An Introduction to Mental Health

Psychological well-being, emotional stability, mental fortitude—these phenomena all relate to a rather uncharted area of life. There’s still much we don’t know about the nature and operation of the mind. If we distilled all the knowledge from ancient and modern sciences, we might still find the mind to be quite a mystery!

The mind is a very subtle and abstract construct with many different understandings of its form and function. Modern psychology plays an important role in mapping out a variety of activities of the mind, such as our beliefs, memories, and associations. Over the years, more abstract areas of psychology began to recognize and map the subconscious or unconscious levels of the mind. A specialist in psychiatry might take more of a neurological and biochemical approach to the nature of the mind, studying the ability to manipulate psychological states by altering an individual’s neurochemistry. Then there’s an array of spiritual traditions which present the mind as a phenomenon distinct from our Consciousness.

“The mind is a very subtle and abstract construct...”

All of these perspectives are useful in their own way, and in this article I am going to present the Ayurvedic approach to mental health together with my personal experience in my Ayurveda practice.

It is useful to think of the mind as an ocean - to illustrate a sort of depth and breadth to its form. Actually, in Ayurveda we consider emotional activity and active thoughts to be fluctuations of the same thing that we call “mind”. On deeper levels of mind we find the very abstract “fine feeling” level - which is still a part of the mind. Deeper still we have what we might call the subconscious mind, which warrants an entire series of articles itself. So from the active, thinking level of the mind all the way down to the subtle, subconscious mind we find that the “ocean” of the mind is layered in its nature.

All of these different layers have their own reality and yet are all a part of what we call the mind. Another valuable understanding of the mind is what many spiritual traditions refer to as the “Mental Body”. In Ayurveda we call it the Mano-maya Kosha - or the mental subtle body. It is truly its own physiology with its own anatomy. This mental body permeates the entirety of the physical body and beyond. Anxiety, anger, depression and every other type of mental health condition can be understood by assessing the condition of the mental body. The Ayurvedic treatment for anxiety, anger, depression and more is through balancing the Mental body and supporting the physical body to support that healing.

One way to understand Mental Health from this perspective is in terms of a healthy, harmonious, and altogether balanced state of this subtle body. From this perspective the functioning of the brain and its neurochemistry is actually a reflection of the condition of this subtle body and not the primary determinant factor in our mental health. The degree to which the neurochemistry of the brain affects this subtle mental body will be discussed in another article - for now let’s continue to look at the Ayurvedic perspective on the mind.

The Vedic Tradition proposes quite a definitive understanding of the mind. The mind is said to be essentially a collection of memories which is ultimately separate from who you really are - your being or your Soul. It is proposed that you are in fact simply Pure Consciousness - your being or Soul - and the mind, like the body, is temporal in nature, while the Soul is eternal. The Vedic approach to mental health ultimately works to develop the experience of Knowing who you really are - which results in a healthier, happier state of mind and emotions.

“The Vedic approach to mental health ultimately works to develop the experience of Knowing who you really are.”

For example - let’s say you are experiencing recurrent anxiety, depression or sadness - perhaps due to some specific relationship dynamics in your life. If your consciousness is entirely identified with that anxiety and the associated relationships - you might find yourself “lost” in that state of anxiety, and the mind would reflect that. One general way to understand the process of spiritual development is in the deepening of the experience of your True Nature. This experience spontaneously refreshes, cleans and purifies the mind of unnecessary attachments. Serenity is often described as one of the fruits of meditation - this can be understood as a mechanical, anatomical reality - one in which the mental body is in a more balanced, harmonious state.

I want to be clear that when it comes to mental health - I encourage people to do whatever they can to maintain a level of balance and harmony - this means I support the available medicines and therapies offered in modern medicine as well as whatever else provides relief from mental health problems; and while I generally encourage an integrative approach, for serious mental health concerns - especially where suicidal tendencies may be present - I strongly recommend you pursue the modern medical route. One area in which modern medicine truly shines is in emergency situations, and mental health emergencies warrant immediate intensive care. I hope that you find the information on this site enlightening, reassuring and empowering, and I believe it is possible to strengthen and improve your health naturally while taking advantage of modern medicine as needed.