Ayurveda doshas or humors play the central role in defining and managing both the health and disease in ayurvedic medicine. Ayurveda doshas or humors are three – Ayurveda Vata, Ayurveda Pitta and Ayurveda Kapha.
Health is the result of normal or balanced functioning of three ayurvedic humors. Whenever this dynamic equilibrium or balance is out of order, we are in the grip of disorders.
Each of the three ayurveda doshas are in turn governed by five primary natural elements – earth, water, fire, wind and ether. Ether and wind are dominant in ayurveda vata. Fire is dominant in ayurveda pitta. Ayurveda kapha has water and earth mainly.
According to ayurvedic principles, the physical part of our body has three main sets of structural and functional parts. First one is three ayurvedic doshas. Second is tissues and organs. And third part is metabolic waste materials that should be excreted out of body.
All these three parts of our physical body are essential but they are governed and affected by ayurveda doshas. The change in their structure and function can either lead to balance in three ayurveda humors or it can lead to imbalance. In short, they are chiefly responsible for our health and disease.
There are three another primary qualities of Consciousness that can be termed as psychological humors in Ayurveda. Satva stands for knowledge and wisdom and therefore it is not counted as psychological humor in Ayurveda.
Rajas stands for aggressive tendencies of mind. Tamas signifies all ignorance and inertia. These three psychological humors are active in all persons and it is the dominance of either one of them that characterizes our psychological nature.
Ayurveda bodily humors – Vata, Pitta and Kapha are connected with psychological humors. Their interlinking is reflected well in Body Mind medicine. The three psychological humors govern chiefly our feelings, emotions, attitude and behavior.
Charaka mentioned three main causes for the imbalance of three doshas – Vata, Pitta and Kapha and two psychological humors Rajas and Tamas. Actually this description includes all the cause of diseases – genetic, dietary, lifestyle, emotional, behavioral, spiritual and so on. Practically every cause is included in these three categories of causative agents.
First one is related to five cognitive senses and five executive senses. The use of these sense organs can be in three different ways. It can be excessive use, limited use and wrong use.
If we ponder over all things that can be had in this category, it would be astoundingly great figure. All of us carry our peculiar set of sensations that we like or dislike or we are comfortable with or uncomfortable.
The improper use consists of three types of use – excessive use, limited use and wrong use. Let us take the example of viewing TV. It is OK to see some of the good serials. Excessive use of TV and becoming a potato couch is definitely bad and harmful for health. Not viewing TV at all or very little can keep us limited of this wonderful resource of news, serials, stories, movies, entertainment, new debates, consensus and the like.
Second is the violation of principles of mind and intelligence. The principle of mind or intelligence is threefold. First one is decision making mind, second one is mind that can hold on the right decision and third one is the memory that supports the decision making and the perseverance of mind during the execution phase.
The improper use of the threefold intelligence occurs in three ways – excessive, minimal and wrong use.
The third type of violation is time bound. Time means day and night, weeks, fortnight, month, age, seasons, environmental conditions like climate, place like general, forests, hilly area, near ocean, icy mountains and likewise.
The improper use of time and place bound factors is also threefold like excessive, minimal use and wrong use.
Strenuous exercise by a child or old person or suddenly by anyone; not taking proper sleep; living in damp area, dark area and poorly ventilated home; unhygienic conditions; eating unripe fruits, eating too much preserved food are all examples of violations of time and place.
So we have found how ayurveda doshas are related deeply with our health and disorders, with our body and with our mind. We have touched the violations that cause imbalance of bodily and psychological humors and how we can help ourselves by being aware and informed of these violations. This practical wisdom of Ayurveda guides our moment to moment living so that we make wise decisions and enjoy greater and better health of body and mind.
It is difficult to know where to begin when considering wheatgrass (also wheat grass), one of nature’s greatest gifts and most powerful superfoods known to man. The available information is so abundant and fascinating that I was compelled into immediate action to go out and try my first ounce of juice. One particular point of interest to me is its alkaline properties which is significant in the pursuit of optimal health and disease prevention.
pH Balance and Health
Attaining optimal health and preventing diseases naturally rather than treating symptoms with medication are hot topics of the modern world. In particular, there has been a move towards balancing pH within the body for good health as our understanding of the body’s chemistry has increased. Yet in today’s lifestyles, there is a tendency to eat an overly acidic diet through high intake of refined sugars and carbohydrates, meat proteins and oily fast foods. This causes a pH imbalance in our bodies and can be attributed to the increased rates of disease in modern life. Commonly colon congestion occurs first causing problems within the bowels, then ailments such as inflammation, irritated skin, and water retention may follow. If the situation is prolonged, more serious diseases eventuate.
It is understood however, that through increasing alkaline intake and neutralizing acid production, it is possible for your body to realize optimal health. Alkalizing foods are those which increase the amount of oxygen absorbed into the bloodstream to be distributed for use by all cells within the body. Highly alkaline foods are therefore beneficial to the functioning of our brain and other body tissues which operate best in a highly-oxygenated environment. Furthermore, they can aid in healing diseased cells and preventing the development of disease. According to the Creative Health Institute, recent medical research has found that cancer goes into remission when the body is alkaline due to increased oxygen available to help repair the cancerous cells.
Chlorophyll – Oxygen Rich Energy from the Sun
Wheatgrass is the most alkaline food known to man, thus it goes without saying that it should be high up on the list of foods to include in a pH balanced diet. Research has shown that the chlorophyll in wheatgrass is the main factor influencing its healing properties. Some consider it to be liquid energy from the sun! Basic chemistry taught us that chlorophyll is the chemical that captures energy from sunlight for photosynthesis which releases excess oxygen as a byproduct.
Chlorophyll is in fact chemically composed almost identically to hemoglobin (oxygen-carrying pigment of red blood cells) except that it contains magnesium rather than iron in its nucleus. The hemoglobin’s function is to carry oxygen to our organs, and due to its inherent similarity, chlorophyll can easily be assimilated thereby increasing red blood cells in the body. This in turn improves the blood’s ability to efficiently distribute oxygen and other nutrients as required by the body. Thus, consuming chlorophyll through drinking wheatgrass juice is very effective in alkalizing the blood and energizing the whole body.
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I’ve had a lot of time to think lately – in fact I spent the past three weeks in and out of bed with a ‘natural detox’ that wouldn’t stop.
During the rest – Physical, Digestive and Mental – I projected many thoughts about the topic of health and the manner in which I teach.
I will be very honest with you – I found myself becoming somewhat disillusioned – not in regards to the efficacy of the topic but rather in the opposition to the natural laws of health as propounded by the current medical views.
There are basically two – and only two – philosophies of health and disease.
1. One – the dominant one as marketed by the medical profession is that disease is an entity which exists – in isolation to the body – and due to its nature – attacks the body of a living organism and makes it sick. The corollary to this philosophy is that a specific antigen (read as drug or medicine) is necessary to combat said ‘germ/virus/bacteria/infection’ in order to effect a ‘cure’ and return the sick organism to health.
2. Two – health is the natural state of all living organisms and disease is simply a condition which arises due to a faulty lifestyle. When a degree of toxaemia reaches critical level – the body will initiate a ‘healing cycle’ accompanied by a rise in temperature. During a subsequent rest (physical, digestive and mental) the body will always heal itself – provided that there is adequate energy to complete the process.
And in closing – I’d like to paraphrase from one of our most famous health advocators.
‘Shall we take it as a general principle that all disease, at some period or other of its course, is more or less a reparative process… it is an effort of nature to remedy a process of poisoning or decay, which has taken place, weeks, months, sometimes years beforehand…’
Taken from – Florence Nightingale, NOTES ON NURSING – What it is and what it is not. – 145 pages -
First published in 1839, Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. 3 Henrietta Street, London – W.C.2, Great Britain.
All the best in educating yourself in the laws of Natural Living and Natural Healing.
Kevin Hinton is a renowned Natural Health Educator & Advocator who has as
To understand optimal health, it is necessary to learn about diseases also because disease cannot exist in presence of optimal health. If Optimal health is a sign of Strength and Immunity, Disease is it’s contrast as Darkness is contrast of Light. Disease appears, when optimal health declines. Diseases are broadly divided into two categories Contagious Diseases capable of spreading from one person to another and non contagious are degenerative diseases of various systems and do not spread by coming in contact with another person.
Killer Diseases of the past (Contagious):
About half a century back, the disease patterns were different than prevalent now. Earlier most of the diseases were caused by bacteria, which is a single cell organism and reproduces very fast and very easily develops resistance. In the past when effective treatment was not there Bacterial diseases were contagious and fatal i.e. spreading very from one affected person to another healthy person and took the epidemic form as in the case of Typhoid, Diptheria, Plague, Malaria, Chicken Pox , Tuberculosis etc.
Drug Resistance in Bacteria:
Penicillin is a wonder drug in the past and it changed the history of Modern Drugs development. Derived from a mold it is a competition between bacteria and another living organism the secretion of which had a killing effect on bacteria. Subsequently the bacteria have developed resistance and once a wonder drug now it is useless and has been discarded.
Like Penicillin, Tetracyclines, Ampicillin, Amoxcillin once wonder drugs of mass use have now disappeared because they are no more effective because
The acquired resistance developed by the Bacteria.
Disease fighting & Prevention Programmes:
The Governments had the responsibility to fight with specific Vaccination and Specific Disease Fighting programmes on a war footing at the National level,. Like Malaria Eradication Programme etc. which now is a Past History with the advent more powerful and effective antibiotics and chemo-therapeutics.
For Tuberculosis which effects poor people and is highly contagious in nature there are free Government aided Clinics to isolate and treat Tuberculosis patients so that disease does not spread to healthy persons.
Life Style diseases (Non-contagious):
On one hand the victory is achieved on contagious diseases by discovery of highly effective antibiotics and Government run Public Health Plans to contain contagious diseases of the past era, whereas on the other hand the comfortable lifestyles and changed food habits have made man vulnerable to present day killer diseases like Diabetes, Hypertension, Diseases of the Heart, Cancer etc.
They are related to the present day lifestyles preference of Convenience Choices like Automobiles in place of Cycling or walking distances, domestic gadgets like washing machine in place of manual traditional household work coupled with Poor Nutrition due to overcooking of food, eating junk food in place of a wholesome meal, preference of tasty food with higher quantities of fat and sugar packed with calories, absence of eating variety of Green Vegetables and Fresh fruits and exposure to atmospheric pollution, which trigger the onset of above lifestyle diseases.
Following Optimal Health are the back bone of the concepts of healthy living and enjoying life thoroughly.
1. Reduce Risk Factors
3. Proper Nutrition (macro)
4. Supplementation (micro)
5. Adequate Rest
6. Positive mental attitude
7. Proper medical care if a disease is present.
8. Clean Air & Water, Good Hygiene.
Optimal health & Environment Challenges:
We are living in a very Dangerous Environment effected by common use of very potentially harmful Chemical Insecticides & Pesticides surpassing the prescribed limits of maximum quantity and frequency usage just get more crops output and thus risking the optimalhealth of population, who consume the food cooked using crops having pesticides and insecticide absorption in them. This can be observed by viewing the video clipping given below: