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In the early 1950s, when I was attending second grade at School 19 in Albany, a traveling marionette troupe presented a live performance of "Pinocchio." It was a magical experience. At the time the action seemed remarkably life-like, but I now know, of course, that all the movements of the puppets were controlled by the manipulation of slender, almost invisible strings attached to each puppet's head, hands, arms, legs and feet. Today, the memory of a stringed marionette brings to mind one of the most powerful verses in the Bhagavad Gita. In chapter three Arjuna asks a question that every sensitive person in the world still asks today: "O Krishna, why do we human beings take actions that cause us so much pain and suffering? What power moves us, even against our will, as if forcing us?"

As Arjuna broods on his own inability to take skillful action, Lord Krishna answers the poignant question with words that are as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago. Just as puppets are manipulated by the puppeteer, he says, every human being is like a puppet whose strings are pulled by powerful forces hidden below the surface level of the conscious mind.

We cannot see them, and we might not believe that they exist, but all of us have "strings" connected to both positive and negative energy reserves. In Sanskrit these reserves are referred to as samskaras--impressions and habits in the unconscious mind that are formed by our previous thoughts, words and deeds. They restrict our freedom of action and can weaken the body's immune system by blocking our access to a quantum field of health-enhancing, problem-solving information (super-conscious wisdom). In effect, our deepest samskaras become the mental software that operates the body machine. This informational programming includes both our creative, healthy habits and our destructive, unhealthy habits, compulsions and addictions.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia report that the key factors influencing an individual's state of health have not changed significantly over the past twenty years. Quality of medical care accounts for only 10 percent. Heredity accounts for 18 percent and environment 19 percent. But everyday lifestyle choices contribute an impressive 53 percent. Pioneers of Yoga Science as mind-body medicine go even further in their assessment. Swami Rama of the Himalayas, for example, taught that, "All the body is in the mind. All the mind is not in the body." From a yogic perspective, the body is a projection of the information the mind can access. The greater the mind's ability to access and employ super-conscious wisdom, the better the possibility of fulfilling our potential for perfect health. But when our negative samskaras limit the flow of information, the body acts in ways that are deleterious to its own health. In other words, the mind can be our friend or foe. It has the power to motivate actions that cause both health and illness. This irrefutable connection between mind and body has led internationally recognized pharmacologist Candace Pert to favor the one-word term "bodymind." Pert and many other scientists now consider the mind and the body to be two aspects of a single entity.

With that understanding, imagine what happens when you get angry. In reaction to your anger, a network of "strings" from your unconscious anger samskara is projected throughout the body. There are "strings" to the heart, to the liver, to the lungs, to the endocrine glands as well as to the immune system. So, like those puppets moving about with head, hands, arms and legs controlled by hidden forces, when a person is habituated to anger, the debilitating power from that anger samskara affects the entire organism--physically, mentally and emotionally.

The powerful samskaras that negatively affect our overall well being originate with the notion, "I lack." Whenever we define ourselves as body and mind alone, we lose the awareness that we are also a citizen of an invisible, non-material world of eternal consciousness, wisdom, bliss and fullness (Sat-Chit-Ananada). This is what quantum physicists refer to as the "field" and theologians refer to as "God." Without awareness of this dual citizenship, we become insecure and unhappy individuals in a vast and ever-threatening universe. In vain attempts to rectify this sense of lack, we self-medicate with too much or too little food, sex, sleep or attempts at self-preservation. In short, we suffer.

Despite our frenetic efforts, insecurity and unhappiness remain our constant companions. When a desire is fulfilled, we fear we might lose what we have. When a desire is thwarted, we become angry. Although it may provide short-term ego or sense gratification, the most profound, longest-lasting effect of our seeking security and happiness outside ourselves lies in the creation of powerful fear, anger and greed samskaras. Collectively, these habit patterns keep us imprisoned and retard our capacity to fulfill the noble purpose of our lives. Just as Gulliver was hopelessly bound by the Lilliputians' slender threads, most human beings are held captive by their negative samskaras. And as long as we continue to invest our creative energy in believing that "I lack," our ongoing search for security and happiness will only lead us to further insecurity and continued unhappiness.

But, the situation is far from hopeless. We do have the power to claim the freedom that is our birthright. To meet life's challenge head-on, we must recognize that our pain, misery and bondage are not caused by a lack of anything in particular. Rather, they are the result of our deeply held belief that "I lack." Once we begin examining our life-long investment in a sense of lack, we become the solution--simply by acknowledging that we are the problem.

As the modern sage Dayananda Saraswati has observed, all problems fall into one of two categories. The first has its solution outside the problem and the second contains its solution within the problem itself. The solution to feeling cold, for example, lies outside the problem. If you wear a wool coat, the problem is solved. If hunger is your problem, the solution lies in food--which is also outside of you. The solution to a jigsaw puzzle, however, is contained within the problem itself. Similarly, when you do not understand something, the problem is in you, whereas when you do understand, the problem dissolves.

Both the problem of and the solution to insecurity lie within our unconscious samskaras. The mind is both the problem and the solution. To solve this puzzle we must understand that the habit patterns that manipulate us are not permanent constructions. As Mahatma Gandhi wrote, "Humankind's greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world . . . as in remaking ourselves." Samskaras are always works in progress. They can be altered. Many of our habits are beneficial because they provide access to the field of quantum information or wisdom. Debilitating samskaras, however, can become overwhelming unless we consciously monitor their growth. Over a lifetime these hidden tendencies increase bondage to pain, misery and illness.

Remember, the Law of Karma states that every action brings about a consequence. When we consciously and consistently defer to the quantum wisdom of our conscience (buddhi) in choosing which thoughts deserve our attention and which do not, we are changing our samskaras--thereby preventing and reversing many painful and unhealthy conditions. The process is similar to tending a garden. If we want to grow highly prized flowers or vegetables, we must be diligent about pulling the common, vigorous weeds. If left to grow unattended, they will crowd the more delicate plants and eventually choke off the nutrient supply.

The most effective way to re-engineer our negative samskaras is to practice mantra meditation. The use of a mantra is an integral part of every spiritual and religious tradition, and recently has been recognized by the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association as a valuable therapeutic component of mind-body medicine. A mantra is a word or series of words that represents a perfect harmonic or vibration. The resonant quality of the mantra's syllables is relaxing and healing for both the body and mind. The vibration of a mantra creates a harmony in the rhythms of the heart and nervous system. As other bodily systems syncopate to this rhythm, a connection or coherence is established. Researchers are finding that cardiac coherence leads to greater mental equanimity, clarity, creativity and an observable improvement in the way we handle stressful situations. Listening to a mantra throughout the day (japa) and in seated silent meditation creates new, healthy samskaras of love, fearlessness and strength. This process weakens the power of negative habit and frees us from unconscious fears, anger and self-willed desires by gradually bringing these hidden forces under the direct supervision of the buddhi's discriminating capabilities.

As our meditation practice deepens, we learn to master four vital skills that serve us in every relationship: one-pointed attention, detachment, discrimination and will power. When used regularly, these tools effectively cut the "strings" that have controlled us. They transform the power of debilitating samskaras into an expansive, creative and health-enhancing force.

Just imagine how you might benefit from these skills. First, you could think, speak and act in ways that would boost your immune system and help you fulfill the purpose of your life (shreya). Second, you could stop thinking those thoughts that are unproductive and debilitating and that cause dis-ease (preya). Whenever you might feel anxious or in conflict, you'd be able to draw on your meditation practice to do something that is immediately relaxing, positive and health-affirming. Whatever your state of mind--fear, anger, self-will, jealousy, guilt, lethargy, doubt, restlessness or depression--meditation would unburden you by cutting off that negative line of thinking at its unconscious source and would open you to an infinite number of possibilities.

Our thoughts, desires and emotions are powerful reservoirs of potential energy. Just as gasoline fuels the automobile, fear, anger and self-willed desires--when transformed--provide fuel for creative action. The key to a healthy and rewarding life lies in choosing not to let the potentially destructive and debilitating preya determine our actions.

The daily practice of meditation in action instructs us to honor our powerful mental resources through the conscious control of our attention. A compelling thought, emotion or sense craving really has no power of its own. All the power any thought possesses comes from the attention you give it. By learning in seated silent meditation to willingly withdraw attention from distracting thoughts and to surrender our attachments for them, we gain access to super-conscious information and energy that prepare us to meet all challenges.

In the language of every great mystic, whether it is the Buddha, Saint Francis of Assisi, the Baal Shem Tov, Black Elk or Rumi, the person who is happy, healthy and secure can be easily identified. At the end of the second chapter of the Gita, Arjuna asks Krishna, "How can I recognize the man or woman who always lives in wisdom, security and happiness? How do they talk? How do they act? What are such people like in the details of everyday life? And with compassion, Krishna lovingly responds, "The man or woman of wisdom is fettered no more by the selfish 'strings' of attachments. They are not elated by good fortune nor depressed by bad. They live free from lust and fear and anger. Such are the seers."

Leonard is a philosopher, educator, author and founder of the American Meditation Institute.  To arrange a workshop or speaking engagement call (518) 674-8714.

Got a pen and piece of paper handy? Try this exercise. Draw a vertical line down the center of the page. On the left side of the sheet, make a list of the major things that bother you about your life. Think about it carefully, then briefly summarize the problems that cause you the most frustration. Usually when people do this, they'll jot down things like:

"Too fat! Need to lose 10 pounds."
"My supervisor is a jerk." 
"I never have enough money." 
"Our house only has one bathroom." 
"My sister's whining drives me nuts."

Here's the second part of the exercise. Imagine you're at the hospital. You're in an exam room wearing one of those blue-grey hospital gowns. Your doctor walks in, and from the look on her face you know she's not happy. She stares you straight in the eye and tells you, "I'm sorry, there's bad news. The test results just came back. You are extremely ill. You have four months to live."

Now, on the right side of the page make another list. Your assignment is the same: write down the things that really trouble you about your life. This time though, the context is different as death looms on the horizon.

Most people are amazed how different their two lists are. The second is more likely to contain items like: 
"I should have been more loving to my kids." 
"I wish I'd pursued my passion for art." 
"I wanted to spend more time with my wife." 
"Wish I had made up with my sister." 
"If I had meditated every day like I always intended to, maybe I'd feel less afraid right now."

I had this experience in real life seven years ago. As the doctor discussed my grim prognosis with me, I felt my universe shift as if the entire planet had just tipped on its axis. My perspective about everything changed in an instant. Suddenly a major conflict with a family member seemed trivial, my obsessive concern about my weight now felt like the least of my problems, and goals that only hours before seemed so consumingly important, like fixing up our porch and landscaping the lawn, lost every trace of value.

My real problem, I realized then, is and always has been metaphysical. It's that I'm going to die-this body and everything associated with it will be irretrievably lost, and all I'll take with me on this imminent journey beyond form, assuming my soul really does survive the dissolution of my body, is the fruit of my thoughts and actions in this life. Was I as generous and serviceful as I could have been? Or was I fearful, greedy and self-centered? Did I conscientiously practice the disciplines my guru taught me, or did I let them slide, blithely believing there would be plenty of time for practice later? Was I respectful of others? Or did I allow other people's quirks and imbalances to irritate me so much that I lost sight of the fact that they are souls like myself, doing the best they can despite their own set of problems?

Against steep odds, my aggressive form of cancer has been in remission for some years now, but my attitude toward life is permanently altered. What things in life are truly worth getting angry about? The intrusive neighbor, the hothead at a party who loudly voices political opinions the opposite of my own, the teenager who cut me off on Redwood Highway? In the past I might have sat silently stewing when the airport shuttle is a half hour late picking me up for a flight. With my new perspective, these things just don't seem that critical any more. What is critical is whether I am being the best possible person I can be at this very moment. If today were my last day on earth, would I be happy with what I accomplished? Have I made a contribution today, no matter how small?

Each time I hug my husband now there is the awareness at the back of my mind that, for all I know, this could be the last embrace. When I drive past the green hills studded with vineyards here in Sonoma County and across the breathtaking Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco, I am so much more in the moment than I used to be, absorbing the gorgeous scenery as if I'll never see it again, and then just letting it go. Now I choose and savor the foods that give pleasure to my eyes and palate as they serve to keep me strong and well. I have such a profound sense of gratitude for all my life, for my wonderful husband and for the marvelous gift of living in such a beautiful place. But I am simultaneously releasing the clutching that wrenched my soul in the past, that insisted on holding on, no matter what. That clenching of the spirit was a far more serious problem than any argument I had with my mother, or any financial difficulty, or dissatisfaction with my job.

Now that I've moved on to List #2, spiritual practice has taken on added urgency. I'm no longer sitting for meditation because my guru told me it's good for me. I do it because now I genuinely want to know myself better. I want to become familiar with my own soul so I can sit comfortably in the part of me that goes on beyond death. A pandit once told me, "Yogis don't fear death because they know where they're going." I want to learn more about states of being unrelated to the body, and the only way to do that is through intense inner focus.

The Center Point

In Western culture we're not trained to see life from the perspective of the reincarnating soul, with all the baggage we've brought in from previous incarnations and all the ramifications our currents actions and state of mind have for our future lives. So it's easy to get caught up in all the little problems we noted in List #1, the ones that seem so huge when we look at things from the viewpoint of this one life, this one personality, alone. Shifting to a more spiritual perspective doesn't necessarily make those difficulties go away, but it enables us to use those challenges as spiritual practices in themselves.

A few days ago one of my friends from India reminded me of the story of Dhruva from the Vishnu Purana. This can be a cruel world, and hurtful problems begin when we are very young. Dhruva was only five when he experienced a crisis that transformed his life. He was the son of King Uttanapada and Queen Suniti. Unfortunately for Dhruva, the king had a second wife named Suruchi whom he loved much more. She persuaded him to designate her son Uttama as his heir apparent.

One day Dhruva saw Uttama sitting happily in their father's lap. He ran up to the throne expecting his dad would lift him up into his lap too, but the king pushed Dhruva brusquely aside. Suruchi taunted him cruelly, "My son is the crown prince! You are only the son of that worthless Suniti. How can you expect to be treated as well as my Uttama?"

Dhruva was completely crushed and ran crying to his mother. With tears in her eyes, Suniti advised him, "Don't be jealous of Uttama or angry at Queen Suruchi. In their previous lives they must have earned a great deal of merit to enjoy the position they're experiencing now. Instead of crying, work to build your own store of karmic merit. Be kind to other people and do good, and blessings will come to you also."

His mother's words didn't soothe his feelings at all. Dhruva ran out of the palace into the woods where he wandered aimlessly until seven sages found him there sobbing. "You are the son of a wealthy king. You have health and every material comfort. What could possibly be upsetting you like this?"

Dhruva angrily explained how his father had brushed him away.

The sages looked at each other and sighed. "Look at this boy. He has been born into a family where anger and envy are nourished, so he cherishes this resentment against his father and step-mother."

"Please help me," Dhruva pleaded. "I don't want to be rich, I don't want to be king. All I want is to sit on a higher throne than my step-brother Uttama!"

The wise men immediately saw how they could help the young prince. "You can certainly sit on the highest throne in the world if you're willing to do spiritual practice with full focus. You must devote all your thoughts and feelings to the Supreme Lord. Remain here, turning your thoughts away from the world outside. Instead, think only of the Great Being in whom this entire universe rests. When your senses are turned inward and your feelings are firmly under your control, the only thing you will sense is his divine presence within you. When he is pleased with your devotion, he will grant your wish." Then they initiated Dhruva in a mantra, instructing him to chant it continually.

Despite his young age, Dhruva was so fixated on attaining his goal (in Sanskrit dhruva means "firm" or "unshakable") that he completely immersed himself in the practice. Sometimes he would think of his mother, and other times he would become aware of frightening animals in the woods around him, but he would immediately turn his attention back to the still center within himself where his mantra echoed, gradually cleansing away the bitterness in his heart.

When the Supreme Being finally appeared to Dhruva, the boy's heart had become so pure and peaceful that he couldn't recall what he had intended to ask for. Instead he praised the Lord, describing God as he had experienced him in his meditation. "I bow to You, You who are more than everything in the universe. All comes out of You and is held together by You and returns back into You. You transcend everything, yet I feel You everywhere! All the elements, all the beings, all the wisdom in the world come from You. Anything I could ever want has been fulfilled by this experience of You."

The Lord smiled and gently prompted him, "Yes, but wasn't there one more thing you wanted?"

Dhruva had to think for a minute, then he remembered. "I wanted to sit on the highest throne in the world!"

"I am your true father," the Supreme Being assured him, "and you now sit in my lap on my throne in heaven."

You can actually see Dhruva with your own eyes if you'd like. Go out on a clear night and look to Polaris, the North Star, the one still point in the sky that all the other stars and planets circle around. Dhruva is the Sanskrit name of that central axis of our world system, the highest throne in heaven.

There are so many problems that can throw us out of balance, filling us with anger, desire, or fear. Yet all the problems on our list can become means to a deeper experience on the journey to Self-realization. Dealing effectively with these issues is our spiritual work. Our practice, our meditation and our absorption of the wisdom of the Yoga tradition help us find the Dhruva in ourselves, the firm abiding in pure spirit. From that higher perspective, we are enriched by all our experiences, positive and negative. Life really is astounding; let's live skillfully and cherish every minute.


Linda Johnsen, M.S. is a regular contributor to Transformation, author of "Lost Masters: The Sages of Ancient Greece" and seven other books on spiritual life currently available at the AMI bookstore.

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Body and mind are different expressions of the same information-information carried by chemical transmitters known as peptides. In humans, animals, plants, eggs, seeds and on down to one-celled organisms, peptides are the messenger molecules that carry information from state to state. In man they make possible the move from perception or thought or feeling in the mind, to messages transmitted by the brain, to hormonal secretions and on down to cellular action in the body-then back again to the mind and brain, in a never-ending feedback loop.

The key juncture in the loop, the place where body and mind meet and cross over through the action of the peptides, is in the limbic/hypothalamic area of the brain. It is here that scientists have found dense numbers of receptors clustered together in what they call "hotspots." Peptides fit into these receptors, key and lock fashion, to activate the inner workings of the cells on which the receptors are located.

However, it's not just the brain that contains peptide receptor hotspots. Examples of other peptide-rich areas are the linings of the gut and the stomach. You've heard of "gut reactions"-well, it now appears that there is literal, physiological truth to the expression. In fact, the emotions seem to be everywhere in the body, not just in the brain. "They are expressed in the body and are part of the body," biochemical researcher Candace Pert says. "I can no longer make a strong distinction between the brain and the body. It makes more and more sense to speak of a single, integrated entity, a 'bodymind.'"

For most of us, bodymind unity is of interest mainly because of what it suggests about possible routes to better health. As Candace Pert explains: "We know that the same neuropeptides secreted by the brain can also facilitate the movement of white blood cells of the immune system to a locus of injury. So why could you not direct it consciously? . . . It's a wild idea in that there is no experimental proof for it-yet there is nothing that excludes the possibility either."

Not only is there nothing to exclude the possibility, but there is plenty of evidence that many bodily processes we think of as automatic can be brought under conscious control. For example, yogis trained in Eastern meditative techniques can change their heart rate from thirty to three hundred beats per minute, as Swami Rama demonstrated to the satisfaction of a number of Western scientists at the Menninger Foundation.

Such feats are not confined to Indian mystics, or even to our species. Dolphins who do not want to have blood drawn for experimental purposes can redirect their blood flow so that it is inaccessible to the probing needles of researchers. Studies performed on rats and mice have shown that even the immune response can be "taught," or conditioned, to be either more or less active: When an immune suppressant or enhancer with a specific taste is administered to the animals, that same taste can later cause their immune systems to respond accordingly, even when the drug itself is absent. In fact, the whole principle of vaccination is based on the capacity of the immune system to learn. Think of what this may mean for the future. We have the ability to train our bodies to heal and eliminate illness.

But to me there is something even more interesting than the idea of gaining control of specific body processes. I think we can use meditative and life-style-altering techniques to gain access to the superintelligence I'm convinced resides within each of us. This superintelligence is the message carried by psyche and soma via the peptides-the printout of our DNA, the code to life itself. It makes us who we are and, if we listen to it, will keep us on our path.

The more I see of the workings of our universe, the more mystical I become. I'm not mystical in spite of being a surgeon; I'm mystical because I'm a surgeon. As a surgeon, I watch miracles daily. When I cut the body open I rely on it to heal. I don't yell into the wound or leave it instructions telling it how to heal. The body knows much more than I do. In fact, every time I perform surgery I rely on its wisdom, because I don't know why a wound heals or how anesthesia works (nor does anyone else-as I had to tell the medical student who made excuses for his failure to explain these phenomena by saying he must have missed that lecture!). Neither do I understand how a fertilized egg grows up to be a human being. But I do know that each cell, organ, system of organs, and person is directed by what I call the loving intelligence of energy.

So the peptides and neuropeptides within each one of us, coursing through our bodies to create an integrated healing network, informed by the superintelligence that is the key to life itself, will help us to achieve our greatest potential-if we heed our body's messages. That doesn't mean some of us won't die at two and others at a hundred and two, but it does mean that our system will function to its greatest capability and provide us with the healthiest, longest life of which we are inherently capable.

Dr. Bernie Siegel will be lecturing at AMI's physician CME retreat November 5-7, 2010 at the Cranwell Resort in Lenox, MA. For more information about Dr. Bernie Siegel, visit his website at: www.berniesiegelmd.com. This essay was excerpted from Peace, Love & Healing, © 1989 by Bernard S. Siegel. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.

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