Ayurveda: The Science of Life
Ayurveda is the traditional medical system of India which has been practised for over 2,000 years in Asia and is now becoming popular in the West. Ayurveda uses diet, herbs and treatments to restore balance and wellbeing, and to prevent disease. An Ayurvedic consultation with pulse reading will give you an insight into how your body interacts with your environment, so that you can understand what aspects of your life help you to thrive and what changes you need to make to invest in greater wellbeing.
The basis of the Ayurvedic approach is to view the world
in terms of the five elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air
and Ether (or Space). Together with Consciousness, these
five elements make up everything in the universe
including ourselves. Ayurveda defines three types of
physical constitution (or dosha):
Kapha (earth & water), Pitta
(fire & water) and Vata (air
& ether). Each type is balanced by
having foods containing different elements.
A
Kapha type will be heavier physically, more grounded and
pragmatic. In terms of diet, they will have to be
careful with carbohydrates which contain the earth
element and they will be balanced by food which contains
more fire (e.g warming spices) or air (e.g salads).
Conversely, for a Vata type, a lot of salads will be
ungrounding and could produce anxiety. Pitta types, who
are hot (fire element) can thrive on raw food (because
it is cooling) and should avoid heating spices. Vata
types can’t digest raw food well, so they may suffer
from wind and bloating if they adopt a raw food diet.
As you can see from the examples
above, there cannot be one diet which is suitable for
everyone. By choosing a diet to suit our type, we allow
ourselves the best foundation for good health and
wellbeing.
Treatments can also be used to
bring us back into balance. For example, when Vata is
out of balance, causing symptoms like dry skin,
agitation, insomnia,
anxiety
and erratic digestion with tendency to wind/ bloating
and constipation, oil massage can be very helpful to
ground and release stress.
As
an Ayurvedic Practitioner, one of the main things I
focus on is digestion. Good physical digestion allows us
to absorb all the nutrients in our food and to build
healthy tissues. When digestion is weak, then although
the food we eat may be very good quality, we may not
benefit as we can’t digest it. Over time, feelings of
anxiety can build up if the body is not well-nourished.
Diet and herbs can be used to strengthen digestion,
rebuild our physical health and to support mental and
emotional wellbeing.
As well as physical digestion, we
also need to consider our mental digestion. Challenging
experiences (e.g loss or betrayal of loved ones) need to
be digested. When we struggle to digest these
experiences, our physical health may suffer. A
significant part of our nervous system is in the gut, so
when we are upset or angry, our physical digestion will
suffer. In this way our mental and emotional wellbeing
influences our physical wellbeing.
Ayurveda
advises us to ‘first address the cause’; so if the root
cause of acid indigestion is frustration with your job
or a relationship, then it is helpful to look at that as
well as taking herbs/changing diet: it is a very
holistic approach.
Feeding Your Demons, the
technique based ona a Tibetan Buddhist approach, can
sometimes be used as part of an Ayurvedic approach,
because it encourages us to accept and resolve the
uncomfortable feelings which may be triggering ill
health and brings a profound sense of peace.
Published by
Hove
StressBusters
October 2015