In Ayurveda, all substances have a therapeutic effect and can be used as medicine. This includes herbs and foods when given in medicinal doses.
Ayurveda has a vast knowledge of India’s indigenous herbs, and treatment with these herbs is a mainstay. Herbs and other therapeutic substances are selected by an Ayurvedic practitioner according to six criteria that determine the effects it has on you (see below). These effects include pacifying doshas, healing dhatus (tissues), strengthening agni (digestive fire), and influencing the mind and body in general.
There are many types of herbal preparations used in Ayurveda. The most common of these are listed below.
• Powdered herbs are best taken with hot water (for all doshas), warm milk (for vata), ghee (for pitta), or honey (for kapha).
• Herbal pills or capsules can be taken in the same way as powdered herbs (see above).
• Decoctions are water-based extracts of the herb’s active ingredients. They can be taken orally with salt, honey, or sugar. Herbs are added to ghee or oils by making a decoction first.
• Herbal wines, known as asavas or arishtas, are fermented infusions or decoctions. They aid digestion and absorption of the herbs even if agni is weak.
• Herbal oils are applied to the body topically via massage. Ayurvedic oils are rich in healing herbs: up to 10lb (5kg) of herbs are processed into approximately 4 cups of oil, ensuring that your body receives a large quantity of healing herbs even from a single massage.
TASTE
The effect a substance has on you starts with its taste. Each taste has various therapeutic actions. For example, the sweet taste builds tissue; sour is slightly purgative; salty promotes digestion; pungent is cleansing and stimulates agni; bitter helps lower fever; and astringent promotes wound healing.
QUALITIES
Ayurvedic medicine refers to 20 main qualities in pairs of opposites, such as light–heavy and dull–sharp. These qualities are used to create an effect or counteract an unwanted property. For example, too much dryness in the body can be counteracted with ghee, which has the “oily” quality.
POTENCY
Potency refers to whether a substance has a heating effect or cooling effect. A substance’s potency is important because it is not changed by digestion. Hot potency pacifies vata and kapha and elevates pitta, while cold potency pacifies pitta and elevates vata and kapha.
POST-DIGESTIVE TASTE
We are unable to perceive this taste, which develops after the digestive process. The six tastes are consolidated into just three: sweet, sour, and pungent. Post-digestive tastes have a more significant, longer-lasting effect than pre-digestive tastes.
ACTIONS ON THE BODY
Each substance can have its own specific effects on the body’s functions, such as reducing fever, cough, or weakness; building or reducing tissue; stopping flow; or removing blockages. It may also have a reducing or elevating effect on a particular dosha—for example, sugar has an elevating effect on kapha dosha.
SPECIAL PROPERTIES
Some substances have special properties that cannot be explained by its other aspects (taste, quality, etc.). For example, ghee has the special property of stimulating agni despite being cooling and heavy (and thus in theory being likely to weaken agni).
Ayurveda’s six criteria of therapeutic properties encompass the effects a substance has on you from first taste to digestion and absorption.
RESTORATIVE MEDICINES
Ayurveda includes a branch of therapy called “rasayana” (or “rejuvenation”) that focuses on restoring tissue health and generating resilient tissue in the long term. Healthy tissues and organs are the body’s best defense against disease, as disease cannot manifest itself in healthy tissues, even if the doshas are irritated or elevated.
Rasayana is the last step in Ayurvedic treatment. These medicines are given after agni has been strengthened, ama (toxins) has been removed, and the doshas balanced (for example, after panchakarma). This ensures that the body is able to fully absorb their benefits. As well as therapeutic herbs, rasayana includes foods such as milk, ghee, and honey.
“Not for yourself, not for gain, but solely for the good of humanity should you treat your patients.”