The core of Ayurveda
Ayurveda means the wisdom of life. According to Ayurveda, health begins to manifest when you live in harmony with the rhythm and wisdom of nature.
We are surrounded by beautiful nature. We have a body that is ingeniously designed. However, in Western culture, our connection with our natural rhythm has been greatly disturbed. Fortunately, even science is slowly waking up, and we are increasingly finding our way back to our essence. We don’t need to make new discoveries for this; we can rely on the knowledge that was described thousands of years ago and is still relevant today.
Ayurveda does not have a “one size fits all” approach. Everyone is different, and what is healthy for one person can be harmful to another. However, there is one main principle in Ayurveda:
“Like increases like and opposites decrease.”
This principle is a holistic approach to life and requires the realization that everything influences one another and that everything is made of the same elements. This means that what you can perceive can be traced back to the five elements: water, earth, fire, air, and ether. Our body is made up of these five elements, as is the food we eat, the activities we do, the environment we are in, the time of day, the life phase we are in, and the season of the year.
Earth, Water, Fire, Air & Ether
The composition of these five elements is different for everyone. What your mind-body composition is, we call your prakriti. The principle “like generates more of the same, and opposites balance” works as follows: Let’s say you naturally have a lot of the earth element in you, then food rich in the earth element will have a different effect on you than on someone who has little of the earth element in them.
The characteristics of earth are: heavy, cold, slow, voluminous, stable, and dense. If you already have a lot of earth, you will feel even heavier after eating food rich in earth elements (e.g., potatoes, avocado, or yogurt) or after taking a mud bath. Of course, we don’t often do the latter, but you get the idea. On the other hand, someone with little earth may benefit from additional earth elements. Let’s say you naturally have a lot of air and ether in you (you can often see this in someone who is slim and has a delicate bone structure), you might need some earth elements, otherwise, you’ll be daydreaming all day. Someone with a lot of earth, on the other hand, is often a natural leader, while someone with a lot of air and ether may be naturally very creative.
The five elements work in Ayurveda in combinations called doshas:
Kapha (earth + water)
Pitta (water + fire)
Vata (air + ether)
Your prakriti consists of one or more doshas. Depending on your doshas, you may be more or less susceptible to illness or disorders. Your doshas determine which lifestyle and foods are healthiest for you.
Our self-healing and self-restoring ability is impressive. Our body continuously tries to return to balance. If this doesn’t happen, you’ll notice it immediately: you feel unwell, get sick, stressed, or experience other issues. Balancing these doshas is the main goal in Ayurveda.
In nature, the same doshas play a crucial role. At certain times of the day or in a specific season, a certain dosha is dominant. Depending on your prakriti, this can also throw you off balance.
Think for a moment: In which season do you feel your best? And how do you notice you’re out of balance in another season?
In winter, all doshas in nature are in balance. This is good because it literally gives us the time to rest. We can enjoy food, and if we’re out of balance, it’s easier to work on it now.
6 Tastes & 10 Opposite Qualities
It can be difficult to analyze food solely based on the five elements. That’s why Ayurveda uses six tastes:
Sweet (water + earth): grains, rice, milk, sweet fruits → stimulates growth.
Sour (fire + earth): citrus fruits, tomatoes, vinegar, alcohol, yogurt, cheese → stimulates digestion.
Salty (fire + water): mineral salt, seaweed, fish, celery → stimulates taste.
Spicy (fire + air): garlic, ginger, pepper, mustard, radishes → opens bio-channels.
Bitter (air + ether): green and yellow vegetables, Brussels sprouts, spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, turmeric → removes toxins.
Astringent (air + earth): unripe bananas, lentils, beans, pomegranate, green tea, peas → stops the flow of fluids.
You can use these tastes to restore balance. For example:
Quick hunger and low energy → eat something sweet.
Little appetite or poor digestion → eat something sour.
Stiff and cold muscles → take some salt.
Cold or congested airways → ginger or pepper.
Removing toxins → choose bitter tastes, such as turmeric.
Healing of wounds or diarrhea → astringent tastes.
Additionally, there are 20 qualities that help analyze and understand the properties of these tastes even better. These can also offer insights and bring balance, even outside of food: cold/hot, heavy/light, oily/dry, slow/sharp, mobile/stable, soft/hard, sticky/pure, smooth/rough, voluminous/subtle, dense/liquid.
Practical tip for the season
We are currently in late winter. According to Ayurveda, spring begins on March 15th. We can still benefit from the warm, rich spices of winter (cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and ginger) and the tastes of sweet, sour, and salty. We are slowly preparing for spring, ensuring a smooth transition.
Kapha dosha increases during these last months and peaks in spring. Your body benefits less and less from the earth and water elements. The tastes that support balance in spring are bitter and astringent. Spring is also the time for fasting. This is not coincidentally reflected in various religions.
Green vegetables like Brussels sprouts, kale, and broccoli are in season for a reason right now.
While you should avoid too much soup in spring, it is still suitable now. Try a warm vegetable soup with these vegetables and add spices like turmeric, cumin, and ginger to support digestion.
How do you recognize imbalance?
Your stool says the most about your state of being, but more on that another time. Other symptoms such as bloating, stomach pain, hair loss, excessive thirst, or dry skin can be indicators of imbalance. It’s up to you to link the sensitivity of how you feel to what you have eaten and done.
I can immediately tell that I get gassy from a raw carrot because it is dry and airy. If I’ve traveled a lot and experienced a lot of movement and air, I feel restless and exhausted. My skin also becomes dry. I make sure to eat something sweet or something oily, like nuts and dates, during the trip. This keeps me much more balanced.
In winter, I use a lot of oil on my body. I usually cook in ghee because it’s a good quality fat, and I find I really need it to combat the dryness of my skin and body. And I benefit from this throughout the year. If I don’t do this, I run into problems in the fall.
In some cases, you can address something directly, but other imbalance issues can take months to resolve. If you follow the rhythm of nature, eat seasonal vegetables, and follow the recommendations regarding the tastes as much as possible, long-term issues will resolve naturally. You’ll also notice quickly where your sensitivity lies.
That was quite a bit of information. I hope the principle of “Like increases like and opposites decrease” has sparked your imagination, so you can start experimenting with it yourself.
You’ll read more about spring in the next newsletter. I send out only four newsletters per year, one per season. New blogs are published every month on the website.
Recipe Idea: Light Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon ghee
1 onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon whole caraway seeds or cumin seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 head of broccoli (can be replaced with almost any green vegetable)
2 sliced carrots
A large handful of finely chopped spinach (optional)
Himalayan salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Fresh cilantro or celery for garnish
Preparation:
Sauté the onion in the ghee. Add the spices and sauté briefly. Then, add the vegetables and sauté them briefly as well. Add 400 ml of water and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Garnish with fresh cilantro or celery.
This soup is very easy and quick to make. It’s perfect in the winter, but also great in the summer and can be adapted in the spring by omitting the onion.
If you wish to delve deeper into Ayurveda, I highly recommend the book Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom by Acharya Shunya. This book, along with her inspiring teachings and the Alchemy training, forms the foundation of the insights I am sharing with you here, Aika.
