The Science of Imbalances!
‘Science of life’ is explained
very well in Ayurveda. It’s very fascinating to know about this science, which
deals with the way of life and life style. It’s main aim is to lead a healthy
and happy life. It believes in maintenance of health and prevention of
diseases. Thus maintaining harmony in the health and environment, and achieving
overall well-being of an individual is the overall objective of this ancient
science.
All of us know that any variation
in the food or place or life style from our routine, we often feel a difference
in our health like say, a mild stomach discomfort or change in bowel movement
or sore throat etc. We have also observed that we come over the disturbances
that tend to happen by simple life style changes or adoption of specific food
and regimens. The remedy is often within nature that can influence the body
composition a bit for chemical changes within. We just need to be present to these
or be aware of basics of our body.
In the science of Ayurveda, all
these changes are keenly observed and according to the variation of
environment, changes or adoption of our life style advises are given
All of us know that the season
changes all-round the year. We wear warm clothes in winter and thin cotton
clothes in summer, or carry an umbrella in rainy season. Why we do all these,
is to protect us from the effect of environment on our health. Similarly,
body also adopts itself to seasons based on the changes.
The narration of 6 seasons (ritus) comprising of 2 months each is
mentioned in books by the ancient scholars. This is broadly categorized
into 2 Ayanas depending on the
direction of movement of sun ie.. Uttarayana
(northern solstice) and Dakshinayana
(southern solstice). Each comprised of three Ritus (seasons). A year consists of six seasons, namely, Shishira (winter), Vasanta (spring), and Grishma
(summer) in Uttarayan and Varsha (monsoon), Sharata (autumn), and Hemanta
(late autumn) in Dakshinayana.
Apart from the seasonal
variation, a day variates based on the dosha
predominance. Vata, pitta and kapha, which are known as building blocks of our body. These are
functional entities with specific function. Doshas
are not physical entities, they are only functional unit. We can tell, Doshas in its normal state have no
disease, when these become vitiate, they tend to causes disease in the body.
Authoritative Ayurvedic treatises describe how the quantity and quality of
these three substances fluctuate in the body according to the seasons, time of
day, diet, and several other factors. Everything we eat, do, think and behave
can affect the doshas and the dhatus (the seven fundamental
elements/principles that support the basic structure and functioning of the
body) in our bodies. They determine conditions of growth, aging, health and
disease. So to balance health and maintain equilibrium of doshas we need to adopt or change our life style and food regimens
accordingly.
When we deeply understand these
fundamentals, we realize, a lot of modern science principles too are based on
these principles at different levels. Imagine, when we combine the strengths of
these ancient wisdom with modern science in diagnosing a disease from various
dimension - symptom, nature (prakriti)
and environment, the precision that we could arrive at with which we can treat
a patient can be a big breakthrough. This is what is missing today! This is
achieved through ‘Integrative medicine’ as an approach. The approach of diagnosing
and treating a disease becomes more personal, specific and more holistic.
-by Dr. Vatsala BAMS, MD, Principle
Consultant Ayurveda, WELLBEEING Integrated Health Centre, Bangalore
Comments
Post a Comment