Ayurveda for
Beginners

Ayurveda is an ancient science of life and longevity. It was first conceived in India many thousands of years ago, and it is still practiced today as a living medical tradition. The Charaka Samhita, one of its most authoritative texts, is dated from around 200 BCE.

You might have heard about Ayurveda from a friend, or read about it on the internet. Your curiosity has landed you here. Do you want to learn how Ayurveda can help you?

As a professor and Ayurveda doctor, I have been teaching and practicing Ayurveda for more than thirty years. I want to share with you the goodness of self care and the healing wisdom of Ayurveda. I can help you learn what Ayurveda is, and how you can use it for your own healing and wellbeing.

The meaning of the word Ayurveda

Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word that means "knowledge of life." It is the science and wisdom of living a life of health, joy and satisfaction, from the time of birth through the whole of a person's lifetime.

Ayurveda teaches us the ways to protect our health and build vitality and resilience. It explains the reasons behind illness and the miseries of mind and body, and it teaches us to live a life of health, joy and satisfaction.

Mind, body, soul and senses

According to Ayurveda, we are a combination of body, mind, senses and soul. In this way, it takes into account our physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

To protect our health, Ayurveda advocates an Ayurvedic way of life, one of discipline and mindfulness, taking care of all of these every day. Ayurveda empowers us with simple yet powerful tools: daily routine, lifestyle, food, eating habits, sleep, and the judicious use of our senses. The three sub-pillars that hold our lives are correct food, correct sleep and the correct use of the senses.

Ayurveda contains a large repository of herbs, minerals, metals, herbal formulations, herbo-mineral formulations, and many types of therapies, such as Panchakarma, Nasya and Basti.

Ayurveda is, in the truest sense, a science and wisdom of life. In a more limited sense, it is considered the traditional Indian system of medicine. In the USA, Ayurveda is practiced as complementary and alternative medicine.

The theory of the five elements is core to understanding Ayurveda. Anyone who doesn't grasp this idea will find it hard to understand the rest of what follows. These are not the elements of chemistry. They are the elements of cosmic energy.

Space is subtle, vast, without boundaries, and cold. Air is mobile, cold, rough, dry and light. Fire is hot, sharp, light, oily and soft. Water is flowing, soft, heavy and moist. Earth is heavy, stable, dense, rough and hard. Our bodies are made up of these five elements, as is everything else in this universe.

From five elements to three energies

The elemental composition of the human body is explained in terms of Dosha, Dhatu and Mala. Doshas are the physiological entities of the body, and they have the potential to get vitiated and fall out of balance. Doshas play a vital role in causing both physical and mental disease.

Doshas are three in number: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Their elemental composition is decided by the dominance of elements within them.

Why are Vata, Pitta and Kapha called Doshas?

These three energies are responsible for every biological process in our minds and bodies. When they are in balance, we stay healthy. When they fall out of balance, they create disease, and it is for this reason that they are called Doshas. Dosha means "the one that can cause disturbance or disease."

What is health? According to Ayurveda, balance and harmony, within ourselves and with the outside environment, is essential to good health. The root of all disease and misery in mind and body is imbalance and disharmony.

Mindful living, and living in balance and harmony with nature, is at the core of an Ayurvedic lifestyle. You can live a life of balance by following an Ayurvedic daily routine and seasonal routine, and by understanding and honoring the energies of your own mind and body.

What is a daily routine?

Most of us see the day as work time, lunch time, our time, and sleep time. Ayurveda sees it differently. According to Ayurveda, the time to wake up, eat, sleep and work needs to be in sync with the rhythm and energy of the day. When the energies of our mind and body are in harmony with the energy and rhythm of the day, we stay in balance. Doing this daily becomes our daily routine, and following it is a blueprint to good health, one that helps us not only stay healthy, but maintain wellbeing as a way of life.

This practice of following a routine every day is called Dinacharya, a Sanskrit word where "Din" means day and "charya" means to follow. With Dinacharya, we live in tune with the energy of the day, and maintain balance with our environment.

According to Ayurveda, the day starts at sunrise, with cool, earthy Kapha in charge. The middle of the day is Pitta time. The afternoon is ruled by Vata, and then the cycle begins again. Vata, Pitta and Kapha are our unique energies, and they also make up the energies of the day. The Ayurvedic Rishis, or saints, considered a daily routine to be a stronger healing force than any other medicine.

A peek into an Ayurvedic Dinacharya

Get up from bed before sunrise. Follow your morning rituals: say a prayer or a word of gratitude to transition mindfully from sleep to wakefulness. Brush your teeth, scrape your tongue, and try oil pulling. Match your energy to the appropriate time of morning for exercise and breakfast, and eat your lunch at noon time.

You can learn the details of each practice, when and how to do it, and how to personalise your Dinacharya to your own unique mind-body type, in a consultation with me.

Questions I hear often

Ayurveda describes three pillars of life: food, sleep, and Brahmacharya, the judicious use of the senses. It gives immense importance to food and digestive health. Healthy digestion and smooth elimination are fundamental to overall health and wellness. Diseases are like weeds in the body, with their roots in the digestive tract, so taking care of digestive health is like removing disease by its roots.

"When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need." An Ayurvedic proverb.

Agni, the digestive fire

In Ayurveda, the term Agni describes the quintessence of digestion and metabolism. Agni, in Sanskrit, literally means fire. It is the force within the body responsible for the subtle, transformative processes of digestion, all the way through to the functions of cellular metabolism. Its proper maintenance helps a person live a long life, and its impairment gives rise to disease. The Agni located in the digestive system is known as Jatharagni, considered the most important sustaining factor of a living being.

Some eating guidelines from Ayurveda

Eat mindfully, enjoying your food with your senses of taste, sight, sound, touch and smell, strictly no TV, texting or emails, and avoid eating on the go. Don't eat too fast or too slowly, and eat only when you are hungry. Eat warm food, and sip only room-temperature water while eating rather than iced water, saving a full glass for in between meals. Avoid incompatible combinations, such as fruit with yogurt, or milk with sour fruits or fish. Eat a hearty lunch at noon and a lighter supper in the evening, and plan meals that include all six tastes.

The six tastes of Ayurveda

Most people recognize food by categories like carbohydrate, fat and protein. Ayurveda describes food from the perspective of taste instead. Including all six tastes in your meals helps maintain balanced nutrition, kick-starts digestion, balances the Doshas, and gives real satisfaction and satiation from eating.

The fundamental principles of Ayurveda are quite different from those of modern science. Ayurveda and Yoga share their roots in Samkhya philosophy, and both share a theory of the origin of the universe.

The theory of origin

According to this theory, the universe is formed from the unmanifest, called Avyakta, a Sanskrit word meaning "unmanifested." The Avyakta principle is the unmanifested form of pure existence, and it has two main components: Purusha, the absolute consciousness or soul, and Prakriti, also called Moola Prakriti, the creative, primordial, root nature.

This root nature is a quiescent state, in which three active principles are held in balance: Sattva, Raja and Tama. Passing through many stages, from subtle to gross, these three form the five basic elements: ether, air, fire, water and earth. All matter, and all psyche, is characterized by these three attributes, or Gunas. Sattva stands for consciousness, Raja for energy and dynamism, and Tama for mass, inertia and stability. They are also referred to as our mental attributes.

Dhatu, the building blocks of our body

Dhatu are the body's tissues, responsible for the function of our systems and organs, and for the structure of the body itself. They are formed and nourished by the body in sequence.

• Rasa · Plasma

  The first tissue formed from digested food.
• Rakta · Blood

  Sustains the life force and vitality.
• Mamsa · Muscle

  Provides strength and covers deeper structures.
• Meda · Fat

  Lubricates and gives suppleness to the skin.
• Asthi · Bone

  The structural framework of the body.
• Majja · Nervous tissue

  Fills the bones, supports the nervous system.
• Shukra · Reproductive tissue

  The final, most refined tissue.

Mala, the body's waste

Malas are the waste products of the body, including urine, stool and sweat. Their effective elimination is essential for maintaining good health.

The principle of similarity and dissimilarity

One of the basic principles of Ayurveda is the rule of similarity and dissimilarity, or contrast. The use of similar substances is always the cause of increase, while dissimilarity is the cause of decrease, or balance, in mind and body. Running, for example, will increase Vata energy in the body, while sleeping will increase Kapha energy in the body and mind.

This simple principle, that similar qualities increase what's already there, and opposite qualities restore balance, is really a master key to everything else in this book. Once you understand it, Ayurveda's recommendations about food, daily routine, and the seasons stop feeling like arbitrary rules. You're always doing one of two things: calming what's in excess, or gently building up what's lacking.