What Is Ayurveda?
And How It Could Change Your Life.
Ayurveda originates from India, dating back to over 5000 years old making it the oldest medical system in the world.
AYU
↓
Movement away from death by a healthy lifestyle.
VEDA
↓
Knowledge of life.
A key element of Ayurveda is detoxification. Disease and illness happen within the body due to a build-up of toxic matter, which if undelt with, manifest themselves within the body. This is where Western medicine and Ayurveda differ. Western medicine will focus on the disease and illness, treating that independently, but doesn’t look further as to why this aliment has manifested. Ayurveda looks at the disease or illness as a symptom, and will look to find the root cause of why this health problem has appeared. This makes Ayurveda’s approach to health long lasting vs recurrent/progressing due to the root of the problem being found. As well as assessing physical health, its integrative approach also looks to someone’s mental health and belief systems when determining their overall wellbeing.
Ayurveda is for everyone, whether you have a current health problem or are looking to improve your overall wellbeing and lifestyle. It is a lifestyle in itself, and by practising it, you will improve your health and vitality by making your body more resilient to illness which is ever so important as we grow into our older years. It is never too early to start this process!
Whether you are feeling confused about your health, dealing with ongoing health problems, have digestive issues, skin issues, an eating disorder, struggling with mental health, allergies or wanting to lose weight or gain weight, Ayurveda has tools in place to be able to help you. Through the practice of Ayurveda, you will see your confidence shine as your self-knowledge deepens which is ever so empowering.
How might I know Ayurveda is for me?
You are looking for an alternative to Western medicine. Ayurvedic way of living is preventative medicine which creates longevity in health and age so you can be playing around with your grandkids at 80 no problem (but the key is to start now).
You are wanting a perspective shift. Living through the lens of Ayurveda is a perspective shift to that of more compassion and understanding about who you are which brings empowerment and trust in yourself.
You would like to know yourself on a deeper level. It is a way of living and being in the world where knowledge and wisdom is collected via living an experiential process with the world, helping you understand how to balance yourself and your body via your environment, food, self-care, work, exercise so you stop yo-yoing from one extreme to the other.
You are wanting to be seen/ assessed from a 360 degree angle - mind, body, spirit. Who you are now, but also your past and how that may have impacted who you are today.
You are wanting to understand how to create a lifestyle that supports your unique energetic body type instead of one that drains and exhausts you.
You feel fed up of being a yo-yo, going in and out of balance and exhausted from guessing what is working for you and what isn’t, then Ayurveda could be the perspective and lifestyle shift you need to get you from feeling tired, exhausted and unbalanced, to confident in your body and the decisions you make on a daily basis to support you, saving you a lot of energy and guess work.
Why is digestion a main aspect of Ayurveda?
If someone is unable to digest, assimilate and eliminate their food properly then they are going to create toxins in the body from fermentation and stagnation of food in the GI tract. (Ama is the term for toxins in Ayurveda). These toxins then pass into the bloodstream where they will begin to circulate around the body, lodging themselves in joint spaces and organs. Ayurveda views toxins as the root for all disease. There can be toxins produced from food, emotions, traumas - anything that is left unprocessed. Because of this, Ayurveda takes Agni (digestive fire) very seriously, as it is your inner fire that burns through toxins and prevents them from stagnating in the body creating disease. Within Ayurveda, a lot of focus is put on cultivating strong Agni so that everything consumed can be digested and assimilated to its optimum preventing toxic build up.
Strong digestion = Strong blood = Nourished body = Happy Healthy Person :)
How does it work?
Ayurveda is a system of balance, and it assesses your current health based on the current balance of energies (in Ayurveda these are called doshas) within your body. The energy types (doshas) refer to Vata, Pitta and Kapha which are three physiological energies that make up the functional principles of the body. The ratio of doshas in one’s body determines their individual constitution at time of conception. When in balance a person remains in good health but when out of balance disease begins to manifest.
Vata is composed of air and ether elements. It governs all movements and activities in the body. Vata out of balance can become anxious and worried, suffer with gas/bloating/constipation and dry skin.
Pitta is composed of fire and water elements. It governs digestion, absorption, assimilation, nutrition, metabolism and body temperature. Out of balance pitta can become angry, irritable, suffer from inflammatory diseases such as IDB and Crohns disease, skin inflammations like eczema, psoriasis, acne and suffer with diarrhoea.
Kapha is composed of earth and water elements. It forms the body’s structure and holds cells together. Out of balance kapha can become depressed, lethargic, suffer from congestion and excess mucus in the body and have slow heavy digestion.
Throughout life we will go in and out of Doshic balance depending on our lifestyle, what stage of life we are in, where we are living geographically, our job, our emotions, diet, stress, exercise etc.
This ancient system has a lot of wisdom to share, and a lot has been done to modernise Ayurveda, aligning it with modern day humans and our health ailments. In the West a lot of research has been done to link it to modern day science making it a very powerful system. Through Ayurveda, time and practice, you become your own doctor, therefore taking the power of your health back into your own hands.