We all know that a healthy diet and regular exercise contribute to our physical health, but what about our spiritual health? According to Gabriel Cousens, the foundations for a better physical and spiritual life come through the foods that we eat, quieting the mind and connecting with our spirit. Dr. Oz talks to Gabriel, author of Spiritual Nutrition: Six Foundations for Spiritual Life and the Awakening of Kundalini, about his principles for wellness and leading an enlightened life.

Six Pillars for Better Health

• Diet: Gabriel advocates an organic, vegan, raw food diet for optimal spiritual and physical well-being. "The energy that you get from live foods, and the flexibility, is really profound," he says.
• Building the life force, or prana, through practices such as yoga and tai chi.
• Service and charity: "When you're opening up your heart to other people, you're much more connected and you are feeling your oneness," Gabriel says.
• Spiritual inspiration, which comes from being out in nature and reading religious texts, Gabriel says.
• Meditation: "Silence is the doorway to the divine," Gabriel says. Other forms of meditation can include prayer and chanting, he says.
• Awakening of the kundalini energy, which Gabriel defines as the "non-dual oneness, holographic—meaning total picture—awareness of our essential oneness." Kundalini energy, which Gabriel says is dormant within all of us but waiting to be awakened, happens through grace and by following the preceding five pillars.