Have you heard of Ayurveda?
It is an ancient system of health care that has been practiced for thousands of years in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It has now become popular even in western countries.
Ayurveda is about healing and balancing the body, mind and spirit. It includes different physical and mental exercises such as Yoga. Ayurveda puts also great focus on the Ayurvedic Diet.
The central concept of Ayurvedic medicine is the three Doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Health exists when there is a balance between these three Doshas.
Vata = Impulse – Mobilizes the nervous system
Pitta = Energy – Directs digestion and metabolism into the venous system
Kapha = Body fluid – Carrier of nutrients into our arterial system
Every person has all three Doshas within themselves but one is more dominant at different times in our life. Different illnesses occur when there is an imbalance in the Doshas. According to the Ayurvedic philosophy, to bring balance to the Doshas it is important to eat the right kind of foods and to do certain types of exercises depending on which Dosha is the most dominant.
In Ayurveda, it is believed that the six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent affect the balance in your body. In order to have a healthy and balanced body, each Dosha type (Vata, Pitta, Kapha) should include and exclude some of these six tastes in their diet. Furthermore, Ayurveda also considers if the food is oily, heavy, warm, dry, cold, or light, in order to balance the body.
According to Ayurveda, there are some general guidelines for all three Doshas that need to be considered. They are:
*Don’t eat cold food! You should not eat food directly from the fridge and you should not drink ice cold drinks.
*Be present while eating
*Don’t eat snacks between meals
*Chew your food properly
Besides a proper diet that suits your Dosha, it’s also important to do certain physical and mental exercises. For example, a Vata person needs to relax their mind. They would also benefit from meditation and Yoga exercises, whereas a Pita person tends to be very competitive and would be better off with a more playful attitude when exercising. American football or other team sports are great for a Pitta person. A Kapha person needs to stay more physically active compared to the other Doshas, and would benefit from tougher sports that requires endurance, such as long distant running.
Have you ever tried the Ayurvedic way of life? Why not try to find out which Dosha is predominant within you?
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