… & How The Wisdom Of Ayurveda Helps Restore Balance
In today’s fast-paced world, many of us feel increasingly disconnected — from nature, from our own bodies, and from a sense of inner stillness. The modern way of life, with its overstimulation, digital overload, irregular routines, and relentless pressure to perform, often pulls us far away from our natural rhythms. Over time, this disconnection can take a serious toll on our physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing.
As someone who walked away from the corporate world to find healing and wholeness through holistic living, I have experienced first-hand how transformational ancient wisdom — particularly Ayurveda — can be in restoring that connection and bringing harmony back into our lives.
Understanding the Three Gunas: Nature’s Energetic Blueprint
These can be described as:
From a yogic and Ayurvedic perspective, the “gunas” are the three fundamental energies or qualities that exist in all things — including nature, food, thoughts, and behaviour. They shape the universe and influence our inner world. Each one plays a role in our spiritual journey, and all three exist within each of us to varying degrees.
Tamas – the quality of inertia, darkness, heaviness, and stagnation. It is needed for rest, stillness, and grounding — but in excess, it leads to lethargy, confusion, depression, or disconnection.
Rajas – the quality of activity, stimulation, movement, and desire. It drives action and ambition — but when imbalanced, it creates restlessness, anxiety, overdrive, and burnout.
Sattva – the quality of harmony, clarity, light, peace, and balance. It is the state of inner calm, wisdom, and vitality that many of us yearn for.
A beautiful way to understand them is through the metaphor of the lotus flower, which grows through the murky depths to bloom in the light.
In this analogy, Tamas is the mud—dense, heavy, and dark. It represents stagnation, inertia, and unconsciousness. When someone is in a tamasic state, they may feel stuck, unmotivated, emotionally numb, or weighed down by fear, attachments, or apathy. But Tamas isn’t inherently “bad”—it can be deeply grounding when used in balance, offering stillness and rest when life feels overly driven or chaotic.
The stem of the lotus corresponds to Rajas—the energy of movement, drive, and transformation. This quality fuels action, desire, and change. When Rajas dominates, it might look like ambition, creativity, or high productivity, but it can also tip into overactivity, restlessness, frustration, or ego-driven behaviour. Rajas often pulls us outward, keeping the mind busy and distracted. It’s also worth noting that Tamas and Rajas tend to cycle together—overexertion often leads to burnout or collapse, swinging between extremes.
The blossom of the lotus represents Sattva—the quality of balance, clarity, harmony, and inner light. Sattva reflects a calm, steady mind, a heart connected to truth, and a life lived with wisdom, compassion, and purpose. When we cultivate Sattva, we experience more peace, contentment, and spiritual awareness. It’s not about perfection, but about alignment—with ourselves, with nature, and with the higher consciousness that lives within us all.
All three gunas are necessary and exist in varying degrees within us and around us. The key is awareness and balance. Modern life, however, often fuels the extremes — over-stimulating rajas (constant activity, pressure to achieve, scrolling, multitasking) or creating excess tamas (poor sleep, processed food, emotional numbing, disconnection). Both pull us away from sattva — our most aligned and natural state of being.
How Modern Living Disrupts Our Rhythms
Irregular routines disrupt our body clock (circadian rhythm), which is closely linked to digestion, hormones, and mental health.
Over-reliance on screens and artificial environments separates us from the grounding influence of nature and natural light.
Processed foods and erratic eating confuse our digestive fire (agni), leading to imbalances such as fatigue, brain fog, and inflammation.
Stress culture and being in constant ‘doing mode’ amplify rajasic energy, making it hard to rest, reflect, or just be.
Disconnection from seasonal living and the elements contributes to feeling lost, disoriented, or overwhelmed.
The Ayurvedic Approach: Reclaiming Balance through Wisdom & Ritual
Ayurveda teaches us how to live in tune with nature — both the outer cycles (day/night, seasons) and our inner constitution (doshas and gunas). Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, Ayurveda invites us into deeper self-awareness.
Some of the ways Ayurveda supports us include:
Daily routine (dinacharya) and rituals that align with nature’s rhythm — waking with the sun, mindful eating at the right times for optimal digestion, oil massage, meditation, and early sleep.
Food as medicine — eating fresh, seasonal, sattvic foods that nourish not just the body but the mind.
Balancing the gunas through lifestyle — cultivating sattva with practices like meditation, nature connection, conscious breathing, and creativity.
Working with herbs, oils, and aromas to ground the nervous system, uplift the mood, and purify the mind.
Understanding our unique constitution (prakriti) so we can make empowered choices that bring us back to balance.
A Personal Journey Back to Sattva
For me, discovering Ayurveda was like being handed the missing pieces of a puzzle I didn’t even know I was trying to solve. After years of living in a high-pressure, high-performing environment, stuck inside an air-conditioned office most of the day, my system was overwhelmed — I was constantly in a rajasic loop of stress, or numbing out in tamasic withdrawal.
Ayurveda gave me the tools to reconnect with myself — to slow down, to listen, to nourish. It brought rhythm and ritual into my life. It helped me understand the root causes of imbalance and how to restore harmony in a gentle, loving way. It wasn’t just about physical health — it was about remembering and coming home to who I really am. In teaching us how to really love and take care of ourselves it allows us to get in touch with the divinity that lies within us all. To me that is the real meaning of seeing the body as a temple.
Today, I weave this wisdom into everything I do — from how I eat, move, rest, and serve others — and I am deeply passionate about helping other women find their own path back to balance.
In a World That’s Lost Its Rhythm, Ayurveda is a Radical Act of Reconnection
This ancient system is not outdated — it is more relevant than ever. In a world that pulls us outward, Ayurveda brings us back inward. In a society that celebrates busyness, it teaches us to slow down and listen to the rhythms of nature, and to honour stillness. In a culture that pushes us to consume more, it teaches us to nourish, listen to our bodies and feel more.
If you have been feeling out of sync with yourself or the world around you, know that there is a way home. A way to return to rhythm, to balance, to wholeness.
And it begins with awareness. With tuning in. With honouring the intelligence of your body and the wisdom of nature.
Let Ayurveda be your guide.
If you are interested in learning more about Ayurveda, your mind-body constitution and how you can use this wisdom to enhance your own life book a free clarity call with me to find out more. Or send me a direct email.
Main – Photo by Sebastian Voortman
About the Author: Corinne Cooke
