AYURVEDA INTRODUCTION

but all these different aspects of diet were written about thousands of years ago with a greater understanding than most modern nutritionists care to admit. Although man-made technology has advanced tremendously, us humans have not changed, our bodies have not changed.  We still hold similiar desires and dreams, similiar fears and anxieties, hunger and sickness etc than our ancestors.

Ayurveda and ourselves are an integral part of the natural world. We are not alone in having the elements or ‘humours’ shape our bodies. All the foods on our planet that we eat on a daily basis without thinking also reflect the qualities and elements of our surrounding universe, and therefore, we can either complement our constitution or aggravate it through our choice of foods. According to Ayurveda these elements express their qualities to us by that very simple concept of ‘taste’.

In 'Ayurvedic medicine', the sensation of ‘taste’ and its specific qualities was seen as part of nature’s voice communicating directly to us. We are all part of nature, so it’s no surprise, that nature had developed its own special chemical language to communicate directly to the cells in our body, for better or worse !

All foods, including medicinal plants contain one or more of the six basic ‘tastes’ - sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent and pungent. Each ‘taste’ known as ‘Rasas’ have their own particular make-up of elements within, and this tells us what specific actions they will have upon our bodies. For example, an astringent fruit like an apple has the ability to reduce fluids in the body. Now what elements in nature can reduce water ? The drying quality of ‘Air’ can. The taste of astringent contains the ‘Air and Earth’ elements. This is the nature of something astringent - dry, light and cool.

Now if a person was predominantly a VATA constitution then eating an astringent apple would not be the best kind of fruit for his/her constitution. A light, wiry person eating light fruit - no, better would be a sweet, ripe banana. The sweet taste has the Earth & Water elements and so by nature, is heavy. This would complement the inherent lightness of a VATA person. This is just putting it in a simple way but it is very accurate and telling.

This little introduction is just to give you an insight, into something, which if you think about it, is really common sense. We are sorry that we cannot go into greater detail about AYURVEDA here. When you learn some of the basic ‘universal truths’ of this  ancient medical system, then perhaps, in that next restaurant photograph, that beaming, healthy person could well be you !

NATURAL MEDICINES

Traditional
'Ayurvedic Medicine', Chinese Medicines,
European Herbal Medicine & Homeopathic Medicine

Natural medicines will not benefit everyone, especially those people who cannot be bothered to take personal responsibility for their own health, and so pass the buck to their GP in the process of looking for a quick fix - which there really isn't!

Toxic prescription drugs will unfortunatley suit this type of people who do not want to educate themselves on health matters. Drug companies relish these uneducated types for boosting their profits. It is quite staggering that people still think there is only one medical system in the world - the drug-orientated allopathic model.

Such people would do well to broaden their interests and remember that we have in our culture different types of transport, different types of food, and of course there are different medical systems too. Seek out your own truths and discover what really works for you. What are you waiting for ?