Ayurveda Primer

FIRST STEPS TOWARDS WELLNESS AN AYURVEDIC PRESPECTIVE. Ayurveda translates from Sanskrit, as the science for a long life, having said that let's go over some basic Ayurvedic principles. First of all in Ayurveda individuals are classified into three basic constitutional types called Doshas; they are, Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Each person is born with a particular constitutional composition which can be strongly inclined to one specific Dosha, or more commonly be a combination of two, at times even all three, usually however one of them is dominant. This birth constitution is called Prakruti. Then throughout life changes occur which are influenced by many factors; these include among others, lifestyle, diet, environment, etc. Leading to our constitutional makeup at any given point in time during our lifespan, this is called Vikruti. Since life is a very dynamic process, we can clearly understand that our Vikruti is frequently changing. Having said the prior, it is important to understand that in Ayurveda moving away from our inherent nature, that is our Prakruti, can open the door for imbalance, which can consequently lead to disease. Therefore, one of the main tenets of Ayurveda is to preserve or when needed to restore our Prakruti and its balance. Which leads us to the following; first we should always try to live a healthy lifestyle, starting with what we eat, you see according to Ayurveda, and this is pretty self evident across most cultures, our body is constantly 'forming', this happens through a process where ingested nutrients form our bodily tissues, known in Sanskrit as Dhatus. This tissue formation process is pragmatically speaking sequential, that is, the first tissue or Rasa (plasma) is formed, as it matures it forms byproducts, as well as waste products, an it eventually leads to the second tissue, called Rakta (blood), and so on until all seven tissues are formed, then finally a highly pure, and decanted energy source, a quintessence of sorts is formed called Oshas, in a simplistic manner, it is akin to our immune system, it is also consided a life force energy of the highest order. If you analyze this process closely, you can clearly see that we are in fact what we eat. Now think for a moment, just how important the intake of appropriate nutrients is for every aspect of life. On the other hand, think how hard it has become to obtain quality nutrients. Even if you decide to 'eat healthy', the quality of said healthy products has been undermined by many factors, for instance nutrient depleted soils, use of chemicals and pesticides, environmental toxins, among others. There is good news though. Aside from growing your own food, which would be a tall order for most of us, we can without a doubt do two major things to help ourselves. First we can surely avoid eating foods which we know to be unhealthy, such as those called 'junk food', second we can use certain nutritional supplements to make up for the micronutrients lacking in our diet. These are without doubt, the first steps in preserving optimal health, and are also crucial when the task at hand is to restore balance and to recover your health ...your optimal state of wellness. In future articles, I will share with you more specific pointers, and we will also take a look a other aspects of Ayurvedic balance in other areas of our life, such as mental, emotional, social, financial. For now I leave you with this thought. You are the crown head in your kingdom, your decrees and edicts are the law, and your will shall be done, you will call this kingdom 'Me' for it is in fact you; your body, your mind, your higher consciousness. Therefore it's up to you to make good things happen in your kingdom ...in your life. Bliss and Light to all W. Ramdev Shaivaidya