Today I have a special guest who wrote this post for you! Kayla has been studying herbs, plants, and Ayurvedic healing for some time now. She even forages for her own food because she believes that what we eat can truly affect us on the deepest level. She’s going to share a little of her vast knowledge so get ready.
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How do you feel when you wake up – are you energized? Is your mind full of thoughts? Do you go back to sleep? Are you hungry? All of these questions are affected by one thing… your lifestyle! And I don’t mean the model of the car you drive or the price of your house. I mean your eating habits, hours of sleep, daily activities, what you do right before you go to bed, etc. Even down to the thoughts in your head, what you say to yourself, how you feel when you look in the mirror.
Now there are many systems and schools of thought out there that try to tell you how to live your life – what foods to eat, what beings to worship… you get the point. So I won’t stand in front of you today (via blog post) and tell you I found a system that’ll cure you of all your ailments or promise that if you follow it you’ll go to heaven. No. But I will do my best to introduce you to something where the main focus is not something that can be achieved later in life or even when you die, rather it’s about finding harmony and balance in the body, mind, and spirit for all the day to day moments.
Now let’s go back in time for a moment. Originating in India thousands and thousands of years ago, Ayurveda is one of the world’s oldest holistic healing systems. Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word, translating to ayur (life) and veda (science of knowledge). So, it translates to ‘the knowledge of life’. To put it simply, this medicine system is the combination of science and living a healthy lifestyle.
So what does this mean? Well, Ayurveda deems all ailments or diseases as imbalances of the body, mind or spirit. For example, unaddressed stress can manifest in the form of a persistent illness. Or eating poorly for one’s body type can result in digestion problems. The list can go on. Ayurvedic states that everything in the universe is energy – therefore everything in the universe is connected. We are connected to everything. So when we are in harmony and balance with this all, we have good health. When we are not, well, you can probably guess what happens.
So how do we use it? Ayurveda can be applied to pretty much all areas of life. And there are certain tools to help direct us on where and how to apply it. In Ayurvedic medicine, it’s believed that every person contains the five basic elements of the universe – earth, water, fire, space, and air. These combine in human bodies to form three doshas, which are the life forces that control the body’s functions. Every person is made up of all three, but all have a different combination of each. The three doshas are Vata (space and air), pitta (fire and water) and kapha (water and earth).
Unless your life is stress free and you’ve figured out the secret to constant peace and ease, chances are you have one or two doshas that are stronger and more prominent than the others. Many health issues are linked to the imbalance of the doshas. Now I could go super into depth here on all of the doshas, but in order to save words, we will discuss that another time, but feel free to do a dosha test online to find out your specific Prakriti (body constitution).
Now we all know food is one of the most important things on this planet. You are what you eat. And there are specific ways to prepare food that makes it easy to digest so that your body doesn’t have to constantly pour all of its energy into digesting the food we put in it every couple hours. It’s believed that our digestive fire (Agni) is our health. When our agni is working in good condition – our bodies are healthy.
But it is not only about food here. I mentioned lifestyle earlier, so all applies! Based on your dosha, a certain amount of time of exercise everyday can be very beneficial. As well as breathing exercises, body cleansing, yoga, and morning routines. Daily meditation (or whatever mindful practice suits you) is recommended.
Like other holistic medicine practices, Ayurveda looks at the whole being. Disease is reflective of the way you live your life! And people who practice Ayurveda believe that there are certain things we can do, based upon our bodies makeup, to enhance our quality of life and bring balance to the mind, body, and spirit. I can personally say that practicing Ayurveda not only makes me live my life more consciously, but brings me joy in knowing that I can add little things, such as making a tea for my dosha, into my day that I know have a positive effect on my health. So I challenge you to take a short test online to find your dosha and try, even just for one time, to do a self practice that is good for you!