As I already announced at the end of last year, Ayurveda will also be a common thread in the 2020 blogs. This is a brief introduction, just brief because Ayurveda is a comprehensive medical, scientific, philosophical and spiritual system.
Ayurveda comes from India and the oldest writings are more than 5000 years old. Before that, the knowledge was transferred orally from teacher to student. Anyway, Veda means knowledge and Ayur means life. So Ayurveda means: the knowledge of life. For understanding Ayurveda, (just like Chinese medicine and biofysical medicine), you will have to start thinking in energy, frequency and vibration.
Ayurveda knows 5 elements: ether/space, wind/air, fire, water and earth. As you may recall from last year’s blogs, Chinese medicine also has 5 elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. From a Western point of view: ether/space = nuclear energy. Wind/air = electric energy. Fire = radiation energy. Water = chemical energy and earth is the mechanical energy.
In Ayurveda ether/space has to do with home and home as in your life, your body, your conciousness. This is the most airy element and it is the element that includes all other elements.
The element air is anything that is gaseous, such as oxygen. It is also time. Time is mindmade by human and in this time and age it is interesting to be busy. However, there is no time, just priority.
Fire has everything to do with conversion processes, such as digestion and it is also focus. You can focus on your goals, but also on your single pointed awareness.
Water is everything liquid like blood and lymph. Water also stand for flow. Do you experience flow in your life?
Earth is everything that is solid like your bones. Earth has also to do with rooted habits. Which of your habits are ok on every level and which ones do you want to break?
Energy is the basis of everything that exists in the world and everything grossly is made out of these 5 forms of primordial energy. You can find those 5 forms of primordial energy in your macro and micro cosmos. The five elements also manifest in your body through the tri-dosha. The tri-dosha are the 3 bio energies vata, pitta and kapha. Everyone has a unique composition of these doshas. The composition of your doshas determine your physique, your constitution, certain character traits, behavior and predisposition to diseases. The art of Ayurveda, the art of life, is to balance the doshas. Disease is a disruption of one or more doshas. In later blogs, I will elaborate on each dosha.
Just as Chinese medicine has Qi Gong and Tai Chi, Ayurveda knows yoga as a theory of movement. Where Chinese medicine has meridians and acupuncture points, Ayurveda has nadis and marma points.
The Ayurveda is also good at the origin of emotions. The chakra psychology reads that there are 7 main chakras that each have a life theme. If one or more of those themes are not properly completed, it can lead to blockages and diseases. For good health, it is important that the chakras are well balanced. Chakras can be over- or underactive and this influences your physical and emotional well being. The chakras will also be discussed in the following blogs.
So far for this month! A lot more to come!
