Just what is Ayurveda, and why am I so drawn to this wonderful practice?
"Ayurveda has existed for over 3,000 (possibly 5,000) years... It teaches oneself to co-exist in harmony and in balance with everything around us."
Ayurveda is known as the “science of life,” or as many people would frame it, the “art of living.” It is the art of being and returning to our true nature, being that we are all spiritual beings. The healing system of Ayurveda has existed for over 3,000 years, although some say closer to 5,000 years, and it is the “mother of all healing.” Ayurveda teaches us to discover oneself. It teaches oneself to be able to comprehend everything we do. Every action we take affects our body, our mind, and our soul. It teaches oneself to co-exist in harmony and in balance with everything around us, as we are ultimately connected through the five elements.
"It is through our five senses that we have the potential to experience the world."
The five elements are ether, air, fire, water and earth. These five elements reside in each one of us, including every single living thing in nature. It is through our five senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste that we have the potential to experience the world. Ayurveda treats patients as unique individuals, as we are all made unique and different.
Under the science of Ayurveda, it is believed that there are three doshas or spirits: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Everyone is born with all three, but different amounts of each. Ayurveda calls this genetic makeup or constitution Prakruti. Each dosha is made up of two elements: Vata, which is ether and air; Pitta, which is fire and water; and Kapha, which is water and earth. Each element has underlying qualities (Gunas). The qualities of each of the elements are the same qualities of each dosha. There are 10 pairs of qualities (20 qualities in total): hot and cold, light and heavy, dry and moist, subtle and gross, dense and flowing, static and mobile, dull and sharp, rough and smooth, hard and soft, and cloudy and clear.
It is through these three doshas and their qualities that an Ayurvedic practitioner can help a patient. By treating the root cause of the person’s disease and not just the symptoms, the practitioner is able to find balance and help the patient return to a healthy state for their constitution. Ayurveda is a healing system that takes everything into consideration: our senses, or body, our mind and our soul.
"Ayurveda gives us the answers of how to live life full of true happiness and perfect health."
When I discovered Ayurveda, I discovered how complex life is. Ayurveda made me realize that we have to take time to understand we are not machines, but spiritual beings that experience life as we choose to experience it: either with disease (“Vrikruti”) or perfect health (“Svastha”). It really is simple: just take out the time with humility, take a deep breath, and observe how wonderful the trees are as their leaves rustle and the birds sing. There is a vast amount of beauty that has been given to us, and it’s free. Just look at any flower, sunrise, sunset, a baby being born, the running water of a waterfall, a still body of water, or just the ocean’s waves.
We all have a choice every day to either to wake up with a positive or negative attitude. It is the same with our senses; either we choose to use them correctly or choose to misuse them and let disease into our life. Ayurveda is truly a unique healing system that gives us the answers of how to live life full of true happiness and perfect health.
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