Ayurveda: The
Science of Life
Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word derived from two roots: ayur, which means life, and veda, knowledge. When knowledge is arranged
systematically with logic becomes a science. With time, Ayurveda
has become, the science of life, and that is precisely what it means. It is
considered the art of healing. The science to live long and prosper,
the science to be happy. It has its roots in ancient veda
literature and it involves our entire life, the body, mind and spirit. It is
probably the earliest medical science having a positive concept of health to be
achieved through a blending of physical, mental, social, moral and spiritual
welfare. It became one of the oldest medical systems, practiced (uninterruptedly)
in
The Ayurvedic Objective
Ayurveda was born so that human beings can accomplish the purpose
of existence: to discover our internal reality. Health is the basis to achieve
this goal. Ayurveda helps a healthy person to
preserve his/her health and an ill one to obtain it.
Main Characteristics
1.
It is the first
holistic system that integrates body, senses, mind and spirit (soul).
2.
It has been proved by
experience for more than 5000 years.
3.
Its principles are
universally applicable.
4.
It is capable of
attacking the illness’ cause instead of
merely attending the symptoms.
5.
It centers or focuses
on the integral treatment of the patient.
6.
It uses multiple
therapeutic resources, usually unattended by the individual.
7.
The specific therapy is
fundamentally done with natural origin remedies.
8.
It is oriented to
achieve rejuvenation and to reestablish the corporal balance.
9.
Depurates accumulated
toxins through special techniques called panchakarma.
10.
There are four main
classifications of management of disease in Ayurveda:
shodan, or cleansing; shaman or palliation (balancing
doshas); rasayana, or
rejuvenation; and satvajaya, or mental hygiene.
Main Postulates
·
It exists an equivalence
between the universe (cosmos) and the macrocosm and the person and the
microcosm. Humans are creation of a universal consciousness. We are a miniature
of nature.
·
Every single experience
positive or negative in the corporal level has its effect on the mind and
vice-versa.
·
Health is a state of
balance between the body, mind and consciousness.
·
In the same way the
truth is infinite and unique, each person is. The possible treatments are
infinite and specific to each one of us.
·
The best medicine is
the one that cures the patient.
·
Every food is remedy
and every remedy is food.
·
Ayurveda’s philosophical bases are ruled by the following:
a.
The five basic
elements’ theory (ether or space, air, fire, water and earth). The structural
aspect of the body is made up of these five elements, but the functional aspect
of the body is governed by three biological humors:
b.
The three different
corporal (body) types, which are biological functions or humors called doshas, (vata, pitta and kapha).
c.
The seven dhatus or tissues (plasma, blood, muscle, fat, bone, nerve
and reproductive).
d.
The three malas, elimination or waste products of the body (feces,
urine and sweat)
e.
Agni, the energy of metabolism.
f.
The three basic mental
constitutions or qualities of human temperaments: satvic,
rajasic and tamasic
(individual differences in psychological and moral dispositions and reactions
to socio-cultural and physical environments).
g.
Life’s Trinity
conformed by body, mind and spirit.
h.
Disease is a condition
of disharmony in any of these factors, and the root cause of imbalance, or
disease, is an aggravation of dosha (vata-pitta-kapha), caused by a variety of internal and
external factors.
Satvic Mental Constitution
The people in whom satvic qualities
predominate are humanistic, spiritual perhaps also religious, compassionate and
pure minded. Following truth and righteousness, they have good manners,
behavior and conduct. They do not get easily upset or angry. Although they work
hard mentally, they do not get mental fatigue, so they only need to sleep a few
hours each night. They look fresh, alert, aware, full
of luster, wisdom, joy and happiness. They are creative, humble and respectful
of others. Worshiping God and humanity, they love everyone and everything. They
care for people, animals, trees, nature in general, and that is why satvic are very respectful of all life forms and existence.
They have well balanced perception, intuition and intelligence.
Rajasic Mental Constitution
The people in whom rajasic
qualities predominate are egoistic, selfish or self-centered, ambitious,
aggressive, proud, competitive, and have a tendency to control others. They
like power, prestige, position, and are perfectionists. They are hard working
people, but not so well organized, they are always lacking proper planning and
direction. They are ungrounded, active and restless. Emotionally they are
angry, jealous, ambitious, competitive, and have very few moments of joy
whenever they are able to taste success. These people have a great fear of
failure, are subject to stress and soon lose their mental energy. They require
about eight hours of sleep. They are loving, calm and patient only as long as
their self interests are served; which means rajasic
individuals are good, loving, friendly and faithful only to those who are
helpful to them or at their service. They are not honest to their inner-self or
consciousness. Their activities are self-centered, egoistic and
self-worshiping.
Tamasic Mental Constitution
The people in whom tamasic
qualities predominate are less intelligent. They tend towards depression,
laziness, and an excess of sleep, even during the day. A little mental work
tires them easily. They like jobs of less responsibility and they also love to
eat, drink, sleep and have sex. They are greedy, possessive, attached,
irritable, and do not care for others. These people may even harm others
through their own self interest. It is difficult for them to focus their minds
during mediation.
Vata, Pitta and Kapha:
The Three Doshas
The structural aspect of the body is made up of the five
elements (space, air, fire, water and earth), but the functional aspect of the
body is govern by three biological humors. Ether (space) and air together
constitute vata; fire and water pitta;
and water and earth kapha. So, vata,
pitta and kapha are the
three biological humors that are the three biological components of the
organism. They govern psycho-biological and physio-pathological
changes in the body. Vata, pitta
and kapha are present in every cell, tissue and
organ, but they differ in each person in permutations and combinations. The
sperm is the male seed, and the ovum is the female egg. They also contain vata,
pitta, kapha and changes of
these three doshas occur depending on the
individual’s diet, life style and emotions. The sperm is influenced by the
father’s lifestyle, diet and emotions, and the ovum by those of the mother’s.
At the time of fertilization, when a single sperm enters a single ovum, the
individual’s (baby’s) constitution is determined. Every person has a unique
combination of these three doshas. To understand
individuality is the foundation of healing according to Ayurveda,
the “science of life”. Vata, pitta
and kapha are distinctly present in every individual and
express in each human being differently according to the predominance of the
different qualities.
Vata Qualities
Vata is dry, light, cold, mobile, active, clear, astringent and
dispersing. All of these qualities can be manifested in the vata
person. For instance, it would be typical of a vata
to have dry hair, dry skin, dry colon and a tendency towards constipation.
Because of the light quality (not heavy), this individual will have a light
body frame, light muscles, low fat, and would probably be thin or even
underweight. He / she will always have cold hands, cold feet and poor
circulation. They do not like cold seasons and love summer and are very active,
they love jogging or jumping because they cannot sit still in one place. Vata is subtle, and this quality is responsible for
emotions like fear, anxiety, insecurity and nervousness. However, they have
very clear understanding and perception, they could be clairvoyant. They
understand things immediately but can also forget them with the same swiftness.
It is said that vata is astringent because they have
a drying and chocking quality of taste, and because they feel like a chocking
sensation in their throat while the are eating.
Pitta Qualities
Pitta is a biological combination of fire and water elements. It
has hot, sharp, light, liquid, sour, oily and spreading qualities. Pitta has a strong smell, like a fleshy smell, and also has
a bitter, sour taste. These would be the qualities manifested in an individual
with an excess of pitta in his/her body. It is due to
the hot quality that the pitta person has a strong
appetite and warm skin. The body temperature is a bit higher than the vata person. For instance, the pitta
person can perspire at a fifty degree temperature, but the vata
person, instead, cannot perspire even at a much higher temperature. When the pitta person perspires, there is a typical strong sulfur
smell; and when a pitta person is hungry, he/she has
to eat otherwise, s/he will become irritable and
hypoglycemic. The pitta people have sharp nose, sharp
teeth, sharp eyes, sharp mind, sharp memory and they also use sharp words when
they speak. They have soft, warm, oily skin, straight oily hair, and even their
excretions are oily and liquid. They have a tendency to get gray hair, or to
lose hair prematurely. Pitta girls also get earlier
menstruation and reach puberty before others do. Sometimes they start their
menstruation at the age of ten. Because of their light quality, pitta people are moderate in body frame, and they do not
like bright light. They love to read before they go to bed, and sometimes they even go to sleep
with a book on their chest. They adore knowledge and have a great
capacity of leadership and organization. Often, they are wise, brilliant
people, but they can also have a controlling, dominating personality. They have
a tendency towards comparison, competition, ambition, and aggressiveness and
criticism. If there is no one there to criticize, pitta
people will criticize themselves.
Kapha Qualities
Individuals who have more kapha in their
bodies, will have heavy, slow, cool, oily, liquid, dense, thick, static and
cloudy qualities. Kapha is sweet and salty. They have
heavy bones, heavy muscles and fat; and they also have a strong tendency to put
on weight. Kapha people are slow and have a slow
metabolism and digestion. They walk slowly and even talk slowly. They love
eating, sitting and doing nothing. They do not like jogging or jumping.
However, despite the fact they always have a big appetite, they can work and concentrate without food
(while a pitta person could not). Their skin is cool
and clammy. They have thick and wavy hair, and very big, attractive eyes. Kapha people have a slow but prolonged, steady memory. Due
to the cloudy quality, their mind is heavy and foggy. They love candy
(especially chocolate) and sweets, feel lethargic and sleepy in the mornings or
after a meal, and they really need coffee or a strong stimulant to be able to
move. Kapha people are forgiving, loving and
compassionate.
The Ayurvedic pharmacopeia includes more than 5000 different
formulations which have been developed trough thousands of years. Its
effectiveness, tolerance and safety have been proved in life’s laboratory.
Ayurveda includes subjects that are not usually covered by the
allopathic medicine, such as paying attention to diet and life style
systematically, based on the psycho-physic biotypes. It recognizes that the
ultimate cause of every illness resides in violating nature’s laws. The central
elements for providing treatment or illness’ prevention,
are based in promoting a mental balance and reducing stress.
We must be conscious that our health cannot be separated
from what we eat, what we do and what we think. Ayurveda
provides us a system to comprehend the ensemble of energies and qualities of
movement performed in our daily life activities, so that we may use them to
impede or to prevent the imbalances which cause illnesses.
Ayurveda emphasizes in the search or maintenance of a healthy life
through recommendations of a daily regime, an austere (simple) behavior,
dietetic regulations, seasonal changes, instructions
related to sleep and sexuality, and other similar topics of everyday life. This
way we can be in perfect harmony with nature’s cosmic rhythms.
In the far East, the clue to understand is acceptance,
observation and experience, while in the Western hemisphere, the formula is to
question, to doubt, (to dispute or to debate everything), to analyze and to get
a logic deduction. This unequal way of approaching life requires a new way of
thinking for the ones beginning to study Ayurveda.
Ayurvedic medicine offers an integral plan according to each
person’s constitution, to maintain and / or to reestablish the mind-body balance
based on nutrition, physical activity, daily routines, mental harmony and
spiritual development,
added to the help of medicinal herbs and detoxification and
rejuvenation techniques.
Ayurveda is an ancient clinical art of diagnosing the disease process
through questioning (inquiring about the past, present and family history),
observation (inspection), tactile experience (palpation), percussion, and
listening to the heart, lungs and intestines (auscultation). This art is about
interpreting the pulse, tongue, eyes and nails in the clinical examination, and
also in a more specific examination of the functional systems separately. It says that to restore
health we must understand first the exact quality, nature and structure of the
disease disorder, or imbalance. The body has its own intelligence to create
balance, and we can help it in that process.
According to this science of life, and this art of healing,
our life is a relationship. A relationship not only with everyone we know and
our love ones, but most importantly with our inner-selves. Our
unique, intimate and personal relationship with our body, mind and spirit,
which is our absolute reality and life itself. Ayurveda
enables us to accomplish our mission here through each heart beat and self-consciousness, and
to dance with the universe in total harmony with its cosmic rhythm. It gives us
a much better perspective of what health really is. Because if we learn, we can
read and balance ourselves, since our bodies are a true reflection of our intimate
thoughts, and because our brains see what our hearts feel.