Ayurvedic Body Types: Determining The Real ‘YOU’

Ayurveda is an interesting science of life guiding us to learn more about ourselves. It throws light into our unique system and aids us in exploring who we are, what suits us the best and how to live a holistic and comprehensive life?

Ayurveda trusts that the entire Universe inclusive of the human body is made up of 5 predominant elements known as Devanagari, popularly known as ‘Panch Booth, where Panch indicates 5 and Booth stands for the chief elements of the universe namely:

  1. Water called as Jala
  2. Earth called as Prthvi
  3. Air known as Vayu
  4. Sky called as Akasa
  5. Fire known as Agni

According to Ayurveda the human body constitutes of 7 primary elements known as ‘Saptadhatu’ and they are:

  1. Rasa dhatu defines Plasma or Chyle
  2. Rakta dhatu indicates Blood
  3. Mamsa dhatu means Flesh
  4. Medha dhatu stands for Fat
  5. Asthi dhatu means Bone
  6. Majja dhatu stands for Marrow
  7. Sukra dhatu denotes female reproductive tissue or semen

Based upon these elements and its constituents, human body is classified and expressed as the equilibrium of 3 fundamental energies (Dosha) also known as humors or principles of mind and body. Ayurveda uses the 5 primary elements of the Universe to define human body types as a combination of these five elements namely air, water, fire, ether and earth in different proportions within the humors. The Ayurvedic science says that every individual is made up of a unique combination of 3 body and mind principles, creating our explicit physical and mental personality. The 3 major Doshas are:

Vata Dosha: Vata Dosha is a representative of wind and is a combination of air and space (ether) where air dominates. It can be called as the controlling authority of the power vested with our body and it directs the other two doshas. This humor regulates the circulation, function of the nervous system, and the movements of our body along with emotional and bodily development.

Predominant characteristics: When an individual has a chief composition of Vata, he/she will look lean, act faster and stay flexible while being creative, conversational, visionary, artistic and fervent with full of energy. Imbalance of this energy can cause loss of memory, restlessness, anxiety, insomnia, fear, dry skin, bloating and few other digestive disorders like indigestion, intestinal gas and constipation.

Pitta Dosha: Pitta Dosha is a blend of fire and water and it signifies bile. With fire being the superior element, Pitta is responsible for all kinds of corporeal actions concerning heat like digestion, creation of energy with the help of hormones and takes care of metabolism, body temperature and absorption.

Predominant characteristics: A proper balance of Pitta upholds intelligence, confidence, competitiveness, glowing complexion and leadership capabilities with a sizzling temper. Pitta disparity can cause jealously, anger, annoyance, disgust and other bodily problems like ulcer, high blood pressure, skin irritation, heartburn and soreness.

Kapha Dosha: With water as the overriding element, Kapha or phlegm is an arrangement of water and earth responsible for connecting bones, tissues, muscles and tendons. It is wholly in charge for the structure of the body by supplying fluid strength to all parts of the body while maintaining consistency, stability, solidity, skin health and proper lubrication of joints.

Predominant characteristics: Kapha balance aids in exhibiting tranquil, trustworthy, lovable and compassionate personalities, generally with hefty body structure. The unevenness of this type will lead to obesity, congestion, lethargic attitude and slow digestion.

Ayurvedic discipline states that the human body is said to be healthy when it strikes a balance between these 3 energy elements and when there is discrepancy, the body tends to become unwholesome and turns detrimental.

Reference Links:

  1. Ayurveda by Wikipedia
  2. Ayurvedic Body Type: Find Your Dosha by The Dr.OZ Show
  3. Ayurvedic Principles For Mind-Body Balance by Ayurvedic Talk

What Can You Expect From Your First Ayurvedic Consultation?

Every task in this world has a system to adopt and a strategy to follow, Ayurvedic treatment also fits under this ceiling. Just by hearing about certain random facts, you cannot pluck the leaves in your backyard to cure an illness because there’s a heap of things to be done before kick starting your Ayurvedic therapy. Only a skilled Ayurvedic professional can hit the nail for you the first time itself. So you are ready to take up this holistic approach for your well-being. It is at this stage that you’ll be inquisitive in knowing about the things that you can expect from your first Ayurvedic consultation. It’s time to pull the plug and here you go with the occurrences that you can look for in an initial Ayurvedic session.

1st Stride: Most of the Ayurvedic institutions ask you to fill in a short form with your personal details along with the ground reason for the actual visit. After which the sitting with your Ayurvedic expert is set upon. The first consultation may last for about 1 to 2 hours and the follow-up sessions will be for about 30 minutes.

2nd Stride: Here starts the assessment where most of your physical functions are tested thoroughly by the Ayurvedic practitioner. We’ll take a quick look at the different tests you’ll undergo:

  • Every Ayurvedic consultant will start with the pulse checkup to determine the strength, regularity, degree, association and warmth of your body. This test aids in weighing the function of your cell system, endocrine system and your cardiac system.
  • Your pulse analysis is followed by a breathing test for finding the speed and disparities in breathing. This helps in tracing out the fortitude, level of stress dynamics, wetness and time-span of the flow and robustness of your lungs.
  • Now the Ayurvedic specialist will look into your eyes analyzing its shape, color, glow and movement that will help him discover the working of your brain, pancreas, gall bladder and liver. This also assists in concluding the level of toxins in your body.
  • Your tongue is then checked for thickness, color, texture and shape revealing the condition of your digestive system, pancreas and gall bladder and discloses the presence of bacteria or other micro organisms in the body.
  • Mineral, vitamins and other nutrition deficiencies along with the mucus content are assessed by testing the surface of your skin and palm reading is also done to test out the planetary influence on your system.

This step helps in verifying the contemporary condition of your vital organs along with the psychosomatic structure (Doshas) of your body according to Ayurveda.

3rd Stride: This is the time when you need to wear your heart on your sleeve. Yes! Open up and never hide any of your personal details as every small thing has a greater influence in deciding your treatment composition. At this step you’ll be inquired about your medical history and that of your blood relations like father, mother, brother, sister, grandparents and your children. Along with this, you also need to answer questions on your routines, eating and other customary habits, lifestyle, your food and other general preferences, any events that have affected or moved you and any other physical or mental problems that have been bothering you persistently in the past.

At the end of these 3 steps, your Ayurvedic consultant will come to a conclusion on your natural inheritance known as Prakriti, current health condition or imbalances of body types called as Vikriti and estimate your health condition in the near future. After which he’ll prescribe you the right Ayurvedic treatment in the form of powder, capsules, decoction or massage therapy with Ayurvedic essential oils for handling your current illness and to confiscate the actual root cause for the disorders along with a pertinent diet, meditation and other physical exercises for enlightening your lifestyle. Your Ayurvedic specialist will also confirm you the date for your follow-up consultation for better and complete results.

Reference Links:

  1. Ayurvedic Consultation by Yatan Holistic Ayurvedic Center
  2. Prakriti by Wikipedia
  3. Dosha by Wikipedia
  4. Vikriti: Your Current Condition-Test by Banyan Botanicals Ayurvedic Herbs

Types of Ayurveda: 2 Major Divisions of the Ayurveda Family

The history of Ayurveda is as old as the history of Neem trees that can be marked back to the ancient Indus Valley Civilization of India. Generally, old traditions, out-of-date cultures and old-fashioned practices turn obsolete in due course of time but think if something is spreading its divine power all around the world even after 5000 solid years, what could be the authentic reason lying behind it? The concrete single word answer for this question is just ‘TRUTH’ and truth only in its way of healing humanity wholly.

Each solitary website on Ayurveda and Ayurvedic treatment will have its own way of defining Ayurveda. Apart from its real meaning ‘the knowledge of life’, few may call it as a holistic approach, magical science of healing, best way to treat human illness, natural way of curing mankind and many more. I’d like to remember Ayurveda with the term Ssshh…….. Yes! Let’s call it as the supreme system for superior healing holistically and the silent system as well. Looks easy for you too… to remember this heavenly science, right!!!

Many confuse the types of Ayurveda with Ayurvedic body types also known as doshas i.e. Vata, Pitta and Kapha but to signify unmistakably, the science of Ayurveda can be put into two major classifications namely the Traditional Ayurveda and Maharishi Ayurveda. These two types of Ayurveda work based on the individual Ayurvedic body types, which says that each individual is distinctive and have a discrete structure of energy compiling mental, physical, behavioral and environmental uniqueness.

  • Traditional Ayurveda: Ayurveda is trusted to have its root from two of the prominent religions in India namely Hinduism and Buddhism. This ancient structured method of healing has its traditional concepts listed in the sacred books known as Vedas. Few other sources say that this conventional system is received from Indian God Brahma by the blessed God of medicine known as Dhanvantari. Traditional Ayurvedic theory emphasizes on good metabolism supported by problem-free digestion and apt excretion that guides to vivacity along with meditation, yoga and other physical exercises.
  • Maharishi Ayurveda:  Maharishi Ayurveda is a contemporary resurgence of traditional Ayurveda system projected by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1980s based upon his interest in fortifying the ancient Ayurvedic science in the late 1970s. Maharishi Ayur Veda insists on Transcendental Meditation technique (TM) that presents an all-inclusive knowledge for experiencing the untainted realization of this world by slowing down the aging process through prompt treatment and prevention of diseases. This type of Ayurveda talks about the impact of optimistic feelings for balancing your life with accordance to the natural pace of your body.

Traditional as well as Maharishi Ayurveda believes that health conditions are a result of disparity of the doshas. Both these methods try to treat the whole system by enhancing the inner intelligence for striking balance between these doshas with the help of herbal medicines and Ayurvedic essential oils. To end with, the most remarkable fact is that this great medicinal science is recognized by WHO (World Health Organization) as the effectual and refined way of natural healing.

References:

  1. Ayurveda by Wikipedia
  2. Maharishi Vedic Approach To Health by eNotes
  3. Ayurveda by University of Maryland Medical Center