What is Ayurveda?

'Ayu' means 'Life'          'Veda' means 'Knowledge'

Ayurveda is the 'Science of Life'

Ayurveda is living with complete awareness in every aspect of life, including diet, sleep, exercise, work, living conditions, relationships, medicine and behaviours ..and understanding what is beneficial or harmful to you or life.

Ayurveda honours the individual, seeing every person as a unique individual. So therefore the regimes or treatment for one individual wont be the same regimes or treatment for another person.

Ayurveda originates from India some 5000 years ago and this powerful knowledge was attained through great sages and spiritual beings and these teachings were recorded as Sutras which are poetic verses in Sanskrit. Ayurveda is a gift passed down through the generations to us and is presently spreading to all parts of the world just like ‘Yoga’ which originates from the same philosophy.

When you start to understand a few of the basics about Ayurveda you start to realise how common sense it is.

Ayurveda is based on the qualities in the universe, so for example, hot and cold, heavy and light, oily and rough. These qualities make up the Dosha’s, which you may have heard of. The Dosha’s are 3 vital energies or intelligences - Vata, Pitta, Kapha.  For example:

Vata is made up of Air and Ether

Pitta is made up of Fire and Water

Kapha is made up of Earth and Water

These govern physiological, psychological, biological functions of the body. Health is the perfect balance of the 5 elements and disease is an imbalance of the 5 elements. So basically if our Dosha’s are in balance, our body is in balance.

Each of us has a unique body constitution (Prakruti) that was given to us at birth, which is unchanging. This is a unique combination of the 3 vital energies Vata, Pitta and Kapha and derived from your physical, mental and emotional characteristics. For example, you might be predominantly Vata the air element and Pitta the fire element and lastly Kapha. This will help you understand that you're creative and active due to Vata, organised and persistent due to Pitta and lastly Kapha.

When we know our constitution (Prakruti) we then start to have a better understanding of ourselves, who we are, what our lifestyle choices are, how we process our emotions, how we remain content in our life and how we interact with all the elements of nature around us.

It's then important to know your imbalance state (Vrikruti) also, which is how these vital energies - Vata, Pitta and Kapha manifest in your body. Unlike your constitution which never changes your imbalance state (Vrikruti) is constantly changing throughout your life depending on your age, food, lifestyle, stress, emotions, seasons, environments etc. for example if you live in a dry environment your Vata might be high - as one of the qualities of Vata is dryness, if your inactive your Kapha high be high - as one of the qualities of Kapha is heaviness and if you eat too many hot and spicy foods your Pitta might be high - as one of the qualities of Pitta is hot.

This gives you a base for understanding what in your life creates balance and causes imbalance and builds your self awareness to make specific choices for yourself. Through this understanding you are able to then treat the root cause of any issues and prevent any manifestation of serious illnesses.

If you don't know your constitution or would like more understanding of Ayurveda please come see us at the clinic.

The Value of Ayurveda

The increasing pace of our working lives and the amount of information that is transmitted rapidly around the world is changing our lifestyles, often detriment of our physical, mental and spiritual health. You can use Ayurveda to restore balance to your life by looking at the qualities you experience through your diet, work, leisure activities, and relationships - and how these interact with your unique constitution.