30 Top Takeaways from Prakriti Yoga Series

Ayurveda means ‘the sacred knowledge of life.’

It comes from the root: ayuh = life/longevity + veda = science/sacred knowledge.

Ayurveda is the science and philosophy of health. Like yoga, it has existed for roughly 5,000 years.

Ayurveda includes the concepts of Prakriti, Vrikriti, and the Doshas. We included inspiration and knowledge from Dr. Robert Svoboda’s text, Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution.

Keep reading to learn the top 30 takeaways from the Prakriti Yoga Series.

“The healing science of Ayurveda is based totally upon the knowledge of “prakriti,” the individual constitution. If every individual knows his own constitution, then one can understand, for instance, what is a good diet and style of life for oneself. ”
Excerpt From Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution

What is Prakriti?

“At the time of fertilization, Vata, Pitta and Kapha determine by their permutations and combinations the constitution of an individual, which is called “prakriti.” The “prakriti” means “the first creation.”
Excerpt From Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution

Prakriti represents your unique constitution – aka your doshas.

Your Prakriti is your metabolic tendency. It is based on your DNA, genes, and your mother’s/father’s diet and dependencies at the time of your birth.

Your preferences and processes are affected by your constitution.

To better understand your constitution, we recommend this Ayurvedic Therapist Maria Garre quiz.

All About Ayurveda

The first mention of Ayurveda in Indian Philosophy was in the Vedas, specifically, the Atharvaveda, which was composed in the 2nd BCE. The myth holds that Brahma gave the wisdom of Ayurveda to the God of Hindu Medicine, Dhanvantari.

The practice of Ayurveda embodies alignment with nature.

Key attributes of Ayurveda include:

Working with the seasons.
Evaluation of the 5 Great Elements.
Understanding the Doshas.
Right food, sleep, relationship with the environment, others, and self.
Blending science with art.
Prevention over cure.
Allowing things to heal/transform slowly.
Using your intuition.

Ayurveda holds that to be truly free is to be adaptable, to remain open to ongoing change, receptive to what occurs around us, and flexible in our response.

The saying, what we resist persists.

Ayurveda also states that disease is the soul’s way of speaking to the body and forcing it to slow down.

It has also been said that sickness is a sign from Mother Nature or the Divine Cosmos that we need to change our ways.

🎙️ For more on this subject – listen to this podcast interview with Ayurvedic Therapist Maria Garre.

The Origins of Ayurveda

“The message of the Vedas is that each of us must find our own path to a life lived to the fullest, for only by making the most of ourselves can we repay to Nature the debt we owe Her for giving us life. The universe needs you to add your mite to the vast collective tapestry we call human civilization.”
Excerpt From Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution

The Vedas provide us with the four pillars (purusharthas) that contribute to living a balanced and well-rounded life.

The 4 Purusharthas:

Dharma – one’s duty or life’s purpose
Artha – one’s means of living (money, shelter, food) that allow one to accomplish their duties.
Kama – one’s pleasure, desire, love.
Moksha – spiritual enlightenment, self-realization, liberation from Kama (desire) and other worldly pleasures.

Ayurveda was designed to satisfy each of the four purusharthas. It is part of living a balanced, healthy life.

To the ancient rishis, moderation was key to attaining enlightenment and freeing the self from bondage.

The Roots of Illness

The leading cause of disease, illness, and misfortune, according to Ayurveda, is overindulgence.

Medicine turns to poison when taken in the incorrect dosage.

The same can be said of anything the individual ingests.

Temperance in mind and body allows one to enjoy all that life offers in manageable doses that align with internal and external factors.

Each individual must choose the correct amount for themselves per their constitution.

There is no right way; there is only right now.

Ama is the toxins that accumulate in the body. Poisons could be something we physically eat or take in through the skin. They can also be toxic environments, people, or events that create distress in the body.

Poor digestion (of foodstuffs or events) results from accumulated ama.

In Ayurveda, it is a crime against wisdom to ignore the ama and willfully participate in activities or habits that cause indigestion or despair.

Prajnaparadha = crimes against wisdom.

The Roots of Treatment

“You are healthy (svastha) when you are established in your self, and we examine how establishment in self comes about, how it is maintained, and how it is upset. ”
Excerpt From Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution

Ayurveda endorses individual treatment and governance.

Svartha, which means healthy, is from the joining of two words:
sva = self + stha = established.

To be established in oneself is to truly understand what works for one and what does not.

What is healthy for one person may be toxic for another.

A strong sense of individuality and identity is necessary to understand who you are, what makes you feel good, and what makes you feel ill.

It also allows each person to contribute to the whole (the collective) with their unique gifts, tastes, preferences, perspectives, and strengths!

Ayurveda and Gut Health

The body has many defense mechanisms to block invaders from causing harm.

Ayurveda counsels that a strong gut contributes to a healthy body.

Good gut health results from getting proper nutrients (food, water, minerals) AND having a strong digestive fire to break everything down.

The gut is responsible for physically digesting and assimilating what you consume. It’s also the location of most neurons (more than the brain!) and where we feel our emotions.

Kapalbhati stimulates the digestive fires to encourage digestion.
Brahmari breath (bees breath) calms the nervous system to ease the digestive system.

Ayurveda provides many techniques to promote good gut health, including a fiber-rich diet customized for each person’s constitution.

The Gunas and Your Constitution

“Resistance to change always impedes the workings of your immunity. An old Sanskrit proverb tells us kshama cha janani: the essence of motherly love is forgiveness.”
Excerpt From Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution

The Vedas provide three energies – the gunas – that create the universe.

The Gunas are: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas.

Each Guna represents a unique strand or thread that creates the cosmos. We need all three to exist and manifest the universe.

Each Guna contains specific qualities that are contrasted and balanced against each other.

The Three Gunas:

Sattva – Light, Space, Clairvoyance, Truth, Purity, Harmony, Neutrality, Grace, Soul
Rajas – Heat, Excitement, Passion, Action, Aggression, Directive, Positive, Vital, Creative.
Tamas – Lethargy, Dullness, Heaviness, Death, Negative, Inertia, Resistance, Unconscious.

The Five Great Elements And Their Characteristics:

Earth: grounding, slow, stabilizing, boundaries, firm, container.
Water: fluid, adaptable, creative, flowing, cooling, soothing.
Fire: hot, strong, transformative, mutable, passionate, destructive.
Air: mobile, subtle, gentle, life-sustaining, dry, cold, vital.
Ether: omnipresent, light, expansion, dreaminess, imaginative.

“Vata, which is the principle of kinetic energy in the body, is mainly concerned with the nervous system, and controls all body movement.
Kapha, the principle of potential energy, controls body stability and lubrication. The tissues and wastes of the body, which Vata moves around, are Kapha’s province.
Pitta controls the body’s balance of kinetic and potential energies. All of Pitta’s processes involve digestion or “cooking,” even if it is the cooking of thoughts into theories in the mind. The enzymatic and endocrine systems are Pitta’s main field of activity.”
Excerpt From Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution

The Five Great Elements work together to create the Doshas.

The Doshas are what create your constitution.

The Three Doshas:

Vata = Air + Ether
Kapha = Earth + Water
Pitta = Air + Fire

Ayurveda focuses on three energies that make up everything we see and every living being.

Vata: air and ether, governed by movement, creativity, flexibility, vision, space, and sound. In harmony, Vata is inspired and inclusive. Out of balance, Vata is anxious, fearful, and flighty.

Pitta: air and fire, governed by digestion, metabolism, direction, absorption, assimilation, and intelligence. In harmony, Pitta is a leader and advocate. Out of balance, Pitta is angry, resistant, and jealous.

Kapha: earth and water, governed by structure, stability, patience, compassion, nurturance, and immunity. In harmony, Kapha is loving and vulnerable. Out of balance, Kapha is lethargic, withdrawn, and greedy.

The Six Tastes

Food has a profound effect on the body and the brain, more so than the activities we choose.

Switching up what we eat to suit our constitution is one of the fundamental attributes of leading an Ayurvedic lifestyle.

By choosing the right foods and flavor profiles, you can boost your body’s immunity and provide yourself with all the essential nutrients you need.

The Six Tastes—sweet, Sour, Salty, Pungent, Bitter, and Astringent—work together to balance the doshas.

We need all six flavor profiles. However, your constitution will determine how much and when.

The predominant attitudes and emotions associated with the Tastes are:

Sweet – satisfaction, or satiation (the “sweet taste of success”). Overindulgence in Sweet leads to its negative aspects: complacency and greed.
Sour – the searching outside oneself for things to possess. Sour enhances the mind’s appetite for evaluating things with a view to determining their desirability as possessions. Overindulgence in evaluation leads to envy or jealousy, which may manifest as deprecation of the thing desired, as in the “sour grapes” syndrome.
Salty – zest for life, which enhances all appetites. Overindulgence in zest leads to hedonism, the craving for indulgence in all sensory pleasures that are available, just as an “old salt” or a “salty dog” will do when he enters port again after a long sea voyage.
Pungent – extroversion, the tendency to excitement and stimulation, and in particular the craving for intensity. Overexcitement and overstimulation lead to irritability, impatience and anger (“pungent language,” “a sharp retort”).
Bitter – dissatisfaction, which produces a desire to change. When you have to swallow a “bitter pill” its bitterness dispels your self-delusion and forces you to face reality. Too much disappointment leads to frustration, which confirms your system in bitterness. Grief is Bitter.
Astringent – introversion, which drags the mind away from excitement and stimulation. Excessive introversion leads to insecurity, anxiety and fear. Astringency causes contraction, which makes you “shrivel like a prune,” and clamps the “cold, bony hand of fear” around your throat.”
Excerpt From Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution

On The Quality of Food

All foods have a quality that aligns with Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas.

Sattvic foods are light, easy to digest, and bland.
Rajastic foods are spicy, prompt digestion, and flavorful.
Tamastic foods are heavy, harder to digest, and should be eaten in small amounts.

Your diet will depend on your dosha and the season.

To learn more about how to work with the seasons, watch this lecture with Dr. Keema Shield.

On Craving and the Quality of Sweetness

Science shows that your molecular biology (genes) contribute to craving, addiction, and taste.

Research shows that when we feel excitement, specific hormones are released that cause the body to feel good. These hormones are nicknamed the ‘feel good’ hormones, and they include dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin.

Two of the common cravings/addictions in what we physically ingest include sugar and alcohol.

Ayurveda shows that this is an addiction to the taste of sweetness, and there are other ways to satisfy the body’s/mind’s hunger for this taste/emotion that do not feed the craving/addiction.

Natural sweeteners such as honey and dates are great additions to simple recipes to satisfy a sweet tooth.

The Seven Classes of Tissues

Ayurveda segments the body tissues into seven classes:

Rasa – fluids, lymph, and blood plasma.
Blood – red blood cells.
Flesh – skeletal muscles.
Fat – the fat that protects the organs.
Bone – the skeletal system.
Marrow – the stuff inside the bone.
Shukra – sexual fluids.

The seven classes are called dhatus.

The dhatus determine how well you affirm your existence in your body – they are the body’s strength against disease and illness.

What you eat, do, and think contributes to the formation and information moving in and out of each dhatu.

Ayurveda holds that healthy dhatus provide the individual with the ability to digest and eliminate wastes.

Healthy Body, Mind, and Spirit

“Healthful habits are part of the recipe for recreating yourself.”
Excerpt From Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution

Ayurveda holds that three unique entities help strengthen immunity:

Prana – your life force, energy, vitality.
Tejas – govern the function of metabolism/digestion, which is the force of transmutation.
Ojas – the liquid, very subtle, the force that integrates your being.

Prana is found in the air we breathe and the food we eat. Breathing and pranayamas influence the Prana (energy) in the human body.

Tejas is an internal process—your inner fire—it is your ability to metabolize food and experience. The liver and spleen affect it, and it controls the blood and brain.

Ojas is a subtle substance in the body: when it is firm (liquid), it influences Tejas to do its job on the body and nourish you!

Ayurveda holds that a strong body, mind, and spirit are anchored in rituals and routines.

Your day-to-day affairs will vary and be influenced by your unique constitution.

The habits you form can strengthen or weaken your ability to create balance – so it’s essential to review the things you do and why you do them!

The three main pillars of life (according to Ayurveda) are food, sleep, and sex. They express digestion, rest, and creativity.

30 Top Takeaways From the prakriti Yoga Series

Ayurveda means ‘the sacred knowledge of life.
The Vedas, specifically the Atharvaveda, which was composed in the 2nd BCE, are the first mentions of the Vedas in Indian philosophy.
The practice of Ayurveda embodies alignment with nature.
Ayurveda holds that to be truly free is to be adaptable.
Disease is the soul’s way of speaking to the body and forcing it to slow down.
The Vedas provide us with the four pillars (purusharthas) that contribute to living a balanced and well-rounded life.
To the ancient rishis, moderation was key to attaining enlightenment and freeing the self from bondage.
The leading cause of disease, illness, and misfortune, according to Ayurveda, is overindulgence.
Each individual must choose the correct amount according to their institution.
To be established in oneself is to truly understand what works for one and what does not.
The body has many defense mechanisms to block invaders from causing harm.
The gut is responsible for physically digesting and assimilating what you consume. It’s also the location of most neurons (more than the brain!) and where we feel our emotions.
Ama is the toxins that accumulate in the body.
Poor digestion (of foodstuffs or events) results from accumulated ama.
The Vedas provide three energies – the gunas – that create the universe.
The Gunas create the Five Great Elements. Ancient rishis used the elements to better understand individual constitution and alignment with nature.
Ayurveda focuses on three energies that make up everything we see and every living being. They are Vata, Kapha, Pitta.
Prakriti represents your unique constitution – aka your dosha(s).
Your Prakriti is your metabolic tendency. It is based on your DNA, genes, and your mother’s/father’s diet and dependencies at the time of your birth.
The Six Tastes—sweet, Sour, Salty, Pungent, Bitter, and Astringent—work together to balance the doshas.
In Ayurveda, taste and emotion are linked and have a similar effect on the mode of digestion.
Taste works on the body, whereas emotions are of the mind.
The predominant attitudes and emotions associated with the six tastes.
Your constitution (doshas) affects your emotions, cravings, and tastes through the genetic makeup you receive from your parents at birth.
Vata people have high energy and enthusiasm; they ask questions and quickly digest new information. Their ease of discovering and engaging with new ideas tends to get lost in the ether, as they are just as quick to forget all they’ve learned.
Kapha people are calm, easy to be around, thorough, and thoughtful. Slow to start any new project or commit to a relationship; they’re careful and considerate, revealing a longstanding commitment once longstanding in.
Pitta people are feisty, productive, purposeful, and competitive. This dosha revels in precision and pragmatism, but don’t let its aggressive attitude fool you. Pitta’s personalities are dedicated and devoted; relationships tend to be intense and longstanding, especially if they involve longstanding work, hobbies, or shared goals.
Ayurveda provides several techniques for creating harmony in food preparation, tasting, digesting, assimilating, and elimination.
All foods have a quality that aligns with Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas.
Your diet will depend on your dosha and the season.

Seraphina Dawn

Seraphina has a BA in Literature from Simone Fraser University and participated in the Creative Writing Program at UC Berkeley. She is a Kundalini teacher, writer, and poet. She admires Clarice Lispector’s prose, Octavia Butler’s fiction, and Simone Weil's philosophy. Seraphina currently lives in Istanbul.

Website

@sera.phina.dawn