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Mind/Body Index
(click on interest)Our Natural State
Uniqueness
Ayurveda views each and every person as unique, with a unique mind-body constitution and a unique set of life circumstances, all of which must be considered in determining either natural healing approaches or recommendations for daily living.
This view is in alignment with the modern science which views individuals as unique in the universe with a unique DNA.
Because we each have a unique constitution, our health prescription must be unique to us. This means that in order to be healthy, you need to eat certain foods that are beneficial for your body type and stay away from others.
Your exercise program must be personally suitable as well. Your constitution determines much about you - your body, your personality, even how you relate to other people. Understanding it lets you know what you need in order to be healthy.
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Mind & Body : Ayurveda
"Understanding your body's natural rhythms and needs activates unbelievably powerful disease-fighting processes within you." Deepak Chopra, M.D.
The Three Dosha
Ayurveda consciousness-based approach to health care aims at enlivening the body's own intelligence to restore its orderly functioning. The discipline holds that everyone is born with their own natural balance which influences all aspects of their life, including body structure, emotional makeup and predisposition to illnesses. Without understanding one's natural balance you may unknowingly create imbalances by following a life-style that strains your mind/body system.
Ayurveda was the first system of medicine to recognize the concept of individual mind/body types or 'Biological Makeup'. The first question an Ayurvedic physician asks is not 'What disease does my patient have?' but "Who is my patient?'" explains Deepak Chopra, M.D., a Western-trained endocrinologist who has introduced Ayurvedic medicine to the general reader through a number of popular books. "By 'who,'" adds Dr. Chopra, "the physician does not mean your name, but how you are constituted.".
According to Ayurveda, the body is governed by three fundamental biological principles-called doshas- that control all of the body's functions. These doshas are Vata (regulates movement), Pitta (regulates metabolism) and Kapha (regulates structure). Although each person's metabolic type is determined by a predominant dosha, all three doshas work together and are present in varying degrees in every cell, tissue, and organ of the body .
Most people are a mixture of dosha characteristics (such as vata-pitta), with one usually more predominant than another. One's individual mind/body type is determined by the natural predominance of one or more of these three doshas in the body. This combination defines many aspects of our health, physical shape and personality and flourishes under a specific diet, exercise plan and lifestyle
Each dosha is naturally inclined toward certain activities, but Ayurvedic principles maintain each must be complemented by their energetic opposites to achieve balanced bodies and minds. For example, if you're a Pitta, your passionate, aggressive nature may draw you to competitive, high-energy activities. But competition tends to aggravate, rather than balance out Pitta, so to attain balance one must also pursue activities that cool passion.
Left unchecked, one's dominant dosha can cause physical or emotional imbalance. For instance, someone with Vata qualities is energetic and talkative, but when that Vata gets out of balance it can manifest as anxiety and insomnia. Being creatures of nature, everything-from the food on our plates to the weather to the color of our walls-affects our doshas' balance.