7

Perception

IF YOU STOP to think about the different ways you perceive the world around you or how your children perceive their day-to day experiences beyond what meets the eye, you’ll realize the truth of the expression “perception is everything.” Ayurveda considers the five senses the portals that connect your child with the external world. Not only are these perceptions the basis for what creates your child’s reality, but they have tremendous influence on their physical health and well-being across all of the body systems including digestion, metabolism, immune strength, and even hormonal health.

According to Ayurveda, perception is all of the information perceived through the five senses: the ears, nose, tongue, eyes, and skin—the portals for transmitting stimuli to the mind. Imbalanced perceptions stem from abnormal use of the senses and result in distorted responses of the mind—why Ayurveda considers mind care so important. Mind care means looking after all of the senses so information and experiences can be clearly perceived and responded to in a balanced way. The four inputs (ahara) in human life are food, water, breath, and perception, and Ayurveda considers perception the most important.

The Trigunas

Have you ever wondered how two children—maybe even your own—can respond to the exact same situation in completely different ways? To understand the qualities of mind that lead to these variations, we need to explore some concepts central to Ayurveda.

According to Ayurveda, nature consists of three primordial qualities called trigunas that are responsible for the diversity of all existence. These three cosmic qualities are sattva, the primal intelligence that imparts balance; rajas, the energy responsible for activity or movement and intensity; and tamas, the heaviness that creates inertia. Every substance in the cosmos—matter, energy, mind, and life—embodies different combinations of these three qualities—just as the human system does. The qualities of the trigunas can be observed in the world around us and are also expressed both in the physical body and as attributes of the mind, governing the ways individuals perceive and respond to the world around them.

The quality of sattva represents goodness, intelligence, balance, and harmony. Sattva carries mental attributes of contentment, happiness, clarity, purity, and peace and will never causes any imbalances. Rajas is the quality of movement, activity, intensity, turbulence, and changes. Rajas brings action, competition, power, and stimulation and can lead to conflict and distress. Tamas represents darkness and qualities of inertia, heaviness, dullness, stagnation, and decay. It produces delusion, sleep, ignorance, animosity, and insensitivity.

Since rajas and tamas can cause imbalances, they are also considered the doshas of the mind—the primary reason for mental imbalances. Calmness and clarity of the mind are essential for clear, stable perception—the main attributes of sattva. Becoming more sattvic through mind care creates stability and clarity, allows you to see the truth of everything, and provides focus, devotion, and light. Tamas and rajas, on the other hand, cause mental unrest that triggers agitation, misperception, and delusion.

Management of the mind in Ayurveda and yoga are primarily directed toward enhancing sattva and minimizing rajas and tamas so that the mind can perceive things clearly and avoid delusions. All stimuli brought in through the senses will be reflected the same way they are perceived, based on the prevailing qualities of an individual’s mind. A child who has a sattvic-predominant mind will have the ability to discern everything around them clearly without any distortion and respond the same way. Sattva helps us to see things clearly and assess without any exaggeration or judgment—what is commonly known as mindfulness.

Your child’s mind is like a sponge, absorbing whatever comes through the portals of the five senses without any filter or differentiation between positive and negative. Everything your children perceive becomes their internal reality and a pure reflection of their exposures on the mirror within. This process is completely different for adults, as we see or hear things in reference to the collection of our previous experiences. The adult mind automatically starts differentiating the good from the bad and the positive from the negative based on past stimuli. This is why you sometimes see your child observing situations and experiences without any immediate reaction, whether it is a trip to the amusement park or a quarrel or conflict. Everything children perceive is digested within and becomes their reference point for the future.

Perception centers around the different ways your child’s mind gets influenced and triggered based on what they hear, see, taste, smell, or feel every day. In fact, children can sometimes develop health problems due to their imbalanced perceptions about certain situations that even parents may find hard to unravel. Dr. J had a consultation once with a fifth grader who had developed intermittent indigestion and constipation due to fear triggered by a teacher who had reprimanded her for talking during class on her first day of school. The parent’s only feedback from their child up to that point had been that the teacher was loving and caring, and they couldn’t figure out what was causing their daughter’s symptoms to emerge. A detailed history revealed this fear and helped explain the underlying trigger for the symptoms so they could help their daughter and seek counseling and support.

The mind is very subtle and even minor inputs can have great impacts on your child’s body system. This is why Ayurveda says, “Mind care is life care.” Often, the biggest challenge for parents is not being able to identify the struggles going on within their child’s mind. The best way to stay connected to your children and support them through the different challenges they will face throughout every stage of childhood is by creating a space for them to feel safe and comfortable discussing things and sharing their true feelings with you. Your presence and close attention on a consistent basis are the best way to support your child’s mind.

Mind Care

Your child’s mind is like a blank canvas that you can assist in developing into a wonderful creation full of bright colors and vitality with the right brushstrokes. This is a wonderful opportunity for parents to enhance the vibrancy of life’s experiences and allow these creations to flourish on the canvas of your child’s mind by being emotionally available, guiding them in a positive way, and protecting them from negative perceptions.

There are many ways you can enhance the colors of your child’s imagination and support the complete development of their mind. Children are very curious by nature and may have numerous questions every day for you, for instance—even some you may find silly or not age-appropriate. When you take the time to answer any questions that may hold a serious place in your child’s mind regardless of how they are presented with patience and attention, you support your children on every level and also give them correct information so they don’t seek it from another source that could be potentially harmful—another way you are protecting your child. Never ignore or suppress your children’s questions, as these are a pathway to providing them noble, accurate information to help them clarify the uncertainties in their minds.

Another example of how you can take care of your child’s mind is protecting your children from various exposures. Parents have different philosophies about what is best for their children when it comes to engaging with the world. There are extreme approaches on both ends of the spectrum: imposing many restrictions on children as well as allowing children to be exposed to everything and leaving them on their own to figure out how to deal with it. Neither will reinforce the proper development of your child’s mind and allow them the best ability to live a healthy, positive life. Too many restrictions inhibit children’s evolution as confident and independent individuals, while allowing them to do whatever they want leaves them vulnerable without any guidance or backup and can shift them into a habit of fear and insecurity. Similarly, imposing restrictions on what naturally inspires your children or forcing them to do things they don’t like to do without any reason can create the negativity of anger, frustration, and sadness and sometimes develop a rebellious mentality. Let’s look at ways to avoid these pitfalls.

Improper Use of the Senses

Did you know that you can support and protect the health of your child’s five senses? Ayurveda identifies improper use of the senses as one of the main causes of imbalances that can lead to health problems. There are three types of improper use of senses: excessive exposure, deficient exposure, and altered exposure. Examples of these would be reading in extremely bright light, very dim light, or flickering light. The first is an excessive exposure to the eyes. Reading in a very dim light is an exposure of deficiency. And reading in flickering light is an altered, or erratic and irregular, exposure. Not only do all of these exposures cause eyestrain, they can also lead to other systemic problems—even mental disorders as you can see from the following table. Just as you can support your children’s digestion by making healthy food choices and establishing regular mealtimes for them, you can also support their senses through optimal exposures. The health of your child’s five senses is essential for preventing imbalances as well as for enhancing your child’s individual potential.

Parenting in the Digital Age

The inevitable sensory overload from modern life and technology is one of the most challenging issues in children’s lives today. Parents are often unaware of the everyday impacts and damage this causes to their children’s minds and bodies and of the simple steps they can take to minimize reactions and restore balance. Your children are exposed to computers, digital screens, tablets, and cell phones on a regular basis, which cause an excessive load on their senses and stress to their mind-body systems. Because of their young age, this can affect development and even lead to early weakness and degenerations.

In addition to the effects of media and screen time on a child’s mind and body, the electromagnetic field (EMF) created by Wi-Fi, cellular networks, and other electronic appliances at home interferes with natural physiology, processes of the mind, and emotional stability. It is very common today for children to have sleep disorders, increased irritability, headaches, dizziness, and a hard time concentrating from these increasing exposures. Dr. J has seen a rise in a number of such conditions in children over the last decade. Parents should consider taking measures to reestablish balance, including minimizing exposures to EMFs by keeping devices in airplane mode while not in use, switching off the Wi-Fi modem, and moving children’s bedrooms away from any electrical smart meters.

Restoring the Senses

Protecting your child from improper use of the senses is ideal, but it may seem impractical in our technology-driven modern world. In such unavoidable situations in life, the only practical approach is to focus on how we can counterbalance occurrences that lie outside of our control in the same way we manage the doshas. The best ways to support your child’s five senses are to support them first and foremost in going to sleep early, taking breaks related to specific sensory exposures, and getting outside in nature multiple times a day to help their senses and mind realign from the wear and tear of the day. Getting enough sleep at night is essential for many reasons, as we will discover in the next chapter, as it is the only time the mind and senses can relax, repair, recoup, and rejuvenate. Ayurveda provides specific guidance to support the sense organs you can easily implement at home to help balance and protect your child’s senses and perception, as you can see from this table.

Each and every experience children have on a day-to-day basis is an opportunity for them to develop their cognitive skills, minds, imaginations, and talents. The key to ensure your child’s optimal growth and development is to contribute to well-rounded, positive exposures that will in turn support your children to have balanced and clear perceptions.