The word, Ayurveda is composed of two words of Sanskrit, ayur (meaning life) and veda (meaning knowledge). Thus, Ayurveda is the knowledge, or science of life, also known as a medical science of Ancient India. Ayurveda’s exact age is not known, but the origins of Ayurveda have been traced to around 6,000 BCE.
Ayurveda includes means of preventing, diagnosing, and curing illnesses. Ayurveda uses things like diet, detox procedures, herbs, bodywork, breathing techniques, meditation, and mantra. It is often called a sister science to yoga in that it helps bring harmony to mind, body, spirit, and also to nature and the world around us.
According to Ayurveda, there are Five Elements in the Universe. Those Five Great Elements are Five states of material existence: Earth (the solid state of matter), Water (the liquid state), Fire (a power that can transform solid to liquid or to gas and vice versa), Air (the gaseous state of matter, the force of movement), Ether (space, a field where everything is manifested). In Ayurveda, the unique combination of those elements makes up the doshas: Vata (air+ether), Pitta (fire+water), and Kapha (water+earth). The doshas, these three forces, are manifested in the Body, Mind, and Emotions. They govern our temper, our habits, sleep tendencies, how we relate to others. They determine conditions of growth, aging, health, and disease. We all have qualities of all three doshas, though, typically, one of the doshas predominates and determines our constitution. Doshas create three primary individual mind-body types: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.
