Marina Baroni, Dipl. Ayu.

 According to Yoga and Ayurveda the human Mind is organized into 3 qualities or gunas: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.  Sattva is clarity, intelligence, harmony and stability; Rajas is activity, change, stimulus and disturbance; Tamas is inertia, obstruction, heaviness, delusion and lack of awareness.

All 3 gunas are necessary for life and any mental process. For example, an idea can be seen as an expression of Sattva, when it’s brought into action Rajas will be the dominant energy and the completion of that action happens thanks to Tamas.

When Sattva is predominant in our nature we strive towards peace and harmony and our lifestyle choices reflect that. When Rajas is the main energy in our system there is excessive activity, an exaggerated goal oriented attitude, the mind is agitated and it can lead to chronic dissatisfaction. A Tamas predominant nature expresses itself as stagnation, blockage, a tendency towards depression and lack of initiative.

A balanced lifestyle supports Sattva guna and our health. Excessive activity (Rajas) will deplete our system and lead to exhaustion. Too much sleep and inactivity (Tamas) dulls the Mind and can lead to depression.

Keep your gunas in check!

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