Discover how ayurveda can help you in your everyday life
Updated: Jul 26, 2024
Are you looking to improve your overall health and wellness in a natural and holistic way? Look no further than the ancient healing system of Ayurveda.
This traditional Indian medicine has been around for thousands of years and offers a wealth of benefits for those looking to lead a healthier lifestyle.
In today's fast-paced world, achieving a balanced and healthy lifestyle can be challenging.
Ayurveda is not a passive form of therapy but rather asks each individual to take responsibility for their own daily living. Through our diet, our relationships, our job, our numerous responsibilities, and our daily life as a whole, we can take simple actions for prevention, self-healing, wholeness, and growth toward fulfilment.
''Ayurveda'' comes from Sanskrit and combines the words ''Ayus'' for life or longevity and ''Veda'', knowledge or science.
Understanding Ayurveda
Ayurveda is the art of daily living in harmony with the laws of nature. It is an ancient natural wisdom of health and healing, practiced for over 5,000 years.
It is the health system of the ancient Indian Vedic civilisation and is considered the oldest health system in the world.
Ayurveda is recognised by the WHO (World Health Organisation) as traditional medicine.
This comprehensive system is based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and spirit.
The aims and objectives of Ayurveda are to maintain the health of a healthy person and to heal the disease of an unhealthy person. Both prevention (maintenance of good health) and healing are carried out by entirely natural means. (That's one of the many things i like about Ayurveda).
what are doshas?
According to Ayurvedic teachings, the countless factors that influence us and our health can be described using three principles or biological programs, which in Sanskrit are called doshas (pronounced: doschas), which can best be translated as ''basic functional principles'').
In Ayurveda, health is a perfect state of balance among the body’s three fundamental energies, or doshas (vata, pitta, kapha) and an equally vital balance among body, mind, and the soul or consciousness.
These three doshas, determine both the nature around us and our body and mind. Conversely, everything that affects our organism directly influences the balance of Vata, Pitta and Kapha, can disturb it or contribute to a better dosha balance.
If these three basic energies are in an individual balance, this is the best foundation for health and satisfaction: we feel good, are healthy and radiate natural beauty.
Vata dosha Pitta dosha Kapha dosha
Balancing unbalanced doshas is a core aspect of Ayurveda.
Each dosha explained
Vata dosha is the energy of movement, governing all biological activity, from breathing and heartbeats to cellular communication. Intimately related to our vital life essence, known as prana. Prana is the pure essence of vata. It is the life-force, the play of intelligence.
Vata regulates both mental and physiological functions. When balanced, it fosters creativity, flexibility, and joy. However, an imbalance can lead to fear, anxiety, and physical symptoms like tremors.
Vata is the harmonious union of ether and air, and it takes on the qualities of these two elements in the body: dry, light, cold, subtle, clear, mobile, and dispersing.
Pitta dosha represents the principle of fire, governing metabolism and all biochemical changes in the body, such as digestion, absorption, and temperature regulation. It includes enzymes and amino acids essential for metabolism.
Pitta promotes appetite, vitality, and the processing of sensory impressions, aiding in learning and understanding.
When balanced, it fosters intelligence, but when imbalanced, it can lead to fiery emotions like anger and jealousy.
Pitta's qualities include being hot, sharp, light, oily, liquid, pungent, sour, and spreading.
Kapha dosha combines water and earth, forming the body's structure and providing the liquid necessary for cellular life. It lubricates joints, moisturises skin, aids in wound healing, and maintains immunity, offering strength and stability.
Psychologically, excess kapha can lead to attachment, greed, and envy, while balanced kapha promotes love, calmness, and forgiveness.
Kapha's qualities include being heavy, slow, cool, oily, damp, smooth, soft, static, viscous, and sweet.
You don't know your Ayurveda type yet? For a first insight, we recommend our free dosha test. (only 5 minutes)
Your unique constitution
All people have all of these three doshas, but one of them is usually primary, one secondary, and the third least prominent. Thus, each person has a particular pattern of energy, an individual combination of physical, mental, and emotional characteristics that make up his/her/their constitution (prakruti).
Just as everyone has an individual fingerprint that can be identified by a trained practitioner, so everyone has an energy print—a balance or proportion of vata, pitta, and kapha—that is uniquely his/her/their own.
Mixed Types
Very few people are pure Vata, Pitta or Kapha types, but rather mixed types.
It's quite common for two doshas to be more prominent, while the third dosha is less dominant. The name of the constitutional type is also derived from the predominant doshas in mixed types, with the dominant dosha being given first, e.g. Vata/Pitta type (dominance of Vata with strong Pitta and weak Kapha). It is rather rare to find all three doshas in a balanced ratio (tri-dosha).
Every person has unique proportions of the three doshas. Understanding your specific dosha composition can help you better comprehend your body's peculiarities, behaviour, moods, and characteristics.
Prakruti and Vikruti
At the time of conception, each person’s combination and proportion of vata, pitta, and kapha is determined according to the genetics, diet, lifestyle, and current emotions of the parents. The doshas predominant in the parents combine to form the constitution of the new life they are creating.
If, for example, the father is pitta predominant and the mother vata predominant, and the pitta factor is stronger than the vata, and the union is taking place on a hot summer night after eating a spicy meal, then the baby that is born will have a constitution that is pitta predominant. Or if both parents are kapha, and they have a kaphagenic diet and are making love in kapha season, then their child will have a predominance of kapha dosha.
A few fortunate individuals are born with a constitution in which all three doshas are equally present, which gives them the likelihood of exceptionally good health and a long life span, but most of us have one or two doshas predominant.
NOTE: When Ayurveda says health comes from balancing your doshas, this does not
mean you should try to have equal amounts of vata, pitta, and kapha. Rather, it means maintaining the balance with which you were conceived.
The unique and specific combination of the three doshas at conception is called your prakruti, which means “nature.” It is your psychobiological temperament. Prakruti does not change during a person’s lifetime. Your prakruti may, for example, be predominantly pitta, with vata secondary and a little kapha. For you, maintaining balance means keeping this proportion. If your vata or kapha should increase, moving toward an equal proportion of the doshas, it would not be healthy for you.
As conditions change—due to weather, dietary choices, fatigue, stress, emotional state, exercise or lack of it—the balance of the doshas in our mind-body system also changes. This altered state of the doshas, reflecting the current state of our health, is called our vikruti. If your health is excellent, your current doshic status will be the same as your prakruti. But more likely there will be a discrepancy, and it is this difference between the two that gives a direction for healing. Your aim will be to reestablish the balance indicated by your prakruti.
Ways to improve our dosha balance
Dietary Guidelines
Ayurvedic nutrition is beneficial both for maintaining health and for therapeutic purposes. Beyond general nutritional guidelines, the focus is on tailoring the diet to your specific needs. This involves considering not only your Ayurvedic constitution but also factors such as age, digestive strength, the current time of day and season and overall health.
For optimal nourishment of both body and mind, it’s not just about what we eat, but also how effectively we utilise our food. A strong digestive fire (Agni) is essential for proper digestion and metabolism. Good digestion also fosters the creation of Ojas, which is closely related to our life energy.
Dosha balance is another key aspect of Ayurvedic nutrition. Each food, drink and herb has specific properties that affect the doshas differently. By choosing appropriate foods, spices and preparation methods, we can enhance dosha balance, helping to prevent illness and slow the ageing process.
The key factors are:
what we eat
how much we eat
when we eat and
how we eat.
2. Daily Routines (Dinacharya)
Ayurveda encourages daily routines that harmonise with natural cycles to maintain balance and health.
Essential practices include:
Morning Rituals: Start the day with oil pulling, tongue scraping, and gentle stretching to prepare the body and mind. Waking up early, ideally before sunrise (if you can), helps align with the body's natural rhythms.
Consistent Meals: Eat meals at regular times to support digestion and metabolism, ideally aligning meal times with the body's natural peaks in digestive power. For example, the middle of the day when pitta dosha is dominant is considered the best time for the main meal.
Adequate Rest: Prioritise sleep by establishing a calming nighttime routine and going to bed early. The recommended sleep times vary by dosha: vata types should go to bed by 10 PM, pitta types by 11 PM, and kapha types may stay up until midnight but should wake early for balance.
Find the full article about the Ayurvedic daily routine (Dinacharya) based on your predominant dosha here
3. Herbal Remedies
Ayurveda has always utilised plants for therapeutic purposes. Over thousands of years, valuable knowledge has been preserved about how to harness the healing powers of plants. This includes not only the selection and combination of plants but also the optimal times to harvest them, their cleansing, synergistic combinations with minerals, and complex processing methods that sometimes take years—an art requiring significant experience.
Beyond specific recipes targeting particular organ functions, doshas or dhatus, Ayurvedic herbal medicine also includes formulations believed to have general health-promoting, strengthening, or rejuvenating effects. Among these are the Rasayanas, which are crafted according to traditional recipes. According to Ayurvedic teachings, Rasayanas are intended to maintain the body’s original order and increase its resistance to harmful influences. Today, these are sometimes available as dietary supplements.
Popular Ayurvedic herbs include:
Ashwagandha: Known for its stress-relieving properties.
Turmeric: Celebrated for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits.
Triphala: A blend of three fruits that supports digestion and detoxification.
4. Mind-Body Practices
Balancing your doshas through mind-body practices is essential in Ayurveda for maintaining overall health and well-being. Developing awareness of the potential causes of imbalance is the first step, allowing you to intelligently avoid or manage them.
Daily practices like yoga, pranayama (breathing exercises), and meditation play a crucial role in this process. These practices help in calming the mind, enhancing emotional stability, and maintaining physical health. For instance, if you're feeling stressed or anxious (common Vata imbalances), grounding activities like slow, gentle yoga and mindfulness meditation can restore balance. Similarly, cooling practices like deep breathing exercises and meditation can help soothe an aggravated Pitta dosha, while invigorating exercises and stimulating breathing techniques can uplift a sluggish Kapha dosha .
5. Cleansing treatments
In order to rid the body of harmful metabolic residues and pollutants and to counteract an excessive accumulation of Ama. Ayurveda employs various internal cleansing techniques. The most well-known Ayurvedic cleansing treatment is Panchakarma.
Panchakarma, which translates to "five actions," is a cornerstone of Ayurvedic internal cleansing techniques designed to eliminate toxins and restore balance within the body. This intensive yet gentle procedure involves a series of preparatory and purification steps tailored to an individual's specific constitution and health conditions.
In Maharishi Ayurveda, the procedures include synchronised full-body massages, forehead oil treatments (Shirodhara), herbal steam baths, enemas (Basti), treatment for the eyes (Netra Tarpana) and nasal mucous membranes (Nasya).
Turn knowledge into power
You can use the concept of the doshas to learn so much about yourself: how your organism operates; identify its strengths and weaknesses; build true vitality for your own unique body and provide real contentment for your own unique mind. Thus, you will lay a healthy terrain for accelerating your spiritual growth, which is the ultimate purpose of Ayurveda.
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