Ayurveda – An Ancient Treatment Based on Body Types

Ayurveda is an ancient system of treatment which uses innate principles of nature in maintaining a person’s health by keeping an individual’s body, mind and spirit in perfect equilibrium with nature. It is becoming prominent and in the contemporary period we witness the revivalism of Ayurveda.

It obviously discards modern medicine’s way of treatment like prescribing certain medicines for specific diseases. This concept is slowly eroding even in modern system. They now started to realize that what works for one may not work for another and need to be individual specific. This was simply what ayurveda understood and was practicing from ancient times.

Ayurveda diagnosis diseases and prescribes medicines according to the principles of body types. The concept is based on the principle that every human being is made up of different combination of elements. Accordingly for the same disease, different people are prescribed different medicines.

As per Ayurvedic theory human body is composed of three humors, which destines the growth and decay of that person. These factors decide the person’s personality and body constitution. People are born with a certain type and these types are known as Doshas.

Different Doshas

Doshas are explained in ayurveda as connecting link between the physical body and energy which runs our life. They are invisible and control the physical processes of our body. The imbalances of doshas create ailments and decays in our body.

According to ayurveda there are three doshas - Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Each person has his own unique doshas and varies in ratio. His body constituency depends on these factors. This mould controls his personality and characteristics.

The composition of Doshas

Five elements constitute doshas - Space, Air, Water, Fire and Earth. The combinations of the mentioned doshas in a person decide his dosha type.

Vata is made up of space and air

Pitta is made up of fire and water

Kapha is made up of earth and water

Each doshas has its own traits and qualities as well as its own beauty and strengths. When we are born, we have a balanced dosha type but later as life goes on our body type keeps on changing. It increases and decreases according to various factors like emotional state, surroundings, age and lifestyle. When the imbalance is severe it leads to state of disease.

Body type (dosha) cannot be changed. Every person has to maintain his own unique balance and that is his unique balance. It should not be allowed to be aggravated and depleted. The inherent qualities of each doshas should be effectively utilized. That is the perfect healthy state.