Ayurveda and the Healing of the Body and Mind
Ayurveda is a type of meditation of the body and mind. Ayur is Hindu for life and Veda is Hindu for science of life. Two of the main guiding principles of Ayurveda are the mind and body are very connected and there is no greater power to heal the body than by using your mind. Freedom from illness depends upon expanding our own awareness, bringing it into balance, and then extending that balance to the body. The process sounds really complicated but it’s not. For example, when you meditate, you try to block off anything that is happening around you and you open your inner quiet and become more aware. Meditation is just one of the most powerful tools the ancient Ayurvedic physicians prescribed for balancing the mind and body. Ayurveda also offers many other practices for expanding self-awareness and cultivating your innate state of balance. Here are some of the most important aspects of the Ayurvedic approach and suggestions for applying them to create perfect health in your own life.
Understand your body and mind type
You have to understand your body and mind type and some needs that derive from it. Ayurveda is a personalized approach to health, and knowing your mind-body type allows you to make optimal choices about diet, exercise, supplements, and all other aspects of your lifestyle. You can learn more about Ayurvedic mind-body types and find out how to identify your own individual type here: https://chopra.com/articles/the-key-to-perfect-health?_ga=2.155422203.1521531195.1516383380-2074608340.1516383380
Eat a colorful, flavorful diet
Breathing, eating, and drinking are three of the most important things you can do to keep your body functioning. A simple way to make sure that you are getting a balanced diet is to include the six Ayurvedic tastes (sweet, salty, sour, pungent, bitter, and astringent) in each meal. Along with the six tastes, filling your plate with the colors of the rainbow promotes a long and healthy life. You can literally ingest the information of the universe into your biology. Foods that are deep blue, purple, red, green, or orange are leaders in antioxidants and contain many nutrients that boost immunity and enhance health.
Get a good, restful sleep
Next is to sleep well. During sleep, our body repairs and calms itself. A lack of calm and restful sleep will unbalance the body , weaken the immune system, speeds up the aging process, and make you more stressed. Humans need at least 6 hours of restful sleep every night. If you feel energetic and vibrant when you wake up, you had a night of restful sleep. If you still feel tired or unenthusiastic in the morning, you haven’t had a good, restful sleep. You can find a more detailed sleep routine here: https://chopra.com/articles/how-to-get-restful-sleep
Take it easy
When you’re starting ayurveda, it seems overwhelming because you’re cutting off a lot of food that you don’t need. When you observe nature, you will notice that grass doesn’t try to grow; it just grows. Birds don’t try to fly; they just fly. Flowers don’t try to blossom; they just blossom. This kind of connects with ayurveda. Once you start to really get into the process, it’s really easy to keep it going. You don’t have to jump right into it, you can start off slow and build your way up. It’s a really good way to meditate while eating healthier.
Interview
My aunt is currently studying about ayurveda and I decided to ask her a few questions:
How did you get into ayurveda? How did you find out about it?
I was looking for why some people can eat things and not gain weight and others would gain weight. Why the variability. So stumbled upon Ayurveda which is the oldest documented medicinal practice.
How long have you been doing this and how is it affecting your everyday life?
I’ve been slowly incorporating Ayurvedic routines and diet specific to my body type for ~6 months. It has helped me to reduced many of my health/wellness issues and has added greatly to my quality of life. I incorporate what I should be doing at the correct time of day and my health has vastly improved.
How fast does is take to get into the swing of things?
It’s different for everyone. Some people can jump straight in and others need to make one or 2 changes at a time. Particularly the diet portion, people tend to struggle with that. So you can take some time, but have to remind yourself of you intention and your “why” for changing in the first place. The end is great and keeps getting better!
Do you have anything to add?
You want to eat differently based on your type and also different proportions of things. Also you are more active at different times of the day. Vata are early birds and Pitta are night owls. Kapha can sleep all the time. (dosha test here when I can find it)