The principles of Ayurveda and why this ancient system is so relevant to your wellness today

and becoming increasingly popular

Ayurveda is a 5,000 year old healing system that takes a natural and wholistic approach towards health and wellness. It says that where there is imbalance, there is dis-ease. It strives to make you whole in mind, body, and spirit because true wellness depends on all three. While Modern Medicine seeks to treat symptoms by excising what is visible, or suppressing their expression (hence side effects, akin to when we suppress our emotions, they eventually come out sideways), Ayurveda identifies and treats symptoms from their root (the energy source from which they came), for lasting results, by activating our body’s natural healing abilities.  

Behind closed doors, just you, no other distractions… how do you feel? What does your body do? Where does your mind go? 

Your answer to this will fall under one of two categories:

1. Joy: peace, flow, ease, lightness

2. Pain: anger, agitation, frustration, sadness, fear, envy, shame, justifications, cravings, urges, etc

When you sense pain, there exists a lack of ease, or dis-ease.

These are the moments - the knocks on the door, if you will - that call on you to make decisions to solve a relatively simple problem while it’s easiest to solve. When it’s ignored, dis-ease grows into overwhelm, which grows into aches and sensitivities, which grows into confusion, which grows into chronic pain. Wait long enough, Modern medicine will have a name for it. Wait longer, and it’s called Stage 1 disease (or greater, depending on how long you’ve waited).

By contrast, Ayurveda looks at your earliest felt sense of dis-ease (lack of ease) as Stage 1 (when it’s still “all in your head”), whereas Modern Medicine waits for it to become a full printout, identifiable by modern tools. Thus, Ayurveda is proactive while Modern Medicine is reactive. This is NOT to say there isn’t a vital place for modern medicine, there absolutely is. However, it IS to say that there exists a modality that helps us not only dramatically reduce the risk of disease, but to thrive and step into the best parts of ourselves.

Ayurveda works to make you whole again while you can still change course quickly and on your own terms. This is why it’s called the Science (Ayur) of Life (Veda). 

According to Ayurveda, in order to have good health - in order to be happy, healthy, and whole - these 3 pillars must be in place:

1. A Balanced Dosha: a balanced mind-body constitution to provide systemic stability and vitality

2. A Discerning Mind: to make the right decisions (ones that are true for you)

3. Bliss: which emits the highest frequency in your mind and body to remain disease free, and for you to feel safe and enjoy life to its fullest

Balanced Dosha

Per Ayurveda, everything in the universe is made up of 5 elements. These elements are Ether, Air, Fire, Water, and Earth - the order in which they came about in the Universe.

These 5 elements combine to form 3 main energy forces, called doshas, that govern the mind and body.

The 3 doshas are: 

• Vata: combination of Ether and Air (rules creative energy and movement)

• Pitta: Fire and Water (rules metabolism, transformation, and manifestation)

• Kapha: Water and Earth (rules structure and memory)

While everything in the Universe (including us) contains all 5 elements, the difference is in our composition of them. Some of us are more predominant in Vata (ether and air) energy while another might be more predominant in Pitta (fire and water) or Kapha (water and earth) energy. Between the three, we often have a predominance in one and a secondary in another, denoted as, for instance Vata-Kapha, Pitta-Vatta, etc. 

How this plays out

When we are out of balance (not at ease), we are said to have too much of a specific dosha(s). For instance:

• Excess Vata can make you anxious (think spacey, dry, and quick moving like ether + air)

• Excess Pitta can make you irritable (think hot energy, like fire + water)

• Excess Kapha can make you complacent (think cool, heavy and slow like water mixed with earth)

When dis-ease goes unchecked for too long, these chronic imbalances become disease. Here are examples of diseases related, but not necessarily exclusive, to each dosha:

• Vata: 

  • Insomnia

  • Joint Pain, Cramps

  • Gas, Constipation, Dehydration: internal dryness

  • Poor circulation

  • Acute stress, anxiety, fatigue, feelings of restlessness, dizziness

  • Memory problems, difficulty concentrating

  • Auto-immune diseases 

• Pitta

  • Inflammation

  • Body odor and bad breath

  • Migraines

  • Hot flashes

  • Heartburn

  • Eye disorders

  • Skin rash, hives

  • Urinary Tract Infection

  • Excessive sweating

  • Increased hunger and thirst

  • High blood pressure

• Kapha

  • Diabetes

  • Depression

  • Allergies

  • Excessive sleep and lethargy

  • Asthma

Ayurveda seeks to reduce the excess and bring you back into balance.

Here are two ways to balance your dosha:

1. Choose food and activity that reduces the dosha, or energetic qualities, that feel out of balance.
   For instance, if you’re feeling heavy, unmotivated, and lethargic, that’s a Kapha imbalance (again, think heaviness of water + earth). Kaphas should avoid sleeping in, naps, cheese and other heavy foods with like qualities. Kaphas are also better served by opting for more vigorous workouts that make you sweat. If you’re continuously irritated (which is a hot emotion), or your skin is breaking out (red, hot), or you’re having acid reflux, that’s Pitta. Practice breath work, avoid fried and spicy foods, and take time in nature. If you’re constantly anxious, forgetful, and cold, reduce Vata by eating warm, cooked foods with healthy fats, stay away from drafts, and choose exercise that is strengthening and balancing.
   
   When I first began my Ayurvedic journey, my digestion was weak, and I suffered from environmental allergies. I was on Claritin and Flonase for years. Ayurveda was the modality that strengthened my digestion, and my allergies and sinus issues disappeared.
   

2. Check in regularly with your sense of ease. This will tell you a LOT.
   How did you feel after you ate what you ate? Are you exhausted? You might have a sluggish digestion, and your food choice might have added to it.
   How did it feel to be out in that weather? What can you do to find more ease in those climates?
   How do you feel having woken up at that hour? Waking up after 6 am increases Kapha energy. Between 4 and 6 am increases Vata energy.
   
   And, btw, these doshas have many positive aspects. I’ve focused here on the negative poles because those seem to be what we can most easily identify; we often don’t notice things until they “break.” When in balance…

   • Kaphas (those with a lot of balanced Kapha qualities) are stable, the Rock of Gibraltar, Mother Earth, committed, and are walking encyclopedias because they remember everything.

   • Vatas are creative, fast learning, and agile.

   • Pittas make things happen, are good delegators; think fire - they metabolize and transform raw materials into finished products.

You’ll know if a specific dosha is in or out of balance by how you feel. Are you feeling stable or heavy and lethargic? Creative or overwhelmed? Connected or frustrated?

This is where Ayurveda also differs from Modern Medicine. There is no straight across the board solution to any symptom. Your solution depends on your response to your symptom or environment. It is said that one person’s medicine is another person’s poison, and vice versa.

Discerning Mind

A discerning mind helps you make decisions on behalf of your highest good. A discerning mind is a conscious mind that knows truth from illusion (that which causes you to seek approval, fit in, or feel dread). When you’re lost in the latter, you experience lack, and you are compelled to fill it. It’s a reaction, which means you continue to feed the illusion; it’s always hungry. When you become fully conscious, you are discerning, or self-referred, shining light on what you already have and your capabilities. Responding as such, you automatically add to your wealth and start healing any gaps you may have between lack and abundance. This is a super power. You will know how you’re doing with your discernment by the amount of ease and lightness you begin to feel as you set out to do things.

The practice of balancing your doshas helps sharpen discernment, which is your ability to be attuned to the present moment. It’s a practice in tuning into your inner wisdom and acting from your body’s intelligence. Meditation helps strengthen this ability to listen. As you start making decisions that are right for you, you’ll start feeling better. When you start feeling better, you’ll gain more clarity. With clarity of consciousness comes your ability to turn information that once created dissonance and division (illusion) into opportunity for healing and connection (truth). 

Bliss

What do we do anything for… if not for joy, ease, and a sense of justice and security?

The world can be an overwhelming place, so much so that we can’t imagine that we have the power to effect change for ourselves let alone others. I’ve been asked many times, what can I do? 

The most important thing you can do is to accept Joy, which is most easily accomplished by connecting with your feelings of deep gratitude. Despite how it seems, there is so much good happening around and within you. Focus on feeling the gratitudes. This is the most selfish and selfless thing you can do, because this heals you and the world around you more than you know.

You get to choose what you focus on. Remember that what you focus on grows and becomes your reality.

Whatever you focus on will prompt feelings, and your feelings are contagious; they travel out into the world in one form or another. You are not a person living in isolation, your surroundings are affected by you no matter how hard you try to hold back (your power). Like it or not, you are almighty with your creativity. You are life force.

Stay present. This is where Bliss and Discernment resides. Listen to and focus on what’s meaningful to you, and see it in its light. You’ll start seeing evidence of it all around you… just like when you start seeing, where ever you go, that car you’ve been interested in getting. Was it always there in that multitude? The answer is yes! You just didn’t notice it before because you were focused on other things. Now that you’re focused on it, it shows up for you. Or rather, you show up for it.

Have fun with this.

Bliss is the ultimate reality. It’s Infinite Intelligence, the deep wisdom that resides in your DNA. When you turn down the noise, you will know, you will feel it. And you will remember who you are. When you do, your mind and your body will know what to do. And you will heal and thrive.

This is what Ayurveda wants for you.

Love, Savitree