a different type. It is like holding onto waste, and stubbornly refusing to let it go. You may know the famous statement often attributed to Nelson Mandela: “Resentment is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die.” 

So our task is two-fold—both to reduce the load of waste material, to purge it out, and to avoid forming it in the first place. Our Heartfulness Cleaning practice reduces the load, and our practices of Meditation, Prayer, and Constant Remembrance allow us to avoid forming it in the first place. 

Cleaning removes the cause of the waste build up, which is at the level of the subtle body. It starts with removing negative vibrations, and the effect radiates to reduce the toxins that accumulate in the physical body, in this case the entire neural network. 

Heartfulness Meditation with pranahuti develops correct thinking and right understanding. And when we practice Meditation on Point A in the evening, celebrating everyone as our sisters and brothers, there is no possibility of holding any resentment toward anyone or anything. We let go of it, along with all other complicated entanglements we may feel toward our fellow beings. When we practice the Cleaning of Point B in the morning, we let go of lustful thoughts and bodily sensations, and this removes another layer of waste. 

Prayer offered with gratitude brings us to the Center of our being, in a yielding innocent state, and helps increase our synaptic reserve. Reading

Prayer offered with gratitude brings us to the Center of our being, in a yielding innocent state, and helps increase our synaptic reserve. Reading our literature creates craving and enthusiasm to learn new things, activating the neural pathways in the brain and thus nourishing the Manomaya kosha. Constant Remembrance keeps us connected with the Center at all times, with a focus on the soul’s existence. 

our literature creates craving and enthusiasm to learn new things, activating the neural pathways in the brain and thus nourishing the Manomaya kosha. Constant Remembrance keeps us connected with the Center at all times, with a focus on the soul’s existence.

This combination of simple practices is the perfect recipe for both removing waste and maintaining a waste-reduced environment.

Moreover, the practices maintain our neuroplasticity to a larger extent. Does it mean we don’t need to sleep well once we are Heartfulness practitioners? Not at all. As Babuji says, there will always be thoughts. We may need less sleep than someone who does not meditate, but balance and moderation are essential. 

In Heartfulness, we are learning to regulate our thoughts in an evolutionary way. Correct thinking and right understanding are the requisites for not forming waste, and an honest approach to life reduces the load by simplifying our lives.

In ancient times, the Rishi Ashtavakra spoke to Raja Janaka about the qualities that we should cultivate.

Janaka asked him, “How to acquire knowledge? How to attain liberation? How to reach a state of unattached attachment?”

And Ashtavakra answered, “Avoid the pull of the senses, treat them as poison, and cultivate forgiveness, sincerity, compassion, contentment, and truthfulness.” 

This prescription is like a vaccine to prevent the formation of all sorts of impressions in our consciousness. Think of wishes as visham (poison)! And the five attitudes keep the inner sky of consciousness as pure as possible. 

The 33rd sutra of Patanjali also provides similar solutions to our problem: 

1.33 Maitri-karuṇā-mudito-peksānām sukha-dukkha- puṇyāpuṇya visayānām bhāvanā tascitta prasādanaṁ 

Friendliness, compassion, joyousness and indifference, in respect of the objects of happiness, sorrow, virtue and non-virtue, lead to purity and clarity of mind. 

And the same is true of the five Yamas and five Niyamas of Patanjali, and the Ten Maxims of Pujya Babuji Maharaj. 

Eating patterns 

Our eating patterns also affect the amount of waste we produce. Scientists are confirming what yogis discovered thousands of years ago— that a plant-based diet helps us maintain the cellular health of the nervous system, including the brain and the spinal cord. 

A plant-based diet improves our gut health (Tomova, et al., 2019) by promoting the development of diverse and stable microbial systems. Also, vegetarians have higher counts of certain Bacteroidetes species; and polyphenols, which are abundant in plants, increase Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, providing anti-pathogenic and anti-inflammatory effects and cardiovascular protection. Fiber, which is carbohydrate found in plants, increases lactic acid bacteria; and fiber ferments into short- chain fatty acids (SCFAs). The positive health effects of SCFAs include immunity against pathogens, blood-brain barrier health, provision of energy substrates, and regulation of the functions of the intestine. 

Then there is the spiritual dimension to eating. When we eat in constant divine thought, as Babuji has guided us in Maxim 8, our autonomic nervous system settles into parasympathetic mode, allowing us to digest the food in a calm, moderate way. The ventral vagus nerve supports all the organs involved in our digestive process, and we absorb the nutrients we are receiving without the disturbances caused by other activities. 

You may have heard of the Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, who famously studied behavioral conditioning in dogs. He also experimented on the digestion of cats, and the role of the nervous system in controlling digestive processes. When he introduced a dog into the room where a cat was eating, the cat’s digestive juices stopped functioning because of the sympathetic nervous system’s “fight or flight” response, shutting down digestion. Like the cat, our digestive systems are also affected by the state of our emotions. Having prayerful divine thoughts at mealtime helps us to focus inward and let go of any tension and stress.

Energy flows and patterns 

Just as each of us has a unique set of fingerprints, our breathing pattern is also unique. We inhale and exhale in a specific rhythmic way, and our two nostrils work differently according to the solar and lunar cycles.

In the yogic literature, the right nostril is associated with the Surya Nadi or Pingala, the sympathetic nervous system, and activity. The left nostril is associated with the Chandra Nadi or Ida, the parasympathetic nervous system, and rest and repose. Every couple of hours the pattern switches, and overall there is a marked difference between day and night. Ideally, the right nostril is more dominant during the day and the left nostril at night. This physiology is directly related to the movement of both the sun and the moon.

When we are mentally and emotionally disturbed, this natural pattern of breathing is also disturbed. When we are angry, scared, or anxious, we activate the sympathetic response, so the right nostril is activated. The hormones adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine are released into the blood, our heart beats faster, our muscles tense ready for action, our blood pressure goes up, and we become highly aware. We are ready for “fight or flight.”

You can reverse this with a simple breathing exercise:

When you feel yourself getting angry, close your right nostril with your thumb and take a slow, deep breath through your left nostril, breathing deeply into your abdomen and releasing the breath fully each time. Continue to breathe like this eight to ten times through your left nostril, with your mouth closed.

In doing so, you activate the parasympathetic system, and your system calms down.

Observe your breathing very carefully around sunrise—you will witness a slow shift from left to right. At sunset you will observe a slow shift from right to left. And when you meditate during those transition times, you will find it is wonderful because the balance is there between your Surya and Chandra Nadis.

When you feel yourself getting angry, close your right nostril with your thumb and take a slow, deep breath through your left nostril, breathing deeply into

your abdomen and releasing the breath fully each time. Continue to breathe like this eight to ten times through your left nostril, with your mouth closed.

As an experiment, observe yourself at intervals during the day and night. Is your energy pattern absorbing or radiating? Also, observe whether you are breathing through your left or right nostril. You will find a relationship between the inflow and outflow and your breathing pattern.

And the deep meditative states you will experience with yogic Transmission produce an incredible balance in this energy exchange. If you have lost too much, you will gain; if you have gained too much, you will lose it.

Early in the morning, before dawn, nature’s energy flows inward toward the Source. It is good to flow with those currents, by meditating before dawn. Very naturally, Transmission flows with your natural inflow of cosmic energy at that time. After sunrise, energy flows outward, so it is not as easy to absorb Transmission. It also helps to do Heartfulness Cleaning when the energy flow is outward, as we are throwing things out from our system. This happens when the Surya Nadi is active, for example, just before sunset. 

To be in tune with these cycles, our forefathers rose early and greeted the sun. For example, the Surya Namaskar, the sun salutation, was often done in the early morning, facing the rising sun. Scientists now know that sunlight activates nerve pathways from the retina of the eye to the hypothalamus, which results in serotonin production. Without serotonin, the happy hormone, we are prone to depression. 

Not only that, serotonin is a prerequisite for the production of the sleep hormone, melatonin. Within the pineal gland, serotonin yields melatonin. Melatonin levels start increasing in our bodies about two hours before we are programmed to sleep, and this is the right time to wind down for the day in a restful mood, and eventually prepare for sleep.

One thing leads to another: Rising early activates serotonin production, which leads to melatonin production, which allows us to sleep well, which allows us to wake up early again the next morning. When this cycle is disturbed, we are prone to sleep problems and depression, two of the most significant maladies of the modern world.

When we are fully alert in the morning, we can lovingly invite higher levels of consciousness and be one with the Essence. Some beautiful conditions will arise in the heart, and they will remain with us throughout the day. Such is the meditative state created when our consciousness is ready to receive.

The choice is ours. If we choose to lead a life that is going against the cycles and rhythms of Nature, we will be lost in the waves of a disturbed consciousness, and our energy flow and sleep patterns will be less than healthy. In contrast, when our consciousness is still and settled, we will experience physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

With love and respect, Kamlesh