What Is Ayurveda Anyway?

Scroll ALL the way to the bottom for some of my favourite Ayurveda recipes.

"Ayur" meaning LIFE and "Veda" meaning KNOWLEDGE

Ayurveda (aa-yur-vay-da), is the sister science to yoga. This way of living focuses on bringing balance and wellness back into your mind, body and total self. When we are out of balance this can manifest as illness, dis-ease, discomfort, lack of clarity, confusion, disconnect and any other result outside of wellness. This can be subtle or it can be full-on diagnosable.

This knowledge originated in India as their traditional system of medicine with a 5000-year track record. It has ways to help with all types of imbalances or dis-ease that can occur within us. Ayurveda uses a combination of shifts in diet and lifestyle while adding different herbs, oils, and yoga practices to alleviate an array of ailments, physical and mental. Balance is everything and Ayurvedic principles work to restore you to your natural balanced state allowing you to enjoy life more fully. Using Ayurvedic principles, a practitioner can address the root cause of the ailment, loss of peace or balance and work to correct that, rather than solely patching over the symptoms.

Earth is my body. Water is my blood. Fire is my heart. Air is my breath. Ether is my spirit.

The elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether are the foundation of Ayurvedic principles. Looking at these elements and seeing how we can bring more balance into our lives is key. Each person is unique and they require a different combination of elements to create balance. This means that what works for one person may not work for the next, this is a very personal form of wellness.

In Ayurveda, there is nothing more powerful than the mind that can heal and transform the body.

In Ayurveda, it's more you are what you digest than the old saying you are what you eat. Digestion is key to overall health, if your digestion is not functioning efficiently the rest of your body and being will fall out of balance. We digest thoughts, feelings, pollutants AND food. Our "gut health" is directly responsible for the make up of our bodies from the physical level to the energetic level to the level of awareness and our connection to our deeper selves as well as our abilities to manifest and receive life fully. Digestion is what turns thoughts into action, food into nutrients, emotions into self-awareness and toxins into waste.

Food Is Fuel + Food Is Medicine

When our digestion is healthy we are able to live in a more energetic, harmonious and empowered way. Consider how energized you feel when you eat a meal that is delicious and healthy, then consider how you feel when you eat a meal that is full of grease, fat and sugar, you feel very different. Ayurveda is a way to understand what your body and mind need. When we are imbalanced the body and mind let us know, and we are then able to course correct, making choices to use food as medicine. Food, thoughts, and emotions can be the cause of our "Dis-Ease" and the cure.

The foods we eat become the very foundation of our bodies, the seeds of our thoughts and the essence of our consciousness.

What we put into our bodies and minds is very important, that may seem obvious, but if that is true then why do we put harmful substances, images and sounds into our being? Is it a lack of awareness? Is it a lack of options? Is it a lack of knowing what is best for us? Could it be all of the above?

How do we know what we need? How do we know what is best for us? There is so much knowledge and wisdom within our own bodies and our own beings if we listen. When we eat or drink something that makes us feel unwell such as bloated, gassy, overfull, lethargic or even sick that is our body telling us that we don’t need it. When we ingest something that makes us feel great, offering us energy, a clear mind, lite, calm or satisfaction that is our body letting us know that is something good for us.

Your body knows the song of healing, your mind just sometimes forgets the words.

The problem is we THINK we know better and we ignore our bodies. It may be because what feels good is different from what we were taught as children or learned as adults. The same thing goes with rest, exercise, intentional relaxation, thoughts, habits, relationships and anything else we do and expose ourselves to, our bodies will let us know. For example, if you talk to a friend that is very negative and you get sucked into that negativity you will physically feel tired, drained and lethargic. This is your body’s wisdom. It was not the actual food you put in but the energy you exposed yourself to.

When the fundamental elements in our body-mind system are in a state of balance all our systems, such as circulatory, respiratory, digestive, urinary, endocrine, lymphatic, nervous, reproductive, skeletal and muscular, will function with ease, which in ayurveda is considered as a sign of perfect health. But through the wrong food or lifestyle or mental practice, if any of these elements get out of balance.

If you don't take care of your health today, you will be forced to take care of your illness tomorrow.

In a state of imbalance in one’s health, one or two or even three forces (K/P/V) of nature can aggravate and show signals through body/mind dysfunction. Neglecting these signals for a period of time leads to symptoms, and in the later stage become diseases in the corresponding organs and systems. The signals can be shown through the dysfunction of either the body or the mind or even both.

If we carefully listen to the signals from our body/mind we can find out which elements are out of balance in our system. For instance, if we are not eating the right food for our body type our digestive system shows the signals, which varies according to the aggravation of the elements, like indigestion (kapha imbalance) or acid reflux (pitta imbalance) or bloating with gases (vata imbalance). Or if we have an imbalance in the elements in our mental body it shows as depression (kapha imbalance) or high stress (pitta imbalance) or anxiety (vata imbalance).

If we don’t listen to the signals on time and don’t take care our health with the natural practices of ayurveda it can lead to symptoms and diseases in the later stages. For example, while depression in long term can cause cell changes and the under function of organs in the body, heavy stress can lead to migraine and inflammation in the muscles, and anxiety can create coldness and weakness in the joints.

Meet The 3 Doshas And Understand Yourself More Deeply- Kapha, Pitta & Vatta

This is my favourite dosha quiz https://chopra.com/dosha-quiz

Kapha is...

...generating life
...motherly and caring
...symbolically meaning love
...binding everything together
...replacing new tissues
...nourishing
...supporting stability

Properties

Slow
Steady
Heavy
Solid
Cold
Oily
Dense

The heart is the seat of kapha and love is its natural feeling. Physically, while the heart purifies the blood and nourishes the body tissues, mentally, it cultivates the feeling of love. In a well balanced state of kapha, the heart stays as the spiritual centre of the body and promotes the subtle energy known as ojus, and constantly rejuvenate all the body-mind systems with its presence.

In the physical, mental and spiritual functions of a heart, an uninterrupted flow is considered as a sign of health while blockage means disease. For instance, in a kapha excess body saturated fat can accumulate in the blood streams and make obstacles in the circulatory system. Also, kapha imbalance can complicate a love relationship with over-attachment and possessiveness, where the feeling of love won’t flow naturally which causes jealousy and sadness in mind.

Pitta is...

...maintaining life
...adventurous and dominating
...symbolically meaning light
...pedagogic and organised
...controlling the body heat
...promoting the vision of the eyes
...supporting digestion & immunity

Properties

Hot
Light
Intense
Sharp
Pungent
Acidic
Penetrating

The solar plexus is the cradle of pitta. The balanced state of pitta gives a strong digestion and immune power, good eye vision and healthy skin, sharp memory and mental patience, efficiency in speech and action. Spiritually, solar plexus is considered as the seat of tejas which, in a state of balance in pitta, promotes one's inner radiance as well as intelligence and courage in the mind.

Like the excess heat from the sun can cause problems on the life on earth, if the pitta is aggravated it can cause problems in the metabolism, low immune power and blood values, high stress, anger or irritation and dissatisfaction in life. And in a long period of pitta imbalance, body tissues can get damaged by the acidic power and externally it causes skin diseases like eczema or psoriasis, while internally it creates ulcers or tumours, usually in the digestive system, the stomach, liver, spleen and pancreas.

Vata is...

...promoting movements
...creative and artistic
...symbolically meaning life/change/time
...helping the body to eliminate the toxins
...supporting the vocal cords
...destroying the old cells
...coordinating body movements

Properties

Light
Cold
Dry
Rough
Moving
Quick
Unpredictable

Vata resides in the lower abdominal area and controls the functions of the reproductive organs, colon and rectum. The balanced state of vata promotes necessary body movements and creative thoughts in the mind. Spiritually, by the movements of air vata is controlling prana, the vital life energy in the subtle body, according to the changes outside - the time and seasons in the nature.

Since the primary duty of vata is to eliminate the old cells in the body, the aggravated state of this force can cause excess destruction of tissues. General vata symptoms are: pain in the knees and hips, cold and dryness in the skin, stiffness in the muscles and joints, indigestion and gas formation in the colon, reproductive disease of prostate/ovaries, menstrual disorders and miscarriages. And on the mind level vata imbalance gives distracted thoughts, fearful feelings or dreams and anxiety as the deep emotion.

If A Person Does Not Understand Themselves They Can’t Understand Anything Around Them.

How is knowing this helpful? This may give you a new lens to understand yourself. When you are able to identify your dominant dosha OR identify an imbalance you can make shifts and changes to support your wellness. If there is something in the dosha that you identify with that is not present in your life then you may want to add that in. You can start small and work your way into a deeper understanding. There is a lot to understand here.

The image to the right shares what it looks like to be in balance and imbalanced within each dosha. You can have the primary dosha of Pitta and have a Vata imbalance that manifests as anxiety. You can have the dominant dosha of Kapha and have a Pitta imbalance that manifests as being a workaholic. Once you have identified this imbalance what do you do?

I recommend starting with your diet in you are feeling an imbalance in your life in ANY way. Just as stated above the food you ingest literally becomes the cells of your body.

Here are some ways to use food as medicine that can restore you to wellness. 6 taste bowls are the simplest way to get you everything you need because they are balanced and they will bring you back into balance. If you identify that you are imbalanced in some way then you can use the other recipes to bring you into balance by using the option for your dominant dosha.

It’s all very clear right? If not and if you want to learn more I’d love to hear from you, email me at jill@yogiinstitute.com with ANY questions. If I don’t have the answers, which I probably won’t, I can point you in the right direction. There is so much to learn and so many applications of this knowledge. If there is something specific that you are working through let m know. There are SO many tools out there to support you.

If you are VERY interested in learning more and in how to apply this to your life I have an Ayurveda 10 module starting April 17th through 21st. These are LIVE ZOOM calls from 2-4 pm CST. Each call will be recorded so if you needed to miss anything you could catch up. We would LOVE to have you join us.

Whether you know you are imbalanced or you just want to try some new healthy recipes these are all simple, and delicious. Enjoy!