The Three Pillars That Support Life
Now into my six month as a student inside of the life-sustaining Ayurveda Foundations program taught by renowned master Susan Bass, I’m showing up today humbled. Susan opened her classroom to a guest teacher, Arun Deva, a master of Ayurveda and Yoga, whom in our August coursework taught us about the “Three Pillars That Support Life:”
Food
Sleep
Sex
Also known as:
Ahara
Nidra (which may be familiar if you practice yoga)
Brahmacharya
WHAT STRUCK ME LIKE LIGHTENING
The very first consideration or “caveat” was that in order to preserve the stability of each of the pillars, DO NOT INDULGE. Secondly, if one pillar is unstable or shaky, it will undermine the other two.
For example, when I was 22 years old I was beckoned to become a rockstar by one of my dearest friends. We played on cramped stages at smoky bars, regularly hitting the pillow as late last 1am. With my first professional job in tow, getting 5-6 hours of sleep a night while fending off the toxicity of eating processed foods and ingesting second hand smoke rattled not just my circadian rhythm, but my stability. We drove countless hours, “all over God’s creation,” as my mom would say in her Philadelphian distemper, flying like the wind to rehearsals and gigs.
At 22 years old we have the gift of youthful, perky mitochondria (aka “energy”) to tolerate inconsistencies, low vitality food and travel bumps. Yet, not even youth can save us from shaky, unstable pillars. I became very tired, susceptible to illness and unmotivated. I was simply trying to play a game of catch up without realizing I was over indulging.
Thankfully, I was handed a blessing when one of our band’s disjoined, allowing me to land back on my feet to address what had become a chronic stomach issue, and to sleep like a log. Once I regained my sleep, my food choices became better and, well, sex, let’s talk about that next.
BRAHMACHARYA
As it was taught to us, Brahmacharya “indicates practices that lead us to Bliss,” in the context of sex.
Should we focus on quick bliss - say a roll in the sack for quick pleasure - we’ll wake up the next day unsatisfied, seeking another, temporary hit of external bliss.
Should we abstain completely from sex…is this healthy given who we are as humans?
Therefore, the best of all worlds is directing our desires to wanting ETERNAL BLISS so that we can merge with Universal Consciousness.
Note: This is “Classical Ayurveda” as it was originally taught. Times are different now. How do we take this concept of direct our sexual energy to achieving “eternal bliss” in on over sexualized society? I feel a little research or interview project coming on.
The teachings have quite a few recommendations to consider, like: having periods of sex followed by periods of abstinence. Why? It takes THIRTY-FIVE days to replenish sexual fluid for a man, and that fluid is the nectar of life, one drop said to be derived from 40 drops of blood This is one reason men fall asleep after orgasm - they literally just lost their vital life force!
From my experience, these periods of on again, off again sex also build a reverence for:
your body, it’s replenishment and restoration
your partner’s body and their rejuvenation
what can be cultivated between you in the rest periods - desire
what can be cultivated internally by directing your sexual energy towards your life and service to others
building your vitality, which has great impact on immune health, physical stamina and strength
I’m just learning about this very interesting facet of Ayurveda and am offering very small snippets of what I found interesting during our recent lectures. If you are versed in the area, I welcome you corrections, additions and wisdoms!
BACK TO INDULGENCE
In one of the slides presented to us, these words hung in the air like a fluttering hummingbird trying to grab my attention:
“The less one indulges, the greater is the Spiritual Growth.”
I know there is truth in something I read when I feel it like thud in my stomach. Because…
…I am an expert indulger. I gone periods of intense indulging, like during the first phases of the pandemic when I’d eat bags upon bags of Torres Spanish potato chips (the most sublime, thinly cut, flavorful crisps known to humanity). Or, when my wife asks me, “how much chocolate did you eat?” and I simply don’t reply because I’m so guilty of eating the entire bar…or more…
And, reflecting on the eras in which I’d eat all the cookies, or at one point collected dozens of bottles of Pinot Noir that I simply didn’t need, I realized, yes, I was not checking in with my inner spirit. I was deaf to its delicate, yet potent whispers to enjoy life without addiction to its fruits. The pillars of my life shaky and unstable, I wound up up sick, staying in a job that abused me, turmoil a rage within me.
THIS IS WHY HAVING A HEALING TEAM IS SO IMPORTANT
One of the reasons I’m taking this year long Ayurveda course is because my clients might not be listening to their distinct inner wisdom; I am here to remind them what that wisdom is telling them, finding remedies to balance, restore and rebuild.
This is how I recreated my life, with help from the many members of my healing team. I continue to need their advice, their clarity in support of clearing the my own clouds. And this Ayurveda course continues to deepen my reverence for the complexities of life with the simplicities of balancing the three pillars of life.