Acharasayana or behavioral tonics

This week scientists reported that singing in a choir is good for your health. Saliva samples from choir members were richer in secretory IgA antibodies that help mucous membranes boost their immunity following a performance of Bach's Missa Solemnis than samples taken before the performance. The singers revealed that they felt invigorated and inspired despite the stresses of the two hour performance.

Singing, especially songs of a spiritual nature, according to the ancient medical texts of Ayurveda, the health science of the Vedic civilization, is an example of an acharasayana or "behavioral tonic," that is, a tonic that is not ingested but rather performed. Technically speaking a behavioral tonic is actually ingested since it turns out that our thoughts, emotions and perceptions have as great an influence on our biochemistry as what we eat. The Ayurvedic medical scriptures describe that we need to digest and metabolize all our experiences, and describe techniques for strengthening the digestive fire for our experiences which is located in the region of the heart.

This means that everything we ingest through our senses: music, television and film, memories we conjure up, the hours feeding our intellect in front of a computer, aromas, and even the company we keep; all this needs to be metabolized, just as surely as this morning's bagel and latte. Since the heaviest mental load that we need to metabolize after our perceptions are our thoughts themselves, we even need to be careful what we think or we may find ourselves awake at night still chewing on anxieties and doubts like the Alka-Seltzer man: "I can't believe I ate the whole thing."

This research comes as no surprise to an Ayurvedic physician. A young man with an inordinate amount of intensity and drive was organizing a speaking tour for one of my most beloved Ayurvedic teachers, Dr. Brihaspati Dev Triguna. One day while preparing a lecture hall Dr. Triguna caught the young man singing and told him, "Singing has saved you."

Sitting in consultations with Dr. Triguna, I took note of the behavioral tonics he would prescribe to people. To an older gentlemen he said, "Play with children." The man protested, "My children are gone." "Then play with grandchildren." He would tell people who looked depressed to "Read funny books and laugh." That was years before research showed that laughter got people out of the hospital sooner.

Once he told a couple having marriage problems to put a picture of Shiva with two heads (one female, one male) on their wall and look at it daily. He said it would remind them that marriage creates a state of unity wherein both partners function as one, focused on creating a whole that is more than the sum of the parts.

Reading the ancient texts of Ayurveda I am tempted to share with you examples of behavioral tonics prescribed to make you live longer. You, the reader, will be responsible for interpreting them and applying them in the light of their antiquity. They are translated loosely from the Sanskrit, which I have preserved in some cases to give the flavor of the verse.

Sadyavachanam ayushyanam. Speaking the truth, but only the sweet truth, is the best tonic for prolonging ayu, the span of life.
Show respect to your elders (even if you are yourself an elder). Greet persons older than yourself before they greet you.
Be a knower of the proper time, place and measure of activities. (Hint: Use each room in the home for its proper function. Avoid working during mealtimes, exercising just before bed and listening to hard rock before retiring or on arising).
Serve ministers, sages, renunciants and saints who themselves serve the cause of religion.
Respect teachers, mentors and animals.
Be merciful and forgiving. Avoid cruelty.
Engage in cultivating the state of pure consciousness (awareness devoid of its content: thoughts, emotions and perceptions).
Donate generously and regularly.
Always have a plan.
Maintain your body, your apparel and your environment clean and orderly.
Keep flowers in and around your home and workplace. Spend time in nature listening to birds, brooks and the wind in the trees.
Follow a structured daily routine. Don't sleep in the day and stay awake into the night.
If feeling angry, irritable or overheated, take walks by lakes and rivers or in the moonlight.
Brahmacharyam anushteyanam. Cultivating the nervous system to sustain the experience of unity with the divine is the best practice for health.
Indriyajayor nandananam. Conquering the need for gratification of the senses is the best tonic for experience of Bliss.
Vidya bhrmananam. Knowledge of the Self is the most nourishing of all tonics.
Be loving and compassionate.
Avoid holding onto anger and negative thoughts. Practice non-violence. Be courageous by not losing patience in any situation.
Keep the company of the wise.
And don't forget to sing.

This information on "Acharasayana or behavioral tonics" is in the "The Ayurvedic Path to Health" section of AyurvedaMed.com website. To return to the index page of this section, please click here.

Acharasayana or behavioral tonics

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