What is Ayurveda? A beginner's guide!

What is Ayurveda? A beginner's guide!

Originated in Indus Valley more than 5,000 years ago, Ayurveda is attributed to Dhanvantri, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who is also known as the god of Ayurveda. It is believed that Dhanvantri incarnated himself as the king of Varanasai and taught the science of Ayurveda to a group of physicians including Sushruta, who wrote the Sushruta Samhita. Sushruta Samhita along with Charaka Samhita, comprises the foundation text of Ayurveda, although, the earliest mentions of Ayurveda can be found in the last of the four Vedas known as Atharveda, complied by Vyasa.

The word “Ayurveda” is Sanskrit: आयुर्वेद, Āyurveda, means knowledge of life and longevity. Considered as one of the oldest holistic healing systems in world and a sister science to Yoga, Ayurveda emphasizes on prevention rather than cure of a disease by maintaining the balance of body, mind and spirit. To bring balance to ones life, one must have right view, right diet, right use of herbs and right livelihood. According to Ayurveda, health is order and disease is disorder and it is only through the understanding of disorder one can reinstate order in their lives.

Five Elements , three doshas & three gunas

As per Ayurveda, the universe and the human body is made of the 5 elements found in nature – prithvi (earth), jala (water), teja (fire), vayu (wind), akash (ether). These elements combine together in certain combinations to create three bodily energy forces called the “doshas”. The three doshas are called the vata dosha (ether and wind), pitta dosha (fire and water) and kapha dosha (water and earth). Similarly, Ayurveda also defines mental doshas complimentary to the physical doshas, but are more subtle energies whose influence is most prominent on the mental states . These three doshas also known as “gunas” are sattva, rajas and tamas, complementary to vata, pitta and kapha respectively. Sattva is the force of evolution, progress and purity. Tamas is the force which opposes sattva, retards action and results in destruction and decay. Rajas is the impulse to action which maintains the coordination of sattva and tamas. Similar to our bodies, these three gunas are also found in the foods we see around us. Sattvic food means light and healthy food which does not go to any extremes of taste – neither too sweet, nor too salty or spicy – just moderate. A sattvic diet consists of pure wholesome unprocessed food that is light in potency, and rich in prana (life force) which energizes and calms the body and mind. A few examples of sattvic foods are: fresh fruits & vegetables, whole grains, nuts & seeds and raw sugar.  Rajasic foods are those that can creates imbalance in the pitta and vata doshas in the body. These foods stimulate the body’s nervous system and mind into action. When taken in excess, such foods can cause hyperactivity, stress, restlessness, anger, irritability, and sleeplessness. They also increase the level of toxins in the blood. Simply put, overly tasty food is rajasic. A few examples of rajasic foods are: garlic, chillies, coffee, teas, alcohol and aerated beverages. Tamasic foods are dull or dead foods which promotes inertia, lethargy, dullness confusion in the mind and body.  A few examples of tamasic foods are: onions, mushrooms, leftovers, frozen or oily foods, refined grains and over ripe fruits. Ayurveda teaches us to eat sattivc food and avoid rajasic and tamasic foods as much as possible.

Prakruti & Vikruti

Ayurveda teaches us that while we all have some amount of each dosha, we have a natural predominant Dosha or a combination which is determined for each one of us at the time we are conceived. This is called “Prakrati”, which determines our physical constitution and personality. The term actually means “original creation.” In Sanskrit prefix “pra” means “original” and “kruti” means “creation”. However, after the moment of conception, the external environments disturbs the normal physiology of the three doshas called Vikruti which leads to imbalances and eventually to diseases, . The Sanskrit root “vi” means “after” and the root word “kruti” means “creation.” A person’s vikruti is the state of the three doshas after the moment of conception.

Qualities of the doshas

Vata, pitta and kapha are combinations and permutations of these five elements that manifest as patterns present in all creation and each doshas consist of certain qualities called “gunas” (different then the three gunas discussed above). According to Ayurveda, there are 20 different qualities or “gunas” in 10 pairs of opposites and everything in the universe has one or more of these qualities. These qualities are – heavy and light, dull and sharp, cold and hot, oily and dry, smooth and rough, dense and liquid, hard and soft, static and mobile, subtle and gross, cloudy and clear. In Ayurvedic healing, we identify the attributes of an imbalance or disorder and implement treatments and diet using opposite gunas, which will ultimately pacify the imbalanced doshas.  
 

According to Ayurveda, vata governs blinking, breathing, heartbeat, muscle and tissue movement along with all cellular activities. Imbalanced vata can cause anxiety, fatigue, arthritis, heart disease, constipation, nervous system disorder. To keep vata balanced, one should eat warm and well spiced meals four times a day and favor sweet, salty and sour tastes. Pitta governs digestion, absorption, assimilation, nutrition, metabolism and body temperature. Pitta imbalance can cause high blood pressure, anger and negative emotions, heartburn, diarrhea. To keep pitta balanced, one should eat cooling and non-spicy vegetarian food and favor sweet and bitter tasting foods. Kapha governs joint lubrication, skin moisture, and maintains immunity. Kapha imbalance can cause lethargy and obesity, diabetes, water retention, headaches and cancer. To keep kapha balanced, one should eat light and dry foods and favor bitter, pungent and astringent tastes.


 

 

 

Energy of movement which promotes creativity & flexibility.

  • Light
  • Dry
  • Rough
  • Clear
  • Active
  • Cold
  • Mobile

Energy of metabolism which promotes intelligence & understanding.

  • Oily
  • Sharp
  • Hot
  • Light
  • Fleshy
  • Spreading
  • Liquid

Energy of structure which promotes love, calmness & forgiveness.

  • Cold
  • Moist & Oily
  • Heavy
  • Dull
  • Static
  • Smooth & Soft
  • Dense

Agni & Ama

Understanding of Ayurveda is incomplete without understanding “agni” and “ama”. Agni, or the digestive fire, is a key factor in understanding our physiological makeup, or our prakruti and vikruti. Ayurveda teaches us that when a body has a doshic imbalance, known as vikruti, it ultimately leads to impaired or imbalanced agni, which is the root cause of all diseases and ill health. Agni has a vast range of functions including digestion and assimilation of food, transforming food into bodily tissue and waste; interpreting information into experiential knowledge; discerning between nutritious material and waste product, maintenance of body temperature, sensory perceptions, metabolic activity, among other important functions. However, due to negative external influences, sometimes our bodies are not able to digest, absorb and assimilate all the food that we eat and information we receive. This leads to creation of ama, which are toxins and is the first stage of any disease. Ama can be described as a toxic, heavy foul smelling substance in our body as well as toxic and negative thoughts, emotions, and feelings in our psyche. Ayurveda kindles the agni of the body to digest toxins which have manifested due to internal or external imbalances, ensuring optimal functioning of the physical and mental being.

Life (ayu) is the combination (samyoga) of body, senses, mind and reincarnating soul. Ayurveda is the most sacred science of life, beneficial to humans both in this world and the world beyond. – Charaka

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