Have you ever caught yourself reacting in what felt a totally automatic way… and ever wondered where that reaction came from? 

Today I sat down with Bonnie Wallace to talk about the yoga philosophy concept of Samskara or psychological imprints to answer this question…

Bonnie is a Certified Ayurvedic Health Counselor, Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist (RYT-500), Holistic Chef, and Herbalist. As a graduate of the largest Ayurvedic College in the Western world, Bonnie has over 1,300 hours of education from the California College of Ayurveda and the Himalayan Institute. Her specialty is working with the overachiever -the one who does it all to help heal their gut health, burnout, depression, and anxiety.

Listen to the full episode here:

MY 5 BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

1. Samskaras are impressions that are made like grooves in our brains that eventually turn into habits and personnality traits. Vasanas are a bigger or combined Samskaras that color our entire perception and experience of the world. We can have both positive and negative Samskaras and Vasanas. They are responsible for the fundamental of our personnality. Every time we repeat a thought or an action it reinforces this impression. Eventually it leads to an identity and we stop seeing things as they are and start seeing them as we are or as the Samskaras are. They determined our beliefs, our preferences, and so on.
2. They creates an auto-pilot system that feel automatic unless we consicouly pause and choose to consider an other perspective, truth or option.
3. Auto-pilot creates a repetition in the results as well. The same things keep happening in our lifes. It’s being repeated until we learn the lesson that it’s there to teach us. When we are in the habit of doing something we are checking out in some way. It usuallyly happens in moments when we are trying to avoid something unconfortable. If we are interested in reducing our suffereing, we have to start looking at what we are avoiding.
4. As you become aware of your patterns, you can start to unlearn the patterns throught various yogic practices. A simple way is to connect the mind and the breath. The more the mind experiences the moment present and the subtlties of prana, it starts to change the mind’s craving for distraction.
5. To create change in the Samskaras, you need to identify them. She suggests to make a list of both the positive and negative one you experience regularly. Making effort to maintain a peacful mind and cultivating a mind that is free from attachement to the result is keys.

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QUESTIONS SHE ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODE

• Can you tell us what Samskaras and Vasanas are?
• What are the different types of Samskara?
• How do they affect us and our lives?
• Can we change/erase “negative” samskaras? Can we create new “positive” ones?
• What does that process look like?
• What is your personal favorite practice when it comes to beliefs/samskaras?

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Bonnie G. Wallace is a Certified Ayurvedic Health Counselor, Ayurvedic Yoga
Specialist (RYT-500), Holistic Chef and Herbalist. As a graduate from the largest
Ayurvedic College in the Western world, Bonnie has over 1,300 hours of education
from the California College of Ayurveda and the Himalayan Institute. Her
specialty is working with the overachiever -the one who does it all to help heal
their gut health, burnout, depression and anxiety.

For nutrition and lifestyle counseling, Bonnie Wallace’s multi-faceted programs
result in radical and sustainable transformation- using a combination of therapeutic
tantric yoga techniques, Life-Pattern counseling (uncover and reframe beliefs that
keep us in self-sabotaging cycles), customized nutrition plans, herbal medicines,
specialty lab testing, and sensory therapies. Bonnie especially enjoys working with
her team of Ayurvedic and Functional Medicine practitioners, meeting regularly to
optimize treatment plans for all her clients.

Her expertise in nutrition and lifestyle counseling is led not only by scrupulous
education, but refined intuition and an affinity for understanding the human
condition. This approach opens doorways in individuals that they forgot were
there, while her gentle yet passionate guidance holds space and inspiration for
individuals to do the necessary personal work in these journeys.

Bonnie works exclusively with individuals 1:1 in order to ensure each person has her utmost attention and is getting exactly what they need. She works virtually, making this work accessible to people around the world. She caters retreats and special events with beautiful, nutritious food, educational workshops and health consultations.

You can find Bonnie freediving, making friends with animals, and traveling when she is not working with her clients or cooking.

Connect with her for resources and inspiration on Instagram @bonnie.gene