In ayurvedic medicine, body types are a combination of three descriptions with one being dominant. Of vata, pitta, and kapha, I learned when I first came to India that I am vata. Although each type has a preferred diet, those of the vata type tend to have digestive weakness, so maintaining a vata-balancing diet is important. My already existing food intolerances had begun in my forties, and I, who had always enjoyed cooking and eating good meals, had entered a time since then of intermittent frustration at achieving a healthy diet.
On my first trip to Meherabad at fifty-four, afraid that I would starve on a vegetarian diet, I had brought fifty small packages of Silken tofu. Nevertheless, after a number of weeks, my breakfast had decreased to a half a glass of milk, noticed and questioned by my tablemates. Feeling increasingly ill one morning, I called an ayurvedic doctor that a friend had fortunately told me about. By the beginning of the three-hour bus ride to the city of his office, I felt as if I were dying, and that feeling grew. With regard to medical situations, I am a relatively strong person, but after dragging my nauseous self into the doctor’s office, as soon as I lay on his massage table, my tears released. I was now safe; the doctor was in charge, and he could tell me how bad my situation was. I listened to him, incredulous yet growing in hope, as he told me how easy this was, and immediately I began quieting as I waited for an explanation. “You are like a dry leaf,” he said, and would be fine after five days of various oil treatments. Days later, with his program completed, I wondered why I had ever come, as I felt so different— I was normal again.
This condition has repeated itself several times since then and on a recent occasion of reviewing vata-pacifying foods online, I chanced upon Deepak Chopra’s home page. In the early nineties, I had read his writing and heard him speak, but until 2003, my attention had drifted away from him, except for a brief reference that August. I had been in a doctor’s office to have two broken wrist bones set. As I unwrapped an EMT’s bandage under which I had tucked a photo of Meher Baba, the photo fell out onto the examining table.* I asked the doctor if he knew of Meher Baba, but he didn’t. However, recognizing the Indian sound to his name, I suppose, he did tell me that he had read Deepak Chopra and accepted my offer of the photo.
Thirteen years since that momentary reference, Deepak Chopra has again entered my life but this time with doubly important effects. His vata-pacifying foods were familiar, but a short motto for vata types on the same site had riveted my attention: “Less stress. More creativity.” Reading, I felt ecstatic as I thrive on short phrases with a big impact. My heart came winging upward—a big smile appeared. For years I have known that emotions (stress) cause physical body conditions and that I am creative. But never had I put the two together with such succinctness—four words! Materials for my oldest grandson’s birthday card were on my teak table, and the photo for my Christmas card had already been taken. Chopra’s words were a blessing.
I had a second Chopra awakening several days later when deciding to write about this. I didn’t currently know enough about him. On his home page I found and watched twice (recording it the second time)
Deepak Chopra: A Pioneer and Advocate of Integrative Medicine in Health—Lectures And Conversations - May 31, 2016. I found it a valuable video of present and future innovative thinking and direction, easily understood and meriting excitement. Filmed in Korea, it is his latest one.*
My realization is, “We might be gratifyingly surprised by finding highly helpful information when undertaking a simple task for a regular reason.”
*EMT: Emergency Medical Technician, a person who is specially trained and certified to administer basic emergency services before and during transportation to a hospital.
*Dr. Deepak Chopra, an endocrinologist,* is a pioneer and advocate of mind-body medicine, which combines the elements of Ayurveda, a type of complementary and alternative medicine with its origins in India, and modern medicine. … [He] has authored dozens of books that have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and caused a boom of mind-body medicine. … While stressing the importance of spiritual healing, especially in modern society where there is prevalence of stress and anxiety, he advises that people heal their minds, bodies and souls through an integrative approach that combines medical therapies and meditation.
https://www.deepakchopra.com/video/article/1261
* Endocrinology: the branch of physiology and medicine concerned with endocrine glands and hormones.
My champa tree, with about six years of growth, has a wandering branch structure that I believe is of museum quality for its gracefulness. Also known as frangipani or plumeria, its plentiful spread is visible from my wide front-bedroom window. It needs only water. Opposite to this situation of beauty without effort is that of a young champa outside my compound wall.
Having driven past the opened gate into my home one day, I returned outside to check on the young champa, which when offered to me had first been described as possibly red (a champa’s more frequent color is milk white). “Did I want it?” Delighted, I’d said yes! It was planted, like the others outside the brick wall, in a tall, cream-in-coffee-color painted cage. My sad, earlier lesson had been that cows rub their horns on trees and the bark of several of mine had been badly but not irrevocably damaged. This one was safe from that, but of my twenty trees, this young champa was taking my greatest efforts to keep it alive. 
Ever so briefly, I was aware that my mind was totally focused on this situation—with no distracting, interruptive thoughts. With a patience born of love, I noted that the champa also had its first blooms of deep pink upper petals rising from lower, yellow curves. I cradled a first branch. My free hand wove the rope among the leaves then slowly inched the branch into position. As I tied a knot around an upright, sturdier branch, I kept my glance moving between them to determine the exact length of rope needed. Done, I continued with the other two. Holding my remaining rope and gloves, I paused to examine the results of this new, trapeze-like appearance among the branches, thought yes—then smiled. 