Ayurveda ‘short’

Nature-based, holistic & offering a choice.

Nature is F A N T A S T I C.

Ayurveda is a nature-based, holistic approach to health, which views us as part of nature. We learn about the 5 elements and how Ayurveda recognises these as underpinning everything in the material universe including us – earth, water, fire, air, and ether.

When Ayurveda talks about the elements, it is referring to the understanding that ‘life’ is underpinned by energy that expresses earth, water, fire, air and ether-like qualities, that these qualities allow for everything that takes place in the material universe.

Earth-like qualities allow for substance and structure, water-like qualities allow for lubrication, fire-like qualities allow for metabolism, air-like qualities allow for movement and ether-like qualities allow for space where life can take place.

Our body is made up of all these elemental qualities. Ayurveda explains this through tridosha theory — theory of the three doshas of vata, pitta and kapha. These doshas make up our constitution. Each of us will have our own particular ratio of these making up our constitution – the elemental qualities in varying quantities. Vata Dosha brings air and ether elemental qualities. Pitta dosha brings fire and a little water. Kapha dosha brings earth and water.

The doshas allow for biological processes to take place, and determine our body type, temperament and health tendencies. Pitta dosha allows us to metabolise the food we eat, turning it into a nutrient rich fluid, vata dosha allows that fluid to move to the cells that carry out all the functions needed for us to live a healthy life, while kapha allows for the structure and lubrication of our cells.

We need to keep the balance of the doshas we were born with, in balance, if we want to be well, which we can do through the food and lifestyle choices we make.

When the balance is lost this will impact our biological processes, our digestion and our immunity; we will start to create the conditions that lead to dis-ease and illness, unless we make food and lifestyle choices that return us to balance.

And that, in a nutshell, is what an Ayurvedic plan helps you to do; reverse the conditions that can lead to illness, by returning you to balance, through your food and lifestyle choices. This is done by recognising the symptoms of imbalance, and applying the remedies.

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