Dear Ayurvedic Abbie,

I have been diagnosed with anxiety and I am taking medication prescribed by my medical doctor. I don’t like taking medications and I was wondering what ayurveda says about treating anxiety.

Millet is truly an underappreciated grain. It’s a small seeded grass, cultivated over 10,000 years ago and grown in developing countries. That's Old School food...

Millet is perfect for the Kapha in your family - light, clean and easy to digest - check it out.

Here are the top 10 reasons to love Millet:
1. Millet is gluten-free and non-allergenic. A great grain for gluten sensitive individuals.
2. Millet’s high protein content (15 percent), making a valuable addition to a vegetarian diet.

“The bodily changes follow directly the PERCEPTION of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur IS the emotion.” William James

The science of Ayurveda comes from ancient texts of India called The Vedas. Regarded as humanity’s oldest literature, they were written over 5,000 years ago and give insight into the purpose of life, how to be healthy and how to live in harmony in our surroundings. It’s not a religion, but rather the oldest philosophy on how we got here, where we’re going and why.  It provides the ‘Handbook for the Human Condition’ and is the original holistic medicine.

Here are some basics:

“Living Yoga” is a state of being calm and staying calm, of being kind and loving. It’s where you finally realize that virtuous intention results in virtuous karma. It’s when you align your thoughts, words and deeds to a higher purpose which allows you to fulfill your heart’s desires, while contributing positively to the universe.  It means aligning yourself with Nature, because when you do, you become more balanced, and have more time for practice and study. As a result of this yogic living, suffering becomes less of an option in your daily life.

Ayurveda is the original science of life, passed down from teacher to student for untold generations and eventually documented in Sanskrit in the Charaka Samhita. It contains over 8,400 verses (mantra), in the form of meter and rhyme, and was compiled around 400 BCE.  Like the other Vedic wisdom, these mantra are memorized as an ongoing tradition in self mastery and transformation.  In modern terms it can be viewed as the seed of organic chemistry, cellular biology and quantum physics.

As you’ve noticed by now, I often include a silver lining story in my blog. When appropriate, I’m going to begin with a tip for the week from my e-book, 33 Tips for Self-empowerment. I’ve decided to do this because when you are self-empowered, you are connected to your limitless higher self, your soul.

Negative thoughts eat up our time, energy and health, not to mention our self-esteem. Research says:

90% of our self-talk is negative.
1 to 8 hours a day is spent worrying (1/16 to 1/2 of our waking hours).
Most heart attacks occur Sunday night due to worry about returning to work.
Yet, only 8% of what we worry about actually happens. If you can do something to prevent an unpleasant outcome, do it. If there's nothing you can do, visualize, think, draw or say the outcome you want. At the very least, you will shift your mood.

What follows is extremely valuable information on how we can make 2016 a spectacular year for ourselves and at the same time decrease destructive influences in the world, like violence and global warming. If enough of us do this, we can even help to create world peace. All we have to do is spend a few minutes each day doing the exercises described below. Invite others to do this to add even more positive energy to the world. The more of us who do this, the better it is for all of us.

I almost titled this article "Why are the airlines trying to kill us?”… but then I remembered, they just don't know better…

I'm not sure why this holiday season's travel hit me as hard as it did, I've been all over the globe by myself without a hitch.  Maybe it’s possible that my perspective has changed in the recent past...now that I've experienced what a healthy doshic balance feels like, travel induced Vata derrangement is like a bucket of ice water to the face!