What is Ayurveda?

& How Knowing The "Science Of Life" Helped Save Mine

When we are first conceived, we exist in our own perfect balance, our Prakrti, a harmony without dis-ease. Our Prakrti, or constitution, is as unique as our fingerprint making every body’s healing process completely individualized. Along my own healing journey I discovered how important understanding a few basic Ayurvedic principles could be to bringing my previously very imbalanced, or "ill" body and mind back into balance and health. Let me introduce the basics to you.

After experiencing many years of extreme Lyme Disease symptoms that affected every aspect of my life, I discovered that the combination of my environment, diet, life experiences, and mindset had drastically shifted all three of my doshas creating a tridoshic imbalance which affected every cell of my being so severely that it almost killed me on numerous occasions. I learned firsthand how powerful a tool Ayurveda can be in order to regain balance in the mind and body to heal from extreme chronic illness.

Ayurveda is over 5,000 yrs old, is the oldest medical system in the world, and is still practiced today much as it was when the ancient sages wrote the Vedas. These sages identified three doshas which make up the foundational pieces of this life science called Ayurveda. These 3 doshas are the energies that make up every being on earth and exist within every molecular structure a living being is built from. Vata, pitta, and kapha are these 3 doshes, or energies, behind those molecular structures forming every tissue, or dhatu, of that being.

 Ayurveda's individualistic doshic view of the body is opposite of how most western/modern medical approaches view treatment as a one size fits all, and or operate by guessing on treatment options and taking huge shots in the dark. For me, this doshic view created the first big shift in my own healing journey because I was no longer looking at nutrition, herbal remedies, and treatments as cut and dry. I was beginning to learn to pacify my own unique doshic constitution and its imbalances. 

From that moment we are conceived we are exposed to the external forces around us and these forces have an impact on our doshic balance, potentially pulling us out of alignment from our Prakrti. First, we are exposed to everything our mother is eating, feeling, breathing, and consuming, in every capacity, as we grow in her womb. When we are born we are bombarded with all the elements of the world and as we grow we continue to be exposed to new experiences, foods, emotions, climates, and energies which continue to have the potential to cause doshic imbalances. 

Along with the 3 doshes, Ayurveda sees that everything on earth is composed of five elements: ether, air, fire, water, and earth. These are the molecules that our tissues are built from. Depending on the amount of these elements that our body and mind possess is what constitutes us as being dominant in specific doshas.

Everyone has all three qualities of vata, pitta and kapha, but one is usually primary, one secondary, and the third is usually least prominent. Some people will very strongly sway towards having one dominant dosha, while others have two doshas that are equal in majority over the third less dominant dosha. Occasionally some people are tridoshic (sama dosha). Sama doshic individuals are generally healthier and more content in life because they are naturally balanced and it takes a lot to pull their doshas out of balance. 

Surfing the web one day I came across a quiz that promised it could help me figure out my "body type”. I had no idea what this meant but if something mentioned healing you can be sure that I was going to click on it. I filled out the multiple choice quiz, read my answer, then immediately filled out two or three more quizzes on other sites, hungry for more info on what these new terms vata, pitta, and kapha meant. The quizzes told me that my Prakrti was vata/pitta and gave short lists of foods that could pacify these doshas. I dove deeper and found that the reason why these foods pacificed my out of balance doshas was because they had certain qualities to them which counteracted excessive elements in my body.

What are the 3 Doshas? So, what the heck do these three doshas mean?

VATA: The first of the doshas is windy Vata. It’s bhoutic, or elemental, composition is ether and air which allows for every movement that occurs within us. Vata’s dry, light, cooling, rough, subtle, and mobile qualities allow for functions such as breathing, removal of waste products from the body, sound production through the vocal cords, pumping of the heart, carring out voluntary and involuntary actions, sensing touch, regulating the nervous system and propagating it's impulses, kindling of digestive fire, absorption of nutrients, and opening of the cell walls and energy channels. Like the wind drying out wet clothes, excess air and ether qualities will aggravate vata, drying out the body's tissues and channels. This can also cause bloating, gas, dehydration, lightheadedness, restless mind, dizziness, muscle spasm, tremors, and restlessness by taking away moisture and wearing out the "fabric", aka tissues. Picture a tattered old flag after years of wind exposure. 

Vata individuals have certain physical characteristics as well. The high wind in them is always moving and carrying things away from the body causing them to be physically lighter because they have difficulty putting on or keeping on weight. Their light airy nature means they don't hold onto heavy earth qualities much, making their bone structure dainty, ability to build muscle mass more difficult, and an unlikely ability to carry excess body fat when they're in balance. Everything about a very vata person is smaller including their eyes and lips. Also their bones and joints will be more prominent because they have less tissue over and around their bone structures. 

Vatas are mentally always looping through thought, are more prone to worry, and are always on the go. They are always moving like the wind whether in their minds and/or physically, and their actions and decisions can vary from minute to minute or day to day. When talking they are more likely to use lots of hand gestures, talk more, walk in circles while talking on the phone, have trouble sitting still, and bounce from subject to subject. Creativity, imagination, and artistic nature are key factors of this busy bee’s dosha.

PITTA: Second we have pitta, the fire within us. Pitta’s bhoutic composition is fire and water, the literal fire (acid) in our belly. Pitta’s oily, sharp, hot, light, acidic, spreading, and liquid qualities allow for everyone's bodies to be capable of maintaining skins luster, emulsifying food, digesting food, sharpening memory, maintaining acidity, mixing and moving food, and making food into liquid to further digest. Excess fire and water qualities will aggravate pitta creating a pitta imbalance leading to symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, skin blisters, anger, acid reflux, fevers, infections, overheating, excessive perspiration, dizziness, bad breath, and insomnia. 

Pittas will be physically heavier than vata. They will naturally have bigger joints, bones, more developed muscle tone, and have the ability to put on weight but easily take it off too. The fire element gives them a hotter body temperature and more glowing skin, with the potential to flush more easily than a vata or kapha dominant person. Sharp features are a strong trait and pitta's are more likely to have a sharp nose, eyes, and chin. 

Personality wise pittas are also sharp in mind and temperament. Not only do they have sharp features but a sharp tongue as well. They are prone to irritability and anger if things don’t go to their plan, and are more likely to be blunt and critical of others. They are also the go-getters, planners, goal seekers, list makers, and "get-it-doners", making great project managers. 

KAPHA: Thirdly we have kapha, the grounding energy. Its bhoutic composition is water and earth, that which makes us feel calm, content and connected with the physical world. Kapha’s moist, cold, heavy, static, sticky, soft, cloudy, slow, and smooth qualities allow for our bodies to be capable of things like having lubricated joints, reducing dryness, protecting the body against heat, burning, and acidity, maintaining an alkaline pH, nourishing dhatus (building tissues), providing stability, creating smooth movements and tissues, and slowing down the mind. Excess earth and water qualities will aggravate kapha creating imbalances leading to symptoms of too much oil, congestion, sinus problems, pale color, obesity, lethargy, weak stomach acid (agni), laziness, white coated tongue, swelling, and water retention.

Kaphas hold onto earth and water elements which gives them the heaviest bones, joints, body weight, and results in a difficult time releasing any excess tissue build up. Everything about them is softer and rounder, giving them a "sweeter" look than vata and pitta. They also tend to have thicker hair, skin, and lips, and have bigger eyes. Their strong tissue development makes them well-nourished and therefore they have the strongest immune system of the three doshas and the best stamina. 

Kaphas demeanors match their smooth soft skin, hair, and features. They not only look sweet but they are the nurturers, lovers, peacemakers, and caretakers. They are literally the most grounded people with a “don’t worry, be happy” way of existing in life. Because they physically hold onto more, they also have a harder time letting go and more quickly become attached to things and people. Aside from a constitution that is equal in all three doshas (tridosic/ sama dosha), kapha is traditionally the most desirable dosha for its health, strength, and contentment. 

Realizing how Ayurveda could help me..

About three or four years prior to taking this first random dosha quiz online, my skin started breaking out in huge rashes, mainly on my face. Potatoes chips, any tomato based food, and French fries had been three major overindulgences in my life. I was eating these foods daily and in large quantities, easily finishing a bag of potato chips every day. Of course I knew this wasn’t “good” for me, but I reasoned with myself that I was so sick and miserable that surely the temporary pleasure that the chips and other foods gave me was worth it, right? Hahaha..

Potato chips, for example, have light, hot, and drying qualities that aggravate pitta and vata when eaten in the excess that I was consuming them. These are two things that were happening to me internally: 1) the salt on them was hot and "burning" away my tissues, and 2) they had been fried in hot oil and now were very dry which in turn was soaking up moisture from the body and drying it out. My skin was literally becoming the qualities of food I ate; my rashes were hot, red, inflamed, dry, and flaky. 

Later while studying Ayurveda, I learned that there are 20 different qualities (Tatvas) and that all of our foods (every plant and animal on earth) have various combinations of these Tatvas which pacify or aggravate specific doshas. These 20 qualities each have a direct opposite so they exist in pairs: hot/cold, smooth/rough, heavy/light, oily/dry, sharp/dull, gross/subtle, soft/hard, stable/mobile, clear/cloudy, and dense/liquid.

Here I was not only being presented with which food choices that were creating further imbalances in my system, but also being given the reason why these foods were creating those imbalances and what I could eat to pacify my doshic imbalances and relieve my symptoms. It started to click why certain people do well on certain “diets” or nutrition plans and why some people find their symptoms worsen and possibly new imbalances are created.

Prior to being introduced to Ayurveda I had no idea why and how these imbalances were happening. Allergists, dermatologists, gastrointestinal doctors, nutritionists, and other western medical specialists could do nothing to help me except tell me to stop eating the foods that were causing these accumulating allergies and prescribe me steroids. At this point, the "unsafe" food list was rapidly growing and the "safe" list was dwindling. 

Of course eating these foods was not the only thing that began pulling my doshas out of balance. It took almost two decades of life to get to such an imbalanced state. As a kid of the 90's in the United States I ate a high sugar diet, was given frequent antibiotics for throat infections, and I was exposed to a toxic black mold environment. Processed sugar creates imbalances in all three doshas and none of my doctors asked me about the "qualities" of the foods I was eating. I was eating too many dry, frozen (frequent ice cream), salty, processed sugary (hot), and processed junk foods which aggravated vata and pitta. Slowly over these two decades the agni/digestive fire in my belly weakened, therefore my immune system weakened, malas (waste products) built up in my lymphatic system, and I began having chronic lymph node swelling and throat infections.

I have the hardest doshic constitution to balance because Vata and Pitta have some opposite qualities to each other, and neither are stable. Pitta is sharp, hot, and oily, whereas vata's opposites are dull, cold, and dry. So I had to find foods that had qualities that both vata and pitta were lacking. My body needed kapha quality foods that were dense, heavy, gross, stable, and cloudy to build back up my dhatus, or tissues. I needed to stop putting the light, hot, and drying potato chips in my body!

Dairy would have been the best solution to pacify both doshas. Especially ghee with its heavy, moist, gross, stable, and smooth qualities, but I was very intolerant to all dairy at this point. I also had extreme candida and just a bite of fruit or too many carbs from grains like oatmeal would extremely bloat up my belly and cause nerve pain from the aggravated vata. So I found kitchari to temporarily be the solution to my major food dilemma. Kitchari is moist, heavy, dense, gross, smooth, and stable which is greatly what my 30 pound underweight and undernourished body needed to build back up all of my dhatus (tissues). This did not only help to alleviate symptoms of the body but also mental doshic imbalances which go hand in hand with the physical. An acute example of this is irritability, anger, or anxiousness when hungry. 

The five elements that exist within the doshas and everything we consume to build new tissues also exist in the chemicals that are released by the thoughts we create in our mind. An overabundance of certain elements in the foods we eat become ama, or undigested toxic food, which float around the body and brain making it harder to feel clear/ sattvic minded.  When we have an aggravated dosha, like pitta for instance, we have more of that heat within us. Even when in balance, Pittas already have a more fiery spirit. I learned that I could cool my fiery anger with my mind by getting into a "chill" mindset, and eating bitter, cooling, cleansing foods, herbs, and supplements. Also doing cooling kundalini yoga and pranayama would clear away some of that excess heat. I would notice a difference of some kind immediately after doing some of these things. Think drinking coconut water on a hot day and immediately noticing some sense of relief. By actively practicing these cooling techniques on a regular basis the fire tamed and my mind became clearer.

 The molecular building blocks

These five elements, or mahabhutas, (ether, air, fire, water, earth) exist in everything on this planet. The food we eat, air we breath, products we put on our body, medications, supplements, cleaners/detergents, etc., each contain molecular structures which consist of various combinations of these elements. Every element in the periodic table consists of one to all five of these elements. For example: Ether - hydrogen is thought to make up more than 90% of all atoms and is the "space" in the universe. Air - like oxygen, nitrogen, and helium are added to the hydrogen which creates electricity and movement. Fire - like sodium and potassium are added to the gasses creating heat, similar to the burn that lye will give. Water - H2O and NaC1 are now added to the ether, air and fire. Earth - calcium, magnesium, and carbon are examples of the heavy solid matter that makes up our earth and bodies. 

I also want to address the mental power we each possess. We can create more or less of these mahabhutas within ourselves simply by using our mind to create thoughts which become chemical emotions in the body that are produced by different organ systems and parts of the body. For instance, when we perceive something that we feel anger over, we produce a fiery anger within us from our liver. A good visual of this is in the cartoons when a character's eyes turn to flames or their head explodes from all the heat produced when they're "steaming" mad. In this instance of strong acute anger, heat and rakta (blood) rises to the head and can cause sweating and/or the cheeks to flush, especially in a pitta person.

In my personal experience a third component to creating further pitta imbalance was my environment. I highly focused on bringing balance to my body through foods and herbs but also maintained a balance of various activities, emotions, mindsets, and environments. The products that I externally put on my body were important too. For instance when I was experiencing a pitta imbalance, staying out of the heat was very important. I would become dizzy, irritable, lose some of my vision, start sweating, and swell if the temperature was above 80 degrees. This was especially evident in direct sunlight around noon when pitta is at its strongest. 

How dis-ease develops in the body

All of these doshic imbalances came to manifest themselves in my body and mind slowly through the process of the six Stages Of Disease, or Sad Kriya Kala. The first two stages are localized accumulation (sancaya) and aggravation (prakopa) of a dosha. Then if not cleared from the body that "out of control" dosha will spread to the tissues (prasara) in various parts of the body and find a new home to locate itself in (sthanasamsraya). If still not cleansed from the body at this stage the dosha finally expresses itself as a disease (vyakti). Lastly once this disease has manifested without intervention it may turn chronic (bheda). 

Once my gut was not digesting my food properly due to insufficient digestive fire (agnimandya), then the food I was consuming and therefore not fully digesting became harmful (ama) which began circulating throughout my body eventually lodging itself into various tissues. The aggravated and excess doshas in these tissues presented themselves as pain, inflammation, and discomfort in infinite forms throughout my body. The weakness of agni led to weakness of all my tissues, lowering immunity so much that when I was exposed to Lyme Disease pathogens and black mold my body didn't have the foundation or resources to fight them off. 

Simply having a basic understanding of how nature works through the eyes of the science of Ayurveda has greatly helped me to heal myself. Everything on earth is made up of the same elements (Mahabhutas), and tho se that we consume become our cells which build our dhatus/ tissues. By looking at the qualities that these mahabhutas create in our food, environment, and external products we can choose to fuel and surround ourselves with qualities which will balance our doshas throughout the day, year, and our life cycle to bring harmony back to the body and mind and keep it there.