Being True To One's Nature Leads to Perfect Health and Balance

What do I mean by "One's Nature"? Take a few seconds to consider all the different types of dogs in the world. You would never see a greyhound mimicking the nature of a German shepherd: it is not in its make-up or nature to do so.

Date:   10/9/2007 9:30:11 AM   ( 17 y ) ... viewed 2902 times

Yet, we watch young people every day reading magazines or watching videos and saying: I would like to be like that movie star or this celebrity – even though their body type may be completely different from that of the celebrity they want to copy.

The millennia-old Indian health system known as Ayurveda says that bodies are all a mixture of three basic elements, in greater or lesser proportions.

The central concept of Ayurvedic medicine is the theory that good health exists when there is a balance between these three fundamental bodily humours or "doshas" – called Vata, Pitta and Kapha.

·         Vata is the "impulse principle".  It is necessary for mobilizing the functioning of the nervous system and the transmission of messages throughout the body.  It corresponds to the physical elements of air and ether.

·         Pitta is the "energy principle".  It uses bile to direct digested food into the venous system, and hence governs the metabolism.  It corresponds to the physical elements of fire and water.

·         Kapha is the "body fluid principle".  It relates to mucous, lubrication and the carriage of nutrients into the arterial system.  It corresponds to the physical elements of water and earth.

People may have one of the doshas in their body in a particularly high proportion, but none of the doshas is absent in any body.

Ayurveda takes into account observations that the tastes of foods or herbs have specific physiological effects.  Those tastes that become transformed after digestion (Vipaka) are more powerful.

·         Sweet - Madhura
Sweet foods nourish, cool, moisten, oil, and increase weight

·         Sour - Amla
Sour foods warm, oil, and increase weight

·         Salty - Lavan
Salty foods warm, dissolve, stimulate, soften, oil, and increase weight

·         Bitter - Katu
Bitter foods cool, dry, purify, and decrease weight

·         Pungent - Tikta
Pungent foods warm, dry, stimulate, and decrease weight

·         Astringent - Kasaya
Astringent foods cool, dry, and reduce stickiness.

You can see from the above that by observing which dosha is in the highest proportion in our body and selecting types of food that mitigate the effects of that dosha ("pacify" it), we can transform ourselves, yet stay true to our basic body type and nature.

Our body supports our efforts in this direction by always moving towards a balanced state; so that once we engage in the balancing process ourselves, our body helps us complete it.

Human beings have many different roots to their nature.  These roots may be based, for instance, in their country of origin, their race, or the part of the world they live in – i.e. a very hot country or a cold country.  Our body’s genes are our internal programming, which helps construct our body type through evolution.

It is important in this Now Moment to be aware of our genetic evolution and body type, and to relate this to the environment in which we live; if we find our environment tends to accentuate our predominant dosha (if we have one), it is a good idea either to consider moving to a different climate, or to take steps to re-balance our body through our eating and drinking patterns and our lifestyle.

We all know we can change ourselves through mind over matter.  I feel it is better to do this with awareness of our true nature and to be ourselves, in a conscious, creative way, so we can evolve and stay in perfect health and harmony while we bring about changes in our life.

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