Updated: Nov 17, 2019
Increasingly known in the West, this millennial health system from India proposes to restore physical and emotional well-being.
Yoga and Ayurveda go together - both are among the leading Indian philosophies. The practice of meditation, breathing and postures is recommended as part of a healthy routine.
Ayurveda - a term that comes from Sanskrit and means “science of life” - is the oldest known health system. With about 5,000 years of history, its origin goes back to the territory where today are India and Pakistan.
To understand this, one must set aside Western medicine's concepts of health, disease, and healing. Forget the medical specialties and the isolated use of medicines. The focus of ayurveda is not just physical vigor, but the harmony of body, mind and soul - and look how traditional science has already gathered evidence of some of its benefits. The purpose of this system is to maintain one's balance with oneself, with nature, and with other beings. Only then would it be possible to be truly healthy - and happy.
It is recommended to eat foods produced in your region following the season in which they are grown. The diet should consider the dosha, profile based on certain characteristics of each individual: pitta people, for example, need to indulge in the spicy flavors that accent fire.
In Ayurveda everything that exists is made up of five elements: earth, water, fire, air and space or ether, and the doshas are a combination of those elements.
There are 3 doshas:
Pitta (fire and water)
Individuals with the predominance of these elements have medium size, fast metabolism and feel very thirsty. They tend to be active and critical. Pitta is characterized by what is hot, liquid, sour and oily.
Vata (space and air)
They are thin people, with little muscle, long and cold. They are usually agile, enthusiastic, communicative and indecisive. Vata brings together qualities such as dry, light, cold, mobile, rough and clear.
Kapha (land and water)
This combination is associated with a strong and broad physical structure with a tendency to gain weight. People of this kind are stable, slow, patient and lazier. Kapha is heavy, smooth, oily and sweet.
To balance the doshas and maintain health, there are specific treatments like diet, massages, purification and yoga.
We all have the 3 doshas in ourselves, but what we count is the proportion of those doshas in everyone, that will characterize them.
When they start to be out of this natural proportion, we start to open our bodies for disease.
Once we are in our natural balance of our proportion of doshas, we are health.