Ayurveda and Purpose
Simply put, you can’t live your higher purpose if you’re sick, if your body is out of alignment, if you can’t get up to even do the most basic things. In my case, it was the chronic migraines. That’s why Ayurveda has become such an important part of my life because it taught me to take charge of my wellness, which led me to have the time and space to discover my higher purpose.
Ayurveda is the world’s oldest health system that was created about 7000 years ago in Ancient India.
It was first passed down orally and was then recorded in the Ancient Vedic texts. Ayurveda literally translates to Life Knowledge, so it was essentially India’s ancient approach to medicine. Other health systems and approaches were inspired and influenced by Ayurveda, such as Chinese herbology and acupuncture.
What attracted me to Ayurveda?
I fell in love with its sensical, loving, and well-rounded approach to health that recognizes our wholeness, oneness with nature, individuality and spiritual potential.
What I mean by “wholeness” is our multiple areas of health, physical, mental, and spiritual. In Western Medicine, the wellness of the physical body is given the most, if not all, the emphasis. With Ayurveda, it recognizes the importance of all three areas to be healthy and balanced to maintain and improve physical, mental and spiritual wellness.
What I mean by “oneness with nature” is Ayurveda’s recognition that we’re all composed of the same 5 elements that our world is made of - space, air, fire, water, and earth. We all have different varying amounts of all 5 of the elements, meaning some of us have more fire and some of us have more air. Ayurveda took these 5 elements and broke them down into 3 doshas. Dosha means energy and therefore each of these energies affects how we look, think, behave, and feel. The Ayurvedic doshas are:
Vata - made up of air and space
Pitta - made up of fire and water
Kapha - made up of earth & water.
Vata energy is light, dry, cold, and moving, which is very much like air and space. People (I’m one of those people) with a lot of vata tend to be creative, enthusiastic, energetic, on the go, and so you’re given a lean thin body to allow for that mobility. However, when your vata energy becomes imbalanced, symptoms like restlessness, fear, anxiety, insomnia, anorexia, and digestive issues can arise. To keep vata balanced, grounding food and practices are needed. Grounding foods are food that comes out of the ground so they have grounding energy that will prevent the person from getting blown away by their imbalance. Think sweet potatoes, yams, beets, carrots. Grounding practices are habits that can help a person get a sense of routine, so sticking to a morning ritual, a daily schedule, and also a grounding yoga practice or mantra-based meditation can help. This will prevent that sense of uncertainty of the day to develop into anxiety and fear.
Pitta is hot, sharp, oily, and liquid. People with a lot of pitta tend to be intellects, ambitious, outspoken, direct, and good decision-makers, very similar to a Type A kind of personality, and so, they’re given a medium muscular build to keep up with their speed. However, when pitta becomes imbalanced, symptoms like short temperedness, becoming argumentative, skin rashes, indigestion, excessive body heat, and bad odor can occur - all these symptoms are reminiscent of fire. To keep pitta balanced, go for sweet, cooling and stabilizing food and practices, which can offset that fire. Think cucumbers, sweet fruit, zucchini and melons along with enjoying daily unstructured free time and spending time in nature. Massages with cooler oils like coconut or olive oil, as well as daily meditation, work well to cool down and relax the pitta as well. This will prevent that Type A from taking over your life.
Kapha is heavy, slow, cold, oily, soft, dense, and liquid, which are all very much like earth and water. People with a lot of kapha tend to have a strong substantial build, excellent stamina thick hair, calm, thoughtful, loving, nurturing, patient and supportive so they’re given a strong substantial build as they need to hold grounded space for the people in their lives. When kapha becomes imbalanced, symptoms like weight gain, complacency, resistance to change, asthma, diabetes, depression, and too much sleep can occur. Stimulation is key to keep kapha balanced so exposure to new experiences, sights, and sounds, along with regular physical exercise that heat up the body. Light, bitter and spicy foods like kale, turmeric, and cayenne pepper can stimulate the metabolism and combat weight gain. This will offset the heavy and slow nature of an unbalanced kapha.
What I mean by individuality is that in Ayurveda, there is no one size fits all diet or ideal body type. Even with the doshas themselves, Ayurveda recognizes that each of us have all 3 energies, just varying amounts.
And so, there is no standard diet or strict daily schedule for everyone to follow. It instead relies on each of us finding the right balance for our body, mind, and spirit as we age and as we go through seasonal life transitions. To get your exact doshic makeup and tailored lifestyle recommendations, I recommend seeing an ayurvedic practitioner.
As you can tell, Ayurveda is more than just nutrition. It’s really a holistic approach to wellness that changes people’s lives, including mine. The simple understanding of how to balance my doshas lowered the occurrence of my migraines, kept my anxiety on check, and even brought glow back to my skin.
Furthermore, the purpose of Ayurveda’s existence goes beyond health. Its meant to give us the space to be able to awaken our consciousness so we can continue to transcend our blockages and evolve as spiritual beings in this life and the next. When we’re healthy, we have the space and energy to explore our spiritual awakening.
If you’re interested in learning more about Ayurveda, I recommend the podcast, Ayurveda and Vedic Living, and the book, Idiot’s Guide to Ayurveda.
