Ayurveda is mindbody medicine that originated in India at least five thousand years ago. The name Ayurveda comes from two Sanskrit (an ancient language of India) words: ayus, meaning “life,” and veda, which means “science” or “knowledge.”

The name literally means the “science of life.” Ayurveda is a complete medical system or science that includes observation; diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease; detoxification and rejuvenation of the body; surgery; and herbal medicine. Ayurveda is called a consciousness-based system of medicine because the practitioner seeks to understand the patient fully before recommending or administering treatment, and because the practitioner works not only on observation but also on intuition. The Ayurvedic practitioner knows that the patient is not simply flesh and bones but a dynamic being with a mind, a body, emotions, a soul, and a spirit. As the Charaka Samhita states, the physician needs to enter the heart of the patient “with the flame of love.” If she does not, she cannot help him. I believe this statement points to what has been lost in allopathic, or Western, medicine, and to what can be found in Ayurvedic medicine.

Why Ayurveda Rather Than Another Healing Modality?

Ayurveda is all-encompassing. The practice of Ayurveda addresses diet, lifestyle, seasonal and daily routines, herbal medicine, massage or touch therapy, detoxification of the body, energy work, spiritual practice through yoga and meditation, and surgery. The philosophy behind Ayurveda says that if it works, then you should try it. Even if you apply the principles in this guide, you can still continue to follow your physician’s protocol, take prescribed medications, and make use of other methods used in allopathic medicine.

Another reason to follow an Ayurvedic practice is that it’s the most complete medical system on the planet. Other disciplines of Ayurveda, which I don’t have space to examine here, include Ayurvedic astrology and the study of object placement and space.

Finally, Ayurveda focuses on the practice of preventive medicine first. Awareness of the body, mind, and intellect can lead you to recognize subtle changes that occur before fullblown illness erupts. Reversing subtle changes in the body is much easier than curing a disease. By learning little things and applying them, you can make a big difference in your health.

Balance versus Imbalance

One major difference between Western medicine and Ayurveda is that Ayurveda looks at health and illness as a matter of balance and imbalance. If a person is balanced, she is healthy, vibrant, energetic, alive, happy, and motivated, and her skin and eyes glow. When a person is out of balance, she is dull, achy, tired, lethargic, worried, nervous, or depressed. Whether or not physical symptoms are present, Ayurveda can detect that a person is out of balance, and this imbalance will ultimately lead to a manifestation of symptoms and disease if not corrected. Discovering this imbalance before the patient becomes ill gives the Ayurvedic practitioner a little more wiggle room to help the patient. Patients go to the doctor because they are uncomfortable. And if the doctor doesn’t detect any physical symptoms or abnormalities, then all too often he sends the patient home in exactly the condition he arrived in. But the Ayurvedic practitioner, through observation, palpation, and a series of questions, can easily detect the state of imbalance and help tweak the patient’s health back into balance by recommending alterations in diet, exercise, yoga, meditation, and lifestyle, along with emotional clearing or herbs.

The Ayurvedic Definition of Health

Often, clients come to me for Ayurvedic consultations who claim to be completely healthy. On the questionnaires I send them before the first visit, they write, under the inquiries about their physical health and emotional health, that they are in “excellent” or “very good” shape. These same clients may be notably overweight or addicted to alcohol, or they may struggle with insomnia or anxiety or some other complaint that prevents them from living their lives to the fullest. Upon further questioning, they admit, “Yes, I have a few pounds to lose.” Or: “I can’t end my day without a drink.” Or: “I haven’t slept more than five hours a night in ten years.”

The shift I will ask you to make in your definition of health is from one that is typical of a Western mind-set — “If I have no symptoms, I am healthy” — to an Ayurvedic definition: “Health is an integration of my mind, emotions, soul, spirit, physical body, and purpose in life.” If one of these is out of balance, they are all out of balance, rest assured.

The Mahabhutas: The Great Elements

When Ayurveda was in its infancy, sages called rishis, or seers, observed people and nature. What they noticed was that people reacted differently to similar stimuli. For example, if you walk into a room with a friend, you may find yourself freezing while your friend complains that it’s too warm. Or if you and your spouse walk outside into the bright sunlight, he or she may need to immediately put on sunglasses to appreciate the outdoors, while you enjoy allowing the sun to penetrate your face. These differences, the rishis realized, occurred because each person has a unique dynamic, a different mind-body type based on the five elements that exist everywhere. Those five elements are space (akasha), air (vayu), fire (tejas), water (jala), and earth (prithivi). In Sanskrit, these elements are called the mahabhutas, or “great elements,” and they influence all other elements. The five elements make up the three principal doshas, or mind-body types, in Ayurveda.

An Introduction to the Doshas

The three principal doshas, or mind-body types, are Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. The Vata principle (pronounced VAH-ta) is composed of the elements space and air. “Space” means the vast open space, or ether, but also the space in a room, the space in a box, or the space between your cells. In order for air to move and circulate, it needs space. So these two elements work harmoniously together. The Pitta principle (pronounced PIT-ta) is composed of the elements fire and water, which together have transformational qualities. And the Kapha principle (pronounced KAF-fa) is composed of water and earth. These elements exist everywhere on our planet and in the universe, in different quantities. Since we are part of the planet and universe, the elements exist within each of us too.

Each person has all three doshas in his or her mind-body constitution. But the proportion of these doshas is different in everyone. General trends in doshic makeup usually exist in families, since genes are shared. But sometimes that’s not the case, since environment, geographical location, date, time, and season of birth often influence a person’s prakruti, or true nature.

To determine your prakruti, please take the Mind-Body Type Test on www.creationsmagazine.com (OCTOBERNOVEMBER 2015 ISSUE, posted October 1st ). When you assess each of the statements, think about how you’ve acted, reacted, or been for your whole life. If a statement has been true some of the time or during certain periods of your life, decide how accurately it describes you on average. The test will yield accurate information only if you are truthful to yourself. The results will guide you as you improve your health and come back to what is a naturally balanced state for you.

The purpose of the Mind-Body Type Test is to identify your natural state of being, not to make sure all three doshas are equally strong in you or to choose the traits you think you might like. When a person is in balance, he or she possesses all the positive traits of all the doshas. For example, a Kapha type is naturally trustworthy and faithful. That does not mean a Pitta or a Vata person cannot have those traits too. It simply means that trustworthiness and faithfulness come easily for a Kapha type, and that when in balance, Pitta and Vata types also tend to be aligned with these positive traits. However, when a person is out of balance, he or she usually shows the negative traits of the dominant dosha first; if the condition continues, negative traits of the other doshas appear, too. To return to my example of the Kapha person (who is naturally trustworthy and faithful), a negative outcome for an imbalanced Kapha is possessiveness and greed. And if the imbalance continues, the possessiveness can also lead to anger, which is a normal Pitta imbalance, or to anxiety, which is a normal Vata imbalance.

Once you determine your mind-body type, or prakruti, read the description of each dosha. Keep in mind that each description represents a classic example of that mindbody type and may apply to you only in part. It’s common to see several traits of your dominant dosha in yourself, a few traits of your secondary dosha, and maybe one or two traits of the dosha for which you scored the least number of points.

Vata Dosha: The Wind Principle

Possessing a dosha composed of space and air, the Vata person is thin and light and has angular features. Imagine the qualities of space: vast, open, infinite, and cold; and the qualities of air: moving, cool, changing, unpredictable, rough, drying. A Vata type has these qualities in his body and mind. Vatas are quick. They move fast, talk fast, walk fast. They think and learn fast but also forget fast. Vatas are easily excitable, engaging in the latest activities, fads, or fashions. They are fun, creative, communicative, and enterprising. Like the wind, they stay for a time then move on to the next location. Being with a Vata type keeps you young and laughing, because they are playful, funny, and witty. But they can also be unpredictable and unreliable. Often they are accused of being “airheaded.” Vatas resist routine, even though they need it, and forget to eat or sleep at times. It is typically Vata to start a project and not finish it, change jobs or relationships often, and spend money on trivialities. When in balance, Vata types keep you on your toes with their boundless energy. But when out of balance, Vatas suffer from anxiety, panic attacks, weight loss, constipation, dry skin and eyes, aches and pains, and fear.

Pitta Dosha: The Fire Principle

Pitta types have a medium build. A Pitta has beautiful eyes with a penetrating gaze and a healthy glow to her skin. It is Pitta to want things to be in order, to be a perfectionist about details, and to not like having her time wasted. A Pitta is driven by education, learning new skills, gathering facts, and then sharing the knowledge with anyone who will listen. To others, Pittas are interesting, attractive, well spoken, and intense.

Physically, Pittas are like goats. They can eat anything they want, owing to a strong digestive fire, and will usually be fine. But they also tend to abuse their great digestion by overeating or eating too many spicy or fried foods, all of which aggravate Pitta.

When Pittas are in balance, they are strong leaders, passionate lovers, informative educators, and beautiful. But when a Pitta is out of balance, she spews fire, criticizing and judging everyone in her path. She’s irritable, unpleasant, and furrows her brow a lot. She gets acid indigestion or irritable bowels and has a hard time digesting any type of food. Her skin gets red with anger and often breaks out.

Kapha Dosha: The Earth Principle

Composed of earth and water, which together create mud, Kapha is slow, wet, cold, thick, viscous, compact, and heavy. A Kapha type has a large build, big bones, and more fat under his skin than the other dosha types have. He has large, loving eyes and rosy cheeks. Kaphas move like the tortoise. They walk slowly, talk slowly, think and process things slowly, and don’t worry much. It is Kapha to resist change, enjoy routine, and be methodical and affectionate. To others, Kaphas are grounding, steady, loving, and trustworthy, and they are great listeners. Kaphas have a difficult time understanding why they love food so much and gain weight easily. When in balance, Kaphas are the solid foundation of a family or company. Once a Kapha is out of balance, he gains weight, refuses to move off the couch, accumulates clutter, becomes possessive in relationships, and has excess mucus in his body. While all three mind-body types are at risk for depression when out of balance, a Kapha type is the quickest to become depressed, especially in late winter. For fun, and for better self-understanding, please remember to take The Ayurvedic Mind-Body Type Test in PART 2, on www.creationsmagazine.com (OCTOBER-NOVMEBER 2015 Issue, posted October 1st).

Excerpted from the book The Wheel of Healing with Ayurveda ©2015 by Michelle S. Fondin. Printed with permission of New World Library. www.newworldlibrary.com

Michelle S. Fondin is the author of The Wheel of Healing with Ayurveda. She holds a Vedic Master Certificate from the Chopra Center and is a member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association and Yoga Alliance. She treats clients at her Ayurvedic Path center, speaks and offers workshops. Visit her online at http://michellefondin.com.