Ayurveda comes from two Sanskrit root words, ayus, meaning life and veda, meaning knowledge or science. Therefore ayurveda is usually translated as the science of life. An alternate and more precise reading would be the knowledge of life span. Ayurveda is a traditional healing system of India, with origins firmly rooted in the culture of the Indian sub-continent. The great rishis or seers of ancient India, observed the fundamentals of life and organized them into a system some 5,000 or more years ago. Ayurveda is a great gift to us, an oral tradition passed down from generation to generation. Some treatises on Ayurveda date from around 1000 B.C. The most known is Charaka Samhita, which concentrates on internal medicine. Many of todays well known Ayurvedic physicians use Astanga Hridayam which is a concise compilation written over 1000 years from the earlier texts. In Ayurveda, everything is composed of the five dense elements (often known as the great elements- ether, air, fire, water and earth, known as Mahabhootha in Sanskrit. They represent five states, or qualities of energy or matter. The five elements are part of the dynamic dance of creation: they are constantly changing and interacting. A change in one element affects the others. All matter is composed of the five elements which are the building blocks of existence, but only living matter has the three doshas, or tridosha, the three forces which govern all biological processes. The doshas come from the five elements and can be called as the three primary energetic principles which regulate every psychological and physiological process in the living organism. The doshas are: vata - that which moves things. Pitta - that which digests things. Kapha-that which holds things together. Together the three doshas govern all the activities of life; catabolism (vata) Metabolism (pitta) and anabolism (kapha) and the excess of any of these manifest in different ways in the human body. Ayurveda is a science of the individual. Everybody is unique and the doshas are displayed in your own way. The ratios of the doshas in your constitution and the qualities expressed by it, are as unique to every individual as finger prints. The dfferent level of doshas reflects characteristic tendencies and susceptibility to illness. An expereinced Ayurvedic practitoner will be able to diagnose the different doshas and can offer guidance to bring a balance in the system.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 08:25:44 +0000
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