Robert Svoboda lived in India for about fifteen years. Having graduated from the Tilak Ayurvedic College at the University of Pune in 1980, he became and remains to this day the only doctor from the West who has received an official license to practice medicine within the framework of Ayurveda.

Leaving the United States in 1973 for a short trip to Africa, Robert Svoboda, a medical student at the University of Oklahoma, had no idea that he would end up living in India... However, a month later he was already lying exhausted in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), suffering from severe dysentery. Friends brought him an African shaman and a healer, who healed him. This was my first experience with traditional medicine. Then, at his friends’ apartment, Robert read his first book on yoga. He later found himself in Nepal, where a doctor from the Peace Corps introduced him to Ayurveda, and initiation into the Tibetan Kalachakra further inclined him to study yoga.

Robert devoted a number of years to deep study of Ayurveda, which allowed him to become one of the most famous popularizers of Vedic teachings and Ayurveda in the West. Today his name can be found at almost any scientific conference on yoga, Ayurveda or Jyotish in the United States. In America and around the world, R. Svoboda conducts her educational programs on Ayurveda. He is also the author of several bestsellers, bringing the knowledge of this ancient science to a wide range of readers. The language of his books has amazing imagery and expressiveness, which allows us to think of Freedom as a direct bearer of tradition.

Books (7)

Aghora. Book 1

The goal of Aghora is complete freedom. Freedom not in the sense of licentiousness, but in the sense of freedom from the limitations of time, space and causality.

Tantra is often considered only in its most vulgar and base forms, which are preached by unscrupulous people. This discourages sincere seekers, to whom Tantra could give much.
Aghora is based on the utmost inner purity of the practitioners.

Only under this condition will they be protected from spiritual fall during rituals, which may include necromancy, the use of drugs, sex and other forbidden practices.

Aghora. Book 3

In the final book of the Aghora trilogy, Vimalananda uses the Bombay Racecourse as a powerful and meaningful metaphor for the game of our lives, where destiny and luck either win or lose at the tip of the finish line.

In every moment of life, lines of fate and opportunity are hidden and intertwined, and every action affects the final result.

Ayurveda: life, health, longevity

The book introduces the philosophy, history and practice of Ayurveda - the art of healing developed from the Vedas. The therapeutic methods of Ayurveda use herbs, minerals, cleansing procedures and spiritual practices and cover all planes of human existence - physical, mental and spiritual.

The book may be of interest to both those who are just beginning to study Ayurveda and those who want to expand their knowledge in this area.

The Majesty of Saturn

This book tells an ancient Indian legend that goes deeper than just information for the mind, it heals you.

Saturn is known in astrology as the planet that brings suffering and misfortune. However, one should not avoid Saturn - it is better to surrender to its embrace and learn its meaning.

“Prakriti. Your Ayurvedic constitution Svoboda Robert Published: 2007 Categories: Vignettes: Ayurveda Robert Svoboda PRakriti YOURS...”

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Prakriti. Your Ayurvedic constitution

Vignettes: Ayurveda

Robert Svoboda PRAKRITI YOUR AYURVEDIC

CONSTITUTION Moscow Ш 2007 UDC 613.86 BBK

53.59 C25 Note: This book is intended for educational purposes.

purposes and cannot replace the advice of a qualified physician. Prakriti. Your Ayurvedic Constitution. First published in the United

States of America by Geocom Limited, Inc. 1988 Published under agreement with Sadhana Publications, 1840 Iron Street, Suite C, Bellingham WA 98225 Translation: A. Blaze, G. Egorov Editor: A. Blaze, A. Zhuravlev, A. Kiselev Illustrations: Rhonda Rose Svoboda, Robert C25 Prakriti. Your Ayurvedic constitution. Per. from English, fifth edition. - M.: Sattva 2007. - 304 p., ill. - ISBN 978-5- 85296-043-6 The book is devoted to a comprehensive consideration of how to balance and harmonize your innate constitution in order to avoid disease and prolong life. The author combines the knowledge of Ayurveda with esoteric tantra. The central idea of ​​the book is that health depends on harmony with Nature, which is achieved through internal harmony. Drawing on the Ayurvedic tradition and personal experience, the author shows how this idea can be implemented in various aspects of everyday life. For those interested in Ayurveda and a healthy lifestyle. UDC 613.86 BBK 53.59 This publication is protected by copyright of the Russian Federation and the USA. Reproduction, reproduction by electronic means or any other means of all or part of the book is permitted only with the written permission of the copyright holders.

© Robert E. Svoboda, 1998 © Translation, original layout, “Sattva”, 2007 DEDICATION This book is dedicated to my parents, who were my first teachers, and to Vimalananda, who was a friend, philosopher and Teacher to me. It is also dedicated to Mother Tara - the Universal Mother - Nature, from whom we all come, in which we exist and to which we will all ultimately return. She is the Mother of compassion, forgiveness, truth, beauty, knowledge, abundance, energy and freedom; and She is the Mother of darkness and dependence. Both illness and health are born from Her. Mothering is necessary for healing, for only Mother Nature can heal. I humbly offer this book as a gift to Mother Tara with a request to heal us all and our world.

CONTENTS PREFACE 7 INTRODUCTION 9 The Art of Medicine 11 Health, Personality, Immortality 13 Chapter 1. DOSHAS AND TASTES 23 Five Great Elements 27 Three Doshas 28 Six Tastes 34 Consequences of Abuse 38 Predominant Emotions 40 Influence on Consciousness 42 Chapter 2. CONSTITUTIONAL FEATURES 5 1 Prakriti score 55 Brief description of constitutional types Chapter 74

3. FOOD 81 Ritual of eating 84 Properties of food 87 Food for every constitution 91 Special foods 103 Cravings and taste 107 Chapter 4. NUTRITION 115 Semdhatu 115 Obesity 128 Weight gain 133 Weight loss 134 Chapter 5. REGIME 143 Daily routine 146 Worship of the Sun (C urya Namaskar) 159 Lifestyle 162 Chapter 6. BALANCE 175 Prana, Tejas and Ojas 176 Indigestion 178 Ayurvedic treatment 183 Removal of Ama 185 Balancing the doshas 194 Treatment of the mind 196 Yukti 200 Chapter

7. DISEASE 201 Allergy 201 Chronic intestinal disorder 207 Asthma 210 “Yellow Peril” 213 How to eliminate “yellowness”

216 Rheumatic disease 218 Treatment of arthritis 224 Cancer 233 Withering 236 Other diseases 239 Chapter 8. REJUVENATION 243 Increase in sexual potency 244 Rasayana 250 Minerals and metals 256 Makaradhwaj 260 Other Rasayanas 263 Seasons 266 Chapter

9. BEYOND AYURVEDA 269 Immortality 269 Sacrifice 272 Kundalini 275 Light and Darkness 279 Tarpana 280 Conclusion 284 Khichadi Recipe 286 DICTIONARY 287 INDEX 291 FROM THE AUTHOR In the ten years since the first publication of this book, I have received many grateful reviews from readers, highly who appreciated its content. But no matter how flattering these praises were, the further I went, the more clearly I realized that the book needed corrections and additions. And in this new edition I tried to make the necessary amendments, revising most of the original text and adding new material to it. New illustrations made it possible to pay more lavish homage to Mother Nature, and thanks to the new editing, many outdated stylistic expressions were eliminated. I hope all readers will be satisfied with our efforts. The author would like to thank the following for critical comments and assistance in developing this book: Judy P. Allyn Lonette Rib Tiagi Kersten Pamela Barinoff Graham Dodd D.R. Michael Stone Elliot McLaflin Dru Vasant D. Lad Vaidya B. P. Nanel Michael Laurenson Fred and Kathy Smith DR Greg Hale (Krishna Das) Laura and Edwin Liberty Loretta Levitz and David Liberty John Clancy Claudia Welch Vimalananda PREFACE Ayurveda is not only a science, but also a religion and a philosophy. We use the word "religion" to refer to beliefs and disciplines that promote states of being in which the doors of perception are open to all aspects of life. In Ayurveda, all aspects and stages of life's journey are considered sacred. The word "philosophy" means love of truth, and truth in Ayurveda is Being, Pure Existence.

Ayurveda is the science of Truth and how it manifests itself in life. According to Ayurveda, every person is a unique phenomenon and is inseparable from the cosmos. Everything that exists in the macrocosm also exists in the microcosm. Every person is a manifestation of cosmic consciousness. The vibration of pure universal consciousness produces the silent sound "Om". From this sound come the Five Great Elements - Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. These Five Great Elements manifest themselves in the form of three biological principles called Vata, Pitta and Kapha, which control all processes in the body, including pathological ones. At the moment of conception, Vata, Pitta and Kapha, by their combinations, determine the human constitution, which is called “prakriti”. "Prakriti" means "first creation". Each human being is the “first creation” of the cosmos, and that is why each person is a separate entity, a unique phenomenon. The study of “prakriti” is aimed at understanding the uniqueness of each individual. Ayurveda gives us a direct approach to this study. Ayurveda as a healing science is based on the knowledge of “prakriti” - the individual constitution. If every person knew his own constitution, he would, for example, easily determine the most suitable diet and lifestyle for himself. Food that is healthy for one person will be poisonous for another. Therefore, in order to make your life healthy, happy and harmonious, you need to know your constitution. My friend and colleague Dr. Robert Svoboda studied Ayurveda at Tilak Ayurvedic Medical College in Pune, India. He studied there under my guidance, and his outstanding abilities and brilliant success in Ayurveda made him the best student in the course. This is all the more worthy of mention since Dr. Svoboda is an American and the only Westerner to graduate from this Ayurvedic medical school. His deep knowledge of Ayurveda combined with his European education makes this book invaluable to Western readers. Dr. Vasant Lad, October 1987

INTRODUCTION Nature and Her ways are truly incomprehensible to mortals. You may set out on your life's journey intending to go west, but if She wants to direct you to the east, your path will wind until you go there. Little did I know when I left the United States on the Ides of March 1973 that I would end up living in India. I was accepted into the University of Oklahoma Medical School and was only going to live in Africa for a while and be back for the start of the September semester. However, a month later I was lying flat in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), suffering from severe dysentery. Two Frenchmen took pity on me and took me to their apartment so that I could spend the weekend there until a doctor could be found. They themselves were going, as they put it, to a “congress of healers” - a meeting of healers, magicians and transmediums somewhere in a deep forest. Their guide was himself a “witch doctor.” When he saw me lying motionless in complete exhaustion, he insisted that he would treat me. I was too weak to resist. He was a well-dressed and well-built African man in his early thirties. He could easily be mistaken for a bank clerk, and if I had the strength to think, I would probably decide that in front of me is a highly unusual healer.

But I had no strength, and I didn’t think anything at all at that moment when he poured water into a glass from the decanter standing at my head and began to look intently at him. I watched indifferently as he muttered some incantations over the glass and then handed it to me. I drank just as indifferently, convincing myself that this was simple water, which, of course, would not bring any benefit, but would not cause harm either. 1 Ides is the name of the 15th (in March, May, July, October) or 13th (in other months) numbers of the ancient Roman calendar. In English, the phrase "Ides of March" is sometimes used in the sense of "fateful day" (in memory of the death of Julius Caesar at the hands of assassins on March 15, 44 BC). - Approx. ed. The medicine man and the French said goodbye to me, and I fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up, I expected an attack of illness, but was pleasantly surprised to find that my stomach was behaving calmly. There were no attacks all day and the next day; they would not have returned if I had known then what I know now about the effect of diet on illness. Be that as it may, thanks to the shaman, I received relief for some time. And at the same time, neither my own efforts nor faith were required from me. I learned this lesson. During the few days that I lay in this apartment and recovered, I read “Autobiography of a Yogi”2. Thanks to this book, the needle of my “inner compass” turned and pointed to India. But my first step on this new path led me to Kenya, where I took part in an ethnographic expedition of the National Museum of Kenya on the territory of the Pokot tribe. I was offered to undergo a ritual of acceptance into the tribe, and I agreed. Having become one of the Pokot, I met and talked with local healers. I then showed the recordings of the conversations to the European medical doctors who accompanied us on this expedition, and they testified to the effectiveness of some of the traditional healing methods used in this tribe. I wanted to study local medicine more thoroughly and promised myself to return to Kenya after my trip to South Asia. I hated India at first sight and, not wanting to stay there, immediately headed to Nepal. It was in Nepal that I first heard the word “Ayurveda” - from a doctor from the Peace Corps. In January 1974, I returned to India - however, only to attend the Tibetan Kalachakra initiation ceremony in Bodh Gaya, which was conducted by the Dalai Lama himself. This ceremony demonstrated to me the practical benefits of yoga and convinced me that, despite all the misgivings that India had inspired in me at first, I should remain in this country and study its ancient art of physical, mental and spiritual healing. 2 Book of Paramahansa Yogananda A893-1952), a great yogi, one of the first Indian spiritual teachers who brought the teachings of yoga to the West. - Approx. ed. 3 Bodh Gaya is a village in the state of Bihar (India), a center of pilgrimage, one of the four holiest places of modern Buddhism. Here is the site of Buddha Shakyamuni's Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree. - Approx. ed. The Art of Medicine One of the first things I realized in India was that medicine is an art. Until then, I had taken a mechanistic view of life and believed that man was like a thinking machine and that health was mainly an engineering problem. From Ayurveda I learned that healing, like other arts, only becomes effective when the healer is truly involved in it.

A person can paint pictures, sculpt pots or compose concerts as much as he wants, but his creations will remain cold and lifeless if he cannot breathe life into them. The ability to breathe life into your creation is what distinguishes a true artist from a simple artisan. Good medicine is the fruit of the union of art and science. Ayurveda (literally translated as “science of life”, “knowledge of life” or “art of longevity”) is more than just the art of healing. Ayurveda deals with everything that brings joy into our lives. To make good medicines, a good Ayurvedic healer must be a good cook. Hand-prepared Ayurvedic medicines are usually superior to factory-made drugs - for the same reason that the most ordinary souffle at the hands of an experienced chef can turn into something unique. A chef may not know anything about the thermodynamics of cooking, but he knows how to make food taste delicious. Like such a cook - a true artist of culinary art - the Ayurvedic healer must become a true master of his craft. A good doctor understands medicines as subtly as a skilled chef understands his recipes. It is this instinct, developing as the healer becomes more and more in harmony with Nature, that transforms the doctor's technical competence into the ability to intuitively heal. Ayurveda is not anti-scientific: it has simply gone beyond mechanistic science in its development.

No doctor since the beginning of time has ever cured a single patient. No doctor will ever do this, because only Nature can heal. Only Nature can work miracles; doctors must only teach their patients to use these miracles. The doctor’s task is to use knowledge about past illnesses and the patient’s current condition in order to intuitively predict possible healing paths and develop a treatment strategy. True physicians tirelessly serve as channels through which Nature can perform her miraculous works. This is why Ayurveda teaches that every doctor should always, even during diagnostic procedures, devote maximum energy to the healing of each patient. But despite its relentless focus on healing when healing is needed, Ayurveda constantly emphasizes that prevention is more important than cure. Ayurveda balances and rejuvenates living organisms, reduces their susceptibility to disease and, by strengthening the immune system, prevents the development of diseases. Ayurveda is not so much a medical system as a way of life, a path to understanding how to cooperate with Nature and live in harmony with Her. The concept of health in Ayurveda means harmony, and there is truly no limit to the harmony that a person who sincerely strives for it can achieve. Some people complain that Ayurvedic remedies are slow to act; but leisure in itself is often part of the cure, especially today, when many of us suffer from diseases caused by haste. Human physiology has not changed much over the course of human history. Of course, we have advanced greatly in technology, but our bodies and minds are almost the same as those of our ancestors, who suffered from the same diseases and exhibited the same wonderful and disgusting qualities as us. However, in those distant times, when Ayurveda was just being formed, people were more dependent on the external environment than we are today. They had no choice but to cooperate with and rely on Nature. In the absence of sophisticated tools, they developed their intuitive diagnostic abilities. Living in direct connection with Nature, they discovered that Nature itself would tell them the healing properties of plants, animals and minerals, if only they listened carefully to Her words. These ancient researchers experimented on themselves and passed on their observations from generation to generation. This medical experience, accumulated in the distant past, was systematized much later, but still a very long time ago, in the form of Ayurveda. The human mind replaced computer systems for ancient Ayurvedic healers: by developing memorization abilities, they stored a huge amount of medical facts in their memory. Well-developed and refined intuitive abilities helped to apply the accumulated knowledge in practice. The ancient masters transformed Ayurveda into a medical art and decreed that the true goal of any medical knowledge should be nothing less than the achievement of immortality. Health, personality, immortality Every person has probably dreamed of becoming immortal at least once in his life. And although we know that everything that has ever been created will eventually be destroyed, each of us secretly cherishes the hope that perhaps death will make an exception for him. Ancient Indian rishis (seers) searched for ways to achieve immortality and recorded the fruits of their research in the hymns of the Vedas - the oldest works of the human race. The Vedas, which form the foundation of Indian culture, emphasize that the opportunity to achieve immortality is open to every person by right of birth. Here are the words of one famous Vedic prayer: Lead me from darkness to light. Lead me from error to truth. Lead me from death to immortality. Every incarnate person is a unity of body, mind and spirit.

Therefore, the ancient rishis of India divided their wisdom, which turned into the Science of Life, into three sections of knowledge:

Ayurveda, which deals mainly with the physical body; yoga, which deals primarily with the spirit; and tantra, which deals primarily with the mind. The philosophy of all three disciplines is identical, but the emphasis is different, as a result of which their goals and areas of application differ. Ayurveda primarily looks at the physical basis of life and focuses on bringing the body into harmony with the mind and spirit. Through yoga one achieves control over the body and mind to bring them into harmony with the spirit. In tantra, the mind is used to bring the needs of the body and spirit into balance with each other. We exist as individuals against the backdrop of our external environment - Mother Nature. No one can be completely individual, because our individuality is determined by Nature. Most of us live without limiting ourselves in any way, often indulging ourselves and at the same time expecting that the world will constantly treat us with sweets, and Nature will provide enough digestive power to consume them. Most of us call this freedom. However, true freedom is the ability to adapt to anything. Enjoyment is undoubtedly one of the goals of life, but if you go beyond what is permitted, you lose the ability to enjoy. Limitation is an integral part of life. You are limited by dozens of responsibilities, such as breathing, eating, sleeping, and using words to communicate with others. The most important limitation is the body's limited ability to tolerate your indulgence. Either you voluntarily limit yourself, or Nature does it for you. With the help of illness, Nature forces you to slow down and “rest.” This is why Nature is called Mother: She loves you so much that She cannot bear to see you destroy yourself. She warns you again and again about mistakes and takes decisive action only when you stubbornly refuse to listen to Her. This is a classic example of the relationship between freedom and responsibility: either you yourself limit your freedom a little every day, or Nature takes over and suddenly limits your freedom for entire days, weeks or months. The fulfillment of one's desires is a legitimate goal of life, but it is only one of its four goals. No life will be fully lived unless each of these goals is achieved.

These goals are as follows: Dharma - fulfillment of duties determined by our position in society; Artha - accumulation of property during the performance of our duties; Kama - satisfaction of legitimate desires with the help of accumulated property; Moksha is the realization that we live mainly for the sake of life itself and only then for the sake of duty, property and desires. You need a stable niche in society in order to ensure your existence and have free time that could be devoted either to satisfying desires or to spiritual improvement. Whatever your life's purpose, you need a healthy mind in a healthy body to achieve it. You must be healthy if you want to enjoy life all the time. Developed by the ancient rishis, Ayurveda is intended specifically for those people who want to enjoy the world and maintain health at the same time. Her instructions regarding lifestyle, nutrition and therapy methods, allowing, in particular, to get rid of addictions with harmful consequences, will help you stay healthy, strong and vigorous, feel great into old age, if, of course, you can sufficiently limit your needs and strictly adhere to Ayurvedic principles. Since everything in life comes at a cost, you must decide to what extent you want to indulge yourself, and therefore how healthy you will be. There is no free cheese. Some people think that free cheese can be found in tantra - a system based on the transformation of any external influences so that a person is no longer dependent on them and can reject or accept them of his own free will. At first glance, tantra indeed allows unlimited self-indulgence under the guise of spirituality. But in reality, true tantra is an extremely strict system, which can be successfully mastered only after diligent Ayurvedic cleansing and yogic practices.

The yoga tradition teaches to keep the world at arm's length, to live ascetically in order to protect the internal environment from external disturbances. Yoga and tantra help a person free himself from worldly dependence, but it is impossible to practice them safely without at least basic knowledge of Ayurveda. Personal harmony requires a dynamic interaction of body, mind and spirit, which can be called the vertical dimension, as well as a balance between the individual and the external environment, which can be called the horizontal dimension. If you want to be truly healthy, your physical body must be in balance with Nature, your mind must be in harmony with the collective mind of the society or social group in which you live, and your soul must be in harmony with the Universal Soul. For a rishi, all life was a textbook; Doctors should approach life in exactly the same way, using it to understand how to treat the body, mind and spirit of the patient. Finding harmony of body-mind-spirit is easier to start with the body, since it is relatively stable. It is much easier to bring balance to the mind and spirit, which are of an ethereal nature and more difficult to harmonize, when the body has already become stronger and healthier. Today, when most people are completely caught up in the problems of the material world, this is especially important.

The doctor must work with the patient, taking into account the level of his consciousness, and since the consciousness of most people is turned to the physical, he first of all has to turn to medicine for the body.

Then inevitably comes the turn of medicine for the mind and spirit. Each human being is unique, each individual has its own characteristics and characteristics. The most precious treasure - your life - belongs to you and only you, and it is unlike the life of any other human being, neither in the past, nor in the present, nor in the future. Each person is a unique manifestation of Mother Nature, the Creative Energy of the Universe. Everyone has a particle of the Universal Soul. The Vedas call for everyone to find their own path, to live their lives to the fullest, because only by fulfilling everything we are capable of can we repay the debt to Nature for the life given to us. Each of us is needed by the Universe and must weave our thread into that great tapestry that we call human civilization.

You can make a full contribution to this life and, accordingly, enjoy life to the fullest only if you are healthy. The word "Svastha" in Sanskrit means "healthy". It comes from the words: Sva (“I”) + Stha (“rooted”) “Svastha (“rooted in the Self”). Here "I" is the ego; what is meant is not the ego in Freud's terms, but the power of individuation that distinguishes each being from others. Ego is what makes me special, what makes me know that I am me and not you, he, she, us or them. That aspect of personality that constantly reminds me that I am myself is called Ahamkara (literally, “the creator of the Self”) in Sanskrit. Because each of us is a body, mind, and spirit, we all have a bodily self, a mental self, and a spiritual self. To be "rooted in the Self" is to be rooted in each of these Selves. Modern doctors tend to ignore individuality. They often look at people as "liver" or "lungs"

and they forget about the individual to whom these liver and lungs belong. The same treatment may seem to them to be a panacea for all patients, and at the same time they lose sight of the fact that even among those suffering from the same disease there may be different variations of it. This approach to treatment cannot help restore balance in the body. Since doctors are often unable to restore the health of their patients, patients in our time must learn to do this themselves. Anyone who wants to be healthy must learn as much as possible about health. Many Westerners study Ayurveda in hopes of miracles that will allow them to continue to indulge their desires. But in this way they can only achieve temporary relief; permanent relief comes only with a constant change in lifestyle. They deceive themselves, just as people deceive themselves when they flock around miracle merchants in the hope of effortless spiritual advancement. Ayurveda is intended for those who are ready to take responsibility for themselves. If Ayurveda were a religion, then Nature would be its Goddess, and the only sin it would punish would be excessive self-indulgence. The goal of Ayurveda is to enable us to experience the pleasures of life in a way that does not upset our health. Pleasure that consumes all our time is essentially slavery, because the more we consume, the more dependent we become. Unlimited self-indulgence makes us less free because it reduces our self-sufficiency. Each of our addictions - be it caffeine, sugar, salt, alcohol, drugs, sports, television shows, gambling or other indulgences - is another nail in the coffin of our freedom, an even greater constraint on our individuality. Many of us don't even know how to properly satisfy our desires, and the side effects of pleasure weaken and kill us. True enjoyment of life is possible only with true health. I traveled around the US, talked to people and tried to find out what Ayurveda could do for them. And this book was one of the results of my trips. It is not a presentation of the classical principles of Ayurveda. A doctor working in the tradition of the ancient teachings of Ayurveda might even argue with me on some issues. Rather, this book should be considered my own interpretation of certain Ayurvedic theories. I owe the observations expressed here to my teacher Vimalananda, because it was he who taught me to think in this way. "Darshan", the Sanskrit equivalent of the Greek word for philosophy, literally means "vision". Philosophy is what allows us to look at things in a certain way. Ayurveda is a philosophy that allows doctors to look at patients through the eyes of Nature. The sages who created Ayurveda were called “seers” because of their ability to clearly perceive reality. They could see how the whole world and its parts worked, and they could talk about their observations in words that allowed those who came later to see and perceive everything in the same way. Since each seer saw things from a certain point of view, Ayurveda has not one but many systems.

Following this tradition, each Ayurvedic doctor creates his own system, based on the experience of great seers and on his own personal experience. This book is precisely a partial account of my own experience. It begins with an explanation of the basic principles of Ayurveda and how constitutional types are determined based on them. I then move on to look at how diet affects the constitution and what habits are beneficial for promoting and maintaining health. Next we talk about the unity of body, mind and spirit. The main emphasis is on Ahamkara and the nature of the individual Self. Since we are healthy (Svastha) when we are rooted in our Self, it is important to consider how such rootedness is achieved and maintained and, on the other hand, how it is disrupted. The book presents an Ayurvedic view of the causes of diseases and provides examples of the legal Vedic approach to the treatment of diseases and rejuvenation of the body; in particular, some esoteric methods of independently achieving balance are considered. Many Sanskrit texts begin with the word "atha" - "now". This means that the knowledge contained in the book is waiting, always ready to be revealed to the one who opens the book.

Ayurvedic knowledge is timeless, universal and as accessible today as it was 5000 years ago and as it will be in 5000 years. Details and specifics may change, but the essence of knowledge remains unchanged. Ayurveda, with its unbroken chain of continuity of experience in the field of diagnosis and treatment, has been tested by thousands and thousands of doctors on millions and millions of patients. Her theory and practice have stood the test of time. I studied the works of ancient Ayurvedic authors such as Charaka, Sushruta and Vagbhata, both in translation and in the original Sanskrit. Taking their teachings to heart, I have tried to apply ancient wisdom to modern times in a way that is specific to today's problems. Although Ayurveda is a whole body of knowledge, I have taken the liberty of selecting a few that I think can be a starting point for those who want to move towards perfection. One of the main problems of our time is the loss of one’s roots, a disease caused by the excessive mobility of modern people. We Americans take pride in the fluidity of our culture, this melting pot of nations. Theoretically, in our society, everyone can find a use for their talents, realize their ambitions and gain fame and fortune.

“Every man is a king (at least for himself)” is our motto. We rejoice in the fact that we have no roots. We like independence and being free from all the ties and restrictions of the past. Most of our ancestors came to this country to forget their past, and forgetting the past became a kind of passport to America. Thus exalting our individuality, we equated progress with oblivion, and now Progress, as the personification of Science, has become our idol. For the most part, we remain slaves of Progress for the rest of our lives. Because of our commitment to progress, we tend to confuse individuality with independence. A clear sense of individuality is important for the health of every person, but in older, culturally homogeneous societies, the individual's individuality is not determined by him alone. A Japanese, for example, knows that he is the heir to the ancient culture of Japan. And his personality is largely determined by his acceptance or rejection of the tenets of this culture. America's cultural traditions are not so deeply rooted in us. Americans are much less willing to honor the past than other peoples. Because we know less about the soil in which we plant the seeds of our personality, we are forced to rely more on our own individual experiences. Each of us selfishly adheres to our own ethics and morality. Unfortunately, most of us rely too much on our individuality, since we cannot rely on anything else with confidence. Our society adheres to the principle of "every man for himself", according to which everything external to the individual, even Nature, is considered hostile. Oblivion is a devastating disease. We have forgotten our roots, we have forgotten our gods, and now we are trying to forget ethics. We feel freer and less constrained the more we forget, unaware that with each lost fragment of memory we move further away from our true identity. From the external veneer of addiction to our sensual pleasures, we build false personalities and define freedom as unlimited pleasure, forgetting that all individuality is conditional. By cutting off the connection with our inner Mother, we have become disconnected from the source of compassion within us and have forgotten how to sympathize with other living creatures. This is why many of us do not hesitate to eliminate anything that is either not part of us or does not clearly benefit us. That is why violence flourishes in our society. Our literature, art, music and even agriculture are built on violence. Our medicine is also based on violence. We kill with antibiotics and antiseptics, and if this does not bring results, we use surgery to remove the offending organ from the body. To save the body we destroy it. Being rooted in the Self, however, should not lead to separation from the source, from the Being who created you. Over-investment in the Self is just as harmful as its opposite. Destruction should be the last resort; First of all, care, maternal feelings and support for oneself and all beings are needed.

Nature is always generous and will be as generous to you as you are to yourself and to other beings. Health cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen; it is a gift from Nature. Ayurveda was created by a civilization deeply rooted in Mother Nature. The seers knew that all of Nature is part of our personality, since we are all created by Nature, we exist in It, and we will return to It. Individuality is only a temporary state in which one can flourish only with the help of Nature, without in any way being at odds with it. The same opinion was expressed by Carl Jung after his trip to India in 1938: “It is quite possible that India is a real world, and the white man lives in a madhouse of abstractions... In India, life has not yet retreated into a closed shell of the head. It is still a whole living body. It is not surprising that a European feels there as if in a fairy tale; a full-blooded life in India is something he only dreams of. If you walk barefoot, how can you forget about the earth? The purpose of this book is to re-teach Westerners to “walk barefoot” through life so that they can reconnect with Nature. Born centuries ago, the concept of individual constitution is, nevertheless, new to the Western mind. This is a new opportunity for us to understand our relationship with Nature. Ayurveda is intended primarily for those who, by harmonizing themselves, strive to become a harmonizing force in the Universe. An arrogant, self-indulgent passion for self-indulgence has poisoned our world. If we want to continue to live on this planet, we must repair the damage we have done to ourselves and our environment. If we want Nature to restore us to health, we must calm Her anger.

Vimalananda often said that the goal of the Science of Life is to make every home happy:

home in the true sense of the word, home as a refuge. Everyone should have a real home - a haven in which one can always find shelter - both inside and outside. Nature is our Mother, and only she can help us find our way home.

Chapter

There are others, such as cancer cells, that arise directly inside the body.

The ancient Rishis, who realized this principle of Self, worshiped their Ahamkaras as mothers in order to establish a loving relationship with them. In their transcendental wisdom, the rishis realized the creative significance of Mother Nature. Even Adi Shankaracharya himself, who founded ten monastic orders that renounced worldliness and rejected all generally accepted relationships between people, ordered that the Goddess be worshiped in his monasteries. Diseases occur when the Ahamkara is affected and as a result the immune system is weakened. In Sanskrit, immunity is denoted by the word "vyadhikshamatva", which literally translates as "forgiveness of illness." You remain healthy only as long as you are able to tolerate the stress you are experiencing, shake off adversity from your shoulders and adapt to the new situation. Resistance to change always undermines the immune system. An old Sanskrit proverb says: “Kshama na janani” - “The essence of a mother’s love is forgiveness.” Harm caused to mother Ahamkara weakens our inherent ability to forgive and predisposes us to illness. Treatment of Ahamkara is the highest medicine. The sages of India have long understood that good health of spirit is a prerequisite for good health of body and mind.

Sattva is their balance, for only consciousness is capable of balancing kinetic and potential energies. The Ahamkara of Nature is so huge that it is capable of balancing the energies of the entire cosmos. Human consciousness is enough to bring a person’s own energetic principles into balance. An individual clot of “spirit” that wants to express itself uses subjective consciousness (Sattva) to manifest the senses and mind. The spirit and mind project themselves into the physical body, created from the Five Great Elements, which arise from Tamas.

The sense organs use Rajas to project from the body into the outer world and perceive their objects. The body is the carrier of the mind, an instrument of sensual pleasure. The mind, tired of wandering outside, retreats to its bodily refuge every night during sleep. The spirit remains in this refuge constantly, endowing the body with life and the mind with consciousness. Five Great Elements Just as our bodies are composed of trillions of individual cells, we ourselves are the cells of the universal organism. Each of us humans, like our cells, has an individual existence, but none of us is “free” enough to live independent of the whole. In fact, everything that exists in the external universe has its counterpart in the internal universe of the human personality. Each cosmic force is represented in it in a modified form. The flow of nutrients into and out of body cells is analogous to the continuous flow of nutrients and their products into and out of plants, animals and human organisms. And therefore there is no fundamental difference between, say, cooking in a pan on the stove and cooking in the stomach on the internal digestive fire. In both cases, heat is used to facilitate digestion of food. The outer cooker uses flame, the inner cooker uses acids and enzymes, but the principle remains the same. To explain how internal and external forces are related, the rishis used the theory of the Five Great Elements (more correctly called the Five Great Principles of Material Existence). These are the Five Great Elements: Earth - a solid state of matter, the main attribute of which is stability, fixity or rigidity. Earth is a stable substance. Water is the liquid state of matter, its main attribute is fluidity. Water is a substance lacking stability. Fire is a force that transforms a substance from a solid to a liquid and then to a gas, and vice versa, increasing or decreasing the relative order of the substance. Fire is form without substance; its main attribute is transformation. Air is a gaseous state of matter, the main attribute of which is mobility, or dynamics. Air is existence without form. Space is the field from which everything emerges and into which everything returns; this is the space in which everything happens. Space (also called Ether) has no physical existence; it exists only as a distance separating material objects. Three Doshas These Five Elements are concentrated in three doshas - Vata, Pitta and Kapha, which are essentially Air, Fire and Water respectively. Vata, the source of kinetic energy in the body, is primarily associated with the nervous system and controls all movements of the body. Kapha, the principle of potential energy, governs the stability of the body and its fluids. The sphere of action of Kapha is the tissues of the body and its waste products, the movement of which is controlled by Vata. Pitta is responsible for the balance of kinetic and potential energies of the body. All processes associated with Pitta involve the digestion, or "cooking", of food, even if it is the preparation of thoughts that form the theories generated by the mind. Pitta's main area of ​​activity is the enzymatic and endocrine systems. At the cellular level, Vata brings nutrients into cells and removes waste from them, Pitta digests nutrients and provides energy for cellular processes, and Kapha controls the structure of the cell. In the process of digestion, Vata chews and swallows food, Pitta digests it, Vata absorbs nutrients and gets rid of waste, and Kapha controls secretions that provide lubrication and protection to the digestive organs.

In mental activity, Vata is engaged in retrieving information from memory to compare it with new information. Pitta processes new information and draws conclusions, which Vata then stores in memory as the most recent memories. Kapha maintains the stability necessary for the mind to hold a current thought. These three doshas are forces, not substances. Kapha itself is not mucus, it is a force that, when projected into the body, causes mucus to appear. Pitta is not bile, it is the force that ensures the generation of bile. Vata is not a gas, but an increase in Vata leads to an increase in the formation of gases. Vata, Pitta and Kapha are called doshas because the word dosha means “an entity that can go wrong.” When the balance between Vata, Pitta and Kapha is disturbed, the body also loses it. Kapha, the watery dosha, is usually associated with the Elements of Water and Earth, which do not actually attract each other. If, for example, you start pouring sand into water, it will fall to the bottom of the vessel and remain there. No matter how hard you try, the sand will only remain suspended for as long as you stir the water. Kapha forces Water and Earth, which otherwise would not interact with each other, to enter into proper combinations and maintain a mutually convenient balance. Kapha is the force that Nature has given us to maintain the proper proportion of the Earth Element (solids) and the Water Element (liquids) in the body. As soon as the body becomes too hard, problems are bound to arise. Take kidney and gallstones, for example. These are condensations of the Earth in which there is too little Water for them to flow. In the same way, when there is an excess of Water in the body and a lack of Earth, disorders such as edema or dropsy occur. Water and Earth remain in balance only if Kapha is balanced. Pitta, the fiery principle, is associated with both Fire and Water. While Water and Earth prefer to ignore each other and remain passive when mixed, Fire and Water are eternal opponents. Whenever an attempt is made to combine fire and water, one of these principles invariably takes over. If there is more fire than water, the fire evaporates the water; if there is more water than fire, water, even brought to a boil, floods the fire. Pitta's task is precisely to force this warring couple to cooperate. All bodily “fire” is contained in water. Gastric juice, for example, is a very strong acid (pH=2). It burns away everything it comes into contact with, just like an open flame or lightning bolt. Acid is Fire contained in Water. When Fire predominates in this mixture, it burns out the natural means of restraining it contained in Water. If this occurs in the stomach, a stomach ulcer occurs. When Water predominates, it extinguishes Fire, causing indigestion. Only the mediation of healthy Pitta allows us to maintain this far from serene union between Fire and Water. Air and Space form Vata. Air, like the wind in the external Universe, is able to move freely throughout the body only when there are no obstacles in its path. Your home effectively protects you from the wind, unless the wind becomes so strong that it destroys the walls of your home. In the same way, the lack of empty space prevents the correct movement of Air, unless the Air accumulates sufficient strength to, having crushed the obstacles, make a clear path for itself. Space is always inert, Air is always moving. Air invariably strives to expand, free from restrictions. If this tendency becomes too strong, all limiting structures are destroyed, as happens, for example, with spontaneous fractures of hip joints weakened by osteoporosis. Excess empty space and lack of movement force lead to stagnation, which has harmful consequences for health.

One example of such a condition is emphysema, another is constipation of the type that develops due to the abuse of enemas or colonic emptying agents. Only healthy Vata is able to maintain balance between Air and Space, providing Air with the proper amount of Space in which it can move. At its core, Ayurveda is a medical system based on qualitative assessments. All objects in the Universe that are not part of ourselves interact with their counterparts within us due to the commonality of their inherent qualities. These qualities, which are present in every substance we absorb and every action we perform, can also be used to strengthen or, on the contrary, to soften the natural qualities or attributes of the three doshas. They are as follows: Vata dry cold light changeable mobile rarefied rough Pitta oily hot light tense flowing fetid liquid Kapha oily cold heavy stable viscous dense smooth Vata has all those qualities that are usually associated with air. It dries - in exactly the same way that even a light, damp breeze dries clothes hanging on lines over time.

It cools - just as even a hot wind can cool the body by evaporating water from the skin. It coarsens - just as the winds blowing in the desert make the surface of desert rocks and hills rough and uneven. It is unstable and changeable, characterized by blows and gusts, but not a constant flow. Wind is not rough in itself, nor does it need to be dry or cold to dry and cool. His innate qualities take precedence over those borrowed from the environment. Similarly, the effects of Pitta are determined by its innate characteristics. It is oily not because fire is oily, but because oils and fats burn brightly in fire. Like Fire, it is hot, energetic, light, and its fluidity and liquid character are generated by the fact that it is Fire contained in Water. Due to its fluidity, it absorbs and devours food, and then digests and transforms it. Kapha has all the properties of mucus. It is viscous, which makes its movement slow. It is also cool, heavy, cloudy, dense, smooth, sticky and sluggish - all these qualities we associate with mud, the substance of Earth suspended in Water. A typical example of a Kapha food is yogurt, as it has all these attributes. Note that: Both Pitta and Kapha are oily, and Vata is dry; Therefore, dryness is the distinguishing characteristic of Vata. Dryness occurs in the body or mind only when there is an excess of Vata. Dryness is a by-product of movement, which is the physiological function of Vata. The unevenness of excess dryness brings unevenness to the body and mind. Both Vata and Kapha are cool, Pitta is hot;

thus heat is the distinguishing characteristic of Pitta. Heat arises in the body or mind only when Pitta is disturbed. Heat is a by-product of transformation, which is the physiological function of Pitta. The tension of excess heat creates irritability in the body and mind. Both Vata and Pitta are light, and Kapha is heavy, therefore, heaviness is the distinguishing characteristic of Kapha. Heaviness arises in the body or mind only when Kapha is disturbed. Heaviness is a by-product of resilience, which is the physiological function of Kapha. The viscosity of excess heaviness brings sluggishness to the body and mind. Each dosha, due to its inherent qualities, has a distinct affinity with certain organs of the body. All doshas are present in any cell, since life without them is impossible, but they tend to accumulate in certain places: Vata Brain Heart Large Intestine Bones Lungs Bladder Bone Marrow Nervous System Pitta Skin Eyes Liver Brain Blood Spleen Endocrine System Small Intestine Kapha Brain Joints Oral cavity Lymph Stomach Pleural cavity Pericardial cavity Vata and Kapha are almost completely opposite to each other in properties. Kapha, representing all the potential energies of the body, makes the accumulation of energy possible. Vata, which represents all the kinetic energies of the body, ensures the release of accumulated energy. Vata promotes change, but excessive changes can lead to overstimulation. Kapha promotes stagnation, but excessive stagnation can lead to lethargy. Pitta is responsible for balancing these two diametrically opposed forces. Vata and Kapha accumulate close to each other for practical reasons. The heart and lungs are in constant motion and therefore require constant lubrication. Movement is provided by Vata, lubrication by Kapha. Excess movement depletes lubricant reserves; Excess lubricant leads to the fact that the working mechanism begins to jam. In joints, synovial fluid provides lubrication and protection. The brain and spinal cord, all of whose movement is driven by nerve impulses, float in the cerebrospinal fluid. Mucus protects the intestinal walls along its entire length and allows the unhindered passage of food. Movement, stability and the force that balances them are Vata, Kapha and Pitta. Vata, Pitta and Kapha are essential to life, but they can also cause great harm if allowed to go out of harmony with each other. Their two-facedness is due to the fact that they are doshas, ​​that is, “entities that can go out of balance.” Strictly speaking, this is not their fault - the work they have to do is too difficult. Kapha must overcome the mutual indifference of Water and Earth and force them to work together; Pitta must overcome the natural hostility that Water and Fire have towards each other; and Vata is forced to use indifferent Space in its attempts to control wayward Air. Considering how complex these tasks are, it is surprising that the doshas manage to do their job so well at all. Because the doshas are so reactive, the body cannot afford to store them within itself for long, just as it is not permissible to store radioactive waste in a nuclear power plant. Therefore, in the process of performing their functions, the body expels them from time to time. Kapha is continuously eliminated from the body in the form of mucous secretions, Pitta in the form of acids and bile, and Vata in the form of gas and muscular and nervous energy. Six Tastes Regular elimination of doshas is necessary for the reason that they are continuously generated by normal metabolic processes. Exactly how much each dosha your body produces depends primarily on which of the Six Tastes is predominant in your diet. The six Tastes, like the three doshas, ​​are derived from the Five Great Elements, and each of them helps maintain the balance of the doshas by performing important functions in the body. We write their names in capital letters to emphasize the thoroughness of their effect on all parts of the body, and not just on the tongue. These Six Tastes are Sweet, Sour, Salty, Pungent, Bitter and Astringent. Sweet. Formed mainly from Earth and Water, Sweet taste enhances Kapha, weakens Pitta and Vata and is cooling, heavy and sticky. It nourishes and invigorates the body and mind, quenches hunger and thirst, and promotes the growth of all tissues. Sour. Formed mainly from Earth and Fire, Sour taste strengthens Kapha and Pitta, weakens Vata and is warming, heavy and sticky. It strengthens and refreshes the body, promotes waste removal, moderates spasms and tremors, improves appetite and digestion. Salty. Formed mainly from Water and Fire, Salty taste increases Kapha and Pitta, weakens Vata and is heavy, warming and sticky. It removes waste and cleanses the body, increases digestive capacity and appetite, and softens and relaxes tissues. Spicy. Formed mainly from Fire and Air, Pungent (that is, hot and spicy like red pepper) taste enhances Pitta and Vata, weakens Kapha and is warming, light and dry.

The pungent taste flushes out secretory secretions of all kinds from the body and prevents the formation of all Kapha-like tissues and secretions such as semen, milk and fat. It improves appetite. Bitter. Formed mainly from Air and Ether, Bitter taste increases Vata, weakens Pitta and Kapha and is cooling, light and dry. The bitter taste cleanses and dries all secretions, reduces sexual arousal and harmonizes the body, returning all tastes to a normal state of balance. It increases appetite and prevents skin diseases and feverish conditions. Astringent. Formed mainly from Air and Earth, Astringent taste (which makes the mouth pucker) increases Vata, weakens Pitta and Kapha and is cooling, light and dry. The astringent taste heals, cleanses and tightens all parts of the body. It reduces the amount of discharge and reduces sexual arousal. All Six Tastes are important for the proper functioning of the body and enter it mainly with food. My teacher Vimalananda constantly emphasized:

It's not what you eat, but what you absorb that matters. The healthiest food in the world turns into the worst of poisons if you are unable to properly digest and assimilate it. Digestion begins in the mouth, the moment the tongue tastes food, because by the time the food reaches the intestines, the digestive organs must be ready to receive it. Information about tastes is transmitted from the tongue directly to the brain, which determines which fats, proteins or carbohydrates are included in the food and what kind of enzymes must be released for its optimal absorption. Eaters who lavish praise on delicious foods are praising the wrong things, because the taste is actually in the mouth, not in the food. For example, a food that is called sweet is a food that is perceived as sweet by most healthy people and under normal conditions. The taste of a quality orange is perceived by the normal tongue as a combination of Sweet and Sour, but depending on the state of your taste perception, you may perceive it as sweeter today and more sour tomorrow. As an experiment, cut an orange in half and eat one half. Then swallow a teaspoon of something sweet - honey or maple syrup - and then eat your other half. No matter how sweet the first half of an orange may seem to you, the second half will seem much more sour. It is your perception of taste that has changed, not the orange itself. The sweet that you swallowed temporarily satisfied your body's need for Sweet taste. When the second half of the orange appeared in your mouth, your tongue turned out to be indifferent to the taste, which was already more than enough for it, and chose its other component from the taste of the orange -. Sour. Another example that helps to understand the inner nature of taste is provided by the leaf of the Indian plant Madhuvinaishni (this name translates as “killer of sweetness”).

If you chew it, it will temporarily deprive you of your ability to taste Sweet. Even a small amount of it makes the sugar unsweetened, so your tongue will not taste the taste, but only the texture.

Pungent taste best controls Kapha as it is hot, light, dry and helps remove secretions from the body. Next comes Gorky, and behind him comes Knitting. The first sign of disorder in the tissues of the body is that a person mistakes one taste for another or is completely unable to identify the taste.

Both of these disorders arise, as a rule, due to the abuse of one or more tastes. This dulling of the sense of taste makes the brain unable to properly prepare the body for the intake of food. And this interferes with proper digestion. For the mind, the Six Tastes are even more important than for the body, because the mind is in dire need of sensory stimulation.

In Ayurveda, feelings are divided into two groups:

the five senses of perception, which are well known to all of us, and the five senses of action. The five senses of action are the voice (symbolizing all forms of communication), hands (symbolizing all varieties of manipulation of objects), legs (movement), genitals (creativity and reproduction), and anus (excretion). Each sense of perception is a channel through which the mind moves to an object, experiences it, and then returns to process that experience. Every sense of action is also a channel into which the mind enters to express itself by projecting its individuality into the outer world, and through which it returns when its self-expression is complete. Like any other channels, sensory channels can become malfunctioning - either becoming too wide or too narrow. Excessive use of a particular sense organ makes its channel too wide, dulling the corresponding feeling to such an extent that the mind loses the ability to derive any joy from its use.

Insufficient use of any feeling narrows its channel, which also reduces the ability of the mind to use it for its pleasure. An overly expanded channel gives excess Space, disrupting the correct movement of Air, and an overly narrowed channel impedes the Movement of Air. Overuse, underuse, misuse and ill use of the senses are considered in Ayurveda as one of the three main causes of human illness. Predominant Emotions Of the many factors that influence the expansion or contraction of sensory channels, the most important are probably tastes and emotions. The Sanskrit word "rasa" means, among other things, both "taste" and "emotion." This implies that tastes and emotions are identical forces acting on different planes of existence. In fact, taste is to the body what emotion is to the mind. An emotion tends to produce a corresponding taste in the body, just as the sensation of a particular taste tends to produce a corresponding emotion in the mind. The prevailing psychological attitudes and emotions associated with this or that taste are as follows: Sweet - satisfaction, or saturation (“sweet taste of success”). Abuse of Sweets leads to its negative aspects - complacency and greed. Sour - searching in the external environment for things that can be mastered. Sour forces one to evaluate things to determine their degree of desirability, which leads to a selective increase in certain appetites. Abuse of evaluation entails envy and jealousy, which can manifest itself as disapproval of what is desired - “green (i.e. sour) grapes.” Salty - love of life, enhancing all appetites at once. Abuse of it leads to hedonism, the desire to indulge in all sensual pleasures physically accessible to the body, as, for example, “salted sailors” do when they arrive at the port after a long voyage. Acute - extroversion, a tendency to excitement and stimulation, and especially a desire for intensity of experiences.

Overstimulation and overstimulation lead to irritability, impatience and anger (“sharp tongue” or “harsh rebuke”). Gorky - dissatisfaction that generates a desire for change. When you have to swallow the bitter pill, its bitterness dispels your self-deceptions and forces you to face reality. Excess disappointment leads to frustration and lack of self-confidence, which only adds to your bitterness. Grief also belongs to the Bitter emotions. Astringent - introversion, a tendency to shy away from excitement and stimulation. Excessive introversion leads to insecurity, anxiety and fear. The astringent taste creates a constriction that leaves you withering on the vine, feeling the “cold, bony fingers of terror” squeezing your throat. Your personality is always trying to make itself as comfortable as possible. She seeks satisfaction in Sweet and is willing to use any other taste to achieve sweetness, choosing hot or cold tastes according to her needs. Sour, Salty and Spicy are hot tastes, while Sweet, Bitter and Astringent are cold. Accordingly, each of their corresponding emotions is hot or cold. Heat expands, cold contracts - this law is true not only in physics, but also in the science of health. The cold compresses the physical and spiritual channels; heat expands them. Sweet, Bitter and Astringent are cold tastes, and their corresponding emotions are cold and constricting. They reduce the body’s need to “absorb” new things. Contentment, or complacency, is a contracting emotion because it reduces the mind's appetite for sensual pleasures. Dissatisfaction is also contractive because it represents the recognition of the impossibility of obtaining pleasure through the senses. Fear, the most powerful of constricting emotions, contracts all senses. In sensitive people, fear actually causes the bronchioles to contract and can trigger an asthmatic attack. Sour, Salty and Spicy are hot tastes, and their corresponding emotions are also hot and unrestrained. They increase the body's desire to consume food or other sensory objects. This is hedonism, a “salty” emotion. Envy and jealousy increase the mind's need for pleasure; anger indirectly increases physical and mental appetites, flooding the body with heat. Salty taste is called "all-taste" (in Sanskrit - sarva rasa), since it is able to enrich all the flavors of food, while simultaneously increasing the body's appetite for food. If used in small quantities as a seasoning, it promotes good digestion of food, but excessive use weakens the body.

Hedonism, the emotion associated with the Salty taste, does the same with the mind:

small doses increase the mind's desire for intense experiences, while excessive doses make it sluggish and weak. The salty taste causes the body to store water and increases the production of digestive juices and sexual fluids - which is why salt is contraindicated for those who strive for celibacy. In fact, Salty taste increases the level of all vital juices. Life itself is based on water - each of us is 75% water - therefore, increasing the level of juices makes our life “juicier”. Energetically driven by the Salty taste to seek satisfaction, the senses force us to pursue worldly pleasures.

Salt and the salty taste are intoxicating - in the literal sense of the word - and, like all other intoxicants, create the preconditions for abuse. Effect on consciousness In fact, any of the tastes can be used as an intoxicant. For example, Sweet taste is a very common drug in our society: people use it to feel a sense of satisfaction. Some societies are intoxicated by Sour Envy or Acute Irritability, and some people even use Bitters and Astringents to satisfy their whims. We all use food to change our state of consciousness, and any changes in consciousness affect the body through the three doshas. Sweet - intense self-satisfying effect strengthens the naturally passive, self-sufficient Kapha, cools the anger of Pitta and calms the fear of Vata. Sour - Envious influence strengthens Kapha if envy of someone else's success encourages you to hold tighter to your achievements. Otherwise, Pitta will increase as jealousy transforms into anger at what you perceive as life's unfairness towards you. Envy does help reduce Vata by focusing and warming up your consciousness. Salty - Hedonism fuels your self-satisfaction as long as you are able to indulge in it, which also increases Kapha. It also strengthens the rage of Pitta, which flares up when any obstacles arise on the way to satisfying your desires, and weakens Vata, allaying the fear of inadequacy or inability to enjoy to the fullest. Acute - strengthens Pitta, actively increasing the flow of hormones and digestive juices, which facilitates both the digestion of food and the manifestation of anger. It weakens Kapha, reducing self-satisfaction, and temporarily weakens Vata, allowing the expression of suppressed indignation. Ultimately, however, spicy foods aggravate Vata, depleting the organs and glands. This “squeezes you dry,” limiting your ability to project aggression or unhappiness outward. Bitter is the best of all six tastes.

As Dr. Vasant Lad says, “the more bitter the better.” A small amount of bitter helps balance all other tastes in the body. Just as moderate dissatisfaction with oneself and one's life situation motivates a person to change, Bitter expands overly narrowed channels (thereby weakening Kapha and its complacency) and compresses overly wide channels (thereby weakening Pitta and its anger). However, overuse of Bitter increases Vata, as dissatisfaction and constant change create uncertainty and fear. Astringent - compresses, leading a person away from the self-satisfaction of Kapha and the self-aggrandizement of Pitta. This compression increases the fear of insufficient sensual “feeding” and leads to an increase in Vata. Bitter, pungent and astringent tastes strengthen Vata and weaken Kapha. Their ease reduces your desire to remain connected to your body and makes it difficult for your personality to identify with your body, even if it wants to continue to do so. Sweet, sour and salty tastes increase Kapha and weaken Vata. Their severity increases both your ability to identify with the body and your interest in it. We are all victims of our tastes and emotions. Our culture, for example, is a consumer culture. We are expected to go deeply into debt to keep our economy running. In order to encourage us to spend money, the media uses sophisticated advertising that magically creates new desires in us, aimed at things that we have never had before and that we, as a rule, do not need. First, the desire for a hedonistic lifestyle is created and it creates a Salty taste in us. Then comes the turn of envy: we compare ourselves with the Joneses living next door and realize how much more fully and better they manage to please their feelings than we do. This is how the sour taste arises. Finally, our impatient need for self-gratification manifests itself in the form of anger at every obstacle that comes our way. This is how the pungent taste arises. Since Salty, Sour and Spicy are hot tastes, we are now sufficiently “warmed up” and ready to consume and digest – both physically and mentally. Everything goes well as long as we manage to get enough “food” (for all our senses) to satisfy this hunger. However, some of these artificially created desires inevitably remain unfulfilled. Even if we have unlimited wealth at our disposal, the number of hours in a day is still finite. How much can we spend?

How capable are we of satisfying ourselves? Desires that remain unfulfilled give rise to Bitterness in us, leading to dissatisfaction. Ayurveda teaches us that the bitter taste, taken in small quantities, tones the appetite and digestion.

The same is true for the outside world: a little dissatisfaction whets your appetites more and more. But if dissatisfaction is excessively strong, an excess of Bitterness eventually arises in the body. When you don't have enough energy (money) to continue in the same vein, you have to indulge your desires only selectively, and this creates frustration because the media continues to relentlessly call you for pleasure. Excessive Bitterness overstimulates Vata and disturbs the peace of your mind as soon as you begin to think about the situation you are in. Sour, Salty and Pungent tastes permeate your entire being as long as you retain the need and ability to indulge your whims, and when such indulgence is interrupted, the body is overwhelmed by Bitterness. Your body realizes that the balance of taste is disturbed, as well as the fact that Sweetness can restore it, and therefore reaches out to the Sweet. Sweet satisfies the hunger generated by Sour, Salty and Spicy, and being the direct opposite of Bitter, eliminates disappointment and dissatisfaction. After consuming Sweets, the body and mind temporarily find mutual balance and feel content with themselves. To receive Sweetness, the mind does not need to absorb food at all. He is able to extract Sweetness from any pleasantly stimulating activity, even from shopping, if it involves spending money. The temporary feeling of unlimited power that a credit card gives you provides a powerful satisfaction that, unfortunately, disappears into the unknown as soon as the buyer returns home with his purchases. Well-digested food provides more lasting satisfaction than other exciting sensations, because even after the first rush of pleasure has passed, properly digested and assimilated food will nourish and satisfy thousands of cells in the body. Poor digestion gives rise to the same secondary dissatisfaction as any other cheap pleasures that lure us in only to deceive us. The tissues are instantly imbued with trust and await the thorough feeding promised to them; when the smoke clears and they do not receive the promised sensations, they feel deceived. But even with good digestion, the power with which Sweetness is felt fades away as soon as the food is digested and assimilated. And then the desire to eat again arises in order to again experience the temporary bliss that food gives to your stomach.

This desire is even more pronounced in poor digestion because, despite eating, the tissues do not actually receive enough nutrients and send messages to the brain reminding them that they are hungry. The more you eat in this state, the more your digestion weakens. Soon a person begins to experience no less a need for Sour, Salty and Spicy than for Sweet, because hot tastes strengthen all types of digestive fire, so that one can increasingly receive satisfaction from food. However, Sour, Salty and Spicy tastes also whet your appetite, so no matter how much you eat, you will still want to eat something more. “Fast food” - instant food, which now makes up half of everything eaten in the United States - was born because no one knows at what moment the need to amuse one’s tongue may arise. Think about what deep-fried potatoes are: the potatoes themselves are sweet, but they are served covered with a thick crust of salt and doused with sweet and sour ketchup. The eater receives his Sweet taste along with Sour and Salty, the amount of which is sufficient to stimulate the taste buds and digestive organs.

Or take our good hamburger: Sweet-Sour mayonnaise, plus Sour-Salty-Spicy mustard, plus Sweet-Sour-Salty pickles, and all this - on a Sweet wheat bun. Or “taco”4 - it contains all these flavors, only the Spicy one is thicker, to further excite the already overstimulated gastrointestinal tract. All this “junk” food - garbage because it has a lot of taste, but almost no nutrients - is usually washed down with soft drinks or coffee. Most of these drinks are over-sweetened, and some also have caffeine added. Coffee has a spicy taste, sugar and cream add sweetness, and, of course, there is also enough caffeine in coffee. Caffeine, on the other hand, is nothing more than a metabolic credit card, a substance that causes the body to release enough hormones to keep us functioning, indulging ourselves with Sweetness in all its various guises until fatigue hits us. Similar to the financial debt that we are pushed into, most of us create a heavy burden of physiological debt when we use these “credit cards.” Over time, all bills have to be paid. Unlike third world countries, your body cannot refuse to pay debts except by dying. You may develop diabetes - a disease in which the body is no longer able to cope with the colossal amount of Sweets that the mind demands and throws it out undigested. Or perhaps the burden of your debt will overwhelm your thyroid or adrenal glands, causing the body as a whole to go on general strike. Your personal constitution, that is, your individual metabolic pattern, helps determine how strongly certain tastes and emotions affect you. That is why those who eat the same food do not always experience the same 4 Tacos - a hot rolled tortilla filled with minced meat, cheese, onions and beans and a spicy gravy. - Approx. ed. same mental and physical effects. When family members dine at the same table, the effect of food on each person's tastes and emotions is determined by his individual taste and emotional balance. The innate nature of your metabolism with which you were born is called prakriti. The word "prakrta"

also means “Nature”, “That which was created first.” Your prakriti is your first “creation”, the first reaction that is born in you when you have to adapt to some changes in the environment. Your constitution is a set of metabolic tendencies that determine the instinctive response of your body and your mind to the next stimulus. Many of the personality traits that you are proud of are generated by and influenced by these metabolic tendencies. Many of your qualities that you don't like about yourself have the same origin. Knowing your constitution will allow you to understand your body and your mind much better. You will understand why you do not need to feel guilty about your eating habits or psychological characteristics such as anger or fear. By understanding that these traits are determined by your constitution, you can change your lifestyle to help your body minimize the impact of these traits. Your individual constitution was determined by the state of your parents' bodies at the time of your conception. One of the sperm turned out to be better adapted than the others to the conditions that dominated their bodies, and, having won the race, was the first to reach the egg, after which its genes mixed with the genes of the egg, forming a new creature. Your constitution was influenced by the genes of your parents, the diet of your mother, the habits she had during pregnancy, as well as all the abnormal events that took place during your birth. Once your individual constitution and its attendant tendencies are established, they cannot be changed. Like your genes, your constitution will stay with you for the rest of your life, whether you like it or not. However, you can learn to adapt to it in such a way that its imbalances have as little impact on you as possible. You can learn to prevent diseases and cure them when they do occur. You will have the opportunity to foresee what will happen when you happen to come into contact with a carrier of a particular disease, or to develop an optimal rejuvenation program for you. By studying and using the principles of Ayurveda, you can understand why your wife (or husband), your children, relatives, friends, neighbors and employees act the way they do, and determine how to communicate with them so that achieve the most harmonious relationships. You will be able to plan your family's meals in such a way that each of its members receives food that is most favorable for his prakriti. Ayurveda is a medical system based on common sense. It uses very simple and understandable principles to determine individual prakriti. These principles are based on the theory of the three doshas, ​​so your prakriti is described in terms of Vata, Pitta and Kapha. People of the Vata type have more Air and Space than others. Their bodies produce more intestinal gas, and their minds are able to accommodate more extravagant ideas. Even the crunching sound that their joints make is explained, according to some authorities, by the movement of nitrogen bubbles in these joints. People belonging to the Pitta type literally contain more Fire within themselves than all others. Their appetite and digestion are more developed than others, they tolerate cold better, and it is thanks to them that the expression “hot heads” arose. People belonging to the Kapha type have a heavier, “earthly” physique than people of other types, they tend to accumulate watery substances such as liquids and fats, and gain weight more easily than everyone else. Ayurveda views every person through the prism of Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Your constitution also affects your emotions.

For example, if your constitution gravitates toward Vata, you will be more fearful and anxious than other people. You will naturally gravitate towards Sweet, Sour and Salty, which weaken Vata and moderate fear. However, by overeating Sweet, Sour and Salty, you can strengthen Kapha, and this will create obstacles to the free movement of Vata and lead to illness. To stay healthy, Vata type people should eat Sweet, Sour and Salty foods in quantities small enough to be easily digested. People whose constitution gravitates towards Kapha sometimes use Sweet, Sour and Salty in order to establish themselves in their chosen positions, while they should use Bitter, Spicy and Astringent in order to shake themselves up and awaken. One cannot live on Bitter, Pungent and Astringent alone, and yet these tastes must form a significant part of their diet. People with a Pitta type constitution are naturally aggressive and impatient. To overcome these innate tendencies and maintain balance, it is best to use Sweet, Bitter and Astringent tastes. Unfortunately, these people often prefer sour, salty and spicy foods, and this makes them even more aggressive, impatient and cruel, exacerbating their desire for more and more achievements, which is the hallmark of people of this type. In addition, such food overheats their body and mind, disturbing the balance of the body. Your constitution, through your genes, influences your emotions and your attraction to a particular taste. Scientists have already discovered genes that give rise to various emotional states to which our flesh is susceptible. Hardly every emotion is controlled by a single gene, but nevertheless, since all our mental states have a physiological basis, there must be genes or combinations of genes that give rise to groups of proteins, which, interacting with groups of hormones, in turn give rise to a certain physical state, evoking a certain emotion. Conversely, your emotions can activate some of your genes without affecting others, thereby affecting your hormones and metabolic balance. If your parents and grandparents were easily angry, there is good reason to believe that they passed on a gene or set of genes that makes you angry over the smallest things. If they were fearful, they could pass on the corresponding genes to you, and therefore you will be consumed with fear all your life.

Each of us lives in an ocean of emotions, which is formed by the fusion of genes. Due to the taste of the food we eat, genes can only be activated or deactivated, but not changed. Genes that are turned on frequently may turn on more and more easily each time, and genes that are used rarely may fade into the background, but all of them are constantly waiting for the opportunity to express themselves throughout our lives. And as long as your genes exist, your propensity for certain emotions will remain with you. Until you learn to change your own genes, you will have to rely on knowledge of your constitution if you hope to achieve balance. Understanding your prakriti will allow you to understand why you do what you do and give you the keys to self-improvement.

Chapter

CONSTITUTIONAL FEATURES

There are eight possible constitutional types: V, P, K, VP, VK, PC, VPK and Balanced. The few representatives of the VPK type, whose energies of all three doshas are constitutionally unbalanced, are rarely healthy and must lead a very disciplined lifestyle in order not to get sick.

On the other hand, those even rarer people who have these energies constitutionally balanced are usually healthy, since it takes a very powerful influence to upset this balance. We will focus our attention on the other six types, to which the vast majority of people belong. For convenience, the following abbreviations are used: V - Vata, P - Pitta, K - Kapha. To determine your individual constitution, try to give yourself as accurate and honest an assessment as possible. Resist the temptation to see yourself as you would like to be, rather than as you really are. It's best to have another friend or family member rate you and then compare the two ratings to get clarity. In this study there is no place for such concepts as right or wrong, better or worse. There is only the reality of your personal constitution. This exam is passed by those who honestly answer the questions, and those who falsify the answers fail, bringing them into line with the image with which they have a real vision of themselves. Whether you like your constitutional inclinations or not, they are still yours and, like poor relatives, will not leave you while you are alive. However, you can learn to live with them and build your life to be as healthy as possible for you. From the descriptions below, select and mark those that are most similar to you in their main features. In this case, you should be guided by what has been characteristic of you throughout your life, and not at the present time. If there have been major changes at any point in your life, choose Vata in your answer, even if the description of Vata at that point does not exactly match who you are today. For example, if you have had large fluctuations in weight throughout your life, so that in some periods it was clearly overweight, and in others it fell below average, this means that in the answer about your weight you should write “Vata”, even if you are now overweight again. By nature, people are usually not pure Vata, Pitta or Kapha types; the majority are characterized by the predominance of one constitution and the presence as a complement of another. The constitution of every person belonging to this large group was determined by the physical condition of both his parents at the time of his conception. If, from the point of view of constitutional type and health, they were not very similar to each other, the difference between them at that moment shows up in the form of variations in your constitution. This is why most people have a dual constitution and it is not always easy to recognize which force prevails in you. Fortunately, some characteristics tend to be quite reliable. Narrow shoulders and/or hips are almost always a characteristic of B-types, while broad shoulders and/or hips are almost always a Kapha characteristic. Dark skin or a tendency to tan is a common sign of Vata dominance, while those who have little or no tendency to tan are Pitta, especially if they have good hair. If at any point you feel that you relate partly to one constitution and partly to the other, check both. If at any point it seems to you that all three constitutions could suit you, choose the two that most accurately characterize you. Where you have big doubts or cannot figure it out, write “Vata”. When determining your constitution, keep in mind that: Vata is cold, dry and changeable. Pitta is hot, oily and irritable. Kapha is cold, wet and stable. Each constitutional type has its own innate approach to managing physical and mental energies, and each type has an innate strategy for dealing with the various situations it encounters. Vata is governed by kinetic energy, the energy of action, and therefore B people actively use their energy. They spend it freely and often squander it in vain due to their tendency to take action. K-type people, ruled by the potential energy of Kapha, have a clear tendency to accumulate energy within themselves. They are genetically predisposed to preserve and save it well. Pitta is responsible for the balance and control of Vata and Kapha, so P-people are natural specialists in the effective management and use of energies of all types. Whether it is exercise, money, speech, sex or even sleep and dreams, an individual's inherent pattern of energy use depends on his prakriti. Vata has a cold, dry, fickle effect on the body because it causes incoming energy to be immediately used up, leaving behind emptiness. Kapha's influence is cold, damp, steady, and the K-type person is rarely left drained because most of the incoming energy is stored internally. Pitta's effects are hot, oily and irritating, as it must maintain a high level of reactivity to handle energy effectively. Each of the categories below will help you gain a clearer understanding of how your body uses its energies. The criteria given for evaluation may seem complex due to the difficulty of verbalizing something that is easy to understand but not easy to explain. If you encounter difficulties, leave the difficult to understand category and pay more attention to the easier ones. Remember that Ayurveda is based on common sense and rely on your own common sense to understand and practice it. Prakriti Assessment Body Type B-type people tend to be either tall or short. They grow like weeds and most often remain slender or lean, with a fragile frame and narrow shoulders or hips. Often their arms or legs seem too short, and even more often - too long. Their fingers and toes are usually thin and long. All significant imbalances in the body are usually due to the variability inherent in Vata. Type B people may have very light and thin bones or, conversely, massive and heavy bones with protruding joints. When moving, their joints often make a cracking sound. If you find yourself with most of the mentioned features, then you are a B-type, even if you are overweight.

Most structural abnormalities - such as a shift in the nasal septum, scoliosis, crooked legs, inverted knees - are also caused by Vata. P-type people have an average build, average shoulder and hip width, and normal joints. Their fingers and toes are of medium length. Their physique is generally proportional and balanced, indicating a naturally prudent use of energy for development. K-types have a medium to large body type, with heavy bones and broad shoulders and/or hips. Their tendency to accumulate energy contributes to the development of massiveness; An offensive forward in American football usually fits well with a K-type constitution. These people are proportionally built, their joints are well lubricated and can be set deep. Fingers and toes are usually short, with rectangular nails. Weight Dryness of Vata promotes natural thinness. Some B-type people remain thin throughout their lives and find it difficult or impossible to gain weight. For example, my grandfather could eat four times a day, but did not gain an ounce. Vata in these people spends all the energy from food even before the body has time to make reserves. Often B-type people are “skin and bones”, with tendons and veins protruding on their arms and legs. Some may gain weight due to excess bad food, but by changing their habits and diet for the better and starting to exercise moderately, they can lose excess weight without much difficulty and do not gain it again. It is known that B-type people are sometimes subject to significant weight fluctuations even when there are no radical changes in diet. Typically, most of their fat is deposited around the diaphragm in what is called the “spare tire.” P-type people usually maintain a normal weight with minor deviations. As a rule, they gain and lose it quite easily, since Pitta represents the principle of balance inherent in the body. Their fat is deposited evenly throughout their body. K-type people can maintain moderate weight with regular exercise; otherwise, due to the heaviness inherent in Kapha, they will be prone to excessive obesity.

It is easy for them to gain weight, especially in the lower parts of the body such as the buttocks, but it is not easy for them to lose it because due to their innate tendency, they like to have sufficient energy reserves. Skin color Skin color greatly depends on your ethnic background. A Scandinavian who appears to be dark-skinned to his relatives will still have skin pigment several times lighter than that of the lightest African. Therefore, to ensure your assessment is accurate, compare yourself to your immediate family or people of the same ethnic background as you. B-type people, as a rule, are dark-skinned by nature, and fair-skinned representatives of this type tan very much, and it is difficult for them to get sunburned. They usually love warmth very much and cannot get enough of the sun: having been under its rays, they feel more “alive”. Their bodies need regular heat exposure: after all, Vata is cold by nature, since it does not retain enough energy to maintain normal body temperature. Due to congenital poor circulation, their skin is usually cold to the touch and may have a grayish tint. P-type people have fair skin, often pinkish or copper-colored. Because Pitta is hot and reactive, people of this type tend to have warm skin to the touch. They have good blood circulation, but are prone to high blood pressure. Before tanning, their skin becomes covered with freckles, and the tan is rarely long lasting. They burn easily and may even suffer from increased sensitivity to sunlight. K-type people enjoy the sun and only get sunburned after spending too long in its rays.

They easily adapt to receiving solar energy and, taking sunbathing for a moderate duration, tan evenly and thoroughly. Their skin is cool, but not cold to the touch; since they are characterized by good blood circulation, their limbs, unlike B-types, are rarely cold. They may have a small number of freckles, but never as many as the P-type. Skin Features Type B people tend to have problems with dry skin, as high energy expenditure quickly depletes all available external lubrication. Their skin may be dry all over or alternate with oily areas due to the inherent variability of Vata. Vtype's skin cracks easily and can be rough; she is susceptible to diseases such as psoriasis and dry eczema. There is a tendency to form calluses, including bone calluses, as well as cracks, especially on the feet. Type B people often have chapped lips. Moles may be present, but in small quantities. Body hair is either sparse or very abundant and consists, as a rule, of dark, coarse and curly hair. P-type people have delicate, irritated skin that is prone to rashes, pimples and inflammations such as impetigo. They usually have many moles and wrinkles form on their skin. Body hair is light and thin. Their skin is coppery red, especially after exercise or when excited. The lips have a rich red color, which reflects the well-developed capillary network under the skin. For the same reason, P-type people blush easily. Representatives of the K-type have skin that is slightly oily, smooth, thick, well lubricated, with a moderate amount of body hair and one or two moles. They usually do not have skin problems. Their lips are full and moist. Sweat Sweat in people of type B is scanty, even if they are hot, because due to the characteristics of their metabolism, their body is cold and has a natural need for external sources of heat - such as stoves, steam rooms and hot springs. However, representatives of this type who are overweight sweat more. P-type people may sweat even in cold weather due to excessive heat production due to Pitta. Even their palms may appear sweaty. K-type people have moderate and thick sweat even in very hot climates. Scalp Hair Hair and its shine are an important indicator of overall tissue health because healthy hair is rarely found on an unhealthy body. Hair is closely related to Prana - the vital force of the body. This is why, like Samson, none of the Indian Rishis ever cut their hair. They did not hinder their growth in any way or stimulate it. B-type hair is usually dry, but in different areas of the head it can be different - from dry to oily. Most often they are dark in color and have a rough texture. They tend to be curly or even kinky and have a tendency to twist and tangle. Dandruff can form underneath, and the hair itself can split at the ends and often look dull and lacking shine. Naturally red hair indicates strong Pitta in prakriti. Other P-type people have light hair (blond or light brown) or early graying. Early baldness is also a sign of Pitta, as it reflects high levels of testosterone, a hot, aggressive P-type hormone. The hair of P-type people is usually sparse, thin, delicate and completely straight. Sometimes their shine is not visible due to fat. K-type hair is most characteristically brown, dark brown or chocolate-colored, thick, slightly wavy and slightly coarse. One of the main problems with such hair is oiliness, but they usually have a good shine. Nails Type B people usually have hard, brittle, rough nails that may vary in size. As always, significant variability indicates a significant presence of Vata. The nails are often scarred or grooved and may be slightly bluish or grayish in color. Those who have the habit of biting their nails are often B-types. The nails of P-type people are soft, strong, quite elastic, and beautifully shaped. Due to the abundance of warm blood just under the skin, they are characterized by a glossy pink color with a copper tint. K-type people have strong, large and symmetrical nails, which corresponds to the properties of Kapha - natural regularity and lack of fluctuation. They are generally thick and may appear somewhat pale. Eyes The color of your eyes is the wavelength of light that your body does not need and therefore is reflected rather than absorbed. Gray eyes, for example, are a sign that the body does not need gray, and since gray is one of the colors associated with Vata, this means that a gray-eyed person has enough Vata and does not need more of it. Some people may see brown spots in their eyes, which indicates the accumulation of toxins in the body. These spots do not reflect the true color of the eyes, although they can serve as an indicator of the current state of the body. When determining the constitution, they should not be taken into account, but only the basic color. Eye size is a relative concept. The actual size of the eyeballs is approximately the same in all people. But depending on the size of the head and the properties of the surrounding tissues, the eyeballs may appear more or less large. A K-type person, like a deer, may have large eyes, while a B-type person, like an elephant, may have small eyes. If the eyes are set very close or very far from each other, this indicates that they belong to the B-type. B-types are characterized by gray, violet or bluish-gray eyes. Dark brown eyes, the color of which borders on the black color of bittersweet chocolate, also indicate a B-type. People who have one eye that is a different color from the other are usually also classified as this type. Often the eyes of B-type representatives are dry and itchy. The whites of the eyes have a grayish or bluish tint, and the eyes themselves quickly become dull when a person loses all his energy and feels unwell. The eyes of P-type people are medium in size and light in color. Brown, green, light brown, blue and the neon blue that some redheads have are all P-type colors. Their eyes usually glow with a bright fire and literally radiate energy. The whites have a reddish tint and turn fiery red when irritated. K-type people have large and light eyes, moist, sometimes blue, but more often milky chocolate color. For their calm, cool, solid strength, they are compared in Ayurvedic texts to the eyes of a deer or to lotus petals. They may be itchy. Oral cavity Type B people typically have crooked or uneven teeth, and some teeth are often noticeably larger than others.

Teeth that protrude forward are also usually an indication of Vata. The variability of Vata can make the jaw too small to accommodate all the teeth, or too large so that the teeth do not fit tightly together. The teeth of this type are usually fragile and are characterized by increased sensitivity to cold and sweet foods. Type B gums often begin to flake off early. The tongue is often covered with a coating - usually thin and sticky, grayish or pinkish-gray in color. When waking up in the morning, V-type people may experience an astringent or bitter taste in their mouth. The P-type has straight, medium-sized teeth. They are usually prone to tooth decay and gums to bleeding. The tongue is occasionally coated, usually yellow, orange or red. Sometimes it bleeds due to severe irritation. Representatives of the P-type are prone to the formation of painful ulcers in the mouth and tongue. Early in the morning, they may experience a sour or metallic taste in their mouth. K-types have large, even, shiny teeth that do not require special care. The tongue of healthy K-types rarely becomes coated, but when it does, the coating is usually thick and curdled, white, off-white or greenish-white in color, and accompanied by an unpleasant sweetish taste in the mouth. Appetite B-type people are always preoccupied with food, but their eyes are more voracious than their stomachs; they feel full after eating less than they intended. Their appetite is fickle: severe hunger may be replaced by a lack of interest in food the next day. People who suffer from dizziness or fainting when there is no opportunity to eat between meals are also classified as Vtype. Strict fasting does not bring them joy, because their body has not stored enough energy to withstand prolonged food restrictions. P-type people have a good appetite, and food gives them real pleasure. They are always ready to eat - morning, afternoon, evening, night - and they really don't like to skip meals. They are rude and irritable if they fail to eat when they are hungry, and they also do not like fasting because their body is always looking for new energy to consume and manage. K-type people usually experience a constant but moderate feeling of hunger, although they may be prone to overeating due to nervousness. They can live a whole day on water or juices alone without experiencing any physical illness, since they store a lot of energy in anticipation of periods of food shortage. Breakfast B-types usually find it difficult to work effectively if they haven't had breakfast, and around midday they begin to feel anxious or sleepy as their blood runs out of sugar and energy is depleted. Many people of this type find that their food burns out quickly and therefore try to eat a large breakfast, but most feel better having a light breakfast and then an early lunch. Type B people tend to rely on caffeine in coffee or tea to wake them up and get into shape in the morning, but this insidious practice leaves them without energy by the end of the day and eventually completely depletes them, drying up their glands. Energy in B-type people is already replenished unevenly, in spurts, and artificial stimulation with caffeine or sugar quickly depletes its reserves. P-type people can skip breakfast if necessary, especially if they are pursuing some goal, but by lunchtime they become hot and short-tempered and only truly calm down after eating well. Sometimes, if they haven't eaten for too long, they get heartburn. They are addicted to stimulants and can abuse coffee and tea - both in the morning to shake off the remnants of sleep, and during the day to maintain a high level of energy expenditure. K-type people feel best after a light breakfast - for example, eating some fruit, and sometimes they are happy to skip breakfast altogether. Usually they are not too upset if they even miss lunch. Due to their nature, they are not attracted to stimulants, but they may enjoy a cup of coffee or tea in the morning to help them mobilize. Digestion and stool It should be said here that anyone whose bowels do not empty their bowels regularly once a day without straining or taking laxatives can consider themselves to be suffering from constipation. A condition in which loose stools occur three times a day or more often can be considered diarrhea. A healthy gut works once or twice a day without any help. Some B-type people suffer from constipation throughout their lives, and their stool is usually hard and dark, often producing gas or bloating. Other representatives of this type have changes in “behavior”

intestines, when periods of constipation are replaced by periods of loose stools or diarrhea. Many Type B people know from experience that good eating habits are important for good digestion. When constipated, pure B-types often respond only to strong laxatives such as senna or castor oil. P-type people rarely suffer from constipation, and they usually have bowel movements regularly and often. Their feces are usually yellowish and well-formed, but are sometimes runny and may feel hot and scalding, especially after hot, spicy foods. Bright yellow or orange stool indicates greater Pipa intensity in the body. Many P-types note that foods such as milk, figs, raisins and dates act as a laxative on them. In K-type people, bowel movements are usually regular, once a day. Sometimes their bowel movements are slow. The stool is most often well formed, but rarely hard. When constipated, they respond to moderate-strength laxatives. Menstruation Type B women tend to have very unstable cycles and may miss periods, especially if they exercise heavily or lose too much weight. The interval between periods of bleeding often lasts more than a month. Their discharge is usually scanty and clots may appear. Both of these symptoms are due to dry Vata. The blood is usually dark. Immediately before bleeding, constipation and cramps are possible. The latter are usually stronger than those of the P- or K-type, because spasms as such are also caused by Vata. Unbalanced Vata can cause premenstrual anxiety, restless sleep, nervous tension, mood swings and eccentric behavior. P-type women usually have regular cycles, but may bleed longer and more heavily than other types due to their natural heat. The intervals between bleeding may last less than four weeks. The blood feels “hot” and is usually a rich, bright red color, but if Pitta is unbalanced, it may appear bluish, yellowish, or blackish. Stool during menstruation or immediately before it is sometimes liquid; There may be spasms of moderate strength. Premenstrual Pitta imbalance can cause irritability, extreme food cravings, acne outbreaks, and headaches (particularly migraines). In K-type women, menstruation occurs easily and regularly, with an average amount of blood, which can be quite light in color.

If Kapha is unbalanced, mucous secretions may be mixed with the blood. The cramps are likely to be mild and more subtle than intense. K-type women tend to experience urinary retention. Premenstrual Kapha imbalance causes urinary retention, swelling, chest pain, itching in the genital area, slow digestion and general lethargy. Climate preferences Representatives of the B-type have such cold blood that they constantly strive for warmth. It takes a lot of heat to make them sweat. The sun revives them, and in the dead of winter they tend to weaken. These people always wrap themselves up warmly and look for external sources of heat to make up for the lack of internal heat. Pure P-type people prefer colder latitudes and find hot climates unbearable. Since they generate so much internal heat themselves, they like to sleep with the windows open even in winter.

The mixed P-type is more tolerant of heat, but usually still prefers cold climates. K-type people are resilient enough to not worry too much about climate extremes, but if pressed, they are likely to respond that they prefer warm weather and don't like high humidity too much. Sexual drive B-type people think a lot about sex and sometimes become so satisfied with their fantasies that they lose interest in physical intimacy. But when such interest arises, it can be quite strong. Their passion flares up quickly and quickly cools down as they lose energy during sexual intercourse. Like the rest of their appetites, their sexual “appetite” changes from day to day, although many representatives of the B-type are prone to excessive hobbies in the sexual sphere, which exhaust them. Their ability to reproduce offspring is below average. P-type people, having hot blood, usually also have a great sexual desire. They know what they want and readily move from desire to action. Regardless of the strength of their desire, P-type people are able to achieve its fulfillment. If something interferes with their sexual satisfaction or they have to wait a while, then, as a rule, their natural anger clearly manifests itself. Their ability to reproduce offspring is average. K-type people are characterized by an even desire and calm enjoyment of sex, but they are not inclined to be too fascinated by it due to their natural reluctance to “waste” energy. However, once sex captures their attention, their “appetite” for it grows immeasurably. Passion awakens in them slowly, but once awakened, it does not cool down for a long time. They generally have superior reproductive ability. Physical strength and endurance Type B people are very active and often restless, but, as a rule, they are found to have little vitality. Heavy physical exercise quickly tires - drains - them, and subsequently causes hunger.

Unfortunately, these people often go to extremes and exhaust themselves with excessive activity because they are convinced that “more is better” and like to waste energy while they have it. They may become addicted to hard physical work because it makes them feel strong and forget about pain for a while. Their muscle tone is usually low, and they must pay great attention to developing coordination. P-type people can engage in strenuous physical exercise as long as it does not cause them to overheat.

Usually after a good workout they feel both hungry and thirsty. They can set themselves a good work rhythm if they want, however, having a competitive and coercive nature, they often refuse to admit that there are limits to what is possible for them. Their muscle tone and coordination are average. K-type people have excellent muscle tone and are naturally well-coordinated. Of all the constitutional types, they are the ones most adapted to heavy physical activity, although they are the least inclined to do it due to their reluctance to waste energy. However, if they are motivated, they can greatly benefit and enjoy regular exercise as it improves their well-being. They rarely feel hungry after exercise. Pulse Pulse should be measured early in the morning, before breakfast. To obtain a more accurate result, before doing this, you need to sit quietly for five to ten minutes, keeping your back straight, placing your hands on your knees, breathing deeply and evenly.

It is usually better to measure the radial5 pulse - at the wrist below the thumb. To measure, three fingers are enough: index, middle and ring. Place your index finger closer to your thumb, and your ring finger further away from it towards your elbow. In type B, the pulse is weak, shallow6 and fast1, with a variable rhythm or with a tendency to skip individual beats. In people of pure B-type, the pulse seems to slither like a snake, and the artery seems hard and cool or even cold to the touch. It is best felt under the index finger. P-type pulse - good filling, regular and strong, with average speed and rhythm; in people of pure P-type it often seems 5 The term “radial pulse” comes from the name of the radius (radial) bone, in the area of ​​which it is measured. - Approx.

ed. 6 Superficial - that is, with a small amplitude of the pulse wave. - Approx. ed. 7 Fast - that is, with a short pulse wave. - Approx. ed. I say that he jumps like a frog. The artery is warm and soft and can best be felt under the middle finger. The K-type has a strong, well-filled pulse, slow and rhythmic, like the movement of a swan in water, and the artery may appear cool and elastic. It can be most clearly felt under the ring finger. Sleep B-type people usually do not sleep soundly, may toss and turn in bed, have difficulty falling asleep, or wake up several times during the night for no apparent reason. Their ability to sleep varies greatly from night to night.

Sometimes, especially when very tired, they fall asleep so deeply and for a long time that they are completely disconnected from the outside world, and it is almost impossible to wake them up. Otherwise, they are very easily disturbed by external noises because their mind continues to waste energy even when it should be resting. Therefore, no matter how long and deep their sleep is, they often wake up in the morning not feeling rested. Frequent episodes of walking and talking in a dream are characteristic of the B-type. The habit of grinding your teeth at night also indicates belonging to this type or occurs under the influence of Vata. P-type people fall asleep easily, sleep lightly and wake up refreshed. Even after waking up at night, they can quickly fall asleep again. Their sleep is mostly restful, but may be disturbed due to excessive work during the day. P-type people do not show signs of illness, even if their sleep time was minimal for many nights in a row. K-type people fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly, waking up rested and alert.

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INDIGESTION

Indigestion is the basis of all physical diseases, the ailment from which all other ailments arise. In a certain sense, indigestion, the inability to assimilate any physical, mental or emotional food, is the only disease of living beings. It usually begins in the mind as a “crime against wisdom” and from there is projected onto the physical body.

Every disease is the result of a combination of physical, mental and spiritual causes. Some diseases, such as ulcerative colitis, are caused mainly by mental influences; others, like the common cold, have primarily physical causes. Patients who suffer from both mental and physical illnesses, such as schizophrenia and asthma, usually notice that their physical condition worsens as the mental disorder subsides, and vice versa. Ultimately, all illnesses are of a mental nature: they are all caused by self-will, that perversion of the intellect and common sense that forces us to do what we were not designed to do. This wayward perversion is called “prajnaparada” - “crime against wisdom.”

For example, let's say you're an VC type living in northern Minnesota. It's the middle of the night, the middle of winter, and there's a storm raging outside. You suddenly feel the urge to eat ice cream. You know that ice cream is cold, wet, sticky, heavy and activates the production of Kapha, that both night and winter are Kapha times and that your constitution also includes Kapha. You know that if you eat ice cream you are increasing Kapha, but you do it anyway - and the next morning your body is completely clogged with Kapha. This is the punishment for a “crime against wisdom.” Of course, this is not “God’s punishment” in the literal sense of the word: no one will strike you with lightning for eating the wrong food. This is a kind of fine that you automatically have to pay if you violate any of the rules of a healthy lifestyle. As one insightful Indian woman aptly noted, we are punished not for our actions, but by these actions themselves: we only reap what we sow, having committed a “crime against wisdom.”

An intercontinental flight is stressful for everyone, regardless of constitution. You can cross the US from coast to coast in about six hours, crossing three time zones. Your consciousness arrives at your destination six hours later and leaves the plane with you. Your body, however, will actually take three days to get there, as it needs a day to recover from each time zone you cross. If you take the time to rest and recuperate after your trip, you will be able to easily adapt to your new location.

Your mind, however, does not like to remain still and does not want to allow the body to calm down. Often he convinces himself that his balance depends on how quickly he gets rid of the work ahead. Trying to get to work as soon as you step off the plane is just as stressful as air travel itself. Your mind's intolerance of your body for its inability to adapt quickly makes the adaptation process even more difficult. If your mind insists on its own, and you try to get down to work as if nothing had happened, then it is quite possible that your body will not like it very much and it will express its displeasure in the form of illness. You should not blame your body for taking revenge on your mind: after all, your illness is a natural consequence of the “crime against wisdom” you committed.

A parallel can be drawn between the physiology of the body and mind. Like the physical Five Great Elements, the mind has its own Five Elements: Constancy - the psychic equivalent of Earth; Emotion is the mental equivalent of Water; Discrimination is the psychic equivalent of Fire; Memory is the psychic equivalent of Air; The Void is the psychic equivalent of the Ether.

The emptiness of the mind is what allows its other states to manifest. Discrimination is the digestion of the mind, determining how much a particular course of action contributes to the well-being of the organism. As long as your discernment is normal, you will not commit “crimes against wisdom.” Mental instability weakens your ability to discriminate - just as Vata, Pitta and Kapha disorders negatively affect your body's ability to digest. Poor discrimination leads to the formation of mental Ama (abnormalities of perception) - just as weak digestion leads to the formation of physical Ama (toxic waste).

Vata, Pitta and Kapha are responsible for the unification of the Five Great Elements in the body. Sattva, Rajas and Tamas perform the same function in relation to the mind. Wholesome, simple, well-digested food and wholesome, simple habits support Sattva. Stimulating foods and intense activities such as sex increase Rajas. Stale, spoiled food and dulling activities such as sleep increase Tamas. Rajas and Tamas are the doshas of the mind. They are needed in small quantities, but when they accumulate in excess they cause disease. The following signs indicate good physical digestion:

You do not feel discomfort after eating as much food as you wanted.

After eating, you don't burp gas that smells and tastes the same as the food you ate.

After eating, the feeling of heaviness in the stomach does not last too long.

You don't feel food pass through your small and large intestines; you don't even have to be aware of this stage of digestion.

You always defecate at the same time. The stool should be of normal density and should not contain blood, mucus, particles of undigested food, or have a disgusting odor.

After digesting food, the feeling of hunger comes at the usual time. (The desire of the mind to please the tongue does not count.)

If any of these signs are absent, then physical indigestion is present. The following signs indicate good mental digestion:

You do not feel mental discomfort after receiving the desired amount of sensory sensations.

Your mind does not feel fed up and exhausted afterwards.

During the assimilation of this new information, no unpleasant emotions appear.

If necessary, you can accurately and effortlessly find this experience in your memory and use it.

You have a sound and pleasant sleep without disturbing dreams (indicating psychic Ama).

The desire for sensual pleasure arises again after a normal period of time.

If any of these signs are absent, then mental indigestion is present. Physical indigestion can cause mental indigestion and vice versa, but most often they accompany each other. Since it is much easier to control the body than the mind, Ayurveda believes that one should first, if possible, cleanse and balance the body, and then begin to work on the mind. A harmonized body has a harmonizing effect on the mind.

Physical indigestion is of three main types: caused by Vata, caused by Pitta and caused by Kapha. Any of these doshas can negatively affect the body's ability to process food, but each does so in its own way. Based on the symptoms, you can determine which dosha is most disturbed.

Indigestion due to Vata mainly affects the colon. Constipation alternates with diarrhea, and at the same time there is usually a lot of intestinal gas, but all these symptoms are not constant. They may disappear for several days and then return for no apparent reason. The condition changes all the time, and, in the end, the person no longer knows which food and at what time gives short periods of normal digestion.

Indigestion due to Pitta mainly affects the small intestine and is usually characterized by diarrhea. Burning sensations occur, such as heartburn after eating or a burning sensation in the anus after bowel movements. You may crave hot, spicy food, which, however, only worsens the condition.

Indigestion due to Kapha mainly affects the stomach. The patient usually does not want to eat at all and feels heaviness in the upper abdomen, drooling in the mouth and heaviness in the limbs. This is usually accompanied by constipation.

Kapha is mainly formed and localized in the stomach, Pitta in the small intestine, and Vata in the large intestine. If no attempt is made to treat indigestion, one or more doshas will increase significantly, go beyond their original organs and begin to circulate throughout the body, looking for a weak point where they can stop and cause disease. If left unattended, indigestion can cause acute illnesses such as colds, fever, cough, flu, diarrhea, stomach and duodenal ulcers, etc. All of these diseases are methods that Nature uses to cleanse your body when your being cannot “digest” the experiences of life and instead allows physical and mental dirt to accumulate within you.

No matter how effectively you treat an acute illness, your efforts will be in vain if you do not simultaneously address the underlying indigestion. If this root is not removed, other diseases will grow from it in the future. Treatment should begin with eliminating the root cause of the disease and only then move on to any specific manifestations. It is true that emergency assistance is required in life-threatening situations, but after the crisis has passed, indigestion must be dealt with vigorously.

I first read Robert Svoboda’s book “Prakriti” eight years ago - then it greatly inspired me to study Ayurveda and questioned many dogmas about healthy eating. I don’t follow all the recommendations and still don’t understand what kind of constitution I have, but many of the principles of Ayurveda are very close to me. According to Ayurveda, there is no one diet that is right for everyone. Even for one person, the diet should vary depending on the season, physical activity and the number of stressors. If you have only read short excerpts about Ayurveda, this book by Robert Svoboda will help you gain deeper knowledge and begin to put it into practice. We have collected selected quotes from the book in this post about the simple principles of good digestion and the causes of excess weight, about the protein diet and the nature of stress.

Taking health into your own hands

“Modern doctors tend to ignore individuality. They often look at people as "livers" or "lungs" and forget about the individual to whom those livers and lungs belong. The same treatment may seem to them to be a panacea for all patients, and at the same time they lose sight of the fact that even among those suffering from the same disease there may be different variations of it. This approach to treatment cannot help restore balance in the body. Since doctors are often unable to restore the health of their patients, patients in our time must learn to do this themselves. Anyone who wants to be healthy must learn as much as possible about health.”

Simple principles of good digestion

“The healthiest food in the world turns into the worst of poisons if you are unable to properly digest and assimilate it. Digestion begins in the mouth, the moment the tongue tastes the food, because by the time the food reaches the intestines, the digestive organs must be ready to receive it. Information about tastes is transmitted from the tongue directly to the brain, which determines which fats, proteins or carbohydrates are included in the food and what kind of enzymes must be released for its optimal absorption.”

“Don't eat when you don't feel physically hungry. If you're not sure if you've ever been hungry, a day of fasting will let you know what it is. Do not eat when irritated, depressed or otherwise emotionally unbalanced, or immediately after physical activity.”

“It is better if your right nostril works well while eating, as it strengthens your digestive fire. To make it work, you can lie down for a few minutes before eating on your left side or breathe rhythmically for a few minutes through your right nostril, while closing your left nostril with the middle finger of your right hand. To move your breath into your right nostril, you can also simply plug your left nostril or move your left hand behind the back of your chair.”

“Focus on the process of eating. Neither TV, nor radio, nor tape recorder, nor conversation should distract you. While eating, remain silent; After eating, sit and talk about something pleasant. Chew slowly, chewing each piece thoroughly. If possible, eat with your hands so the skin can send signals to the brain about the temperature and texture of the food."

“If you have overeaten or feel physically weak, lie down on your left side for a few minutes, trying not to fall asleep. You need to get your right nostril working well enough to keep your digestion hot. Try not to eat too late in the evening. Avoid eating Kapha-increasing foods such as melon, yogurt, sesame seeds, cheese or ice cream in the evening. In general, any cold food weakens digestion.”

Overweight, loneliness and crash diets

“The real cause of obesity is “abundance” in the mind. Your transformation begins when you break away from the boredom that drives you to eat because you can't find something better to do. Self-loathing, which leads you to overeat out of regret for your perceived inability to change, is also a form of excess. Your goal should be to transform yourself, not to lose weight. Weight loss is part of this transformation and happens automatically.”

“When you're trying to lose weight, loneliness is far more harmful to you than a high-fat diet. Most crash diets are actually self-destructive because they are based on self-loathing and aversion to fat and the self whose weakness allows fat to accumulate. This attitude leads to the desire to starve the body to punish the mind. The body, during any crash diet, senses hunger and, because it doesn't like to go hungry, takes action to conserve its most energy-dense tissue by lowering its metabolic rate so that fat is burned more slowly. In addition, it also tries to first burn those tissues that are less necessary for it. So anyone who diets but doesn't exercise will lose muscle tissue first because it's not being used."

About the protein diet

“A high-protein diet can promote rapid weight loss, but it creates excess waste and overstimulates the mind. In contrast, a diet high in carbohydrates (eg, including large quantities of whole grains) causes relaxation and "mellowing." Losing weight will be more enjoyable and less stressful if you consume carbohydrates in a reasonable amount. Plus, they're needed to burn fat, so trying to cut out all carbs and live on protein and vegetables will make weight loss more difficult and less sustainable."

Stress vs. Equilibrium

“Stress occurs whenever you have to adapt to a new situation. Every time your environment—your physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual environment—changes, you must change with it and re-establish balance with it. Your immunity is your elasticity, that is, the ability to roll in the direction of the push and quickly return to normal even after the meanest blows. As stress increases, so does the strain on your immune system. When the load becomes too much, your immune defenses can't handle it and you get sick."

Pleasures that don't make us better people

“Pleasure that consumes all our time is, in fact, slavery, because the more we consume, the more dependent we become. Unlimited self-indulgence makes us less free because it reduces our self-sufficiency. Each of our addictions - be it caffeine, sugar, salt, alcohol, drugs, sports, television shows, gambling or other indulgences - is another nail in the coffin of our freedom, an even greater constraint on our individuality. Many of us don't even know how to properly satisfy our desires, and the side effects of pleasure weaken and kill us. True enjoyment of life is possible only with true health.”

Achieving Excellence

“If you have not yet achieved immortality, then your health is a dynamic, not a permanent state. There is no limit to the harmony within you, and there is no limit to the harmony that you can create around yourself."

“Our task on this imperfect planet is to continually work toward relative perfection. Improving the world begins with improving yourself. Self-improvement requires peace within yourself, which begins with eliminating your physical, mental and emotional limitations. Understanding, honesty, acceptance, forgiveness and compassion are your tools for self-improvement.”