The Sanskrit word ‘ayur’ means life and ‘veda’ means wisdom. Ayurveda is the ancient Indian system of natural and holistic medicine, which has more than 5000 years of history in its research and studies. While allopathic medicine tends to focus on the management of disease, Ayurveda provides us with the knowledge of how to prevent disease and how to eliminate its root cause if it does occur.

According to ayurveda everything in the universe is a combination of three forces – kapha, pitta and vata. Even the micro level of cells in a human body is constructed by these three universal forces which are the combinations of elements. When the first cells are forming the tissues and organs of a child inside the uterus, one or two forces can dominate in that body, which makes the characteristics of that child from his birth and continues all through his life. Considering the time of the birth, weight of the child, physical status and mental response, Prakruti, the birth dominant element can be diagnosed. As for an example, generally, while vata dominating children will be of less weight with sleek bone structure, the pitha dominating will be average and the kapha dominating will be over weight with broad bone structure at the time of birth.

When the fundamental elements in our body-mind system are in a state of balance all our systems, such as circulatory, respiratory, digestive, urinary, endocrine, lymphatic, nervous, reproductive, skeletal and muscular, will function with ease, which in ayurveda is considered as a sign of perfect health. But through the wrong food or lifestyle or mental practice, if any of these elements get out of balance.

In a state of imbalance in one’s health, one or two or even three forces (K/P/V) of nature can aggravate and show signals through body/mind dysfunction. Neglecting these signals for a period of time leads to symptoms, and in the later stage becomes diseases in the corresponding organs and systems. The signals can be shown through the dysfunction of either the body or the mind, or even both.

If we carefully listen to the signals from our body/mind we can find out which elements are out of balance in our system. For instance, if we are not eating the right food for our body type our digestive system shows the signals, which varies according to the aggravation of the elements, like indigestion (kapha imbalance) or acid reflex (pitta imbalance) or bloating with gases (vata imbalance). Or if we have an imbalance in the elements in our mental body it shows as depression (kapha imbalance) or high stress (pitta imbalance) or anxiety (vata imbalance).

If we don’t listen to the signals on time and don’t take care our health with the natural practices of ayurveda it can lead to symptoms and diseases in the later stages. For example, while depression in long term can cause cell changes and under function of organs in the body, heavy stress can lead to migraine and inflammation in the muscles, and anxiety can create coldness and weakness in the joints. More about this on https://janeshvaidya.com/ayurveda/.

Ayurveda Lifestyle
Ayurveda places great importance on one’s pathya, lifestyle, which is basically a person’s food habits and daily routine. In Ayurveda, food is the medicine and life disciplines are the therapy. During the stay at the Ayurveda Village, every guest gets the guidance to practice Ayurveda lifestyle through the right food, right exercise (yoga and meditation) and right relaxation programs for the body and mind according to the dominating elements/diseases’ condition.

On janeshvaidya.com/ayurveda/ you can read the most frequently asked questions about ayurveda.