Understanding the Relationship Between Yoga and Ayurveda

Reflections by Melina Meza

by Ram

A lot of questions/comments are being raised in this blog regarding Ayurveda and yoga, so Nina asked me to address these issues. While I think that the science of Ayurveda and yoga is better addressed and understood in a verbal format—akin to a didactic exchange of information—through this article I will try to lay out the main principles that govern both these sciences.

Thanks to Swami Vivekananda, yoga came to the West in 1893 and was welcomed by a very receptive audience. While people embraced yoga, its counterpart Ayurveda, was left behind in India. This despite the fact that both yoga and Ayurveda are two very similar paths sharing a close relationship, so closely related that they are often described as two sides of the same coin. Both these sciences, which have their origin in the Vedic texts, address health and health practices. If Ayurveda is the healing aspect, yoga is the spiritual/practical side of the Vedic teachings. Together they emphasize a complete approach to the wellbeing of the body, the mind, and the spirit. In fact, their close relationship has even led to some scholars arguing that Patanjali, considered by many to be the father of yoga, and Charaka, often considered as the father of Ayurveda, may have in fact been one and the same person known in Vedic India by different names during his travels to spread the teachings of these ancient sciences.

Both sciences have common underlying principles: the well being of an individual at the level of body and mind and the aim of helping an individual re-connect to their true nature through direct and personal experience (pratyeksha in Sanskrit). While yoga prepares the body and mind of the individual for eventual liberation and enlightenment, Ayurveda describes the various ways to keep the body and mind healthy. Both sciences emphasize our close relationship with the environment and how to alter our environment in such a way that it is harmonious with our deepest nature.

In today’s world, yoga is often thought of as “asanas only,” something like a stretching tool to keep the body limber and agile. People are drawn to yoga as a way to keep fit even though the idea behind the physical practice of yoga is to help the mind to become clear or pure and develop deeper mind-body awareness. A clear mind is not affected by stress and a clear mind produces a healthy body thus creating a greater connection with one's own pure, essential nature. Similarly, Ayurveda brings with it the knowledge of how to keep the physical body healthy and how this relates to one's spiritual journey. It addresses our entire lifestyle, including exercise and yoga. However, Ayurveda is highly individualistic and sees each individual as unique and an individual's path toward perfect health as a unique path. Hence, what is right for each individual is unique to that individual alone. This could be described as person’s unique genetic background or constitution or dosha in Sanskrit. An individual’s constitution describes who the person is at the most fundamental level.

The above concept is remarkable because as a result of this understanding, Ayurveda prescribes a unique, “tailor-made” program to each individual based upon his/her constitution and the nature of the imbalance, and avoids the “one size-fits all” concept that is followed in many systems of healing. As Dr Marc Halpern, director of the California College of Ayurveda, points out:

While Ayurveda does not agree with the "Fits all" concept, it subscribes to the philosophy that “nothing is right for everyone and everything is right for someone.”

Thus, Ayurveda is based upon understanding individualized needs and what is right only for the individual - not the masses - and fulfilling those needs to bring complete harmony.

As with diet, herbs, colors, aromas, etc, Ayurveda sheds light on which specific yoga asanas are best for each individual based on his/her constitution. With the knowledge of Ayurveda, a practitioner of hatha yoga can refine his/her practice so that it is in harmony with their internal balance of energy. Some yoga postures are best for one person while others can cause greater imbalance. By knowing one's constitutional balance, an individual can use constitution-specific asanas to reverse their imbalances and improve their health and wellbeing. Indeed, if we can understand our constitution, we can control our choices and choose only those that will lead us toward optimal health.

How does one get to know their inherent constitution? There are several alternative health journals or web sites that analyze your constitution based on your answers to a specific set of questions. Chances are that your alternative health practitioner (who does not hold a proper certification in Ayurveda studies) may have made a passing remark about your constitution. Do not rely solely on this analysis, instead take it all with a grain of salt. Before jumping to any conclusion about your constitution and changing your diet, asanas or lifestyle, it is always best to consult with an Ayurvedic health professional who will help to determine your constitution, help you to understand the nature of any imbalance, and establish a plan to bring you to balance thus providing guidance toward success in establishing a disease-free lifestyle.

Despite my opposition to separating these two sciences, let me emphasize that when it comes to the Yoga for Healthy Aging blog, we have a general policy against writing about anything except yoga and the science of aging. Not all the staff of Yoga for Healthy Aging are trained in the area of Ayurevdic sciences and we would like to keep this subject off limits. So we’re going to have to decline to address questions on specific diet, herbs, or general Ayurvedic medical advice as it is a highly individualized system. Besides we cannot provide Ayurvedic advice without examining you in person in a private setting and this, after all, is a yoga blog! So, we hope you understand.

Namaste.

Mission Statement

by Nina

Above the Fog by Brad Gibson

Recently I received a question from a reader asking two questions; the first question was yoga related. The second, which was not yoga related, asked which supplements we recommended for a certain condition. After letting our reader know we would be happy to address the first question (and in fact, an answer to her question will be coming this very week), I wrote:

But regarding the second question, we don't address nutrition and supplements on the blog. None of us are trained in that area, and recommending supplements is a very tricky issue for a number of reasons. So, from the beginning, we established a general policy against writing about anything except yoga and the science of aging. So we're going to have to decline to address that one. I hope you understand!

The reader graciously—we love our readers!—wrote back saying that she did understand. But as we have a number of new readers since we published our original mission statement (see In the Kitchen), I thought I’d take a moment to let you all know a little bit more about our mission. Of course, we’re blessed here at Yoga for Healthy Aging to have an extraordinary staff, including two MDs (Dr. Baxter Bell and Dr. Timothy McCall), two scientists who study aging (Dr. Bradford Gibson and Dr. Rammohan Rao) and a practicing physical therapist (Shari Ser, P.T.). Naturally with so much available expertise, you might assume that we’d be able and willing to address subjects other than yoga that know quite a bit about, especially if they are related to the aging. But even we were first discussing the blog, we understood that for differing reasons, some subjects needed to be off limits. So without further ado....

What we will take on: 

1. Yoga asana, meditation, pranayama, and other practices, especially as they relate to healthy aging.
2. Yoga philosophy and yoga history.
3. The science of aging and various theories of aging.
4. Scientific studies regarding yoga.
5. Medical conditions in general and how you can use yoga to address them.

What we won't take on:

1. Diet
2. Supplements.
3. Medical advice. (Yes, we have doctors here, but as with any doctor, our doctors cannot dispense medical advice without examining you in person. Besides, this is a yoga blog!)

Even after declaring those three topics off limits, we can assure you, we've still got an enormous wealth of useful and inspiring information to share with you. Plus, we've added three new regular contributors (Timothy, Ram, and Shari) since we first started the blog, who have even more ideas and new points of view. During the very first discussion Baxter, Brad and I had about the idea of the blog (we were in the kitchen, preparing a meal together), Baxter was initially concerned that we might not have enough material, but Brad said, "No way. We'll never run out of topics!"  

Got Mindfulness?

by Nina

Yesterday I read an Op-Ed piece by Mark Bittman in the NY Times Got Milk? You Don't Need It and I was very surprised to read the following:

“This in a country where as many as 50 million people are lactose intolerant, including 90 percent of all Asian-Americans and 75 percent of all African-Americans, Mexican-Americans and Jews.

Seventy five percent of all Jews are lactose intolerant? Wow! I’m Jewish and I never even heard this before! When I was a kid, I hated drinking milk. But my mother was so convinced that it was imperative for my health that I was not allowed to leave the table until I forced down my entire (totally yucky) serving. When I was old enough to stop drinking milk as a beverage, I did, although I continued to eat dairy products in their many tempting forms (cheese, butter, ice cream, yoghurt, in lattes and on cereal, etc.). Meanwhile, I always had a rather delicate digestive system, but I tended to blame it on other things (soy, garlic, etc.) Then several years ago my digestive problems got worse, and I finally consulted my doctor about it. She suggested that perhaps it was just the aging process and added there was little I could do about that (to her credit, she did ask me if I was lactose intolerant, but I said that I wasn’t).  Hope I’m not boring you with all this, but there’s a point, I promise.

Anyway, I had noticed that when I spent a week or two eating a vegan diet (because my two kids took turns being vegan during different periods) I felt great. But I still wasn’t connecting the dots. It wasn’t until a few years ago when my husband and I decided to experiment by giving up diary products entirely for other reasons (the environment, global warming, a new theory of inflammation, consideration of dairy cows) that I noticed, hey, my digestive problems are gone! And all the plant foods I thought I couldn’t digest well now made me happy and healthy. Because I felt so much better, it became easy for me to pass up the tempting treats I used to indulge in, even to give them up for life (though with the occasional splurge—hey, my daughter is a pastry chef).

Above the Fog Again by Brad Gibson

You see, last week’s interview with Dayna Macy Yoga for Healthy Eating about mindfulness and healthy eating really made me think, especially the following: 

"Most people don't just sit in Lotus, they work to open their hips and one day, maybe, they get there. It's the same with food. You are discovering who you are in your relationship with eating. You don't just wake up one day and say, "ah ha! This is the perfect way to eat! Now I will do this perfectly from now on!" Knowledge is earned and learned, one day at a time. The truth must resonate and live in your body to become real change."

I just realized this morning that I had been practicing exactly what she described, and that mindfulness about my eating led me to healthier eating habits for my particular body, even though I never heard that fact about Jews being lactose intolerant. My long-time yoga practice no doubt helped me tune into how my body was reacting to different foods, and that ultimately brought me to a decision about my diet that is not only going to have the short-term benefit of making me feel better on a daily basis but will also help my health in the long run.

Have any of you used mindfulness about your eating to move yourself toward a healthier diet? We’d love to hear from you.