Enhance Your Body’s Natural Capacity To Listen, Build Resiliency, And Thrive With Ayurveda
The idea of applying ancient practices to your modern life might seem like a lot of work. But if you currently practice yoga or eat food according to seasonal shifts, did you know? You’re already doing it!
Adding the ancient practice of Ayurveda to your life makes everything you already do for your health more powerful… Not to mention more resilient.
You see, when given the right nourishment, your body communicates what it needs to feel better. It helps you listen to symptoms you can recognize and interpret - by way of the 5 elements (more on that in a moment!)
When given the right remedies and conditions, your body begins to build its own resiliency. That’s how miraculous our human bodies are!
At the end of the day, your body wants to find homeostasis; its primary goal is to thrive.
The question is… How well do you listen to what your body tells you it needs? How often do you pause to give it the presence, attention, and remedies it deserves?
Enter the beauty of Ayurveda - India’s holistic health care system and yoga’s sister science. Its magic lies in its simplicity.
Rooted in a common-sense approach to wellness, Ayurveda is implementable by design…
Something that makes it so very valuable when it comes to applying ancient practices to modern life.
Let’s face it. More than ever before in the history of the world, we need nature’s wisdom to help us find balance, calm, and resilience.
Ayurveda is a powerful practice; one that’s easy, intuitive, and cumulative in its effect. It’s a health care system you can shape to fit your lifestyle, not the other way around.
Now here’s the most awesome part…
Even the smallest shifts you make are bound to have a huge impact on your health, mood, and wellness.
In order to get there, what’s most important is that you understand the 5 elements that make up your body and the qualities they represent.
Elemental knowledge has roots in indigenous medicines all over the world!
It’s what will help you understand and interpret the nature of your symptoms so that you can find the right remedies and find your way back to balance.
So let’s take a quick look at the 5 Elements of Ayurveda and how you can use them to heal.
Ether
represents space, gas, and atmosphere. It’s the first element of creation and the one element that MUST be present for any form of life to manifest. The element that flows into space is air.
Air
Represents wind and movement. Air and ether together comprise the Vata dosha or the “airhead” archetype and Ayurveda’s most sensitive constitution.
When the wind element goes out of balance, you’ll experience symptoms related to depletion, exhaustion, inflammation, anxiety, dryness, and depression. The ability to let go and trust you are protected is the ultimate expression of air and ether in balance.
Fire
Fire is the most transformative and destructive element in the body. Just as fire rises in a house, it rises in your body.
When you have an excess of fire, you’ll feel hot, overheated, inflamed, frustrated. You may deal with issues around control, pain, and loose stool. On the contrary, when fire doesn’t burn hot enough, you tend to get allergies, compromised immunity, and dampness throughout the body.
Fire rules digestion and digestion is the root of your vitality. So pay attention to the strength of your digestive fire. Fire and water comprise the Pitta dosha or the “firey” archetype and Ayurveda’s most driven constitution.
Water
Water feeds all the fluids of your body. You can’t cleanse a dry well and your creative juices may feel compromised when you’re dehydrated or lacking moisture. You may experience a water imbalance through dry skin, brittle hair and nails, edema, cracking joints, chronic headaches, and inexplicable weight gain.
Setting your hydration every day and creating a hydration routine that’s especially for you is one of the many things that sets Ayurveda detox apart from other healing modalities. Feed your river of life and you’ll have all kinds of energy for what matters to you.
Earth
Earth is the grounding element and the one most directly connected to developing a healthy relationship with food. Water and earth make up the Kapha dosha or the “couch potato” archetype and Ayurveda’s most stable constitution.
Earth represents food as medicine and using food as medicine is at the heart of applying Ayurveda to your life.
Ayurveda Is About Healing Through Opposites
When an elemental symptom arises, Ayurveda offers a remedy with opposite qualities - because that’s what creates change and inspires balance.
I said it before and I’ll say it again... When given the right conditions, your body, mind, and spirit respond readily!
Your body wants to seek harmony, equanimity, and health. That’s its core essence.
Once you’re familiar with all the things an Ayurvedic lifestyle can do for how you feel, you’ll find even more inspiration to try it on and put its principles into practice.
Ayurveda Enhances Your Body’s Natural Capacity To Listen
Your body is always asking you to listen to what it needs - one reason why your symptoms (even the uncomfortable ones) are such powerful communicators.
Symptoms give you clues as to where and how your body’s out of balance. Ayurveda helps you respond to symptoms with care and wisdom - simply by offering up the elemental opposite of that symptom.
- Hot symptoms need cooling remedies.
- Cold symptoms need warming remedies.
- Wet symptoms need cleansing remedies.
- Dry symptoms need nourishing remedies.
So how do you put this knowledge into practice?
There is so much power in asking yourself on the daily, “In this moment, how do I feel and what do I need?”
When you nourish your body, you nourish your LIFE. And that, my friend, is the definition of thriving.
If you’ve gotten this far, you might be looking to make some adjustments to your health. What better way to do that than by taking on an Ayurvedic remedy one step at a time? Ayurveda is a life-changing practice that will bring you to balance, optimal health and full alignment in the years to come!
And it doesn’t have to be hard. You can simply start by asking yourself, “In this moment, how do I feel and what do I need?”
Do you feel hot, cold, wet, dry, light, or heavy? Tune in and see.
Knowledge is power and Ayurveda is an experiential science - so you have to try it on to see how reaching for the opposite remedies will work for YOU.
Curious about exploring this idea of enhancing your body’s natural capacity to listen, build resiliency, and thrive with Ayurveda?
Then take my free Dosha Quiz! You’ll receive simple remedies and lifestyle hacks recommended especially for YOU. They’ll help you feel awesome, discover more about yourself, and connect with Ayurveda's healing powers.
Alternatively and if you love to cook, check out my Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen Cookbook!
You’ll find tons of recipes and resources to get you going and guide you on your way.
About The Author
Talya Lutzker is a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner and the founder of Ayurveda Every Day With Talya. She helps health seekers understand their bodies and achieve health goals through the life-changing power of Ayurveda. Talya is a celebrated cookbook author, professional chef, yoga teacher, and advocate for people’s AWESOMENESS. She’s the creator of The Dosha Remedy, Ayurveda Starter School, and The RAD Cleanse. When she’s not sharing Ayurveda with the world, you’ll find her cooking, riding her bike to yoga, and petting every dog in sight.
