What Is Ayurveda?

Ayurveda is a 5,000-year-old system of natural healing that’s truly stood the test of time. First
originating in the Vedic culture of India, it’s actually one of the oldest systems of healing in the
world.
Ayurvedic medicine is based on the premise that there is a deep interconnection between
ourselves and the world around us. Both are made up of the five great elements (ether, air, fire,
water, earth) and governed by three principles: movement (Vata), transformation (Pitta) and
stability (Kapha). When the doshas are functioning harmoniously in our bodies, we are healthy.
When we disconnect from nature and cause imbalance through wrong diet, lifestyle and
emotional factors, illness and disease takes hold.
One of the core principles of Ayurveda (and what makes it stand apart from the Western
medical model), is the idea that we are all unique-individuals with a different constitution
(prakruti); and we are multi-layered beings of body-mind-spirit. Rather than treating symptoms
with drugs and ignoring the underlying problems, Ayurvedic medicine aims to look at the root
of disease and how that is originating in and relating to each individual (vikruti). Once the root
cause is identified, Ayurveda prescribes the use diet, lifestyle, herbal support and mind-body
therapies to correct imbalance and regulate the vital energy (prana) back into a state of vitality
and health.