Digestion at mental level — How to practice mental detoxification
Mental health as a subject of study was never more important than now. I have many seen people around me who are unhappy because of their relationships, family, jobs, unfulfilled desires, or plain boredom. We rely for our happiness in the outside world, in intransient people or things, and when we don’t get that it becomes a reason for grief and sorrow. In this digital world we accumulate impressions continuously through our senses with little or no diligence of how it impacts us. We are surrounded with entertainment and commerce in abundance to keep us engaged all day, so much, so that, we have started seeking those as a means of distraction to keep the boredom at bay. Gradually we become so enslaved to these distractions that every notification on social media and chat messages make us jump to check our phones. We spend so much time taking in sensory impressions through media and entertainment content, not realizing that it is making our sense of wellbeing dependent upon external stimulation of a distorted nature.
While at the physical level some of us have become conscious of the nature of food we take in for better physical health, at the mental level, it has been completely ignored. It’s an irony that we are never taught how to develop endurance and mental fortitude which directly impacts our physical as well as overall well-being. In this post I will share the ancient wisdom from Ayurveda and yogic practices about mental nourishment which draws parallels from the physical body.
Even if we take good food but our digestion is weak, it may turn into toxins. In similar ways, the mind, like the body, has its digestive power or digestive fire (Agni), which is intelligence (Buddhi). Experiences that we have digested or understood brings freedom and allows for the expansion of awareness, just as food we have digested releases energy that allows us to work. Experiences that we have not digested becomes toxins and initiates various pathological changes and disorders in the mind, just as undigested food causes diseases in the physical body.
Process of mental digestion
Let’s look at the way in which mental digestion happens. The Vedantic philosophy divides the mental faculty (Antahkarana) into four parts — Manas (outer mind), Buddhi (intellect), Chitta (sub-conscious mind whose function is memory) and Ahankara (ego). The process of mental digestion happens via the first three parts of Antahkarana.
- Outer mind and senses (Manas) — Gathering of impressions
The five senses bring in impressions, much like the hands and mouth bring in food. These are gathered in the outer mind (Manas), which organizes them but does not have the power to digest them. In the physical body, it is similar to the stomach, which gathers and homogenizes food but cannot fully break it down and absorb it.
2. Intelligence (Buddhi) — Digestion of experience
Once the outer mind gathers the impressions, they are passed on to the Intelligence to digest them. Intelligence is like the gatekeeper and digestive fire of the mind and corresponds to the small intestine at the physical level. Intelligence digests impressions and turns them into experiences or memories. Proper mental digestion depends upon proper functioning of intelligence, which provides the ability to discern any impression and enables us to take the sattva guna from our experiences and release their tamasic and rajasic components. If we are not able to break down our experiences into the positive learnings, they accumulate in the mind and block its perception.
3. Sub-conscious mind (Chitta) — Absorption of experiences
Once intelligence has digested our impressions, they are passed onto the deeper consciousness or what we call sub-conscious mind (Chitta). These experiences affect the chitta according to their qualities or gunas. Experience absorbed in deeper consciousness becomes part of its fabric just as food digested becomes part of the tissues of the physical body. If Experiences are not digested properly, it damages the substance of the mind and leaves a scar in form of memories on the mental status, just as undigested food damages the tissues of the body.
For example, a traumatic experience of violence can leaves a scar of fear, anxiety, anger or frustration while, the experience of a beautiful sunset can fill the mind with a joy, peace and happiness. Our lives are filled with many such examples. Undigested experiences re-arise from our sub-conscious, influencing our current state of mind, until we understand and resolve them.
How to practice Detoxification of the mind
The first step to any detoxification is to avoid taking toxins in our body which requires control of the mind and senses. These toxins could be any negative sensory impressions mostly gathered mostly through sense organs like eyes and ears. Then it requires directing the fire of intelligence to burn up the wrong experiences we have already absorbed. While we must strive to avoid negative experiences as much as possible, there are many unavoidable situations which create disturbing impressions. In that case, one must have enough intelligence to digest those disturbing experiences.
Once the intake of impressions ceases, our consciousness or atman whose real nature is bliss will naturally empty itself out. This requires introspection, inquiry, and meditation. When the outer mind and senses are calm and quiet, our inner thoughts from sub-conscious arise. Deep seated habits and memories float to the surface. If we learn to observe and understand them, we can let them go, but this requires that we are willing to be free from them.
This detoxification should be done at all three levels of our body — Gross, subtle and causal
- Gross (physical) level detoxification — Pure diet
It is said that you become what you eat. The finest element of the food we eat goes to become our thoughts and intellect. This emphasizes the importance of eating good and healthy food. We might have observed that foods that are light and nutritional like fruits and green vegetables bring better mental clarity and energy, while packaged, junk and non-vegetarian food lead to building up of lethargy or inertness. Fasting is another important method which allows the body to burn up toxins and provide great mental strength. So, the first step of mental detoxification starts with eating light sattvic food and periodic fasting.
2. Subtle level detoxification — Pranayama
Prana is the energy derived from the breath. Pranayama means control of the breath or calming the disturbed pattern of the breath. Mind and breath are like the two wings of a single bird . Thought moves with the breath and breath, in its movement generates thought. For this reason, breath can be used as a rope to tie down the mind. By concentrating on the breath, the mind is withdrawn from the senses and the outer world and becomes internalized. A regular practice of pranayama calms the agitated mind and charges it with positive energy.
3. Causal level detoxification — Mantra
The undigested experiences in our sub-conscious mind (chitta) remain with their qualities or gunas. These gunas cannot be released, however can be transformed into sattva gunas. This can be achieved through the powerful method of mantra chanting or other visualization therapies. Mantra changes the energy of the mental field in a positive way. It is a direct method of dealing with the mind. While continuous thinking about the problem only reinforces it, mantra changes the energetic structure of the mind, gradually dissolving the problem. It is very different than analysis, which by examining the patterns of negativity and how they got that way may not alter them at all. On the other hand when we repeat a mantra for a long period of time, it creates an energy that can neutralize the scars left from our distracted mental activity and create a more powerful memory to override them.
Mental detoxification as a cleansing method allows us to go within. With so many distractions and noise in the outer world, practicing mental detoxification will bring in great mental endurance, fortitude, and clarity to lead a happy and peaceful life.
