407. “Peace Has to Begin Within” | Cultivating Inner Peace and Transformation with Reema Datta

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Reema Datta:
I want everyone to know that whatever you've been through, it is possible to move through those emotions and free ourselves of the grip that they can have on us. And we can absolutely cultivate inner peace and that will ripple outward in our surroundings and it will make a difference.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Hello and welcome to The Daily Helping with Dr. Richard Shuster. Food for the brain, knowledge from the experts, tools to win at life. I'm your host Dr. Richard. Whoever you are, wherever you're from, and whatever you do, this is the show that is going to help you become the best version of yourself. Each episode you'll hear from some of the most amazing, talented, and successful people on the planet who followed their passions and strive to help others. Join our movement to get a million people each day to commit acts of kindness for others. Together, we're going to make the world a better place. Are you ready? Because it's time for your Daily Helping. 

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Daily Helping Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Richard. And I am so excited to share our guest with you today. Her name is Reema Datta. She is the author of The Yogi's Way: Transform Your Mind, Health and Reality. Reema first learned yoga and Ayurveda from her mother and grandmothers, as well as her grandfather, who wrote several books on Vedic philosophy. After receiving her master's from the London School of Economics, Reema worked for the United Nations before leaving to study ancient yoga wisdom and practice. 

Since 2002, she has taught yoga and Ayurveda workshops, retreats and trainings in 20 countries across five continents with students including Sting, Paul Simon, Edie Brickell and thousands of other practitioners globally. We're going to talk about her book today and it's so timely. Reema, I am so excited you're here. Welcome to The Daily Helping. It is awesome to have you with us today.

Reema Datta:
Thank you. It's so good to be here.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Well, you know, I teased a little bit about your background in that bio, which I just read, but it's so interesting to me because you were grounded, you have this kind of family lineage, mother, grandmothers, grandfather, wrote these books on Vedic philosophy, which we'll have to do a one-on-one on that momentarily. But then, got a master's in economics, which doesn't feel yoga at all. So, I'd love for you to kind of take us in the Reema time machine and talk to us about those seminal moments that put you on the path you're on today.

Reema Datta:
Yeah, it's wild. I mean, I'm, in a way, like a typical Indian American who was expected to become a doctor. So, even before the economics, I was actually pre-med for a couple of years and on that path. And by my sophomore year of college, I was already… I've always been drawn to my Indian roots and spent as much time in India as possible. And I ended up going to… I spent my third year of college in Varanasi, India, which is a part of India I had never spent time in. And it's the most, like, the oldest city, maybe in the world, but definitely in India, and just spiritually and musically, very rich.

So, spending that year in Varanasi, I was learning Sanskrit, and yoga, and philosophy and those seeds just have been in me and have carried within me throughout my life. But I came back and ended up majoring in international affairs and got my master's in international Development, worked for the United Nations in New York. And I was working for the UN when 9-11 happened. And that was a game changer for me. That kind of brought me back to the teachings I had learned in India and from my family that peace really has to begin within. 

And I was working at the UN, all my friends are at the World Bank, and just so immersed in that world. But living in New York City, I could feel that there's so much stress and anxiety. And it was almost like, how can we even expect to live in a peaceful world if we ourselves aren't in a state of inner peace? And so, I felt that truth so strongly that peace really has to begin within ourselves, that I just quit my job at the UN. I decided to just turn completely to yoga. And I could just feel the value of the ancient wisdom for our modern day. 

So, I went back to India, spent time with my grandparents and really started to appreciate all the things that I grew up with, the wisdom and the practices. And I came back to the States, and I would go to yoga studios in New York, and then I moved to California. I go to yoga studios in San Francisco, and I loved it. It's like really beautiful practices, but mostly the physical aspect of yoga. 

So, I could see that there was so much missing, especially the teachings of the mind, like how do we create a strong, resilient mind? How do we overcome difficult emotions like anger and shame and anxiety? And I felt like those teachings were actually really missing in the dissemination of yoga in the West. And so, I started to teach. But even now looking back, like, the first 10 years of my teaching career, I touched upon those mind training aspects of yoga. But I was still kind of focused on the physical, like, teaching mostly in the Western world. 

And then, 10 years ago, I've been teaching yoga for 23 years, so about 10-12 years ago, I went through a hard time in my personal life. I went through a separation from the father of my daughter who was then three years old. And that was a really hard time for me. And my mind was a mess at that time. Like I felt so overcome with anger, and attachment, and shame, and anxiety, and fear. And it was very interesting to me, because just to observe myself because I was like, "Wow, I grew up with these teachings of yoga. I've been teaching pretty successfully for 10 years. And still, as I'm going through this tough time, I'm having a hard time getting over these mental afflictions."

And so I went back to the ancient teachings. And I started to read the wisdom texts again. And I realized that most of my experience with those wisdom texts was through my parents, or my grandparents, or other teachers in our Indian community. But it was the first time I read that wisdom with the eyes of a mother, and a grown woman and someone who just experienced a pretty traumatic event. And the wisdom came alive to me in a different way. And actually my whole approach to yoga changed. 

And I started to… you know, a lot of the wisdom teachings, they teach us how to face the difficult tendencies of the mind, like the harmful tendencies of the mind. So, when the mind gets attached or when the mind turns to anger or starts to feel anxious, it gives us really practical guidance on what we can do in those moments, and how we can process these kinds of emotions in ways that are healthy, instead of harmful, and how we can move to face them and move through them, and eventually free ourselves of them. 

And I was so entrenched in those kinds of difficult emotions that as I read the wisdom, I came up with practices, and I did them on myself, and they really helped me. And so, my practice changed from a focus on the body, which is common in the West, to really going back to the ancient ways of focusing on the mind and on consciousness. And so, that's what my book is about, how to approach yoga from that angle.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
It's really interesting, because as you were talking about this, and you're talking about yoga, my mind immediately went to warrior pose and tree and all these things that you know I'm too clumsy to do without falling over. But here in the West, you're right like most people if you ask them, what's yoga, they'd say you're either in a room That's hot or just a normal room on a foam mat and you're twisting your body in weird positions, and you do that, and you pay somebody money for an hour, and you go home. And  people probably think that, at most, you're getting, maybe, flexibility or breaking your day. 

But I love that you're telling us that there is a deep spiritual wisdom historically associated with the practice of yoga. And I know there's 50 million kinds of yoga, but most people really have kind of put meditation in a box over here, and yoga in a box over there. And you're telling us that they're actually kind of connected. 

So, one of the questions that I jumped into is, why did you write the book, you beat me to the path there, and you told us. So, you've said that you wrote this book, you dug into the spiritual wisdom, and you created these practices. I teased this a few minutes ago. Talk to us a little bit about Ayurvedic traditions and the kind of the spirituality that's associated with that because I think that's a good grounding place for us before we jump into more specifics about the book.

Reema Datta:
Sure. Yeah, one of the chapters in my book is on Ayurveda. And traditionally, yoga and Ayurveda were taught together and practiced together. So, even that is, kind of, a recent phenomenon that there's yoga and Ayurveda because it's all part of the same path. They're meant to be practiced together. Yoga is a practice of self-realization, like knowing who we are at the level of our soul; whereas, Ayurveda is a practice of self-healing. So, they go hand in hand.

And what the beautiful thing about Ayurveda is it's teaching us how to heal ourselves. So, it's teaching us that we are a microcosm of the larger macrocosm. So, around us, there is earth, fire, water, air, and ether or space. And also, within us are those five elements. So, all of Ayurveda is learning how those elements are balanced within us, what creates imbalances in our system, and how can we rectify those imbalances.

And it all comes to awareness because the ancient people who came up with these practices, they give the individual the responsibility. They're like, "You become aware of how these elements are balanced within you." We have a lot of ways, you know, teachings to help us become aware. And then, it's up to you to rectify those imbalances. But it's very empowering because it's saying that we can do this. We can work with nature and create balance within ourselves. So, it's considered a practice of self-healing. 

Dr. Richard Shuster:
And it sounds like it's a physical healing, as well as a psychological healing.

Reema Datta:
Absolutely, yeah. There's three main constitutions they talk about. And so, just as an example, like Vata is one of the constitutions, which means people who are Vata have more air and ether elements within them. So, it's very logical. Like if you think about it, the way the elements are balanced within us affects our mental health and our physical health. So, a lot of air and ether. 

Most people who are about the constitution physically, they have a thinner build. They have dry skin because, again, the air quality. If they get sick to their stomach, they have more of a tendency towards constipation and gas; whereas, someone with a fiery constitution has more of a tendency towards diarrhea or rashes. So, that's physically,

Mentally, the air element is dominant, then Vata people have more of a tendency towards restlessness and anxiety because, again, this is like too much movement; whereas, someone with a fiery constitution, which is called Pitta, has more of a tendency towards anger and frustration.

The third one is Kapha, which is water and earth elements. And when a Kapha is unbalanced, there's like a lot of earth, right? So, there's more of a tendency towards attachment, having a hard time letting go mentally. And physically, a Kapha person might love being sedentary, because they have that earth element, but they actually need to push themselves to move a little bit more. 

So, it's a way to, as you get to know your constitution, one of the things I wrote in the book is, it's understanding. You start to understand yourself, . And instead of judging yourself, like, "Oh, I get so angry," or "I get so attached," or "I get so anxious," instead of judgment, it turns into understanding. Like, "Oh, I have this constitution, that's just my tendency. That's the way the elements are within me."

And it's not an excuse, but it's information. So, then I can work with it. "If I'm feeling a lot of air, so I'm gonna do grounding practices or I'm gonna eat grounding foods. Like, "Oh, I'm feeling anger. So, I'm gonna have cooling foods and go take a walk in the fresh air." There's so much we can do when we understand ourselves. So, from understanding ourselves, we start to love ourselves. We get less judgmental and love starts to surface. 

And then, there's healing. So, that's like one of the ways I see Ayurveda. It's like from understanding comes love, comes healing. And through our own awareness, we start to become our own healers and our own teachers.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Interesting. I was thinking about this, the way you described these different, kind of, constitutions a person can have, as a lot like if you took a DNA test and you learned these things about yourself, it's not an excuse, right, if you're prone to a certain temperament, but you still should not act in a terrible way to other people. But, at least, if you know this is a tendency, that's something that's useful. 

And I do know that the Ayurvedic medicine tradition has been growing here. I mean, there are a lot of Western-trained medical doctors who have started associating these traditions into their practice. So, I think one of the  things in Western medicine that has always irked me - and I'm sure you, too - is that we've always kind of felt like, well, if it wasn't made here, by us, invented by us, it's not any good. And yet, there are these traditions, like what you're describing, things like acupuncture and other modalities that have been around for thousands and thousands of years to where, now, we're a bit behind the eight ball. 

We're slowly learning that there's efficacy in some of these practices to the degree that you're now seeing some insurance companies even or big insurance carriers are paying for things like acupuncture. That would have never been the case 20 years ago. So, it does seem like we're catching up a bit, but we're still quite a bit behind. So, hopefully, we'll keep that moving positively. 

So, I am curious, though. So, this book, really, it's talking about the healing, it's talking about the physical, the poses, but you mentioned consciousness, specifically. Talk to us about consciousness and how our consciousness is highlighted, or connected or, accentuated in the yogi's way. 

Reema Datta:
It's the foundation. So, in the west, and somehow all over the world, yoga is defined, it's come to be defined as the union of mind, body, and spirit. And actually, I feel like this is a mistranslation and a misunderstanding. Through yoga, we can align mind, body, and spirit but it's not union with mind, body, and spirit. It's, actually, union with our soul. 

And another word for soul in yogic terminology is consciousness. So, the soul or consciousness, it's our innermost being. It's the deepest part of ourselves. And the yogis and, actually, spiritual traditions throughout the world have found that the very essence of our being,  it's just at the very essence of our being, there's just a vastness, and a silence, and a stillness. 

And so, our yoga practice is to actually remove… through our yoga practices, we remove the blocks in the body and the blocks in the mind, so that we can connect with our soul, so that we can connect with consciousness, this dimension within us and around us that is boundless. 

And quantum physicists actually say the exact same thing as the yogis, that there is an underlying reality. Like beyond everything that we see, beyond behind every object, like every object, actually, including ourselves, is 99.99% space, empty space. That's scientifically proven. Everything is made of molecules. Molecules are made of atoms. Atoms are 99.9% empty space. And that's what the yogis found, that at our very essence, it's just this boundless space. 

But why is it powerful to unite with that space? This becomes a whole practice of yoga. It's like once we do our practices, and we can loosen the knots in the mind and the body, and connect with consciousness, then we can actually rest our minds on that spaciousness. And that rest becomes very profound because as we rest the mind, we also restore and we strengthen and we heal. 

And if we can really abide in that spaciousness for longer and longer amounts of time, then we start to experience insight. We might come up with innovative solutions to the issues we're dealing with in our personal lives or our collective lives. And when we can really rest our mind on that space, that concentration, it builds energy. And so, dormant energies within us start to surface. And those energies can be creative energies or healing energies. So, it becomes very powerful to be in the state of yoga, which is union with consciousness. 

And just to give… I know it sounds abstract. So, the ancient Sanskrit texts, they offer this beautiful analogy. They say the mind is like the sea. And if you imagine the sea, the surfaces of the sea, the waves at the surfaces, they're constantly moving, right? There's big waves, there's small waves, they move in this direction and that direction. And that's the nature of the mind. The nature of the mind is to move and to change, and it's pretty much constant movement. 

But then, imagine the very depths of the sea. There's that amazing stillness, and vastness, and quietness, and that's consciousness, and that's what's at the very depths of our being. So, when we meditate, we learn to connect with that dimension of ourselves. And then, consciousness, it's a source of energy, of healing, of insight. So, it's very powerful to practice yoga and unite with consciousness and get more and more familiar with that dimension.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
This is great stuff, Reema. And I'm thinking what you're describing is an aspirational journey in many respects, right? Like we never wake up one day and can announce to the world on our social media platforms that today, I am the most spiritually evolved version of myself that I shall ever be. It's a constant work in progress. It's something that you can't really obtain even though it's a goal. 

And yet, I'm fascinated because your book is really built to be a 12-week contained self-guided course, which is kind of the opposite of that. So, I'd love for you to explain that because I think on one hand… well, in any hand, two hands, it's amazing that you can see with a 12-week window. But, now, you're able to really tell in several months, "Oh, I can see this making a difference in my life." But tell us, you know, why this is… at least, for the yogis, why this is a 12 week self guided journey?

Reema Datta:
Yeah, it's amazing how much can shift in 12 weeks. And the book, it will work if you do the homework. So, I've been teaching for over 20 years. In my heart of hearts, I'm a teacher. And with every chapter in the book, there's many practices. So, it starts out, like the first week or two, your practices only take about 15-20 minutes a day. And then, as the weeks progress, by the end of the 12 weeks, you have a 70-minute practice, daily practice. 

And I break it into 45 minutes in the morning, 25 minutes in the evening, but there's flexibility with how you want to get your practices in. But it's building a consistent practice, a daily practice, which to really… I mean, neuroscientists say the same thing, right? To create a new neural pathway or to create a new habit, we have to have repetition and consistency. So, that's how the book is structured, to slowly build these practices and a lot of repetition, but we are building new neural pathways and we're changing harmful patterns in the mind and body and starting to free ourselves, to open up what in Sanskrit is called granthis. Granthi means a knot. It actually technically translates to a very difficult knot to untie. 

So, what is the biggest block towards consciousness? Like it might sound easy, like just connect with that spaciousness, that's your innermost being. But actually, if you really try, it's kind of hard. Like the mind's going to wander, and you're going to get distracted. And so, the yogis explore this. So, you're like, what is the biggest obstacle to dwelling in the seat of consciousness? 

And just to be clear to the listeners, we don't dwell in consciousness just to be at peace. That's not actually… like we will experience peace but we learn to anchor ourselves in consciousness, so that we can be more effective in the world because from that spaciousness, we contribute our gifts, and we take care of our responsibilities, and we navigate the ups and downs of life. But that's the point. The point isn't to connect with consciousness and just be like, "Okay, I'm going to just dwell in this spaciousness." It's to really be more effective, to have more energy to give. 

So, again, what's blocking us from dwelling in consciousness? The yogis identified that the biggest block, the biggest obstacle to exploring consciousness is our own mind, the destructive tendencies within our own mind. And so, in the book, I introduced the Sanskrit word called klesha. And klesha literally translates to a mind poison or a destructive emotion. 

And so, in the Yoga Sutras, which were written in around the second century BC, they identify the major kleshas as attachment, anger, fear, especially of death, delusion, mistaking illusion for reality, and feelings of separation, separating self from others. So, then, a big part of a yoga practice becomes getting aware of, what are my biggest kleshas, and how do I work through them, and how do I free myself of the grip? Kleshas, like they grip us. They take away our energy. They strip us of our vitality. And so, how do I free myself of kleshas and open the pathway to consciousness?

Dr. Richard Shuster:
It's amazing. Those are thousands of years old and-

Reema Datta:
isn't that amazing? 

Dr. Richard Shuster:
It's all true today. 

Reema Datta:
Yup. Yeah. 

Dr. Richard Shuster:
The vehicle as to how those get put into our brains are a little different but that's right on. So, interesting. Reema, I have absolutely loved our conversation today. And I'm so excited about this book. As you know, I wrap up every episode by asking my guest just a single question. And that is, what is your biggest helping, that one most important piece of information you'd like somebody to walk away with after hearing our conversation today?

Reema Datta:
I would like everyone to know that peace is possible. Especially we're living in such a crazy time and the world is weird. Outrageous things are happening in the world. And so, it can seem like peace is so out of our grasp. But especially having experienced all of these kinds of emotions myself, and just how grippy depression and anxiety and shame, how much they can drain us of our energy, I want everyone to know that whatever you've been through, it is possible to move through those emotions and free ourselves of the grip that they can have on us. And we can absolutely cultivate inner peace. And that will ripple outward in our surroundings, and it will make a difference. So, just know that if you are suffering in your mind, there's beautiful ways to heal ourselves and free ourselves.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Perfectly said. The book is The Yogi's Way: Transform your Mind, Health and Reality. Available everywhere today. But if people listen to this and, of course, they like you, and they want to learn more about you, where can someone find out more about you online?

Reema Datta:
Well, my website is ReemaYoga.com. And my social media is the same, @ReemaYoga on Instagram. And actually I teach this 12-week course live online as well. And I do that a couple times a year. So, if you get the book and you feel like you want to experience it as a community, then you can join us online, and we can go through the book together. 

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Perfect. And we will have everything Reema in the show notes at drrichardshuster.com. So, if you're in the car, we got you covered. Reema, thank you so much for joining us today. I loved our conversation. 

Reema Datta:
Thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure. 

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Thank you. Awesome. And to each and every one of you who took time out of your day to listen to this, thank you as well. If you like what you heard, if you're going to go start your yoga practice today and grab this book, go give us a follow and a five-star review on your podcast app of choice because that is what helps other people find the show. But most importantly, go out there today and do something nice for somebody else, even if you don't know who they are, and post in your social media feeds using the hashtag #MyDailyHelping because the happiest people are those that help others.