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Mental Well Being – Unlatching the Gate to Eternity

The concept of health is somewhat restricted to the person being disease free. The perception of finding yourself healthy is the exclusion of your visits to the doctor. Is it so?
Ashish Painuly

Ashish Painuly

5 Min Read

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The mind is everything. What you think you become.

GAUTAM BUDDHA

The World Health Organization defines health as, “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. It suggests the importance of being with a healthy mind too. The mind is not just a part of our body, it is the center which regulates its physiological function and affects the psychology which eventually determines your behavior and attitude.

This period of modernism and capitalism has changed the definition of happiness and well-being. Materialistic segments of life, which is linked to one’s success has become the parameter on which society rates you and being a social animal, you get affected by this and base your happiness on others opinion and on the way they look at you. Human wants to be entitled to whatever they do. This is a resource-oriented approach to the unlimited abilities and potential of a human being.

The human mind is capable of doing anything and everything. Many spiritual leaders and philosophers have advocated that – “Mind controls the function of how our body works, but to keep yourself happy and healthy don’t let the thought control you.”

In this era where competition and survival of the fittest have taken another dimension and people are becoming aggressive to prove their identity and individuality to themselves as well to this world, daily life and habits are changing constantly and yes this brings chaos.

Now comes the challenge to manage this chaos and find strategies for coping with this. When our problems and potential interactions happen with the sub and supra system of our environment in which we live, it affects our mental well-being.

Stress is an inevitable part of complexity which is a phenomenon of our daily life as we have to keep struggling in one or the other aspect of life whether it is health, finance, career, relationships and many more. This complexity leads to conflicts which bring tension, tensions between person to tensions between the supra-system and individual.

There is a need to understand the impact of chronic stress on our mental health and even to our dear ones. It can cause depression and anxiety and also the risk of developing a variety of diseases such as hypertension, heart diseases, migraine, headache, strokes, ulcers, and even cancer.

Well, these all are the factors affecting our mental health and well-being. How to achieve a state of mental well-being and absolute happiness? How to bridge the gap between materialistic life and spirituality? How to find your true identity for which everyone participates in the rat race which is not even worth winning? How to link your success to eternity?

The answer lies within you. You have to change your perception of life and apprehension towards the future. The ancient therapy, the holistic medicine which evolved here in India and now its spectrum has not left any corner of the world untouched, is Yoga and Meditation.

Humans are trained for slavery whether for nature or to the system of society. Yoga defined as living life at its highest potential while Meditation have the power to open the gate to bliss, to eternity. This doesn’t come in a go, it takes time and perseverance. You have to train yourselves inch by inch and let the practice continue with the tremendous will.


Meditation means the mind is turned back upon itself. The mind stops all the thought-waves and the world stops. Your consciousness expands. Every time you meditate you will keep your growth.

Swami Vivekananda

The great spiritual leader of India, Swami Vivekananda who himself implemented this pious therapy to his life has stated, “Not even the deepest sleep will give you such a rest as meditation can. The mind goes on jumping even in deepest sleep. Just those few moments in meditation your brain has almost stopped. … You forget the body. … You feel such pleasure in it. You become so light. This perfect rest we will get in meditation.

How Yoga effects Your Mental Well Being?

There are studies that proved that Yoga is psychological and cognitive therapy. It helps you to work with the nature of the mind and humans, the emotions which dwell in there and to cope with this simultaneously enhancing the self-esteem.

  1. It regulates the nervous system by making the parasympathetic one more dominant than the sympathetic, i.e. from flight or fight to rest and digest.
  2. It teaches to be present at the moment which helps you build your sense of self and to find yourself worthy of your own time.
  3. It helps you become aware of your light and dark side- to remove the tightness within your head and to open the knots of locked energy. Being able to do this you create good vibes and emit the energy you want to receive back. Therefore, you feel absolute happiness.
  4. It helps your behavior with people around and your partner. You become wise and compassionate which magnifies the resolution of unconditional love you have.
  5. It brings acceptance and a sense of gratitude which encourages you “to rise up and do your best” as signified by the warrior poses of Yoga.

Hence, now is the time to make healthy choices, not only the one which empowers the body but the one which is nutritive for the mind too.