Ayurveda consists of the words 'ayus' (life) and 'veda' (knowledge / science) and literally means the knowledge and science of life. It is the oldest applied health care system in the world with demonstrable history up to 5000 years back in India.
It allows you to live from day to day in the most harmonious way possible and is very accessible in a practical way. It's about the choice of your food, the colors you wear, how you organize each part of your life. In that respect, the intention is to work preventatively rather than curatively.
Ayurveda revolves around the balancing of body and mind through the laws of nature in the form of the 5 elements of earth, water, air, fire and ether. The mutual interaction and proportion of these elements in fact determines each fragment of the universe.
Thus you as an individual have your own constitution of elements, but also everything you eat is composed in a certain proportion of the elements. In addition, the question must be asked at what time of the day you eat this, in which season and where in the world this happens. All this information fits together like a puzzle.
The individuality of every body is based on the principle of 'dosha', which literally means 'out of harmony'. This assumes that everything originates from a state of perfect balance and harmony. The existence of energy caused a final splitting of this state into the 5 elements, each of which contained their properties. Ayurveda believes that this division into elements is a state of disharmony of this perfect balance, which is called 'dosha'. The constitution of a person is based on the relationship of three basic life forces or doshas:
When there is an imbalance in body and mind, this creates a disharmony. Ayurveda works preventively and looks at each person as a unique individual, subject to a unique set of environmental factors, which makes an individual approach necessary. Each individual has his / her own birth constitution and contains the 3 doshas in a certain proportion. Often two doshas predominate, one of which predominates more than the other.
When a dosha predominates, you can for example contribute to the recovery of the balance through your diet. You should then eat foods with properties that are opposite to the characteristics of your predominant dosha. In this way, harmony can be obtained again.
When giving a massage, for example, the dosha constitution of the recipient can be taken into account by choosing the best fitting base oil.
In addition, the constellation can be a factor for the strength that the therapist has to use during the massage. A bull belonging to the element earth and consequently often kapha is allowed to be more firmly massaged in order to generate the energy more easily.
| Element | Signs |
|---|---|
| Fire | Aries, Leo, Sagittarius |
| Earth | Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn |
| Air | Gemini, Libra, Aquarius |
| Water | Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces |