Ancient Indian sages have said that human beings are composed of both matter and spirit. Our physical body, mind and intellect are the matter components while our soul is the spirit - the real Self - that radiates and drives the matter components.

We have been blessed with the capacity to discriminate. We are equipped to take decisions using our intellect and by applying acquired wisdom. We have vast potential, but because of our ignorance of Self, these potentials remain largely untapped. That is why all wise men have exhorted us to try and attain Supreme Knowledge of the Self.

(See also: Body Mind and Spirit, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Health is a key factor in the human evolutionary process. Health is not just physical fitness or absence of disease. In ancient India, the term health had a much wider connotation; it was something that went beyond physical and mental dimensions. The spiritual dimension reinforces and also uplifts the physical and mental dimensions of health.

Read more here: » Mind,Body, Spirit: Strike a Balance

Mind/Body/Spirit Medicine:

Mind-body medicine (also referred to as psychoneuroimmunology-PNI) focuses on the interactions among the brain, mind, body, and behavior, and the powerful ways in which emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and behavioral factors can directly affect health. It regards as fundamental an approach that respects and enhances each person’s capacity for self-knowledge and self-care, and it emphasizes techniques that are grounded in this approach.

Mind-body medicine typically focuses on intervention strategies that are thought to promote health, such as relaxation, hypnosis, visual imagery, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, tai chi, qi gong, cognitive-behavioral therapies, group support, spirituality, and prayer. The philosophy of mind/body medicine views illness as an opportunity for personal growth and transformation, and health care providers as catalysts and guides in this process.

(See also: Mind/Body/Spirit Medicine, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Results of recent studies published in the British Journal of Psychiatry pronounce that diet has a direct bearing on the behaviour of juvenile delinquents. Certain types of food brought about - though very gradually - distinct changes in the behavioural pattern of the delinquents.

Foods affect animal behaviour as well. For instance, a dog fed on raw meat for any length of time turns out to be more ferocious than a similar breed fed on vegetarian foods. Sastras explain that mind is also matter, albeit subtle, and, like the body, is nourished by food. The Chandogya Upanishad says: "Mind consists of food, prana (life force) of water and speech of fire."

(See also: Body mind and soul, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

The first and foremost of all thoughts in the human mind is the primeval thought - IÓ. Only after this thought, other thoughts arise. Ramana Maharishi says that if you could mentally follow this - I - thread until it leads to its source, you would discover that the first thought to appear, is also the last to disappear.

Read more here: » Body Mind Spirit,: Eat Your Mango and Enjoy It Too

 As humanity moves forward in understanding and acceptance of the next level of soul development, it would be wise to remember that we are not here to suffer, rather we are here to transcend suffering and become the stars that we truly are.

Read more here: » Body Mind and Spirit: Soul Purpose And Co-creation

The Experience Of The Spiritual

It is said that it is much easier to begin training in the Mysteries as a youth. One advantage of an early start is that there is considerable energy for growth and exploration of life in the early years while the quota of life, of prana, is full, before it is exhausted in the excesses of later life. A greater advantage, though, is that there is much that does not need to be unlearned. The knowledge of our Western, materialistic civilization is both a blessing and a curse. It informs us; it gives us power over material things; it has a great deal of truth to it. Yet with regard to things on the spiritual side of life, it has huge blind spots, huge gaps it won't recognize.

Read more here: » Body Mind and Spirit: The Experience Of The Spiritual

The word - health comes from the root word - whole. When we say we are - feeling healthyÓ, we are saying that we have a sense of wholeness within us. A person can be said to be of good health only if he feels complete in body, mind and spirit. Mere medical fitness does not indicate complete wellness in the true sense.

In order to experience this sense of wholeness and oneness, its important that in body, mind, and energy functions, there is a certain level of intensity.

Read more here: » Body mind and spirit: Oneness and Wellness - The Yogic Way

We learn with the help of four methods, says the Srimad Bhagavatam: through experience, deduction, studying history and oral traditions.

What we learn with the aid of our physical organs Ñ seeing and hearing with our eyes and ears for instance Ñ fall under the category of experience. The second method of learning is deduction.

Read more here: » Body Mind and Spirit: Attaining the Infinite With the Spoken Word

In the ultimate analysis, the healthiest form of certainty arises from a sense of being grounded, deeply rooted in the spiritual, where we have a solid connection with our inner source. With that connection, we may still be thrown off by accidents, mistakes and mishaps in life. But like a good compass, when bumped, we always return to true north in our orientation. The pull of the "north" is strong to us; it is a shaping force in our lives.

Read more here: » Body Mind and Spirit: Inner Certainty

When we seek the perfect diet, what is it we are really seeking? At the soul level, beyond appearances and the everyday concerns of the outer self, the longing for absolute physical health reflects deeply held convictions about transcending earthly limitations, about going beyond sickness and disease to a state of perfection. We must remember, however, that immortality and perfection do not represent the human experience in the physical realm.

Read more here: » Body Mind and Soul: Nourishing the Spirit

What can a cartoon character-turned-Hollywood superhero communicate to us about matters spiritual? Very little, or so I thought until a colleague who saw Spider-Man2 remarked casually that the one scene in the blockbuster that she found the most poignant was where the superhero, exhausted after his exertions in holding a train back from hurtling to disaster, was gently brought inside by the passengers.

Read more here: » Mind and Body: Every One of Us is a Masked Wonder

Spirit Guides

Everyone on the planet has spirit guides we can call upon for assistance when we are in need of help. Although we may know that help is available, it is sometimes difficult to access it. Some of our guides are connected to past life experiences; they may be people we knew before. Others are guides who have been trained to help us eliminate a specific problem in our present lives, such as a health issue. No matter what category they fall into, guides' intentions are to comfort, inform and nourish us.

Read more here: » Spirit Guides: Communication With Spirit - About Spirit Guides

I propose that all the knowledge you will ever need about nutrition is within your reach. Within you is an amazing storehouse of all the information you have ever encountered about diet. Your body knows better than any book what nutritional balance it needs. It tries constantly to communicate that information, it's just not always received and interpreted accurately.

Read more here: » Body Mind and Soul: Love What You Eat

The term spirit is very difficult to comprehend because it carries many different and often conflicting connotations. For the purpose of this writing, a spirit is a self-aware being, good or evil, which lacks a physical body. The premise upon which most spiritual theory is based suggests that there are two general elements in the universe - the intelligent element and the material element, and that spirits are the individualization of the intelligent element and bodies are the individualization of the material element.

Read more here: » Spirits: A Brief Discussion on Spirits

 Spirits can be intoxicating, exhilarating, mystifying, prankish or terrifying. The term "spirit" means different things to different people at different times. So what is "spirit?" When I use the term "spirit" here, I refer strictly to ghosts and the spirit world, to the life beyond death.

Read more here: » Spirits: That's The Spirit!

The mind is bigger than the brain. When people say "my mind," they are most likely referring to their intellect. The intellect is a process of the brain and, much of the time, along with our emotions, acts as part of our ego's defense system. The intended function of the intellect was to assess our immediate environment and communicate the information to the body so it could respond in whatever manner was appropriate to protect our physical being.

Read more here: » The Mind: Mind vs. Intellect

 Would it surprise you to hear that there are many people who would prefer NOT to believe in an afterlife? For many, the prospect of what they may face after death can be quite horrifying. "When you're dead, you're dead" is a way of looking at life grounded totally in the physical world and its body, but for many, this concept of life and death offers great comfort. This is because believing this way allows the individual to do whatever he or she wishes to whomever he or she wishes without having to worry about "paying the price" at some later time, in some other realm of life.

Read more here: » Spirit World: Heaven and Hell - Places or States of Mind?

A different approach is called for if you're trying to record ghosts as opposed to spirits. Here, a ghost would be some kind of paranormal activity that is obvious and external to the observer. If you live in a house where strange things are always happening, or you know of a local house or area that is reputed to be haunted, you might take your tape recorder, camera or camcorder and set it up when you expect strange things to occur.

Read more here: » Spirits: Taping Spirits

There is only one way in which we can be given information about what it is like in the Spirit world. That information has to come first hand from someone who is there. There are two ways in which someone can go to the Spirit world: either temporarily, through some type of out of body experience or expansion of consciousness; or permanently through death.

Read more here: » Spirit World: Life in the Spirit World - Part One