By Arjun Luthra (Ayurveda Counselor)
Ayurveda is a medical system originating from the subcontinent of India that takes a holistic approach to health, integrating the concept of body, mind and soul. Ayurvedic medicine also takes a highly individualized and personalized approach to treatment and tries to address the causative factors for disease. It is commonly promoted as a modality that prescribes a specific diet and daily routine that promotes health wellness for each individuality.
Understanding the personalization of Ayurvedic treatment to an individual starts with understanding Ayurveda’s conception that we are a microcosm of our macrocosm. The elements external to us are also found within us and vice versa. The elements known to characterize matter are air, ether, earth, water and fire. In the Ayurvedic concept of human physiology, these elements act in functional pairings. They are defined as follows: air +ether=vata dosha, earth+water=kapha dosha, fire+water =pitta dosha. The qualities of vata dosha are dry, cold, light, clear, rough, mobile and subtle. Vata dosha’s qualities are dry, cold, light, clear, rough, mobile and subtle. Pitta dosha’s qualities are hot, mobile, light, liquid, oily and sharp. Kapha dosha’s qualities are cloudy, cool, heavy, slow, static, soft and dense. In each person, however, certain doshas are more predominant and thus dictate one’s natural constitution, prakriti. For instance, a person with vata predominance may have a slim feature with tendency to dry skin and be more sensitive to cold temperature climates. These doshas serve vital functions in human physiology. Vata dosha controls movement, including peristalsis in GI tract and transmission of neuronal information in the nervous system. Issues related to gut-motility like IBS and movement disorders like Parkinson’s can be connected to vata dosha. Pitta dosha acts as the enzymes that direct digestion and work to transform sensory input into processed information. Issues due to inflammation in the case of Crohn’s disease and neuroinflammation can be related to pitta dosha. Kapha dosha acts in a way that provides structure and form to the bodily systems.
In Ayurveda, our digestive power or ability is termed as agni and the diet is called ahara. In Ayurveda, ahara is not only referring to what we eat, but what we intake from our knowledge acquiring senses. The agni is what gives us the power to assimilate what is taken in and transform it into something that either enriches or jeopardizes the mind and body. When the foodstuff we consume is improperly digested it is termed ama. Ama is synonymous to the endotoxins that reside within the body. Traumatic experiences and experiences inducing psychological distress can also lead to accumulation of ama. In general, repeated insults to the body due to inappropriate use of sense faculties can lead to “ama”. One practical example, which can be connected to conventional biomedical sciences, is the case of consuming a meal when one is emotionally frustrated. In this instance, the autonomic nervous system, which includes our sympathetic nervous system, will consider the external environment to be unsafe and any inputs coming into the body as dangerous. Thus, the body may not be able to appreciate and digest the foodstuff at that time.
The effects of ama can also be practically understood. Ama accumulation can lead to blockage of channels within the body. In the case of depression, ama blocks emotional expression of joy and empathy. When ama is highly accumulated, a person’s cellular intelligence also becomes compromised, and individuals may act in a way that exacerbates their health imbalance. If the ama remains improperly addressed, this can lead to manifestation of chronic hard to treat diseases. The next section will discuss the qualities of the mind and further elaborate how health can be affected under the influence of these qualities.
Ayurvedic Concept of the Mind:
Ayurveda evaluates the contents of the mind using the three gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas. If there is sattva to the mind, there is a tendency for being intelligent, joyful, intuitive, patient and compassionate. If there are rajas to the mind, there is a tendency for agitation involving emotions of greed, jealousy, anger, envy and excess ambition. If there is tamasic quality to the mind, there is increased quality of mental stagnation, depression, apathy, sluggishness. The mind is also influenced by the doshas as described in the earlier sections. For instance, vata aggravation (increase above homeostatic levels) tends to breed an erratic or irregular digestion and restlessness in the mind. Pitta dosha aggravated is often associated with too strong of a metabolism and leads to aggression in the mind. Kapha dosha aggravation is associated with low metabolism or slow digestion and leads to sluggishness to the mind. The gunas and doshas can act on each other and define the overall mental constitution of the person.
The mental constitution with the gunas and doshas acting together are also influenced by the diet. Foodstuff seasonal, local and freshly prepared that are juicy and wholesome breed satisfaction and are linked to the sattvas. Foodstuff too bitter, sour, salty, pungent, dry and burning breed a rajasic quality of mind and are dear to those with the rajasic quality. Foodstuffs too stale, tasteless, putrid are linked to the quality of tamas. For the doshas, excess sweet, salty and sour can aggravate kapha dosha. Excess foods that are oily and sour, salty and pungent can aggravate pitta dosha. Foodstuffs too bitter, astringent, pungent, dry and cold can aggravate vata dosha. In essence, the gross and subtle qualities of the food do influence our mental health. A practical example can be of a person with kapha aggravation leading to depression, whereby they are holding onto past experiences, feeling some sort of inertia or stagnation in life and have unhealthy cravings or are overeating foods that are salty and sweet in hopes for finding satiety in life.
Ayurvedic Methodology of Treatment:
Ayurvedic treatment of any illness starts with ama pachana (removal of ama) and agni deepana (enkindling of agni). There are certain dos and don’ts for diet and lifestyle that will be suggested which are known as pathya and apathya. The administration of herbs to pacify dosha chiefly involved in the manasa vikriti, cleanse the body and restore healthy agni is part of Yukti-vyapashraya chikitsa (rational therapy). Sattva Vijaya chikitsa, which is treatment to increase sattva to the mind, will be recommended in many neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric conditions. This will allow the mind to become balanced, buddhi(intellect) to flourish and thereby help restore proper cellular intelligence to do away with the disease pattern.
Conclusion:
Psychological and cognitive function is deeply intertwined with gut health as psychological disturbances have proven to ensue when there is sign of digestive distress. The opposite has been held true that psychological distress has induced maladaptive stress responses to occur in the body and ultimately affect gut function. These findings have been long understood by Ayurveda, a holistic health modality originating from India. Health professionals should be encouraged to investigate further how our gut is modulating our mental health and consider how Ayurveda can inform our approach for understanding the chain of causation and proper treatment given to each person dealing with a neuropsychiatric or neurodegenerative disease.
