Chapter 2

Focusing on the Fundamental Principles

In This Chapter

Introducing the five elements

Exploring the 20 attributes

Finding out about the doshas

Surfing the channels of your body

In this chapter, I aim to give you an understanding of the fundamental building blocks of the whole system of Ayurveda, as well as the language you use to understand and investigate the subject in greater depth.

I explain the heart of Ayurveda – the five elements, which you see and experience by using your five senses – and how these five elements make up the world. Forget your school science lessons and embrace the science of Ayurveda.

Fixing on the Three States of Energy and the Five Elements

Samkhya philosophy, one of the oldest philosophical systems and the philosophy that underlies Ayurveda, holds that the creation of the universe enabled three states of energy, or pure consciousness, to come into play. These three states are known as gunas, which literally means ‘ropes that bind us to the physical world’. Which of these states predominate in your mind contributes to determining your psychological constitution (you can discover your constitution in Chapter 4).

The gunas are as follows:

Sattwa guna, or potential energy, is a state of equilibrium and balance. It gives rise to purity, truth, creativity, happiness and knowledge. Predominantly sattwic people are calm, spiritually minded, quiet, intelligent and health conscious.

Rajas guna, is best described as kinetic energy that results in activity. This has the qualities of restlessness, aggression and effort. A predominantly rajasic person is ambitious, driven, egotistical and perfectionist.

Tamas guna, which is aligned with inertia, is a state where nothing happens and rest ensues. It’s a state of dullness, heaviness, materialism, self-interest and depression. Predominantly tamasic people tend to be lazy, attached to things and bad humoured.

The interaction of these three forces creates a unique and harmonious flow of creation, maintenance and destruction.

Together, the gunas form the five elements that compose the building blocks, or proto-elements, from which everything in the material world is constructed. The next sections talk about each element in turn. I talk about the qualities the elements contain in the upcoming section ‘Examining the Twenty Qualities’.

Each element contains the one before it, so each of the five elements contains ether, and earth holds all the elements – ether, air, fire and water. Each element is connected to a taste. Taste is extremely important in Ayurveda, and I explain it further in Chapter 10.

As gunas descend into matter, they manifest as the finest substance, or ether. Gunas become denser and denser until they form earth. Gunas are known in Sanskrit as mahabhuta, which means ‘great element’.

Ether

Ether is known in Sanskrit as akasha, from the root kas, which means ‘to radiate’. Ether’s predominant quality (I explain qualities in the next section ‘Examining the Twenty Qualities’) is its ability to convey energy without resistance. Take sound waves as an example: by virtue of ether, sound waves are able to expand and resonate so that we can hear them.

Molecules and atoms need space in which to operate, and ether provides that environment throughout your body. Ether inhabits the alveoli of your lungs so that you continue to breathe. Within your colon, where absorption and assimilation takes place, ether maintains the integrity of the process.

When combined with the air element, ether produces a bitter taste.

As an element, ether has no dimension, because its atomic particles are very loosely put together. Its characteristics are fine, soft and light. Ether is the equivalent of nuclear energy, which is the power released when minute atomic particles are split.

Air

In Sanskrit, air is known as vayu and means ‘movement, vibration and gaseousness’. You can think of air as atoms of oxygen floating in the ether.

You can easily see the effects of air when you put your washing on the line; air is dry, light, rough, cold and fine.

All the hollow spaces of your body, such as in your throat and bones, contain air. Air serves to activate and stimulate essential processes in your body, such as respiration and the exchange of gases at a cellular level.

When combined with ether, air’s associated taste is bitter; mixed with earth, it produces an astringent flavour; and it’s pungent when combined with fire.

Air is the equivalent of electrical energy in modern terms.

Fire

The Sanskrit word for fire, agni, means ‘to radiate’, so you can picture fire as radiant energy. Fire’s qualities are light, hot, sharp, fine, dry and clear.

All the enzyme functions that take place in your body are related to fire, and fire controls your metabolic rate as well. Fire governs all transformative processes in your body, from your digestive process to your thought process.

Combined with air, fire gives a pungent taste, and allied to earth, it results in a sour flavour.

In Western terms, agni is thermal energy, where two substances come together and create friction, which in turn produces heat.

Water

In Sanskrit, the water element is known as ap or jala, meaning watery.

The water element governs all the fluids in your body. Its qualities are slow, cold, oily, soft and liquid.

Water is found in all the cellular fluids in your tissues, and in your spinal and brain fluids. Synovial fluid, which lubricates your joints and provides the moisture in your lungs that prevents them from drying out and sticking to the inside of your rib cage when you breathe, also contains water.

Because water embraces all that comes in its path, it has a cohesive effect on the tissues of your body. Along with this, water has a moistening and dissolving effect, which you see, for example, when water prevents the surface of your skin from drying up. Tears have a solvent effect if you get something in your eye.

Combined with earth, water produces a sweet taste, and with fire it produces a salty taste.

In terms of modern chemistry, water would be allied to chemical energy. This type of power is generated when a substance undergoes transformation by the breaking of chemical bonds, such as when you chew your food, releasing nutrients into your body.

Earth

This element is known as prithivi – ‘that offering resistance’ in Sanskrit.

In the earth element, all the elements reach their material state and become solid. The attributes of earth are solid, coarse, heavy, stable, slow, rough and hard.

The influence of earth in your body is that it relates to all your structural elements – your bones, teeth and nails. Earth plays a supportive role in your body and provides you with compactness, strength and stability.

Water and earth together produce a sweet taste; when combined with fire, earth gives a sour flavour.

In Western parlance, earth is the equivalent of mechanical energy – the type of force that’s liberated when potential energy and moving energy operate together, such as when you lift an object.

Examining the Twenty Qualities

According to Ayurveda, everything you can see, hear, smell, taste and touch is experienced as a mixture of the 20 different qualities, or attributes. They describe everything in our physical and mental world. Each pair listed in Table 2-1 represents two ends of a spectrum.

The best way to remember the 20 qualities is to familiarise yourself with half of them, because the other 10 are their opposites. So if you know hot, you know its opposite cold as well. Table 2-1 lists the 20 qualities with their opposites, side by side.

Table 2-1 Ayurveda Qualities

Dull	Sharp
Hard	Soft
Heavy	Light
Cold	Hot
Wet	Dry
Dense	Subtle
Rough	Smooth
Slow	Quick
Solid	Liquid
Oily	Brittle

These opposite features point the way to effective diagnosis and treatment of illness in Ayurveda. Ayurveda believes that if the treatment is like the ailment it’s treating, it will only increase that ailment. Only an opposite quality can combat it.

For example, oil massage is not advised for kapha individuals (Chapter 4 helps you determine your constitution) on a regular basis – it increases their tendencies towards oiliness, heaviness, slowness and cold. A better option is a dry powder massage, which increases light, dry and hot qualities – all of which reduce excess kapha dosha.

Similarly, if you’re a pitta dosha and visit a hot country, the hot, dry qualities of the weather increase those tendencies in your body. To find relief, you can counter the situation with opposite qualities – try a cool glass of lime juice or sugar cane juice for its cold, wet qualities, an application of coconut oil on your skin for its cooling qualities, and eating herbs such as green coriander and fennel for their cooling and moistening properties.

Differentiating the Doshas

The doshas are the golden triangle of Ayurveda, formed when the five elements with all of their attributes come together to produce what are known as the three doshas. In a nuthsell, a dosha is a form of biological energy. The three doshas – vata, pitta and kapha – govern all the physical, mental and psychological systems, and every person has a unique combination.

Chapter 4 offers checklists to help you discover your dominant dosha, so use the information in this section along with Chapter 4 to get a rounded view of your constitution.

In addition to describing types of energy, vata, pitta and kapha also describe types of biological constitution. Every person on the planet has a combination of all three doshas in a unique configuration. Generally, one type of dosha dominates. So, if the pitta dosha dominates in you, you’re said to have a pitta dosha or pitta constitution. Most people are governed by two doshas; pure types are fairly rare.

Your doshic balance is determined by a synthesis of four elements (air, fire, water and earth – all the elements minus ether) in combination with consciousness. The diet of your parents and their hereditary tendencies also contributes to your dosha.

Each dosha exists within you, but the amount you have (which is ‘allocated’ at birth) is unique to you.

When you’re healthy, all the doshas are in a state of balance in your body, mind and emotions. But what makes up that balance is unique to you and your constitution.

Vata

Composed of half air and half ether, vata is known as the governor because it moves everything in your body; all nerve impulses, the movement of food in your digestive tract, muscle contractions, heartbeats, and so on, would be impossible without it.

Vata’s characteristics are lightness, dryness, mobility, subtleness, coolness, roughness, clarity and inconsistency. Vata is associated with the taste of astringency and saltiness.

When vata is in balance, you think clearly, move easily and are very flexible. If vata becomes disturbed, you experience muscle cramping, all types of pain and paralysis, tics, fear and anxiety.

Because it’s so light and subtle, vata is the dosha which most easily goes out of balance.

If your primary dosha is vata, you’re quick to grasp things but also quick to forget them as the agility and natural curiosity of your mind darts from one thing to the next. Irregularity is the name of the game for you; sometimes you feel constantly hungry, sometimes you don’t. Like the wind, you change from one state to the next. You tend to be slim and gangly, your eyes are quite small and active, and your hair is dry and wiry. Mentally, you’re very creative but you get bored easily.

Pitta

Pitta dosha is predominantly made up of the fire element with a little of the water element. It mainly governs your enzymes and hormone reactions, and without pitta dosha metabolic processes would cease.

Pitta’s characteristics are sharp, hot, liquid, strong smelling, slightly oily and spreading. Pitta is associated with pungent and sour flavours.

Pitta dosha promotes proper digestion and assimilation of both the ideas and food you take in. It regulates hunger, thirst and body temperature. Your capacity to see is attributable to pitta dosha.

When your pitta dosha is out of balance, you can fall prey to disorders such as jaundice, conjunctivitis, fevers and inflammations.

If pitta is your primary dosha, you have a sharp intellect and a matching appetite. You’re of medium build and tend not to put on weight easily, but if you do you can lose it easily too. You’re endowed with passion, enthusiasm and vitality. Mentally you’re able to focus and you usually enjoy studying. In general you have good leadership skills, but when your doshas are out of balance you can be a bit fanatical.

Your skin is sun-sensitive, and you have freckles and moles. You have light-coloured eyes with a steady gaze. Your hair is light and very silky, and you have to wash it fairly often because it can get greasy. You love sweets and cold drinks, which both pacify your hot attributes.

Kapha

In kapha dosha, you have the elements of water and earth in equal quantities. Kapha keeps your joints lubricated, produces cerebrospinal fluid and protects your cells. It gives lustre to your skin. Kapha’s power of cohesion holds your musculature and skeletal systems together.

Kapha’s characteristics are hard, gross, sticky, cloudy, soft, static, slow, heavy, dense, liquid, slimy, oily and cold. Its tastes are sweet, sour and salty.

The conditions of this dosha include general swelling, diabetes, obesity and lassitude.

If your primary dosha is kapha, you’re probably laid-back and easy going. You have strong bones and good teeth. Your skin is pale and thick, so you don’t wrinkle easily. You’re prone to weight gain and have a job to shift it. Because of your natural tendency not to move much, your metabolism is slow, along with your ability to digest both ideas and food. It takes quite a time for you to commit facts to memory, but once there you’ll never forget them.

Your strength is legendary, and you’re capable of hard, heavy work. You are by nature very loving and kind, but in excess this dosha endows you with attachment and greed. You have cravings for sweet and salty tastes.

Navigating Your Body’s Networks: The Srotas

Your body has a complex system of passages known as srotas that deliver nutrition to your tissues and conduct wastes away. Women have extra srotas associated with childbirth.

Ayurvedic health practitioners pay close attention to how the srotas are functioning to help them effectively diagnosis and treat disease.

Looking at srota states

Srotas can exist in five states:

Normal: Regarded as the optimum healthy state. With normal srotas, all your bodily systems are suffused with oxygen and nutrients, and wastes are removed effectively. This is regarded as the healthy state.

Hyper-functioning: This situation occurs when your srotas are overloaded. Things are running too fast. For example, in a hyper state, your body may not have time to extract the vital nutrients from the foods you eat. This hyperactivity can mean that certain organs or tissues get overloaded and can’t function efficiently.

Blocked: Also known as srotavarodha, in this condition a srota suffers an obstruction due to the accumulation of ama, or toxins, in your system – like a dam preventing the flow of a river. A blocked srota can lead to atrophy of organs, or tissues deprived of vital nutrients.

Hypo-functioning: Known as srotakshaya, this condition occurs when your system is operating sluggishly. Waste products begin to circulate in your blood. As a result, your cells and organs shrivel and become dehydrated. One indication of hypo-functioning is that your breath begins to smell.

Injured: An injury to a srota can result in a blockage of vital channels. In trying to find a way past the blockage, vital elements invade neighbouring tissues or organs. Unfamiliar substances in the wrong place can cause damage to your system, for example when internal bleeding causes complications to an injury.

Getting to know the srotas

Essentially, the srotas are your body’s plumbing, electrical and waste networks. The following list describes the function of each srota in the traditional order:

Pranavaha srota: This channel is connected to the respiratory system and some aspects of your circulation. Its role is to maintain your respiratory function, which helps give vitality to your blood. Its opening is in the nose, and it uses the passages of the respiratory tract and the bronchial tree. As well as residing in the heart and gastrointestinal tract, the pranavaha srota’s primary location is in your colon, where prana (energy) is extracted from the food you consume.

If this srota is out of balance, you feel as if you’ve exercised when you’re hungry, you feel dry, and your appetite and other natural urges are suppressed. (You have several natural urges, which include sneezing, sleeping and coughing.)

Annavaha srota: This is the digestive tract located in your stomach, oesophagus and the left side of your body. Its opening is at a junction between your stomach and intestine known as the ileo-caecal valve. Disruption to this channel is caused by eating unwholesome food, eating at the wrong time, and eating too much.

Udakavaha srota: This srota is said to be located in the soft palate, third ventricle of your heart and the pancreas. Its openings in your body are the kidney and your tongue. This channel is disrupted by thirst, fear, excessive alcohol and exposure to heat. Excessively dry foods like popcorn and rice cakes disturbs this channels, as does ama (toxins produced by your body).

Rasavaha srota: The seat of this particular channel is located in the right chamber of your heart and all the vessels connected to it. It carries blood and nutrients to your cells and maintains your immune system. Its opening occurs at the junction of your capillaries. This srota is closely related to the skin as well as to your body’s venous and lymphatic systems. Worry and eating too many heavy, dry and cold foods impedes the flow in this channel.

Raktavaha srota: This channel corresponds to your circulatory system and what’s known as the reticulo-endothelial system, which operates from your spleen and helps your immune system to function. The main headquarters is found in your liver and spleen and, like the rasavaha channel in the preceding bullet point, its opening occurs at the junction of your capillaries.

The raktavaha srota supplies blood to your body via the arteries and veins. These channels are upset when you consume hot, irritating foods such as chillies, or you have excessive exposure to the sun, fire or alcohol.

Mamsavaha srota: This channel relates to your muscles and has its seat in your connective tissue, skin and your small tendons and ligaments. The opening for this srota is located on the upper layers of your skin and its passages are the whole of your muscular system. This channel carries muscle fibres – the components of your musculature. The mamsavaha srota becomes impaired if you don’t chew your food properly, if you sleep immediately after eating or eat heavy, dense foods frequently.

Medavaha srota: This channel is linked to the fat in your body known as adipose tissue, and can be located in your kidneys, adrenals and omentum (the fat in between the organs in your stomach). Its openings are in your sweat glands, and its passages are subcutaneous fat tissue. This srota functions to give bulk to your body, provide energy, give lubrication and transport fat throughout your system.

The medavaha srota becomes upset by lack of physical exercise, sleeping in the day and excessive fat and alcohol in your diet.

Ashtivaha srota: In Western terms, this is your skeletal system whose seat is found in your pelvis, hips and sacrum. The ashtivaha srota provides you with support and protection as well as transporting nutrients for bone tissue. Its opening is in your nails and hair, and its passages are your skeletal system. It’s disturbed by excessive exercise and a high intake of vata provoking foods – those which are dry, raw and cold.

Majjavaha srota: This corresponds mainly with your nervous system, and its seat is in your brain, bone marrow, spinal cord and joints. The openings are at the junction of your nerves in the synaptic spaces, or the space between your muscles and nerves. Its course is throughout your nervous system.

The majjavaha srota functions in your body to carry the ingredients of marrow, memory, coordination and cerebrospinal fluid. It’s damaged by compression injuries, especially to your bone tissue, and eating food that’s difficult to digest.

Shukravaha srota: This is the equivalent of the male reproductive system, which has its seat in the testicles and the nipples. The opening is in the urethra. Its passages are in the urogenital tract, prostate and epididymis, which are the tubules containing sperm in the testis. The function of shukravaha srota is to produce ojas, a substance that supports your immune system. The shukravaha srota is damaged by excessive or repressed sexual activity.

Artavavaha srotas: These connect the female reproductive system, and only women have these channels. Their seat is in the ovaries and the areola of the nipples, with the opening located in the labia. Its channels are your uterus, fallopian tubes and vaginal passage. These channels function to produce reproductive tissues and carry menstrual blood. These networks become impaired if they’re either underused or overused and if sex is initiated at an inappropriate time, such as during menstruation.

Stanyavaha srotas: These channels are basically a subsystem of the artavavaha srotas, mentioned in the preceding point. They initiate the ability to produce milk during pregnancy, and their function is to carry milk to the baby. They’re located in the breast tissue with their openings in the nipples, and they operate throughout the lactation system. Malnutrition is the condition that upsets their ability to function.

Svedavaha srota: This channel transports your sweat, sebaceous secretions and liquid wastes throughout your body. It keeps your skin smooth and oiled. The seat is found in your sebaceous glands and hair follicles, and the openings are located all over your skin. The svedavaha srota helps you sweat, which is how you regulate your body temperature, and helps you eliminate bodily wastes and water. It gets disturbed by excessive exercise, anger, grief and fear, and when you expose yourself to excessive heat.

Purishavaha srota: This comprises the waste-removal system which you can’t live without because it removes the solid wastes from your body. This srota is based in your colon, rectum and caecum (large bowel), with the main opening located at your anus. This channel operates in your large intestine, where you absorb vital minerals and form faeces. This system also provides you with strength and support, and has a grounding effect.

This srota malfunctions if you overeat or suppress the urge to go to the loo to pass a stool. If you feel intense fear or are overly anxious, your purishavaha srota gets off-balance.

Mutravaha srota: This srota is another waste-removal system, which removes liquid substances in the form of urine and is headquartered in your kidney and bladder. The main opening is located in the urethra – the point of exit for urine. The channels are the ureter (the tubes that propel urine from the kidneys to the bladder), urethra and bladder.

This srota regulates your blood pressure, fluid and electrolyte balance. Its rhythm becomes upset when you suppress the urge to urinate or eat too many foods high in oxalic acid (spinach is one). If you have sex while having the urge to use the toilet, you can cause an imbalance and create upsets like cystitis.

Manovaha srota: This srota encompasses all the channels that help you to think and comprehend the world around you. They find their seat in your heart, brain and the energy centres in your body known as chakras. The senses perceive and react to stimuli. This also causes the marma points (rather like acupuncture points) on your body to react.

Manovaha srotas operate throughout the body and help regulate emotions and their related systems, including the realms of discrimination, feeling, thinking, desire and communication. They become harmed by excessively loud noises, suppressed emotions and intense focus – characteristic of a vata lifestyle, which leads to anxiety, dryness and erratic digestion.