You’ve likely heard of Ayurveda, practice it or perhaps you’re just curious about this modality of holistic healing. Well, you’re in the right place, this blog is an introduction to the 3000 year old system of medicine that originated in India. One of the biggest things to get familiar with is the word Ayurveda. What does it mean? The Sanskrit word Ayur means ‘life’ and the word Veda means ‘Knowledge’. So, Ayurveda is the knowledge of life. That being said, the next important thing to get familiar with are the Doshas.
Dosha’s are the physical, mental, and emotional elemental constitution of one’s body. Three elements can make up a person: Vata (air), Pitta (fire), and Kapha (earth). A person can be a mix of some of these doshas or be dominant in all three known as tri-doshic. For some people their elemental constitution is very apparent even before getting to know a person well. Those who are Vata (air) oriented constitutions tend to be thin, wispy, and get dry skin easily. Those with lots of Kapha (earth) tend to be prone to lethargy when unbalanced and oily skin, for example.
With the elemental makeup of a person, we’ll move into how one is treated in the Ayurvedic system. Firstly, this is a medicine system that has many layers, and we’re just doing the basics, so keep that in mind. Ayurveda can treat so many things from mental health to physical ailments and imbalances. These imbalances all stem from various elements becoming disharmonized with the rest of the body. Ayurveda uses a variety of herbs, massages, and eating seasonally according to your dosha in order to get back on track to health.
Now that I’ve covered the basics there is one more critical piece of information to keep in mind. One of the most common ailments seen today that Ayurveda treats is digestive issues. The stomach, is explicitly where we absorb all our nutrients and where our inner fire resides. Our digestive tract is so essential for taking in the vitamins and minerals we need. If that fire goes out or is weak, we can’t absorb nutrients as well anymore. We may also experience many things beginning to go wrong with our body as well because of that related to gut health. Ayurveda has several beautiful ways to treat it and is successful if you stick to the routine.
In all, I would highly encourage you to figure out your dosha and start engaging with your health. Start the journey to aligning your mind, body, and spirit. Dig into Ayurveda and learn more.
Written by Kiran Mangal
