Treating The Source, Not The Symptom

Food is one of the most essential aspects of our living, vital to our physical and mental sustenance. And yet persuaded by a commercial environment and driven by the urgency of our lifestyle and also our lack of understanding, we very rarely pay close attention to what we feed into our body. Ayurveda categorizes and prescribes food based on the principle of five natural elements and the three Doshas or body constitution which are linked to the elements as also the ‘Gunas’ or natural forces which govern body and mind. A specific diet for a person is prescribed given his own body type. Ayurveda also strongly recommends the consumption of fresh and organic food. More importantly, Ayurveda encourages mindful or meditative eating by which the full essence of food can be assimilated by the body in an aware, fully engaged and respectful manner.

The crux of right eating and healing is in knowing what suits our body because every individual is unique physically and mentally depending on the body type he or she may have. This in turn depends on the bio-energies in our body called Doshas (Pitha, kapha and Vata) which in combination with the five elements in nature determine the mental, physical and emotional and constitution of each person. Thus what Ayurveda prescribes as a lifestyle solution and as a cure for specific ailments is based on a close understanding of the body as against a one-size-fits-all approach.

The body is a wonderful mechanism that has its own self-healing processes at work to repair itself. It is when despite its own recovery processes, there is a malfunction that it starts sending us signals to sit up and take notice. And yet, even after this, we fail to listen to what our body is communicating to us. We also increasingly distance ourselves from our body’s inherent needs due to reasons based on lifestyle and social considerations. This results in suppressing of bodily urges that lead to accumulation of toxins and their manifestation in the form of diseases. We then rush to seek medical intervention. Ayurveda encourages us to be more mindful of our body and its messages so that living minus diseases is a natural process.

Breathing is the most important action of our body that determines all aspects of our health. Which nostril is operating at a given point of time? What is right breathing? How does breathing impact our daily activities? These are questions we seldom ask ourselves. And yet they are the crucial indicators of our health awareness. Ayurveda goes into an in-depth understanding and explanation of the right breathing techniques for our daily activities which is finely tuned to the overall environment and also to our bio-energies.

The mind and the body have a symbiotic relationship. What affects the mind affects the body and what affects the body affects the mind. But while modern medicine seeks to offer ready solutions to many physical ailments, when it comes to the mind, a holistic approach is still a challenge. A majority of mental conditions such as Depression depend on chemically induced solutions such as anti depressants. Ayurveda on the other hand approaches the mind as part of the overall integrated system of human life and therefore offers a natural way that is radical and lifestyle inclusive. Age old practices such as Yoga and meditation, which help us heal internally, combined with the right foods and breathing patterns that are suited to our body, ensure a healthy mind in a healthy body.

Most of us are aware that the right amount of sleep repairs the body tissues and yet we very often fail to grasp the implication of how much to sleep, when to sleep, how to sleep, what food to eat before sleeping and the related activities such as waking up. Ayurveda helps us look closely at these aspects of sleep in a scientific manner that is again connected to our overall health and suited to our own constitution.