A wake-up alarm on our phone. Breakfast made on a hob, in a toaster or maybe a microwave. Milk packaged in plastic bottles or cartons and kept cold in the fridge. Living and work spaces heated or cooled to our preferred temperature, lit by artificial lights. Commuting by cars, buses or trains and spending most of our hours sitting in front of digital screens.

This is modern life. It’s no surprise that we’ve slipped into a way of living that feels anything but natural. Many people feel that technology is superior to nature, but no matter how good our air conditioning is, how much electricity we generate, how many songs, videos and books we can consume through our screens, nature will always be our primary super power. While technology can always be used to enhance life, it can never replace life itself.

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We always come back to the trees which give us air to breathe, to the water which hydrates us and to the sun which makes our planet habitable and alive. We must always remember that we ARE nature. It’s no surprise that so many people are eager to reconnect with ancient wisdom and ancient sciences, because our ancestors did something most of us have forgotten to do: live in harmony with Mother Earth.

Whether we look at the Aboriginal people in Australia, the ancient Mayans and Incas in Central and South America, the ancient Egyptians, or the ancient cultures of China and India, there seems to be a common thread: the development of science and wisdom that was integrated and aligned with nature.

In ancient India, everything from music to food, medicine, breathing, meditation, architecture, design and even city planning was rooted in nature – and in living and building life in such a way that it was totally aligned to the seasons, the local environment and even the movement of the earth around the sun.

Ayurveda is a system of holistic wellbeing that is literally rooted in nature – first the five elements, and then the three Doshas. Science and wisdom have one simple goal: to bring our body, mind and being into their original natural state of harmony. It’s a state of harmony with ourselves and with life around us, that builds organically once we realise that we are nature and start to live our lives with a deeper awareness of this reality. Then we begin to understand our breath, our movements, our relationship with food and products, and even our surroundings, with more subtlety and depth.

Let us remember nature, lovingly and humbly, as our mother and our master. And let her guide us back into an enlightened era of living consciously – in health, harmony and happiness.