Ayurveda
A 5000+ year-old Vedic system of rhythmic healing based on harmonizing the five elements: Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth to maintain health and reverse the disease process through treating the root cause.
How can Ayurveda help?
Ayurveda is the art of living well and prevention of sickness through daily harmonizing practices. It is intuitive natural medicine for maintenance and preservation of health. Ayurveda is not disease care though it can help in chronic illness. When these imbalances deepen into the disease phase, Ayurveda seeks to understand the root causes, not simply treating the symptoms, though we can do that. By understanding the root causes, we can come into lasting health.
Ayurveda considers at the whole person, not just to the symptoms or one part of the person. The body, mind and spirit are integral aspects of our being. It is through this lens that we can more effectively and holistically re-harmonize the body into the natural state of health.
One of the three main Ayurvedic sages, Susruta defines health as:
The one who is established in Self, who has balanced dosas (combination of elements), balanced agni (digestive fire), properly formed dhatus (tissues), proper elimination of malas (feces, urine and sweat), properly functioning bodily processes, and whose mind, soul, and senses are quiet and content, is called a healthy person.
Su. Su 15
Ayurveda considers the whole person body, mind, heart and spirit. To be well situated in the Self. This is the key to bring us back to our wholeness. It reminds us that to be in health is to be in full expression of Ourselves.
What is Ayurveda?
Ayurveda is a 5000+ year-old Vedic system of cyclical healing based on balancing the five great elements: Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. These elements are grouped to form the three doshas (archetypes): Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Of these doshas the twenty gunas (qualities) emerge. It is through perceiving the twenty qualities that we can understand how to balance the elements to come into our original wholeness.
At the time of birth, each person has a unique makeup of these elements creating your individual prakruti (constitution). This is your personal state of harmony. As life happens, these elements get vitiated, increase or decrease, creating vikruti (imbalance). If we notice imbalances early, it is easy to bring them back to balance. If they are not tended to, disease starts to take form.
Ayurveda teaches us how to know ourselves and the world around us through their qualities. The doorways to experience the world is through the senses. As we accurately perceive our outer and inner worlds, we can gently tune our daily practices to come into right harmony for ourselves.
Lineage of Ayurveda
Brahma smrtvayuso vedam prajapatim ajigrahat |
So’svinau tau sahasraksam so’triputradikan munin ||
Te’gnivesadi kams te tu prthak tantrani te nire |
Va. Su. 1
Brahma, remembering Ayurveda, taught it to Prajapati. He taught it to Asvins, they taught it to Indra. Indra taught it to Atri’s son and other sages. They taught it to Agnivesa and other. And they each composed their own treaties (on Ayurveda).
Evam maya srutam …
This is what I heard … Dr. Lad said that if we are here curious about Ayurveda, then we must have learned it in the past. We see in this sutra on the Lineage of Ayurveda from the Ashtanga Hridayam that Brahma remembered Ayurveda. To remember this ancient wisdom is possible for all of us. At Clear Light Ayurveda, it is our mission to walk this journey of remembering and awakening together.