In Indian wisdom traditions, the words for, “mind” (manas) and, “heart” (hṛdayam) seem interchangeable in certain contexts. And sometimes not. What are the differences and connections between the two? Why is this important or meaningful? Is the heart concurrently a physical, mental and energetic organ? Is the mind? In the first of the May sessions of Vedic Threads, linguist and lover of literature, culture, and knowledge Neha Tiwari has accepted an invitation to join Drs. Ramkumar and Claudia to explore a bit of Ayurveda, tantra and bhakti perspectives on these questions. In the second May session, Laura Clarke Stelmok has accepted an invitation to join the conversation and share a perspective the tradition of Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, a Sufi teacher in the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya Sufi Order.

This lively discussion will create a foundational framework for how these traditional healing practices can be woven together with the modern understanding of trauma to help us gain resilience in our lives.

Saṅkalpa translates as, “intention” or, “determination”. Ayurveda physician Dr. Vignesh Devraj ji plans to join the Vedic Threads community for the first May session to explore the role of saṅkalpa in medicine—from the patient’s experience as well as the doctor’s. This can relate to the way a practitioner and the patient approaches the doctor/patient relationship; the roles of medicine, the doctor, the patient, hope, compliance; what is whose responsibility, and to the outcome itself. Some of these insights are likely to apply to life in general as well as to medicine.