Ayurveda Principles

1. Etymology of ayurveda
The word ayurveda is a sanskrit term and is basically formed of two words
Ayu – life
Veda - science
Thus ayurveda is the science of life.
It is defined as the mode of assessing the various forms of life like -:
Hitayu ( healthy life)
Ahitayu (unhealthy life)
Sukhayu (happy life)
Dukhayu ( unhappy life)

2. Principles of ayurved
Ayurved believes that the five natural forces called the Panchamahabhuta i.e. the earth,
water, fire, air and the vacuum are invariably involved in forming the body
constituents. The body constituents include the dosha and dhatu whose balanced
condition in the body is essential for prevention of disease.
Dosha
Dhatu

3. Dosha – they are 3 in no. formed by the combination of the five mahabhuta’s .
These are
Dosha Mahabhuta Description
Vata Air + Vacum Vata governs the principle
of movement in our body
Pitta Fire + Water The Pitta Dosha is
responsible for the
process of metabolism.
Kapha Water + Earth Kapha is responsible for
growth and stability

4. Dosha Properties Functions
Vata dry, cold, light, mobile, It promotes movement,
clear, rough, subtle respiration , circulation,
conducting nerve impulses,
delivery of nutrients to the
cells and the excretion of
waste products.
Pitta slightly oily, hot, intense, It promotes digestion,
light,, free flowing, foul metabolism, vision,
smelling, fluid maintains body
temperature, intellectual
aspects etc.
Kapha Soft, oily, cold, heavy, It gives strength and
stable, viscid, smooth, stability, both physically and
psychologically. It enhances
resistance to disease and
promotes the healing
process.

5. Predominant period of doshas
These 3 doshas are predominant during their respective
time period as follows
Time period Predominant dosha
6 am –10 am Kapha
10 am – 2 pm Pitta
2 pm – 6 pm Vata
6 pm – 10 pm Kapha
10 pm – 2 am Pitta
2 am – 6 am Vata

6.  Dhatu’s are 7 in no. and form the entire anatomical and physiological network of body
. Proper amount of each dhatu and their balanced function is very important for good
health.
 Together these dosha and dhatu regulate every physiological and psychological
characteristic from basic cellular processes to the most complex biological functions.
 When these forces are in a state of natural balance the defense mechanism of the
body works efficiently. But when this balance is disturbed due to an incompatible diet,
lifestyle, lack or excess of exercise or mental stress, then the body's immunity can be
affected leading to accumulation of various toxins and leading to formation of
disease.

7. How to maintain this balance
For prevention of a disease
Daily regimen
Dietic rules
Seasonal rules
Mental well-being

8. For treating a disease
Shaman (palliative treatment)
Shodhan (purificatory treatment)
Shaman is the process by which the imbalanced dosha and dhatu are brought back to normalcy by
adopting various methods .
Shodhan comprises of five purificatory methods called as the “Panchakarma”-
 Vamana (emesis)
 Virechan (purgation)
 Basti (medicated enema)
 Nasya (nasal drops)
 Raktamokshan (blood-letting)
By adopting Panchakarma we can detoxify our body and can get permanently cured from a
disease by destroying it from it’s roots.

9. Why Detox?
 The causes leading to imbalance in dosha’s and dhatu’s are-:
 Consumption of junk food
 Irregular timings of meals
 Taking excess mental stress
 Inadequate sleep
 Exposure to pollution
 Due to all these causes various toxins get accumulated in our body and tend to cause
various disease pathologies
 These toxins can be expelled out of the body by the ayurvedic boon called
Panchakarma(Detoxification)

10. Three Steps in Panchakarma
 Poorvakarma – theses are the preliminary steps done before undertaking the
detoxification therapy -:
 Dipan – it ignites the digestive fire which has weakened in the disease process
 Pachan – it tries to digest the accumulated toxins
 Snehan – it involves oil application externally and it’s consumption as well.
 Swedan – it is steam induced sweating for toxin clearance.

11. Snehan and Swedan
Snehan and swedan provides lubrication and strength to the body for
the upcoming detox therapy.
Snehan helps in loosening the toxins from their sites which are then
dislodged by swedan
These dislodged toxins are then easily expelled out of the body by the
detox therapy.

12. Diet in poorvakarma
The poorvakarma should be started 5-7 days before undertaking the actual detox therapy.
Following dietic rules must be followed during this period
 Avoid having non – veg food like fish , meat etc.
 Have 2-3 glass of warm water daily
 Food containing less oil and spices
 Cold beverages should be completely given up
 Light to digest food like vegetable soups, fruit juices, brown bread, sprouted green gram is
preferred.
A day before detox therapy, food that will aggravate the respective dosha is given. This aggravated
dosha is then expelled out easily by the corresponding detox therapy
For e.g. a day before conducting the vaman , preparations of black gram are given which is known
to aggravate kapha , which is then expelled.

13. 2. Pradhan karma – this includes the five methods of purification for removal of accumulated
toxins.
• Virechan- It is induction of purgation by giving certain medicines for removal of excess Pitta.

14.  Basti- It is used for cleansing the intestine by administering medicated oils
and decoctions for pacifying the excess Vata. Hridaya basti is an important
type of this therapy where medicated oils are pooled over heart region.

15.  Nasya- It involves administration of medicated oil through the nose to
cleanse accumulated dosha’s from the head and neck region.

16.  Raktamokshan- Raktamokshana is procedure to cleanse the blood and
remove toxins from the same.

17. 3. Paschat karma – helps in regaining the normal functioning of body
This includes various rules to be followed after having Panchakarma.
dietic
behavioural
physical
psychological rules
 The diet after completion of detox therapy should be light to digest and may include
 Soup made with rice with or without some herbs
 Rice cooked with green gram
 Vegetable soup
 Clear meat soup
 The routine diet can be started after 3, 5, or 7 days depending upon the grade of detox you
have undergone.
 This is the last step of detoxification therapy after which we can start the proposed ayurvedic
treatment.

18. Correct Detox Process
 Hence shodhan followed by shaman is the correct approach in starting ayurvedic
treatment and should be implemented in every patient because an ayurvedic drug
can act effectively only on the body which has been detoxified properly. Also a
disease which has been treated in this way has probably no chance of recurrence.
Shodhan
Shaman
Permanent cure of disease