Ayurveda, a holistic healing system over 5,000 years old, incorporates all parts of the body to diagnose ailments and determine what treatments should be used. Beginning in India, it is known in Sanskrit as the science of life and the mother of all healing, Ayurveda uses the body's natural abilities and temperament to heal any ailment. According to Vasant Lad, Director at the Ayurvedic Institute, a leading school of ayurvedic medicine in New Mexico, our natural state is one of health, happiness and an inner sense of well-being. Health is the body clear of toxins and mind at peace, as well as organs functioning properly.
Ayurveda Medicinal Texts
Ayurveda is practiced all around the world. According to Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa, author of "The Way of Ayurvedic Herbs", ayurveda is based in two medicinal and surgical compilations still in use today, the Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita.
The Charaka Samhita is a compilation of internal medicine. It details the elemental principles of Ayurvedic therapeutics, and is the only text to describe Ayurveda comprehensively.
The Sushruta Samhita details surgical instruments and their use in Ayurvedic medicine. Anatomy, toxicology and pharmacology are also described in the Sushruta. Over 650 natural remedies written centuries ago in the Sushruta Samhita are used by ayurvedic practitioners today.
The Five Elements
Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa writes that the body is made of the five elements, and diseases are imbalances of those five elements. The five elements are the master forces for promoting daily health. The five elements are ether, air, fire, water and earth.
Each element acts in a specific way; for example, is air is mobile, light and dry. An imbalance with the air element shows up as exhaustion. These five elements create the basis of anatomy, physiology and pharmacology within ayurveda.
Three Doshas
Within every individual, there is a dosha, a dominant energy. In Sanskrit, dosha means fault, which means something is out of balance. In ayurveda, there are three dominant doshas, vata, pitta and kapha. The doshas each control certain bodily functions and how the body functions is a result of the dosha's movement.
Vata dosha maintains movement in the body, like breathing, nerve impulses and ciruclation. Vata energy is dry, cold and light.
Pitta energy controls digestion and glandular processes in the body. Body heat and metabolism are maintained by pitta. Pitta is wet and hot, light and intense.
The muscles, skeletal structure and connective tissues are sustained by the kapha dosha. Wet, cold and heavy, kapha mainfests as stability and is responsbile for tissue building.
A certified ayurvedic practitioner performs a series of tests, like pulse rate, to determine an individual's dominant dosha and sub-doshas. An individual has one dominant dosha and two sub-doshas. Based on tests, one could be vata dominant, with a pitta and kapha sub-dosha respectively.
References
- The Way of Ayurvedic Herbs; Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa & Michael Tierra; 2008
- Ayurvedic Institute Ayurveda Online Resources
