Heart health is our theme for the month of November. How well our organ "heart" is doing depends largely on what our emotional state is like. Stress, social pressure and rejection lead very easily and quickly to emotional imbalance. They can subsequently lead to organic cardiovascular diseases.

Happiness is the opposite experience of stress. There are many paths to happiness and thus to improved heart health.

What do we really need?

The most valuable experiences of happiness we can have demand time and discipline: Meetings with family and friends, moments of happiness in the great outdoors, clarity and inner peace through meditation and cleansing cures.

Gratitude

There are several factors in our thinking that enhance the experience of happiness. These include mindful awareness of what I myself have done well and what good things have happened to me. As soon as we reflect on our own actions and what is good for us, we feel a sense of gratitude. This feeling is particularly uplifting and nourishing for the emotional life and heart.

Expressing gratitude

When we feel gratitude, it is easy for us to do good to others. The feeling of gratitude encourages us to give to our neighbours, to whom we owe the most. The act of giving is the best way to express our gratitude.

Giving makes us happy. Giving something is an expression of love. Giving a gift to someone is a visible sign of affection and gratitude. That is why we like to give gifts: we want to show our loved ones how much we appreciate them.

What do we really need?

Time for reflection: When we come to rest again and again, we leave the hamster wheel of everyday life. We feel what is good for us. We regain a sense of proportion: what is important in life? What is unimportant? How much time do I spend on what is important to me? And how much for unimportant things?

For many of us it is difficult to reduce the speed of everyday life. Everyday stress and the irregularity of daily life increase Vata. Accumulated Vata leads to anxiety and unclear thinking. Once we are in this spiral, it is difficult to escape. Transcendental meditation is a highly effective technique from yoga that reduces the speed of life - we better recognise again what is good for us and what is important for a happy life.

Time with family and friends: due to the "normal everyday stress" and the excessive use of modern media, we are increasingly becoming people who live in social isolation. The virtual takes precedence over the real.

An average of more than 3 hours of TV time and 1-2 hours of time with mobile phones and computers daily in addition to 8 hours of work make personal conversations almost impossible. But we urgently need these in order to communicate, exchange and feel understood.

Consciously reduce your time in front of the TV and mobile phone. How about a round of "Mensch ärgere dich nicht", "DKT" or "Activity" instead of a full-length feature film or football broadcast? These are sure to leave lasting impressions for all generations. The best gift is time for the family!

Giving the right gift = giving sustainably

Giving the right gift makes two people happy: the giver as well as the receiver. When you give a gift, remember that only appropriate gifts make people happy. If you give a gift to someone who is in material need, useful material gifts make sense. In our country, many people are happier with gifts that promote health or that satisfy your non-material needs. These include time, attention, knowledge and health-promoting products or services. The important thing is that the gifts can be used without harming the environment.

Make yourself happy by giving gifts of time to your loved ones!

If you want to support these gifts of time with material gifts, health-promoting products and services are ideal. We have thought about how we can support you with such gifts. Read our suggestions here:

• Gift boxes in the Ayurveda shop 
• Vouchers for Ayurvedic treatments
• Vouchers in the practice
• Vouchers for Ayurvedic lunch
• Vouchers for Yoga and Trampoline

Summary

Heart health is also very much dependent on happiness and well-being. Gratitude and gift giving increase the feeling of happiness not only in the recipient but equally in the giver.

When giving gifts, give products or services that are health-promoting and do not harm the environment!

Please consider how you can organise the holidays with your family and friends so that moments of happiness can arise through encounters with people and nature!