Why the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda is relevant to us all today

Ayurveda is a simple and practical holistic healing system with principles that stem from ancient scriptures, known as Vedas, dating back more than 5000 years in India. 

Some of you may have heard of the universal intelligences of vata, pitta and kapha – doshas – which are terms used in Ayurveda to describe all things within us and around us.  This includes things such as a season, an emotion, an action in the body or a time of day.  Knowing our personal constitutional dosha(s) helps us to understand our personality traits, our tendency towards illness, our strengths and our weaknesses.   It’s like being armed with a compass and we can begin to predict the direction of how and when we can fall into imbalance due to our nature.  Understanding our constitution plays a major role in how we can live our lives effectively.   

Even more importantly, is how to address our current imbalances, vikruti?  Vikruti means “after creation.”  Due to the less than optimal environment most of us find ourselves in, in our busy, modern lives, we are likely experiencing some form of stress, imbalance or less than ideal physical symptoms.  Knowing vikruti helps us identify which aspects of our environment have contributed to the disturbance.  Once explored and understood, the goal is to correct the environment. In this context, environment refers to both what a person takes in through their five senses as well as the nature of their lifestyle, relationships and diet.

Self-care is often an area we overlook.  Many of us are a parent, a spouse, somebodys’ boss, an employee AKA busy.  We rush from obligation to obligation, hastily eat meals, forgo exercise or meditation because we “don’t have time” and more often than not put the needs of others before ourselves.  Being selfless is an admirable trait, and parents in particular demonstrate this daily but being selffull is much more imperative so that we have energy to offer those relationships around us the best version of ourselves.   I draw your attention here to the airline safety announcement of securing your own oxygen mask first before helping others! We’ve become disconnected from ourselves and what we truly need moment to moment.

So, how do Ayur Vedas translate now for us in the 21^st century?  The ancient scriptures outline a number of very tangible and practical routines to apply to our lifestyle to help maintain balance.  Ayurveda outlines which foods are best suited to us as individuals considering our needs – our prakruti and our vikruti.

If you would like to understand yourself more clearly through this lens and what regimes and routines will be best suited for you to align yourself to your true nature and move gracefully with the ever changing, ever stressful environment around you – sign up for our workshop!

I hope to see you there,

Phillipa Joy
Qualified Ayurvedic Lifestyle Consultant