Ayurveda-
A Complete Science of Life
Constitution -(Prakriti)
Ayurveda A Complete
Science of Life
Welcome to read about the most ancient
and traditional science on one of
the most modern systems, the Internet.
How can this ancient system of health
care be relevant to people of today,
when technological advances have radically
altered our lifestyles, our environment
and our medicine?
The principles of Ayurveda are an
invaluable link to understanding,
in detail, naturally healthy living.
People everywhere are realizing the
importance and benefits of taking
personal responsibility for one's
own well being, making Ayurveda the
perfect system of health knowledge
for today's world.
Ayurveda is a science of life so to
know more about it, we must know what
is life? Life according to Ayurveda
is a combination of senses, mind,
body and soul. So it is clear from
this definition of life that Ayurveda
is not only limited to body or physical
symptoms but also gives a comprehensive
knowledge about spiritual, mental
and social health.
The words like soul and spirituality
might sound outdated or create a negative
thinking in some of you as they have
no place in modern science. As soon
as we hear about these topics, we
become uncomfortable. Actually, I
don't feel that it is our fault. No
one has ever spoken about these things
to us. We are always trapped in the
attractions of outer material world
to become happy and peaceful.
The modern society, education, culture
and the television- everything speaks
about materialism. If this was everything
why is it so that most us are unhappy.
There is unrest, anxiety, mental tension,
fighting and terror every where despite
best efforts being made to stop them.
This is because some part of our body
is not being nourished properly.
Be open minded and try to understand. Read the next
pages.
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Constitution (Prakriti)
Mental Constitution: Vedic philosophy
classifies human temperaments into
three basic qualities: satva, rajas and tamas.
relative predominance of either satva,
rajas, or tamas
is responsible for individual psychological
constitution.
Satvic Mental Constitutions:
The people in whom satvic
qualities predominate are religious,
loving, compassionate and pure minded.
They have good manners, behavior and
conduct. They do not get easily upset
or angry. Although they work hard
mentally, they do not get mental fatigue.
They are creative, humble and respectful
of their teachers. Worshipping God
and humanity, they love all and care
for people.
Rajas Mental Constitutions: The people in whom rajas qualities predominate
are egoistic, ambitious, aggressive,
proud, competitive, and have a tendency
to control others. They like power,
prestige, position, and are perfectionists.
They are hard working people, but
are lacking in proper planning and
direction. Emotionally, they are angry,
jealous, ambitious. They have a fear
of failure, are subject to stress,
and soon lose their mental energy.
They are loving, calm and patient
only as long as their self interests
are served. They are good, loving,
friendly and faithful only to those
who are helpful to them. Their activities
are self- centered .
Tamas Mental Constitutions:
The people in whom tamas
qualities predominate are less intelligent.
They tend towards depression, laziness,
and excess sleep, even during the
day. A little mental work tires them
easily. They like jobs of less responsibility,
and they love to eat, drink, sleep
and have sex. They are greedy, possessive,
attached, irritable, and do not care
for others.
Body Constitution:
Every
individual has a unique combination
of the three doshas-
Vata, Pitta and Kapha. To understand individuality is the foundation
of Diagnosis and Treatment in Ayurveda.
Vata Qualities:
vata is dry, light, cold, mobile, active, clear,
astringent, and it is dispersing.
All of these qualities can manifest
in an individual. For example, if
a person has excess vata
in his or her constitution, because
of the dry quality, he or she will
have dry hair, dry skin, tendency
towards constipation. Because of the
light quality, the person will have
a light body frame, light muscles,
thin and underweight. Because of the
cold quality, the person will have
cold hands, cold feet and poor circulation.
They hate the cold season and love
summer. Because of the mobile quality,
these people are very active. They
like jogging and jumping and don't
like sitting in one place. the subtle
quality is responsible for the emotions
of fear, anxiety, insecurity and nervousness.
Pitta Qualities:
It has hot, sharp, light, liquid, sour, oily
and spreading qualities. Because of
the hot quality, the pitta
person has a strong appetite and warm
skin. The body temperature is a little
higher than the vata
person. The second quality of pitta
is sharp, therefore the pitta person has a sharp nose, teeth, eyes, mind and
while talking uses sharp words. They
also have very sharp memory. Because
of the oily quality, they have soft
warm oily skin, straight oily hair,
and the feces are oily and liquid.
They have a tendency to gray prematurely,
a sign of early maturity.Pitta
girls get earlier menstruation and
reach puberty earlier. Because of
the light quality, pitta people are moderate in body frame, and they do
not like bright light. Because of
too much heat in the body, they tends
to loose his hair in early youth and
have a receding hair line, or bald
head. The next quality of pitta
is strong smell. When they perspires,
under the arm pit there is a typical
sulfur smell, and if he doesn't wash
his socks, they will have a strong
smell. They are often wise, brilliant
people, and can have a controlling,
dominating personality. They have
a tendency towards comparison, competition,
ambition, and they have a quality
of aggressiveness, so naturally they
criticize. Pitta
people tend to get inflammatory diseases,
while vata
predominant people tend to get neurological,
muscular and rheumatic problems.
Kapha Qualities:
kapha will have heavy, slow, cool, oily, liquid, dense, thick, static and cloudy qualities.
Because of the heavy quality, these
people have heavy bones, muscles and
fat. They will have a tendency to
put on weight. Because of the slow
quality, they have slow metabolism
and digestion. They walk slowly and
talk slowly. They don't like jogging
and jumping. They love eating, sitting
and doing nothing.Kapha
is cool hencekapha people have cool, clammy skin. Kapha people have thick wavy hair, and big, attractive
eyes. They have slow but prolonged,
steady memory. Kapha people are forgiving, loving and compassionate.
thekapha
person has a sweet tooth and loves
candy, cookies and chocolate.
Your constitution can be determined by an Ayurvedic physician or in
the absence of an Ayurvedic physician,
you can diagnose your own tendency
towards a particular constitution.
You can discover if your constitution
leans towards vata
(wind), pitta
(fire) or kapha
(water). This can help you to know
how an imbalance is likely to occur
in yourself.
Suppose you have a kapha (water) dominant constitution
then you may have a tendency to overweight,
over-emotional nature or suffer congestion
in the chest. So you should modify
your diet, life style, daily routine
and other activities accordingly,
for example, avoid sleeping too much
in the day or eating too many sweets,
to maintain your health and also to
cure the diseases .
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