The ultimate guide to Happiness (Part-1)

TLDR: Eat good food, do meditation, happiness comes from within! It's a cold morning outside and here I am, sitting on my couch in a state of an unfathomable bliss, done with my 3hr yoga practices for the day. I guess I can sit like this for the whole day! I wanted to share how I transformed myself (still a long way to go) from being anxious & stressed all the time to being peaceful & blissed for most of the time! PHYSICAL LEVEL: 1. Chemical Dependency: Nature designed our bodies to be self-complete and ideally we do not need any external chemical to do so. So, move away from things like caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, weed etc. You'd need enormous will-power to say "no" the first time, but it gets easier after that! I used to depend on all of them at some point, but now I'm completely off them for 2years (except for Caffeine every couple of days, which is also going down gradually). 2. Food: This has been discussed to death across the internet already and instead, I'll recommend the below guidelines based on my experience. Avoid / make changes to foods that make you experience any of the following, after you take it: a. Thirsty: Implies too much salt. b. Bloated: Body unable to digest properly (such as milk products) / Eating too much fiber / Stale food. c. Burning sensation: Too much chilly / capsaicin. d. Lethargic: Very heavy food such as meat, complex carbs in high quantity etc. e. Feeling hungry sooner: Simple carbs that spike the blood sugar causes this (Ideally, you need to have energy for at least 4hours). My recommendation: Eat freshly prepared whole natural foods (not too much processing involved), fruits & veggies (for fiber and nutrients), dry fruits (natural fats) and protein (tofu, meat, peas etc.) Pro-tip: Don't consume water 30mins before your meal and at least 1hr after your meal. This helps the body to efficiently digest the food (as water will dilute your stomach acids) and extract all the energy. 3. Gut Health: Whatever goes in should reach the end of the gut in at most 4 hours (purely based on my experience). This means that gut should be fully emptied everyday. You can actually do Beetroot test and see the time difference between ingestion & red poop excretion to check your gut backlog! It should ideally be 8-12hrs. The longer it stays, the food gets decomposed and impacts your gut microbiome.! Pro-tip: As you wake up, drink a liter of water. This hydrates your gut & entire body. The remaining water puts pressure on the end of the gut, thus making it easier to poop, without the need of a coffee! 4. Exercise: I'd recommend doing exercises that make your spine muscles, tendons & ligaments stronger. There's no point in having strong biceps, triceps, glutes etc., if your are unable to sit straight without back support for more than 30mins. Having a strong spine will set your gait, sitting & standing posture. This makes the body's movements almost friction-less and you'll feel as if you are floating while walking! (There are deeper reasons which I'll explain in a different post) MENTAL LEVEL: This needs a post of its own, but at high-level, daily meditation helps calm your mind. If you strictly follow the rules on physical level, you'll also see changes at this level. SUBTLER LEVEL: This is where the yoga postures, pranayama and meditation come in. More on this later! Obligatory TC: 500k, YOE: 9 #mentalhealth #yoga