“Consume media, music, images purposefully. Consume foods that nourish, satisfy, and please. Do it all with intention”

You’ve heard of or even practiced yoga. However, did you know there is a sister philosophy to yoga? This philosophy/practice/lifestyle is called Ayurveda. This blog post will give a quick overview about Ayurveda. Let's dive in!

WHAT IS AYURVEDA?

“Ayurveda is considered as one of the oldest of traditional systems of medicine (TSMs) accepted worldwide”. Let that sink in for a moment. Now let’s consider the word Ayurveda. This is a Sanskrit (ancient Indian language) word that “translates into knowledge (Veda) of life (Ayur); Veda also means science” so it is the knowledge of life/science. This practice has been around for more than 3,000 years and originated in India. 

In Ayurveda, disease occurs whenever there is an imbalance in the physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and/or environmental realms of our existence. The main goal of Ayurveda is to find balance in every sphere of our being. This means consuming anything that supports our entire life force with proper attention and intention. Ayurveda provides principles and guidelines to help assess and maintain balance in our lives. To understand some of the principles we first must discuss Doshas. 

DOSHA

In Ayurveda, everything in the world, including you and me, is composed of 5 elements; air (Vayu), fire (Teja), earth (Prithvi), water (Jala), and ether/space (Aakash). These elements combine into pairs to make up the three Doshas; Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Vata Dosha is ether and air, Pitta Dosha is fire and water, and Kapha Dosha is water and earth. Everything on this planet, according to Ayurveda, has a Dosha. You can think of Doshas as your constitution - what you are and how you are. I have a Pitta Dosha constitution, for example.

You can determine your Dosha by answering a questionnaire and discussing the results with an Ayurvedic practitioner. From the results you can determine your Prakriti which is your Dosha for the majority of your life and then you can determine your Vikriti which is your Dosha at this very moment. Generally, if the results from your Prakriti and Vikriti differ, it signals that your life is currently out of balance. 

FINDING BALANCE

A broad and general way to find balance in Ayurveda is to remember that like increases like. For example, the autumn season is considered to have a Vata Dosha. Remember, everything, including the seasons has a Dosha. Elementally Vata Dosha is ether and air. The qualities for Vata are light, dry, rough, active, cold, mobile, pungent, bitter, and astringent. If my personal Dosha is Vata, I could find myself feeling unbalanced, perhaps sick, or disoriented in the fall season. This feeling of instability could be attributed to being a Vata in a Vata season consuming foods and practicing physical activity that contain those Vata qualities. If I have a Vata constitution and fall begins (a Vata season), it would be wise to balance out all of that Vata energy with foods and activities that have more Kapha or Pitta qualities such as consuming denser, smooth, heavier, sweet, warm foods.

CONCLUSION

Are you as fascinated by this ancient practice as I am?! There is so much more I want to discuss about Ayurveda! There is a whole system of combining foods, incorporating yoga, and other cleansing practices. I can already feel my Virgo brain deciding that I will strictly follow an Ayurvedic lifestyle but I keep reminding myself that the whole goal/intention/point to Ayurveda is to find balance. Being extremely militant about these practices may actually cause stress and other unwanted effects. The main takeaway from this practice to be MINDFUL about what you’re doing, consuming, spending time on, the environment you keep, and what your focus is in your life. More to come!

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When I started EXHALO FORTIS a little over a year ago, I centered my philosophy around a little poem I wrote entitled “WITH INTENTION”. There’s a line in it that says “consume media, music, images purposefully. Consume foods that nourish, satisfy, and please. Do it all with intention.” I had no idea that this poem aligned very well with Ayurvedic philosophy! This is another crumb I’m following in my journey to find wellness and disseminate my findings and experiences with you all. I truly hope you find it helpful in your life. The alignment I’ve found in my life over the past few years post-2020 has been. . .Honestly, a little creepy but I am here for it!