Nutrition for Life

Eastern Healing Practices

Nutrition for Life by Parul Kharod

First of all, thank you to those of you who messaged me about this column missing from the June issue. From now on, you will see my column on alternate months.

Recently there has a been a lot of focus on Integrative and Functional Medicine from a Western perspective. So, I wanted to focus a little more on Eastern healing practices, and specifically Ayurveda. I know I have mentioned some tips about digestion and other tidbits in my previous articles, but I wanted everyone to have some basic foundational knowledge. For that purpose, I reached out to Nidhi Agrawal for her expertise. Hope you learn some useful tips from my interview with her. What are the basic principles of Ayurveda?

Ayurveda is the ancient system of living a healthier and happier life. Ayurveda teaches us the relationship between living and its surrounding environment. It discusses practical approaches for taking care of the universe, which we are a part of, and teaches us to a bring balance of mind-body-spirit. Each person has a unique constitution in relationship with the universe. According to Ayurveda, humans (microcosm) are part of the universe (macrocosm).

Our physical makeup is a combination of five essential elements present in the universe - ether, air, fire, water, and earth. Each element has its own characteristics, and principle. According to Ayurveda there are four aspects we need to keep in balance to maintain the health of mind, body, and spirit and these are: The Doshas, Dhatus, Malas and Agni. Can you briefly explain how the elements and doshas are connected?

The essential elements (ether, air, fire, water, and earth) are building blocks of all matter. All creations, including humans, are made of combinations of these five elements. These essential elements are manifested in humans in three energies, called TRIDOSHA-Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.

The doshas are energies that make our constitution and govern our body, mind and spirit. Each dosha is made up of two of the five elements (ether, air, fire, water, and earth). Vata dosha is a combination ether and air, Pitta is a combination of fire and water, and Kapha is combination of water and earth elements. The doshas exhibit the characteristics of the elements from which they are made of. All diseases are caused by an imbalance

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