ĀYURVEDA: Management of Vāta Dosha - A Closer Look

Transcript

welcome to healthy ayurveda.com i'm dr mike daly wall vedic sage today we'll take a more in-depth look at the management of vatadosha according to ayurveda all matter is made of the five great elements called panch mahabhutas the five great elements being ether air fire water and earth and as we know vonta is predominantly that of the ether and air elements and being so vata has the qualities of dry light cold rough subtle and mobile so even with this understanding it allows us to apply two basic principles to help manage various fata conditions one avoiding and eliminating that which is causing the imbalance and two using substances which possess the opposite qualities for example if the dry quality is increased this may cause dehydration and dry skin for which it's intuitive to manage with the opposing quality one would apply oil to dry skin to help moisturize and hydrate the skin excess light quality may cause excess weight loss insomnia or sense of ungroundedness and lightheadedness therefore one should consider something which is heavy and grounding excess cold quality avanta dosha may cause pain and stiffness within the muscles and joints and naturally one would consider applying a warm compress compressed sore muscles all of these examples illustrates how using the opposing quality to that which is increased helps to manage the underlying dosa imbalance now what's interesting is that ayurveda explains a sequence for which vonta increases within the body for example vonta initially increases within its own sites and produces a disliking for things which increases bhatta dosha and a liking for that which helps to pacify atta with opposing qualities this is the inherent intelligence of the body seeking a state of balance or homeostasis via the two principles however if one continues with a vanta provoking lifestyle and vonta continues to increase vanta will begin to spread to different parts of the body revealing its qualities through various signs and symptoms along with the individual not feeling well so a large part of helping to manage bhatta conditions is simply prevention for example following a proper denacharya helping to prevent conditions of increased dosia through diet and lifestyle considerations however overlooking such lifestyle considerations and instead over exerting oneself with stress and strain leads to exhaustion and further increases and aggravates matadosha factors which increase vatadosha are described by shruta with examples such as overexertion with physical exercise excess sexual indulgence or even too much study all of these physical sexual and mental activities leads to exhaustion which increases vatadosha so a practical way of helping to balance vatadosha would be to avoid such exhausting activities instead one would be encouraged to rest and relaxation also food which has pungent bitter and astringent taste food which has cold potency and food which has light and dry qualities tends to increase fatta dosha therefore one should avoid foods such as dry and raw vegetables avoiding legumes dals beans peas etc instead one should consider food which has predominantly sweet sour and salty days food which has hot potency and food which is unctuous heavy and nutritious ayurveda explains two kinds of management shamana which is palliation in helping to reduce excess dosha and shodhana which is more curative which helps to remove and eliminate excess dosha ayurveda gives six general modalities in helping to correct various underlying imbalances these are broadly categorized into two functions that which is reducing or catabolic such as and that which is nourishing expansive or that which is anabolic for example bremena snyhana and stamina so going back to the elementals and looking at the qualities of vatadosha we've mentioned vonta as being dry light cold rough subtle and having mobile qualities therefore the first line of management for balancing excess vatadosha is applying the opposing qualities of dryness with oiliness via snana and balancing excess quality of lightness with heaviness via phenomena so this is the basic premise of management from an ayurvedic perspective however before jumping to this conclusion one must first consider whether vata is involved with datukasaya or depletion of bodily tissue which in theory is more simplistic in management for example in a condition of nerama vata which is increased vatadosha without the presence of amma and is associated with the depletion of bodily tissue or a catabolic state this condition is predominantly that of excess light and dry quality zavata and therefore would benefit from santarpana or using heavy and unctuous qualities for management this involves a diet which is nourishing warming and unctuous for example foods such as wheat brown rice or basmati rice dairy products are nourishing milk and ghee is advised sweet and unctuous herbs are recommended or tonic herbs such as ashwagandha chatabari and bala are useful oiliation or snehana helps to balance excess dry quality of vatadosha four main general types of oils include ghee vegetable oils muscle fat and bone marrow for example oil can be consumed orally through food and drink oil can be applied externally as an oil massage which is called abianga abianga for managing vata dryness it's recommended to use sesame oil and oil can be administered rectally as an enema called busty however if vonta is increased and associated with amma this creates a condition for which vat to become stagnant having an obstructive nature and tends to be far more pathologic this stagnation of vatadosha needs to be managed differently than just which would worsen the clinical condition instead one must first remove the obstruction causing stagnation of ata dosha signs and symptoms of samavata is associated with constipation sluggish and impaired digestion one feels sleepy and drowsy and one has a sense of heaviness samavanta is also associated with bloating colicky pain with fatigue and generalized body ache therefore since many of these symptoms are associated with impaired agni and the presence of amma deep is required first deepana helps to improve agni and panchana is required to help digest and neutralize amma interestingly if snehan or oilation is performed whether it be oral consumption of ghee or the external application of oil this will make sama conditions worse instead first requirement is deepan patchin and one may want to consider snehan with vishagarba so once the obstructive component is removed we can then attempt to remove and eliminate aggravated vata through shodhana for example panchakarma specifically busty which helps to remove and eliminate excess vatadosha the premise of this concept is that one of the primary science of vatadosha is the colon however with increased in aggravation of antadosia vata moves from the gi tract to the peripheral tissue or datus however for proper elimination of atta we need to have it return back to the gi tract and then further remove and eliminate vata via busti jetica states that of all the methods explained busty or enema is the method of choice for managing vat conditions and this is likened to cutting the root of a tree which results in the automatic destruction of the rest of the tree okay guys this video provided some therapeutic principles on how to manage vatadosha hope you've enjoyed and until next time be well