Suppressing Natural Urges Is Suppressing Life

Due to hectic schedules, unavailability, social manners, we may find ourselves suppressing natural urges.

We wait for a moment to be free or to be alone.

We live in a modern world where we are constantly solicited, busy or surrounded by people and we have to stand up to expectations either of our productivity or of our own image.

We eat when the meeting is over.
We go to toilet after we finish our tasks.
We retain our coughing when we are in a theatre.
We refrain from yawning in public.

Our cultural and civilized society train us and conform us since our childhood so that suppressing our urges becomes a habit…

…a very harmful habit.

Our urges appear spontaneously, naturally, at various times and intervals accordingly to the stimuli of our nervous system inducing it, and also sometimes in response to our direct environment.

In Ayurveda, it is not taboo at all.

Actually, it is valued as one of the major factors for diseases to start and progress. Ayurveda considers natural urges as crucial and vital functions of our body.

In that vision, we should reconsider the way we see and handle our urges and not be too prompt to judge, hide or control it.

It is time to understand its importance in the prevention of disease and the role it can play in the homeostasis and internal balance of our body and mind.

Suppressing Natural Urges: The Importance of Elimination

Vegadharan is the Ayurvedic term used to describe suppressing natural urges, and a whole chapter is dedicated to that.*

That speaks to its importance.

Our body constantly assimilates, transforms, regenerates…but it also needs to eliminate all the waste, toxins and byproducts of all those processes.

Elimination has a unique and important role just as all others. Between a weed and a flower there is only judgment, right?

Urine, feces, flatus, vomiting, sneezing, belching, yawning, thirst, hunger, crying, sleeping, ejaculating, etc. are generated because of different body activities that if stopped or prevented can be harmful and produce different diseases.

Mainly, the Vata dosha will be vitiated, and nothing in our body can work without the impulsion of Vata.
Moreover, it can cause Ama (Toxins) to accumulate and circulate in the body.
The nervous system and biological clock can also be greatly impacted.

Suppressing Natural Urges: Consequences

Here are some of the different consequences that can occur:

Suppression of flatus: abdominal tumor, loss of vision, heart disease, improper Vata movement or blockage
Suppression of faeces : cramps, migraines, improper Vata movement, tensions, heaviness, fistulas
Suppression of urine: calculus in urinary tract, overall pain, bladder and genital disorders
Suppression of sneezing: vitiation of Vata, migraines, ENT disorders, paralysis
Suppression of yawning: vitiation of Vata, migraines, ENT disorders, paralysis
Suppression of sleep: disorders of eyes, head, fatigue, overall pain, debilitaty of organs, loss of consciousness and awareness
Surpression of thirst: overall weakness, heart diseases, deafening
Surpression of hunger: overall pain, loss of appetite, extreme fatigue, pain in abdomen, fainting
Surpression of coughing: loss of appetite, dyspnea, heart diseases, hiccups
Surpression of breathing upon exertion: abdominal tumor, heart disease, troubles with senses
Surpression of crying: ENT disorders, heart troubles, upper chest tumors
Surpression of vomiting: skin disorders and discoloration, oedema, fever, dyspnea
Surpression of genital fluids and discharge: swelling, fever, overall pain, impotence, obstructions, heart disorder

These urges should never be delayed or suppressed, or forcefully initiated, with mind or body control.

Pragyaparadha: Suppressing Natural Urges as a “Crime Against Wisdom”

It is a concept introduced in the classics referring to bad attitude and actions we consciously and knowingly do, denying our inner wisdom, intellect, intuition and will. Suppressing natural urges falls under that category.

In order to be healthy we have to listen to the wisdom of our body that never fail to express its needs should we be ready to listen and act accordingly.

Dharaneeya Vegas: Urges That SHOULD Be Suppressed

The below, on the contrary, are mentioned to be suppressed should one want a long and happy life:

Deeds: desire for another woman, theft, violence, ill-treatment
Emotional/spiritual: Greed, grief, fear, anger, vanity, shamelessness, jealousy, excessive desire, malice
Speech: speaking bad words, speaking excessively, back biting, lies, untimely words

Our blessing from refraining those will be Dharma, Artha and Kama.