Ahimsa: Harmony with Nature
By Maya Tiwari
Ultimately, we women are divinely equipped to rediscover the Mother Consciousness by cooperating with one another and applying our shared vision of harmony to shatter the harmful rhythms that run counter to the maternally peaceful life ways.
Health, harmony, joy, and longevity are intertwined with the energy of ahimsa. As women, we have the great power of Shakti –primordial feminine energy- not only to heal ourselves, but to nourish, nurture and heal everything around us. It is this Shakti energy that promotes the continuum of life on earth. This primordial energy can only be replenished by the action of harmony, nurturance, nourishment, love, and kindness- the content and features of ahimsa. Health is more than the absence of disease and despair; it is our individual undoing and continual unfolding as we strive to awaken the heart of ahimsa –awareness within.
My phenomenal passage through the clinch of death helped me to understand my cosmic right to transcend violence, disease, despair, and death—as we do millions, perhaps trillions of times through the cycle of our rebirths. Even if you do not believe in the reality of rebirth, we are given thousands of opportunities to reclaim new life each and every day. This journey has rewarded me with an infinite knowing of the power that the cultivation of an ahimsa mind has on our daily lives. Unfortunately, our modern lifestyles tend to pull us away from our nature in ahimsa. In the overwhelming busy world we have created for ourselves, we try to pursue good health, peace, and prosperity but these goals often elude us. The reason for this? We have grown accustomed to devaluing the very source of what heals us: Ahimsa in nature: her moon, sun, seasons, forests, sky, water, and food. Every day, in big and small ways, we tend to disregard the essence of our humanity. The present state of our individual and collective well-being tells the whole story of the myths of medicine and their allied sciences that we’ve perpetuated.
The ancient science of Ayurveda recognizes that we are held in the ever continuum energy of healing. It traces our most profound links with the whole cosmos and the influences of its greater energies to what is within us. According to the principles of Ayurveda, we exist in a state of ever generating consciousness and our health, wellbeing, relationships, and work are all shaped by how we respond to internal and external conditions. No-one exists in isolation. One guiding principle of Ayurveda is that body, mind and spirit are inter-connected and that this triad impacts everything we learn, think and do.
Living Ahimsa work informs that our progressive imbalance with the maternal energies of nature is the primary cause for violence and disease. These energies within us can go out of kilter when we flow against our bio- rhythms which are greatly influenced by Mother Nature and her daily and seasonal cycles. As you will see, there are certain times of year when the body, mind, and psyche become naturally vulnerable- more so when we are not in sync with nature’s cycles. For instance, disease can easily take hold in the body during the seasonal juncture when nature’s elements become more erratic. Likewise, when a woman’s cycle is out of balance with the appropriate phase of the new moon, reproductive disorder is certain to follow. These powerful truths suggest that the preservation of good health is entirely within our grasp. We are formed from nature’s memories and rhythms. To reclaim health and healing, we must strive to find our connection to her elements, seasons, and rhythms. Ultimately, health is about the wisdom to cultivate our ahimsa powers to heal through understanding nature’s cycles and rhythms. As I wrote in my previous book The Path of Practice, we are wellness. We are consciousness. Disease is an imposter. This is the vision of the Living Ahimsa work that I teach.
My teachings restore grassroots wisdom of living in ahimsa, the ancient principle of nature’s seasons, cycles, rhythms, and sustenance: In short, her nourishment and nurturance. These teachings say that nature’s most potent healing lies in your own personal resource of inner medicine. Simple everyday routines are transformed into sacred actions of ahimsa that awaken our intrinsic forces of harmony and healing within and without.
Adapted from Maya Tiwari’s book, Women’s Power to Heal through Inner Medicine, published 2006 by Mother OM Media, Inc, USA
Notes: Check out the itinerary for Maya Tiwari’s Living Ahimsa Tour; come and take the Vow of Ahimsa and learn the proven way to cultivate inner harmony and good health.