What is Ayurveda? Ayurveda is a way of life that’s been practiced in India for at least 5,000 years. Pronounced eye-your-VAY-duh, the literal translation means “knowledge of life” (Ayus = life, veda = knowledge). Ancient sages believed that by prolonging your life as much as possible, you’d have more time for spiritual growth. Hopefully, if you lived long enough and practiced diligently, you’d reach enlightenment during this lifetime (of course, part of the Hindu culture is a belief in reincarnation). Enlightenment would free your soul from the karmic cycle of life and death. Your soul would no longer need to be re-born. Thus the general idea was to stay healthy, so you could live longer, so you could learn more.

One of the core beliefs of ayurveda is that being healthy is the natural way to be and that disease is purely artificial and the result of some imbalance in the natural state of things. For example, our bodies were meant to move. Getting into a motorized vehicle to take us everywhere we need to go isn’t natural –- we were meant to walk every day. So when we’re sedentary, we fall out of balance. Aches, pains and excess weight accumulates. Circulation becomes stagnant.

Using ayurvedic wisdom doesn’t mean you have to become Hindu. Religion does not have to be involved. You may decide to try a mental practice such as meditation to help an overactive mind settle down. If the combination of physical and mental practices leads to some sort of spiritual awakening, or curiousness about philosophical questions, that’s great. You can apply your insights to whatever spiritual or religious form you want. But whether or not you get spiritual benefit from any of this, who cares, as long as you’re feeling better, right?

In this Ayurveda 101 Reference, we’ll explore some easy, realistic ways to bring ayurvedic elements into your daily life, as well as provide a background to the basics of Ayurvedic theory and philosophy. Return to this section often to get updates to this reference.

Related Articles…

The Elements, How Ayurvedic Types are Created
The Doshas, Ayurvedic Types