You may have heard about Ayurveda at your yoga class on your favorite wellness blog on a bottle of turmeric or ashwagandha but you may still be wondering what exactly is Ayurveda.



What is Ayurveda?

Today I’m going to answer that very question and hopefully give you some tips that you can begin your Ayurvedic journey. In Sanskrit Ayurveda means the science of life and it really is just that it is a holistic form of health practices that really honors the mind-body and spirit it encompasses diet lifestyle herbs and even yoga it's considered yoga's sister science it truly honors the individual so one regiment for one individual will not be the same for another individual.

Ayurveda’s origin is in ancient India and in fact, the classical texts are actually written in the ancient language of Sanskrit. It has survived thousands of years of various rulers and political struggles in India. Thankfully India has preserved this science and now it is expanding around the world. Thanks to yoga and expanding interest in spiritualism from the east.

So you may be wondering why to choose Ayurveda especially when there are so many other options available to you well I’m going to give you a few reasons-

1. First of all Ayurveda truly embraces the individual. Ayurveda believes that each person is born with his own innate constitution which is a combination of various energies and qualities because of this no the individual will have the same regimen as another individual?

2. Secondly I rather really foster self-awareness and this is so powerful because you can make your own decisions about what to do based on how you're feeling day-to-day moment-to-moment.

3. Third Ayurveda focuses on prevention.  It addresses the underlying issues that accumulate and result in you feeling unwell in doing so Ayurveda addresses the root causes instead of the full list of symptoms. Ultimately Ayurveda is truly intuitive it's based on nature. So if you understand the basic patterns the whole thing will become quite common sense to you.

 

10 Interesting & Useful Ayurvedic Facts about Your Body That You Should Know

In the next 5 minutes, you are going to know 10 interesting Ayurvedic facts about your body. Knowing these facts you will have a better understanding of your body due to which you can make smarter choices about food and lifestyle. Thus helping you achieve your fitness goals much more effectively.

 

1. Body Type

According to Ayurveda, the right weight for a person should be judged by their body type not according to basic parameters like BMI.  Let’s for a moment take three people of equal heights first is the Vata type, the second is dominated by Pitta while the third has Kapha. As predominant dosha, the weight of ab60 kgs is 65 kgs and c70 kgs. Now all these can be perfectly fit and healthy yet the difference in their weights is only about their respective body types as Vata types are naturally thin, pitta is average built, while Kapha has heavy bends. This is why Ayurveda is clear that the weight of a person is not necessarily the metric of fitness. So keep this fact in consideration the next time you step on a weighing scale.

 

2. Restoring the Balance

You will be amazed to know how the body's intelligence governs our palate to restore balance. Let’s understand with an example if you have eaten ice cream three days in a row the thought of more ice cream will not be appealing to you like how we say ice cream, noo I’m bored of it rather your body will crave for something spicy to burn up the Kapha and counteract it and you might say come let's today eat momos. This is why Ayurveda promises that if one carefully listens to such signals of the body he will not need a dietitian to tell him what he needs to eat.  So if someday you feel like eating a sweet eat it even if it was not a part of your diet plan.

 

3. Taste Difference

How the same herb can taste completely different to two persons, Triphala for example provides all the tastes except salty but it tends to yield the predominant taste that is lacking in the body let's say a person mostly stays away from bitter foods like the bitter guard now if he tastes Triphala he would find it to be bitter for some time. Another person who has a strong aversion to sweets might taste Triphala and find it to be sweet. Although both the person tasted the same herb interesting isn't it this is also a potent way to determine to what taste is lacking in a diet Ayurveda considers a dye to be perfectly balanced if it comprises all the six tastes.

 

4. Brahma Muharat

Have you heard about the significance of Brahma Muharat? According to Ayurveda, the day is composed of 30 periods of 48 minutes each called Muharat Brahma mahurat is 96 minutes before sunrise until 48 minutes before sunrise. If sunrise occurs at 6 00 am Brahma muhurta at that location on that day would be from 4 24 am to 5 12 am changing daily. ancient sages notice that at this time the mind's learning capacity the ability to focus and concentrate is much higher ideas pour in effortlessly once try. Studying during Brahma-Murat you will definitely be able to experience the difference. In the output during Brahma muhurta the environment is also the cleanest trees accelerate their production of oxygen, noise and calls are absent. It is also an ideal time to do yoga and meditation.

 

5. Balance of Dosha

Have you ever wondered why Ayurveda states that almost all diseases begin in your gut? Ayurveda says that the balance of doshas is healthy while any imbalance of doshas causes disease and all the three doshas namely vat pit and cough reside in the gut to be precise Vata lives in the large intestine pitta in the small intestine and Kapha in the stomach this is the reason Ayurveda gives so much importance to seemingly minor issues like acidity gas heaviness bad breath bloating and weak appetite one should never ignore them by simply popping a pill instead we should get vigilant as this little disease may be an onset of the disease this brings me to.

 

6. Stages of Disease Development

Ayurveda identifies six stages of disease development

in the 1st stage minor stirs of imbalance occur at the residing place of the dosha in the gut the symptoms are more discomfort a bloated tummy excessive hunger sluggish emotions etc. they can easily be avoided remember the fact we just discussed yes by listening to the body's inner wisdom if the increased doshas are not pacified

It enters stage number 2, where the discomfort versus causing constipation or heartburn or cough it's here that we tend to pop a pill but that doesn't tap the root cause.

The dosha enters stage 3, now out of the gut it starts spreading in the body symptoms can be cold hands and feet or acne or lethargy

In stage 4, the moving dosha finds body tissues where there is weakness and calls it home this is the beginning stage of a felt and visible disease symptoms can be popping of joints increased heat in a specific body part or common cold

In stage 5, the dosha further damages the tissues causing arthritis or inflammation or sinus if still unmanaged

In stage 6, the tissue damage becomes severe and irreversible in some cases may be the joint completely breaks down or internal bleeding happens or tumor formation is there quite a journey that is. Isn’t it that is why Ayurveda presses on proactive care so that one can catch hold of the disease at the initial stages?

 

7. Taste Difference

We cannot taste food if our tongue is completely dry. Remember how we say my mouth waters at mere thinking about pizza this is because the water element on the tongue in the form of saliva is associated with the sense of taste. It's evident why people who have Vata predominant dosha which means their body is internally dry as compared to other body types, do not have a great sense of taste they are somewhat less picky about their food pitta people in this respect have a moderate sense of taste while Kapha people who are dominated by the water element in their body and have high saliva on their tongues have an amazing sense of the taste they will point out even a slight variation in the taste of a dish having a great sense of taste Kapha people often can't do without eating tasty food so much so that food tends to become their weakness well to avoid that you should opt for making restaurant-style food at home.

 

8. Emotions

Emotions have an affinity with certain organs happiness and sadness with the heart, anger with the liver, hatred with the gallbladder kidneys, with fear nervousness with the colon, while stomach with temptation well how can this fact help us. It is noticeable how when we feel nervous we tend to have problems with digestion or the saying that happiness is in the heart not in the circumstance one takeaway is that if we exercise a particular emotion excessively the respective organ will be affected. When you hate somebody you are negatively affecting the functioning of your gallbladder if you get angry more than often then you are damaging your liver so you can say don't drink and get angry as you are doing double damage to your liver. This fact shows again how the mind and body are so intricately connected.

 

9. Cold Temperature Healing

Have you wondered why people living in colder climates tend to live longer? Well in the deep of the night just after our deepest sleep around 4 30 a.m., our bodies are at their lowest temperature low body temperatures are associated with healing as proteins work slower and create less waste restorative functions take over, and strengthening of tissues occurs. At this time this may also be the reason why sages tend to move up into the hills and higher altitudes each day. Our body dips into this low temperature gives us a new start however this doesn't mean that you push on an air conditioner trying to mimic cold climates. Since the low body temperature is associated with healing Ayurveda generally recommends cold baths as most beneficial for the body.

 

10. Stages of Human Lifecycle

Ayurveda divides the human lifespan into three stages. At each stage, certain characteristics are more common in childhood is the age of Kapha. This is evident as children's bodies are growing and building up their structure an intrinsic property of Kapha their bodies are soft and gentle they require more sleep than adults and they are susceptible to Kapha illnesses such as colds and congestion. Adulthood exhibits more characteristics of pitta remember how acne breakouts are common when you just enter adulthood that's pitta the fire element below the skin moreover in adulthood we are more competitive aggressive ambitious than in childhood, We work hard can do with less sleep, and are prone to pitta type inflammatory disorders like acidity gastritis and ulcers. Old age is the age of Vata that's when degeneration of the body begins to take place body pains cracking of joints arthritis weak memory is broken sleep is common. This shows that our age and stage of life are factors that should be considered in the choices we make to keep our doshas in balance.

 

So these were those 10 Ayurvedic facts about your body which I thought you would find to be both interesting and use this video was kind of experimental and if you really felt that it helped you.