What is Ayurveda?

Ayurveda is a traditional Indian healing art that has found many users in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal and is now also practiced in Western culture.

Literally translated, Ayurveda means life wisdom or life science. The term originates from Sanskrit and is composed of the words ayus(life) and veda (knowledge). Ayurveda is a combination of experiential knowledge and philosophy that focuses on the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects important to human health and disease. Thus, Ayurveda has a holistic approach.

Central elements of Ayurveda are:

Three principles of life (doshas)

In typology, we speak of three different life energies, the so-called.

Dosha (or Doshah) literally means “fault or defect (potential)”. According to Ayurvedic conception, these occur in every organism, since together they enable all processes of the organism. In a healthy organism these “energies” should be in a harmonious balance, otherwise they cause errors in the system. In the overall impression, there are one or two generally predominant doshas in each individual, rarely all three are equally pronounced. It is important for the practitioner to know which doshas are predominant in an individual because each type requires different medications and treatments.

The practitioner determines the current relationship of the doshas to each other by means of visual diagnosis, questioning and Ayurvedic pulse diagnosis. How the relationship of the doshas to each other should be, is additionally derived in India from the astrological horoscope of the patient (Prakriti analysis). To restore this right balance and eliminate accumulated waste products, nutritional therapy, order therapy, herbal medicine and certain cleansing procedures (Panchakarma) are used. These panchakarmas include fasting, baths, enemas, therapeutic vomiting and bloodletting, as well as massage, yoga and breathing exercises, color and music therapy, and the use of many Ayurvedic medicines.

Wholeness
According to the Ayurvedic interpretation, life is a unity of body, senses, mind and soul. Man is composed of the three doshas, the seven basic substances (Rasa, Rakta, Mansa, Meda, Asthi, Majja and Shukra) and the waste substances of the body (feces, urine, sweat). The growth and decay of the human being and its components are related to the food from which basic substances, dhatus, and waste products, mala, are formed. Food intake, processing, absorption, assimilation and metabolism have an impact on health and disease, which is significantly influenced by physiological and psychological mechanisms and the element of fire (Agni).

Theory of diseases and the aim of Ayurvedic healing art

In Ayurveda, everything in the universe is composed of the so-called nine substances (Dravyas): the five elements (“Pancamahabhutas”), plus the spirit “Manas”, the soul “Atman”, the space “Dik” and the time “Kala”. The five elements – water, earth, fire, air and ether – are represented in each substance in different proportions, so that each substance can be categorized by its proportions of these elements. Accordingly, all living beings are also composed of these elements.

Health and disease depend on the presence of a balanced equilibrium of the whole and its components. Internal and external influences can be responsible for the lack of balance. The loss of balance can be caused by diets, undesirable habits, non-observance of the rules of healthy living and many other reasons.

The aim of Ayurvedic healing is to prevent serious diseases by trying to understand the trigger of the disease, to recognize the first, unspecific signs and to remove the ground for an outbreak. This is done primarily by striving to find the “right” diet and lifestyle for each patient, as well as aiming to give up unhealthy habits. To this end, there are a number of treatments designed primarily to help the body maintain or regain the proper balance of the three doshas. Well-known are, for example, the various oil and powder massages and the Panchakarma.

Panchakarma (Panch means “five” and Karma means “action, treatment”).

Panchakarma are techniques (a cleansing program) to elimanate toxic elements from the body. Panchakarma refers to five actions, which are meant to be performed in a designated sequence with the stated aim of restoring balance in the body through a process of purgation

Diagnosis and treatment
Diagnosis is performed on the patient as a whole. This includes, for example, a general physical examination, pulse and urine examinations, and an examination of the tongue and eyes, regardless of the area of the body in which the complaints are present. This serves not only to find the diagnosis, but also to determine the individual constitution, i.e. the relationship of the doshas in the patient to each other. By means of this information, the therapy indicated for this patient is determined.

Treatment involves avoiding causative factors responsible for the lack of balance of the doshas. Usually, treatment consists of medicine, manual therapy, special diet and prescribed daily routine.

In Ayurveda the individual diet is the main pillar of therapy. There are two reasons for this: only food of high quality and quantity can be metabolized by the body into tissue of high quality and quantity; secondly, each substance supplied influences the physical organism by its own composition of elements, so care must be taken with the patient to supply elements in the right proportion.