India is a land rich in traditional texts and wisdom handed down from our Rishis, sages, who have extensively researched and formulated this wealth of knowledge. Ayurveda is also one amongst many ancient Indian texts. The word “Ayurveda” is derived from the root word “Ayus” meaning life, veda meaning science/ knowledge, thus Ayurveda implies “Science of life”. This is a science of enhancing the duration and quality of life and curing different vyaadhis (diseases). Health, as a concept in Ayurveda is defined as a state of balance of the different constituents of the body.
Ayurvedic physiology describes the combination of five elements existing in nature – Akasa (space), vayu (wind), prithvi (earth), agni (fire) and ap (water) to form a body and these elements manifest in the body as dhatus and doshas that govern all the functions of the body. There are 3 doshas – Vata (wind), Pitta (bile) & Kapha (cough/ mucus) formed from the combination of vayu & akasa, agni & ap and ap & prithvi respectively. While vata is responsible to control all the movements in the body – blood circulation, nervous system movement, respiration, excretion etc, pitta manages the digestion, metabolism, vision, intellectual aspects, body temperature etc, while kapha is responsible for giving physical and mental stability and strength to the body, immunity and healing.
Dhatus are seven in number, namely: asthi (bones), majja (nerves), mamsa (muscles), medas(fat), rakta (blood), rasa (plasma), shukra (reproductive system) and form the anatomical and physiological element of the body. While the doshas help in adequate functioning of the body, the dhatus are the elemental blocks of the body. For the balanced functioning of the doshas and the dhatus, excretion – “mala” is the other significant component – mala is the aspect ensuring daily excretion from the body and an inadequate response of mala would lead to accumulation of toxins and disease therefore. A balanced state of dhatu, mala and dosha can be called as a “swasthya” – healthy state of the body.
The approach to various treatment protocols in Ayurveda is based on the body type (praktruti) or the vitiation of the doshas (vikruti). Since the science aims at the objective of achieving a sense of balance in the body – the approach is towards a holistic healing in Ayurveda, the root cause of every disorder is attempted at and which is why the results achieved have a prolonged effect.