Re: Ayurveda & Imbalances
Hari Om
~~~~~
Namaste,
As we look to Auyrveda, most is about balancing the dosas of vata , pitta and kapha. But one must ask where do these imbalances (mala or blemish) come from? Were does dis-ease come from?
At times , the origins can be found in awareness, some negative thoughts and in ones emotions i.e. anger, fear and/or excessive attachments.
- Fear, repressed fear, and a 'diet' of fear aggravates vata, and vata goes out of balance.
- Anger, and anger in excess puts pita out of balance.
- Envy, greed and excessive attachment creates a kapha imbalance.
Has any one seen this list before? i.e. fear, anger, envy ,greed, and attachment?
I am always amazed at the notion of going to a scary movie and inviting vata imbalances. Or going to a boxing match as entertainment where the offer is overstimulation of pitta... or watching a food eating contest. In the USA, a big contest is how many hot dogs or hot (really hot) Chili Peppers ( not the musical band ) one can eat. Last year a guy ate 246 hot chili peppers. I just think of the havic, angst and exessive turbulance this has on all the dosas, let alone kapha imbalances.
Sometimes the imbalance starts in the body ( as in the eating contest) and then affects the thoughts and emotions of the native. That is, location, living food/eating habits start in the body and therefore influence the mind and emotions.
Say a person has a strong pitta constitution. Living in a hot climate will aggravate this dosha. Just a summer aggravates pitta in all natives. Ayurveda then suggests eating habits and recreation to pacify pitta in the summer months - cool drinks, fresh fruits, light exercise, water sports, to not overheat the body... like that, simple things for the normal seasonal changes.
We also know from the last post that pitta is fire, agni, Mars. Pitta is found in the stomach as the gastric fire. Pitta and anger can give one stomach problems, due to the agni over-excitement.
Yet its interesting to note that agni is related to movement, to vata. Agni breaks down food, and the assimilation process for its distribution in the body. Vata as air, kindles agni, and bodily fire and can be found throughout the total body, as food/nourishment/oxygen/ energy is brought to every living cell in the body.
With balanced and healthy agni one finds intelligence strong as understanding too is kindled by this agni. Bright eyes are found in healthy pita predominant natives.
So what happens with this agni when constrained or impaired during digestion?
- Proper kindling does not occur, food is not properly digested and ama is produced. Food components that has not been properly assimilated creates this material substance called ama. it clogs the system and is created when the 3 humors (tridosa) are out of balance.
- Is that our only challenge? Nope - toxins , suggest Ayurveda, are created with the blemishes mentioned before i.e. fear, anger, envy ,greed, and attachment and in excess.
- That is, we change and challange the flora of the system with these emotions i.e. excessive bile with aggravated pitta; repressed emotions aggravate vata which hinders agni ( like a good burning fire, good vata/air is needed); and with greed , excessive possessiveness, etc. kapha imbalances kick in. Coughs, colds, and congestion that just seems to be year 'round are with kapha inflicted people.
So, we have lightly covered some of the 'piping' in us as ones constitution. We talked for a few min too on the importance of agni (digestive fire) being healthy and how emotions play a important role.
There is another fundamental part to us humans as Ayurveda see it, and that is dhatu ( dhAtu or धातु ) - constituent part , ingredient, layer, essential ingredient of the body. Ayurved recognizes 7 dhAtu:
- Rasa
- Rakta
- Mamsa
- Meda
- Asthi
- Majja
- Shukra
It is with the help of agni these 7 dhAtu stay in balance and are fundamental to ones functioning and immune system.
Lets me stop here, as much has been said. We can pick up the 7 daAtu with the next post, and give their definitions for your consideration.
He alone is fire, He is the sun, He is the wind, He is the moon, He is the shining stars, He is Brahma, He is Prajapati... Yajurveda
pranams,
Last edited by yajvan; 14 January 2008 at 04:35 PM.
यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
because you are identical with śiva
_
Bookmarks