Have you ever had a yoga teacher who made you think, “There’s no way they could be this happy—this can’t be natural.”

And then you get really into the yoga, and you “get it.” Happiness is the natural state, the underlying reality.

Try explaining that to a pragmatic medical doctor.

I recently had one, Dr. Jonas, in my Yoga + Chocolate workshop. She is a Dermatologist.

Afterward I asked Dr. Jonas, “Did you like the part about the chakras?”

“Meh,” she answered.

“But this chakra stuff was around way before modern medicine,” I told her.

“You know what else was around before modern medicine? The Bubonic Plague,” she said while putting away her blocks and strap.

The only words that would be more out of place than “the Bubonic Plague” after yoga class would be, “Do you want to grab a corn dog and maybe a lap dance?”

I mentioned to Dr. Jonas as she was leaving the room, “Joy is what happens when you let go.”  It was a yogi’s way of saying: maintain that yoga high and relax.

She patted me on the shoulder and said, “Not so much sun. You’re red and blotchy all over.”  It was a doctor’s way of saying: keep your feet on the ground.

Cheers to that! Modern medicine is important. And the yogis knew a thing or two as well.

Healthy living is a daily dose of heaven—and earth—mixed together with one very special ingredient.

Tom Shadyac writes that the definition of intelligence is being able to identify primary causes.

And primary causes are almost never medical. They are rooted in our history, our memories, our energy, our relationships.

This past weekend I spent time with family.

Being that I live 3000 miles away, when I see my family,  I see the primary causes of everything in my life that is beautiful (and not so beautiful).

The healthy parts of my family are deeply appreciated and greatly missed. The unhealthy parts stand out like a bad flower in a beautiful bouquet. Is that not the case with every family?

Here’s the question I pondered on the long flight home and I invite you to ponder it as well.

Can you identify that which is not healthy in your family tree, and uproot it, rather than sustain it and pass it on to your children?

If you inherited anxiety from your parents, can you dig deep and get under it, rather than turn your children to into nervous nellies?

If your are intensely private because that was the nature of your family, is that entirely healthy either?

If you tend to be pessimistic, can you take a little Vitamin P (positivity) and shift the NRG?

Now what would Dr. Jonas say if I told her to take some Vitamin P?

Consider this:  beyond science, beyond medicine, beyond ration is something called The Soul.

And there is only one thing that can heal the soul.

Love. 

Like elephant family on Facebook.

Ed: Catherine Monkman