Yoga & Ayruveda
About Ayurveda
Ayur means (life) Veda means (knowledge). Ayurveda is the sister healing practice to yoga, an art of balance, harmony and healing through awareness of your individual constitution. Ayurveda looks at the world through the eyes of the elements… Earth… Water… Fire… Air… Ether… recognizing that each manifested form of our reality is designed by the coming together of a specific percentage of each element. For instance a rock has a great deal of the earth element, making it heavy and dense whereas a flower has a lot of air element making it light and fragile.
The Dance of the Doshas
Each one of us is a unique makeup of the elements. Knowing this makeup allows us to make lifestyle choices in food, daily rhythm, occupation, exercise and spiritual practice to support a lifestyle of balance and integration with our environment.
The word used for the different categories of constitution in Ayurveda is Dosha. There are three Doshas: Vata (air and ether), Pitta (fire and water), and Kapha (earth and water). Each one of us has all three doshas or constitutions in our own unique balance.
Applying Ayurvedic Principles to your daily Life:
Vata if you have a constitution that is primarily air and ether, a yoga practice that supports grounding, stability, and warmth without being too intense would create the most harmony.
Pitta if your constitution is primarily fire and water, a practice that focuses on surrender, contentment and coolness of the mind and body would be beneficial.
Kapha Earth and water constitutions are best supported by a practice that is vigorous and warming, with lots of movement and energy.
The wrong yoga practice for your Dosha can actually lead to imbalance rather than balance. Harmony is the foundation for Self transformation so the benefits of a practice aligned with the principles of Ayurveda are unlimited. Applying the principles of Ayurveda to yoga practice allows you to receive a practice designed especially to balance your life.
In today’s fast paced world many of us are becoming increasingly run down. This manifests itself as stress in the body, thus resulting in many different ailments, dis-eases and a whole host of other problems. We tend to lead our lives without awareness of the impact that our daily choices and actions have upon our health.
When the imbalances manifest, we are often treated generically despite the fact that we are all unique individuals—each of us with unique requirements!
Ayurveda deals with each person’s unique physical, emotional and spiritual constitution. Ayurveda teaches us methods for nurturing that constitution in our daily lives. Through proper diet, lifestyle practices, and herbal remedies Ayurveda brings our body back into balance. It works with the laws of nature, understanding these laws we live in harmony with them.
Ayurveda is and investment in your well being…now and in the future.
Shanti OM,
Jacqueline