Ayurveda & Ayurvedic Practices – Everything You Need to Know
Long before the world became hooked on modern medicine and thousands of years before it was able to provide all types of different scientific evidence that promotes the mind and body connection, there were some sages in India that developed something known as Ayurveda, which to this very day is still considered to be one of the very best systems in the world when it comes to your mind and body health. In fact, Ayurveda is actually one of, if not the most powerful and sophisticated mind and body health system that has ever been used.
Being much more than just a system designed to help you treat your illnesses, Ayurveda is considered to be a science of life. In fact, if you were to break down the word Ayurveda, it literally translates like this:
- Ayur = life
- Veda = knowledge or science
With that being said, what Ayurveda has to offer is essentially going to be a body of wisdom that has been designed to help you stay as vibrant as you possibly can, as well as healthy and at the same time, being able to realize your full human potential.
Now that you know what Ayurveda really is, what is it really all about?
Ayurveda’s Two Main Guiding Principles
When it comes to Ayurveda, there are going to be two main guiding principles. The first principle is that both your body and your mind are going to be inextricably connected. The second principle is going to be that there is nothing more powerful that can help you transform and heal your body than your mind.
Essentially, if you are looking to experience freedom from all types of illnesses, it is solely going to depend upon you being able to expand your own awareness, helping you to bring it into a healthy balance, and then sharing that same balance with the rest of your body. While it may sound like it is going to take you years to fully understand and be able to properly use the Ayurveda system, you may be surprised to discover that it is actually not as difficult or complicated as it may actually sound.
For example, whenever you are meditating you are going to very effortlessly enter into a state of expanded inner quiet and awareness that will help to refresh your mind and restore itself to balance. Since both your mind and your body are connected and inseparable, your body is going to naturally benefit from your mind’s balance, meaning that it is going to become balanced as well, all through you taking the time to practice meditation.
When you are in the state that is referred to as restful awareness that is going to be created through practicing meditation, you will notice that both your heart rate and your breath are going to slowdown, your body is going to start decreasing its production of all the ‘stress’ hormones that include adrenaline and cortisol, and you are going to start increasing your production of the neurotransmitter that is responsible for enhancing your wellbeing, which are going to include dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin.
Because of all the health benefits that it possesses according to Ayurveda, meditation is considered to be one of the most powerful tools that can be prescribed for helping you to balance your body and your mind. In fact, meditation is so effective that it has been prescribed by physicians for thousands of years. Besides meditation however, Ayurveda also offers several other types of practices that will help you to expand your self-awareness, as well as cultivate you very own innate state of being in perfect balance.
Here are some of the most powerful and important aspects when it comes to using the Ayurvedic approach, as well as some suggestions for incorporating them into your everyday life to help you create your own perfect health.
Eat a Flavorful, Colorful Diet Every Day
Next to the importance of meditating, eating is going to be considered your most vital bodily function that you can do on a daily basis. All that you will need to do in order to create your healthiest mind and body is going to be to eat the foods that will nourish it the most. According to Ayurveda, your body’s ideal nutrition is going to come from eating a wide variety of different fresh foods that have been appropriately prepared and then consumed with complete awareness.
One of the easiest ways that you can make sure you’re getting the balanced diet that your mind and body crave, is to include all six of the Ayurvedic tastes in every meal that you eat. The six Ayurvedic tastes include:
- Sweet
- Salty
- Sour
- Pungent
- Bitter
- Astringent
When you are able to include all six of these tastes into every meal of your day, it will essentially ensure that all of the major food groups and required daily nutrition will be met. Also, when you are able to include all six of the Ayurvedic tastes into every one of your daily meals, you will also start to notice that you are feeling much more satisfied and that your urges to snack or overeat will begin to diminish.
Along with these six different tastes, when you are able to pile all of the colors of the rainbow onto your plate during meal time, it is going to help you promote a very healthy and long life. You will literally be able to ingest all of the information of the universe into your specific biology. When the foods on your plate are purple, deep blue, green, red, or orange, they are going to be packed full of the antioxidants and nutrients that your body requires in order to enhance your health, boost your immunity, and feel simply amazing.
Start Strengthening Your Digestive Power
As you have already probably picked up about Ayurveda, it teaches you that good health is going to be dependent upon your capability to completely metabolize your emotional, sensory, and nutritional information that you ingest. When your digestive energy, which is also referred to as agni, or fire, is robust, you are going to create certain healthy tissues that will help to eliminate waste products much more efficiently, as well as produce what is referred to as ojas.
Ojas, which are more commonly envisioned as the ultimate source of your vitality, is going to be the basis for your clarity of perception, your immunity, and even your physical strength. However, if you have a week agni, your digestion will be incomplete and can potentially lead you to having an accumulation of poisonous residue that is known as ama. It is going to be the buildup of this ama within your mind and body that will lead to you experiencing obstructions in your energy flows, your nourishment, and your information. When this happens, you will fall ill as it is the basis of all disease.
Get Restful, Abundant Sleep
If you are following Ayurveda, you will already know that sleep is actually the nursemaid to humanity. While you are sleeping, your body is going to be able to repair and even rejuvenate itself. This means that if you are getting a lack of restful sleep constantly, it is going to disrupt your body’s balance, weaken your immune system, and it will even start to age up your aging process. Just keep in mind that humans are typically going to require between about six and eight hours of peaceful sleep each and every night.
Live in Tune with Nature as Much as You Can
When it comes to ‘living in tune with nature’, there is going to be a very precise meaning according to Ayurveda. Essentially it is going to mean that you have healthy desires that will match the things that you actually need. As you were made in nature, the things that you need and the things that you want should not be in any type of conflict. When you are in balance, you are naturally going to desire only the things that are going to nurture your life and your health.
Tune into your Body Through Exercise
On a daily basis you are going to need to make choices that will help keep you in a state of harmony with your rhythms and inner intelligences by tuning yourself into the messages that your body is sending you. Your body is always going to express itself through two different types of messages, either discomfort or comfort. Whenever you are choosing a new path or behavior to go down, be sure that you ask your body how it feels about that particular selection.
If you receive a signal of distress back, be sure that you pay close attention and even consider taking another path. If your body sends a comfort signal, continue down that path knowing that your body is enjoying your decision. Just remember that your body knows the truth about how it feels and when you listen to it, it will guide you to making the best choices that you can.
