November/December 2004

Ayurveda: A balanced approach to health
By Chris O’Brien

Want to know what to do for optimum health based on your body type and personality? Ayurveda can tell you. Created in India about 6000 years ago, ayurveda is the practice of achieving physical, mental and spiritual balance through proper diet and lifestyle. Millennia of observation and research have produced characterizations based on physical and mental attributes and recorded tried and true solutions to almost anything that ails the human being. What’s unique about ayurveda versus Western medicine is that it treats the individual at a specific point in time for a specific result. It does not cast generic remedies that alleviate most symptoms most of the time in most people.

The word "ayurveda” comes from the Sanskrit term for "knowledge of life.” Part of the ayurvedic principle is the concept that anything that works can be used as treatment. Diet, lifestyle, herbs, exercise, yoga, meditation and other special techniques are all possible parts of a prescribed regimen from the ayurvedic practitioner.

Central to the practice of ayurveda is the idea that we are made up of five elements: Ether, air, fire, water and earth. These elements have been recombined into three distinct attributes of the individual constitution called the doshas. The three doshas are vata, pitta and kapha.

Vata primarily represents the elements of air and ether, and is associated with movement in the physical body. It governs breathing, blinking, muscle and tissue movement, circulation and all movements in the cytoplasm and cell membranes. In balance, vata promotes creativity and flexibility. Out of balance, vata produces fear and anxiety. Physically, vata dominant people are thin-framed, usually either tall or short, and have dry skin, lips and eyes. Vata should eat light, warm and easy-to-digest meals.

Pitta represents the elements of fire and water, and relates to the body's metabolic system. It governs digestion, absorption, assimilation, nutrition, metabolism and body temperature. In balance, pitta promotes understanding and intelligence. Out of balance, pitta arouses anger, hatred and jealousy. Pittas are typically medium-framed but well-built, have a strong metabolism and a good digestion and appetite. They are fair-skinned with moles or freckles. Pitta should limit oily and salty foods, avoid caffeine and alcohol, and balance the craving for spicy food with cooling foods.

Kapha is formed from earth and water, and is associated with the body's structure including bones, muscles and tendons, as well as the immune system. Kapha also relates to hydration and lubrication in the joints and skin. In balance, kapha is expressed as love, calmness and forgiveness. Out of balance, it leads to attachment, greed and envy. The typical kapha has a slow metabolism and a medium to large build. They have thick, oily skin and large eyes. Kapha should eat lighter foods and minimize sweet, oily and salty foods.

Every person is made up of a specific and unique blend of vata, pitta and kapha, with typically one dosha dominating the mix. This combination of doshas is called a prakruti, or ayurvedic constitution. Ayurvedic practitioners use dosha analysis to diagnose conditions and prescribe herbs and lifestyle regimens to help individuals regain balance.

³At the moment of conception, depending on different factors such as time of day, season, and the doshas and balance of our parents, our own individual constitution is determined, so that by the time we are born we have developed a prakruti,” says Ron Hadsall, projects coordinator at the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. ³An ayurvedic practitioner will first determine your prakruti to find out what your balanced state should be. Then, your state of imbalance, vikruti, will be assessed using various techniques such as observing skin tone, the tongue and fingernails, and the pulse.”

A trained practitioner can quickly size up your state just by looking at your physical body and finding out a little about your current mental state. He or she might ask you questions about your diet, lifestyle, and overall attitude and disposition to determine the cause of an imbalance and recommend a treatment. The cause can be physical, such as poor diet or infection, or mental, such as stress. Then, a practitioner would recommend a regular routine that’s health supporting and specific to the client’s needs, based on his or her constitution.

³For example, if a man comes to me and I can see that his pitta dosha is out of balance in such a way that he’s got red eyes, a skin rash, his liver’s enlarged and he is complaining about feeling hot all day, I will ask him about his lifestyle,” says Hadsall. ³Maybe he’s jogging at noon in the heat of the day instead of having lunch, drinking a lot of coffee and eating too much hot and spicy food - all situations which aggravate pitta and contribute to the overheating. I might tell him he needs to jog in the morning, eat cooling salads and light foods, and drink limeade or sip water while avoiding coffee.”

In addition to dietary changes, a practitioner may recommend meditation for calming, yoga, different sleep regimens and other physical and mental disciplines.

That’s usually about as far as it gets in the United States. In India, ayurveda is a complete medical practice with licensed practitioners and dedicated colleges and hospitals. But with no federal regulatory board, ayurveda can’t be practiced as medicine here, though it is regarded as an alternative medicine.

³In the United States and other Western countries, the ayurvedic physician’s hands are tied,” says Wynn Werner, administrator at the Ayurvedic Institute and board member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA). ³The ayurvedic tool bag has powerful medicines that are prohibited by the FDA including botanicals whose active ingredient has already been used by Western medicine in pharmaceuticals as well as alchemically-prepared formulas that use potentially dangerous minerals such as mercury and sulfur.” Also, says Werner, since practitioners can’t be licensed, they aren’t legally permitted to treat diseases; rather, they have to communicate in the language of balancing doshas with a focus on education to enable clients to make the best health choices possible.

An important part of ayurveda is the use of herbs. A number of now-popular ³ayurvedic herbs,” such as ashwagandha and boswellia, are so called because they happen to be grown in India and are part of the typical ayurvedic pharmacopoeia. But there’s really no such thing as an ³ayurvedic herb.” Since anything that works qualifies as a treatment, a Western ayurvedic practitioner might include echinacea or even aspirin in his or her herbal repertoire, so long as it is used within the ayurvedic principles of treating the individual and balancing the doshas.

Herbs are traditionally used in combination with diet and lifestyle changes to hasten physical rebalancing or directly treat a condition. In recent years, ayurvedic herbs have garnered the recognition of Western science through clinical studies. However, traditional practitioners says that these herbs aren’t used properly when taken Western style as a silver bullet for a symptom, and need to be used as part of a whole ayurvedic regimen.

In addition to herbs and dietary changes, ayurvedic treatments can include meditation, yoga, mantras, massage and special techniques such as shirodhara, the drizzling of warm sesame oil on the forehead, particularly good for calming the vata mind. The specific combination of herbs, lifestyle, diet and other techniques depend on the practitioner and the needs of the individual.

The best way to find a practitioner is through word of mouth. Ask around and find out who’s good. Or check the internet for a list of practitioners in your area. During the first visit - typically an hour-long consultation that costs $100 to $150 - the practitioner determines your prakruti and vikriti, and makes initial treatment recommendations. Follow-up appointments range from $40 to $65 and typically last about a half an hour. Other costs include additional treatments such as massage, shirodhara and herbs, as well as classes and/or special foods.

Ayurveda Resources, local and beyond
For more information, or to find a practitioner, see the following resources:

Ayurveda: The Science of Self Healing by Vasant Lad (Lotus Press, 1984)
Essential Ayurveda: What It Is And What It Can Do For You by Shubhra Krishan (New World Library, 2003)
Textbook of Ayurveda by Vasant Lad (Ayurvedic Press, 2000)
www.ayurveda.com: The Ayurvedic Institute’s web site with education, resources and events.
www.loaj.com/index.htm: “Light on Ayurveda Journal of Health” website featuring articles, events, schools and practitioner locator
The following Ayurvedic practitioners are advertisers in Nexus:

Nita Desai, MD; 303-669-2385, pages 29 and 41
Dr. John Doulliard’s Life Spa; 303-516-4848, www.lifespa.com;
Terra Rafael; 720-628-5015, www.wisewomanhood.com;

 

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