Ancient Indian healing
traditions teach that true wellbeing is not something we “fix,” but something
we remember. Beneath our shifting moods, habits, and identities, there is a
natural intelligence always moving us toward balance. One of the clearest ways
to understand this movement is through the wisdom of the three gunas.
The gunas are subtle qualities
of nature that shape our energy, mind, emotions, and consciousness. They are
always present, always changing, and always interacting within us. When we
learn to recognise them, we gain a powerful lens for self-healing, emotional
regulation, and spiritual growth without force or self-judgment.
These three energies shape our inner world
The
understanding of the gunas can be found in many Indian traditional texts such
as the Bhagavad Gita. The gunas are basically three in nature. Sattva, Rajas
and Tamas and each of these have different functions. Colours, food, water, in
fact everything around you, carries these gunas. If you eat junk food it makes
you feel heavy and tamasic, if you use the colour red that is rajasic, if you
eat onions, they are rajasic and if you sacrifice something to help another
that is sattvic. So, there is a subtleness to the gunas that you will discover
as you become more aware of how they work in you.
Tamas is
the most dense and heavy
Tamas is
the energy of heaviness, stillness and rest. At its best, it allows deep sleep,
stability, and recovery when you need it but as an extreme it causes stagnation.
You will notice it perhaps as fatigue or numbness, depression or apathy,
confusion, doubt or avoidance or emotional heaviness and attachment.
Energetically it feels like you are blocked and there is no flow.
Rajas is
your fire, your passion, your movement
Rajas is the energy of activity
and change. It fuels ambition, creativity, and desire but can also easily tip
into excess. You may experience rajas as restlessness or anxiety, overthinking
or stress, emotional intensity or irritability or being constantly driven with
no rest. Rajas is nervous system activation. It can fuel your passion which is
good but is not often in balance.
Sattva is when you have clarity, harmony and a
lightness
Sattva is the energy of balance
and awareness. It brings coherence to the body, steadiness to the mind, and
openness to the heart. You may feel sattva as a calmness of presence, emotional
ease, compassion and empathy, a quiet joy and trust or a sense of being “at
home” within yourself. Sattva is the state in which healing integrates and
insight arises naturally and for this reason this state makes for easy mindfulness
and meditation.
Everything
Is a Blend
No emotion, thought, or action
is purely one guna or the other. So, they are not purely tamasic, rajasic, or
sattvic. Each moment carries a unique blend of all three. What matters most is which
energy is leading. This is why change is always possible. Even within anger,
there is a clarity waiting to be uncovered. Even within darkness and heaviness
(tamas), there is the seed of movement (rajas) and light (sattva). The key to
dominion over the gunas is not suppression but awareness and intention.
Healing through
conscious awareness
Traditional Indian healing
systems recognise that we are nourished on many levels not only by food, but by
also by actions and thoughts. Your whole being is constantly being fed by what
you eat and drink, what you see, hear, and scroll, the conversations you engage
in, the environments you spend time in and the thoughts you repeatedly return
to in your head. Each of these carries a guna quality. In order to take control
and self-care after any experience, gently ask yourself if you feel more open
or more contracted? More clear or more scattered? More alive or more depleted?
Just noticing these things is a powerful act of self-care.
Attention Is Energy
You may not control which
thoughts or emotions arise but you do shape the inner landscape by where you
place your attention. What you dwell on grows and what you resist often
intensifies. If you stay present however and work through it your presence
softens negativity. In this way from an energetic perspective, attention is a
form of nourishment.
Living and
Acting in Sattva
Action also has also an
energetic signature. Sattvic action feels aligned rather than forced, thoughtful
rather than impulsive, grounded in integrity rather than urgency. Before
acting, try asking ‘What is moving me right now? Is this coming from fear,
desire, or clarity?’ When intention and action are aligned, the nervous
system relaxes and energy flows more freely.
Moving
Gently Towards Balance
When energy feels heavy or shut
down, begin with movement (rajas) such as walking, gentle exercise, breathwork,
moving in a routine and being out in fresh air. This movement restores your
circulation both physically and energetically.
When life feels overstimulating,
begin to soften by including meditation, time out in nature, journaling, more
presence and less stimulation and slow down your breathing. The stillness will
nourish you.
In general,
the idea is to reduce stagnation, balance your activity and move towards
cultivating greater clarity. This is achieved through the above internal
methods by learning to be still yet ‘still present’ in the world and it fosters
a greater sense of kindness, discrimination and ease in how you live your life.
So that heaviness (tamas) and
movement or intensity (rajas) is not something to eliminate as it is a natural rhythm
of being human. It is something to notice and again and again balance. Healing
comes with the awareness and that awareness can build a strength in your being
to see with clarity and understanding. Try is and see how it affects you and if
you need assistance we are always here with our classes in mindfulness, meditation
and techniques to assist you to bring a quality of calmness and flow to your
life. www.stressfreehealthmanagement.com
