India is a wonderland with a glorious history that appeals to every curious person. One of those amazing things is the traditional Indian medical system called Ayurveda.
This system is a product of ancient Indian culture and was born approximately 3,000 years ago. The term Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word and is composed of two words: Ayur (life) and Veda (science or knowledge) (Harvard). It means the knowledge of life. It is a theory that depends upon a philosophy that says disease is a result of an imbalance in a person's consciousness. According to this theory, health is a balance between body, mind, and environment, and when we unbalance it through unreasonable action, disease emerges.
We can protect and cure our organs without any medicines if we realize and understand the attributes of good and their interrelationships. It's really important to understand what foods and how much we should eat. A renowned text by Sushruta Samhita said: By changing dietary habits, the human organism may be cured without using any medicine, while with hundreds of good medicines, diseases of the human organism cannot be cured if the food is wrong. The right food is the only key to good health (Johari, 2000).
Ayurveda believes that all our foods consist of five basic elements: (1) ether, (2) air, (3) fire, (4) water, and (5) earth. The quantity of their composition plays an essential part in the nutritional properties of the food. The traditional chemistry and biology of Ayurveda provide a strong basis for presenting a specific food system that emphasizes an organic diet, not a balanced diet (Rastogi, 2014). According to the Ayurveda Sattwika diet, easily digested leaves leave minimal residue after digestion, and provide all necessary amounts of nutrients required for crucial organs of the body like the brain, heart, and sense organs, rather than merely nourishing the support structures like bones and muscles. This specific diet leads to a balance between mind and body.
We can find two approaches (Shunya, 2017) to being healthy in Ayurveda. The first approach, which is preventive, provides positive life practices that protect health. This wisdom approach evokes inner health. It incorporates, at every step, lessons from the spiritual sister sciences of yoga and Vedanta. The second approach, which is restorative, presents a disease management system, including herbal drugs and body treatment. The Ayurvedic lifestyle has three pillars: food, sleep, and sex, which are given extensive attention. People are rightly nourished (not over or under), adequately rested (not more or less), and sexually active (in a balanced way) when these pillars are in balance, and they suffer from a multitude of diseases ranging from headaches to infertility when they lack this balance. Ayurveda offers the important concept of a lifestyle clock (Shunya, 2017), which maintains our lifestyle. It is a clock Ayurveda tells us to be mindful of because it maps energetic changes in the macrocosm with the change of time. If we want to be healthy, we must conform to this clock. All activities, ranging from sleep to eating, should be performed at a specific time. In other words, we should follow macrocosmic energetic shifts.
The reason why our lifestyle should be according to macrocosmic changes is our relationship with the three essential forces in the universe. Ayurveda points out three significant forces (Shunya, 2017) in the world: active, static, and variable. They are in constant flux in the cosmos and impose variability in the physiological processes of all living beings. These forces, in fact, are running our lives. Our activities in the daytime should be divided into three parts. From 6 to 10 am is a time of static force; 10 am to 2 pm is related to active force; and 2 to 6 pm is a time for variable force. The nighttime starts at 6 p.m., and it is divided similarly into three parts. According to the Ayurvedic system, morning is a time when we can feel our God (Shunya, 2017). It is the time of God's consciousness. It is a time when we can do meditation. We are asked to wake up early in the morning in Ayurveda, and one significant activity that is required in the morning is yoga.
Citation
Johari, H. (2000). Ayurvedic Healing Cuisine: Healing Arts Press
Rastogi, S.(2014). Ayurvedic Science of Food and Nutrition. Springer
Shunya A.(2017). Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom: A Complete Prescription to Optimize Your Health, Prevent Disease, and Live with Vitality and Joy : Sound Trueh
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