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Ayurveda,
the Science of Life
Ayurveda is the traditional health care system of India, originating in the ancient Vedic
civilization of 3,000 B.C.E. Ayur-Veda
meansScience of Life. It is a natural, preventive approach to health care,
that emphasizes
- 1) a diet appropriate to one’s mind-body type and basic
principles of nutrition.
- 2) proper digestion, elimination, rest, relaxation, and
mental attitude.
- 3) the use of herbal medicines, pranayam, and meditation to
balance the doshas.
- 4) the use of fasting, oil massage, and panchakarma
treatments for eliminating buildup of ama, or toxins.
The basis
of Ayurveda is prevention--strengthening the body’s defense system and
self-repair mechanisms so the individual has the ability to naturally resist
disease.
Like Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic medicine is
especially valuable to people who perceive spiritual health and physical health
as inextricably intertwined.
Origins of
Disease in Ayurveda
The name
for Qi, or life-force in Ayurveda is Prana. From the center of the being Prana controls
the functioning of the bodies organs and physiological processes. Channels,
called srotas, similar to the channels of Acupuncture, facilitate the
circulation of prana. Disease is caused by blockage of these channels, and by
pranic insufficiency.
Ayurveda
describes individuals according to their constitutional or body-mind types,
called doshas.
The three basic doshas are vata, pitta, and kapha.
Vata governs bodily and mental
functions concerned with movement and metabolism. Pitta governs bodily and mental functions concerned with heat, catabolic break-down of things taken into the body-mind, and energy
production. Kapha governs bodily and mental functions
concerned with the building up and maintenance of structure and fluids.
Vata is
derived from the air element, Pitta from the fire element, and Kapha from a
combination of water and earth.
Each
individual has
aspects of each dosha as well as a specific doshic proclivity, which is
apparent in one’s physical features, lifestyle tendencies, and psycho emotional
or spiritual temperament. The doshic proclivity helps determine the illnesses
you are prone to, and so can be used to prescribe methods to avoid disease.
In the natural course of living, the doshas may become imbalanced, and when
they do, this leads to the blockage of the channels by Ama, the accumulation of toxic substances within the
bodymind. Ama increases if physical and mental digestive fire (agni) is weak, if foods contraindicated
for your dosha are eaten, especially to excess, if spiritual consciousness is not cultivated, if sensible
lifestyle practices are not followed, or if fecal waste is not properly
eliminated.
Ayurvedic
Treatment
Ayurvedic treatment focuses on rebalancing
the doshas. First one’s natural dosha is determined
through intake and exam. Then one’s doshic
imbalance is determined by a combination of pulse and tongue diagnosis,
questioning, and observation. Ayurvedic therapy focuses first and foremost on
eradicating the lifestyle and dietary errors that are creating doshic
imbalances. This is root treatment. Secondly, the Ayurvedic physician may
prescribe breathing and meditation exercises to eradicate mental ama, specific
foods and dietary regimens to correct your particular doshic imbalance, herbs
to treat the doshic imbalance and its specific disease symptoms in the tissues.
Panchakarma treatment is often recommended,
both for serious illness and periodic cleansing.
This involves staying for at least 5 days at
a retreat center and undergoing therapeutic fasting,
oil massage, sweating, purging, and warm oil
enema. The goal of Panchakarma therapy is to mobilize the Ama out of the
tissues and channels into the center of the body where it can then be more
easily discharged through the digestive tract.
Understanding
the Doshas
Radiant health, according to Ayurveda, is
simply a state in which you experience
a zest for life and feel integrated and whole. Your appetite, digestion, and
elimination are good, you breathe deeply and easily, your skin is radiant, you
sleep well, and you experience the full range of human emotions in a manner
that is congruent with your experiences. How each of us achieve this state of
integration and wholeness, as well as how we experience physical and mental
disease and suffering, is a function of
our individual and unique, by degree and manifestation, bodymind type or dosha.
While there are three doshas, they combine
into ten types,
- a) the three monodoshics: in which one dosha strongly
predominates, and the other two are equally secondary.
- b) the six bidoshics: in which one dosha strongly
predominates, the next dosha is of secondary strength within the bodymind,
while the third is of weakest influence. These are:
Vata-Pitta
Pitta-Vatta
Pitta-Kapha
Kapha-Pitta
Vata-Kapha
Kapha-Vata.
- c) Tri doshic: Those in whom
the three doshas have equal value.
Each of the
ten doshic types have specific characteristics, some of which are as follows:
Vata types are light and thin in build, move quickly in
speech, activities and thought, tend towards dry skin, are averse to cold, dry
weather, have irregular appetites, digestions, and schedules, tend to worry,
become constipated easily, and sleep lightly and with easy interruption. Their
eyes are light colored and can be nervous. Hair is thin and dry.
Pitta types have a moderate build with prominent
tendons. They have penetrating intellects, are enterprising and sharp in
character, good public speakers, with a tendency toward quick anger and
irritability. They have intense
hungers, can’t skip meals, are averse to hot weather and prefer cold drinks and
foods. They tend toward reddish hair, moles, and freckles with oily and easily
inflamed skin. Their eyes are sharp and penetrating. Hair is wiry.
Kapha types have a solid large boned heavy build. They
have good strength and endurance, are slow and methodical, can be steady and
tranquil with oily and smooth skin. They have mild hunger, and slow digestion
and can gain weight very easily. Their eyes are large and like water and their
sleep is heavy and long. They tend towards plentiful thick wavy hair.
As you can imagine, how each of these types
combine in any one individual has a near infinite number of permutations and
gradations, however, certain very
generalized observations can be made about the nature of a dosha when balanced or imbalanced.
Balanced
Vata is mentally
alert with strong sleep, immunity, and exhilaration with life.
Imbalanced Vata has dry rough skin, insomnia, nervous
disorders, anxiety and worry, underweight, intolerant of cold, and dry hard
stools. The nervous energy of vata imbalance leads to exhaustion and
non-specific fatigue.
Balanced
Pitta has normal heat
and thirst mechanisms, strong digestion meaning the ability to consume and
digest physical and mental things easily, a lustrous complexion born of its
natural fire element, a sharp intellect and sense of contentment.
Imbalanced
Pitta suffers easily
from inflammation of the skin or emotions, excessive bodily heat and heat in
the digestive tract yielding disorders like ulcers, gastritis and hemorrhoids.
They grey and bald early in life, develop hot-type visual disorders, and can be
unnecessarily argumentative or irritable.
Balanced
Kapha is possessed of
above average muscular strength, good vitality and stamina, with good immunity
and stability of mind and also joints.They are capable of strong affection,
generosity, courage and dignity.
Imbalanced
Kapha suffers from
slow digestion, cognition, obesity, lethargy and dullness. They develop
disorders of phlegm easily, like allergies and sinus congestion.
As you can now see, a Pitta-Vatta, for
example, will have a combination of attributes and or imbalances that reflect
Pitta having the primary role, Vatta the secondary, and Kapha the tertiary.
Can a PittaVatta type have an imbalance in
Kapha? Absolutely, but their Kapha
imbalance will tend to affect them less profoundly on both physical and
spiritual levels than an imbalance in their
predominant dosha.
For example, a PittaVatta type with a Kaphic imbalance might suffer some
exacerbation of lethargy in the winter, which is the Kapha season, but would
suffer much more from a Pitta imbalance in Summer, the Pitta season. Here their
tendency towards heat and inflammation, if their Pitta were running wild, could
lead to skin and digestive disorders, especially if the climate were tropical.
On the other hand, if a KaphaVatta were in
Kapha imbalance during winter, they might develop full scale seasonal affective
disorder, rather than just mild lethargy,
particularly in a long, cold,
wet, dark northern winter.
The role of
the Ayurvedic physician is to accurately describe the patient’s dosha
proclivities and imbalances, and then to give the proper dietary, lifestyle and
herbal regimens to correct imbalances and promote radiant health.
There are
specific diets to “pacify” each of the doshas, which means to keep them from
becoming imbalanced. There are specific lifestyle recommendations to promote
the most healthy physical and spiritual expression of each dosha as well. These
recommendations extend from types of exercise, pranayam and meditation, to
daily routines regarding when and how much to sleep and eat. It also involves
responding to the rhythm of the seasons according to your individual doshic
tendencies. Finally it involves an awareness of how the doshas transform
through the ageing process.
For
example, in the above
case of KaphaVatta with a Kapha imbalance and seasonal affective disorder, the
treatment would begin with a Pitagenic diet, that is a diet to strengthen
digestive fire (agni) and Pitta so to warm and stimulate the cold damp Kapha.
This would center on warming spices like cayenne, black pepper, ginger,
cinnamon, nutmeg, cardomom, and clove. It would involve lightly cooked
vegetebles and soups with emphasis on lots of colorful and slightly bitter
green vegetebles. Certain foods, like dairy products and wheat, especially
pasta, and also deep fried foods would be avoided. Sweets would need to be minimalized,
and green tea and bright stimulating herb teas like peppermint would be useful.
Of
course full spectrum lighting would be recomended, and fast exercises, like aerobics, with intense
music to push one out of one’s Kaphic imbalance. Staying up a bit later and doing something creative or exciting
like an art project or music concert would be recommended. On the other hand,
getting out at high noon (maximum pitta time) doing something like cross
country skiing would be beneficial. Bring hot spicy tea with you.
Sauna, not steam, vigorous massage with
warming mustard seed oil and essential oils like eucalyptus, tea tree, thyme,
oregeno, jasmine, and sandalwood would be useful, as would walking meditation
and breath of fire style pranayam breathing exercises. Warm intense bright
colors would be useful in the home as well as clothing, for example crimson
red, burgendy, turqoise blue and gold. This would be a case for fresh cut
flowers, regardless of cost. Even fiery gems would be useful in jewlery, like
rubys and fire opal. Gold is stimulating while silver is calming
.In this case the healthy expression of
feelings would be encouraged, perhaps in a safe therapeutic environment, so as
to ensure that kapha, with its long memory, is not turning anger inwards, and
that the free and open movement of emotions (like fear, sadness, attachment in its many form,
loneliness, and its inverse selfishness) is not inhibited by Kapha’s
sluggishness or Vata’s fear.
This person will benefit from volunteer work,
dance class, playing a musical instrument, taking previously unacceptable
risks, and making friends with some PittaKaphas. This is just a keyhole glimpse at the kinds of recommendations that can
be made in an Ayurvedic consultation.
As you can
see, they tend to cut to the heart of a problem, and do require a commitment on
the part of the patient. It is very different than taking a pill, but well
worth it if you are interested in long lasting, permanent, profound levels of
change.
I have used
Ayurvedic medicine for the past 28 years in my own life, including three years
in India and Sri Lanka studying the Tamil folk variant called Siddha Medicine.
Since 1991 I have used Ayurvedic herbs, dietary and lifestyle counseling
techniques to help many people resolve their illnesses and progress towards
radiant health.
I have
found Ayurvedic methods particularly valuable for all the disorders of
inflammation, whether physical or emotional, ranging from chronic urinary tract
infection through tendinitis and excessive anger or irritability; for all the disorders of water, mucus and
phlegm, from obesity and edema through
allergies and chronic sinus disorders; for the various disorders of
wind, from insomnia and fear through anxiety and headaches.
For further
information about how Ayurvedic medicine can help you, or to schedule an
appointment for a comprehensive Ayurvedic consultation, please call Eyton
Shalom, M.S., L.Ac., at 619.296.7591 or email eyton@bodymindwellnesscenter.com
Mission
Hills BodyMind Wellness Center
Om
Siddha Dhanvantri Tat Sat
4111 Palmetto Way, San Diego, CA 92103
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