Yoga practitioners should know their constitution for the right application of practices… Yoga teachers should have knowledge of Ayurveda to vary the practices that they recommend relative to individual needs.
– David Frawley “Yoga and Ayurveda” (1999)
Yikes! Do you know your ayurveda fellow yoga teachers? Do you know your dosha? Do you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about?
Ayurveda is Yoga’s “sister science” and, like ancient yoga practice,s is rooted in the Vedic traditions of India. Ayurveda finds its linguistic roots in the Sanskrit words āyus, meaning “longevity”, and veda, meaning “related to knowledge” or “science”. It is is an ancient Indian holistic medical system involving diet, yoga, massage and herbal remedies to keep you at optimum health depending on your dosha, or physical type.
Throughout history Yoga and Ayurveda have influenced each other and different types and styles of asana practice have different effects on the doshas. This in itself goes a long way to explain why there is no right or wrong way of practising yoga, there is just a right way for you and sometimes you have to go looking for it. For example I am Vata dosha, this is the type rooted in the element air. I’ll go into each of the separate doshas in more detail in subsequent weeks but Vatas need a slow grounded practice. Yet for years I practised Astanga Vinyasa which, if I’m honest, always left me feeling high strung and exhausted.
I don’t know about you, but we barely touched on Ayurveda in our Yoga Teacher Training – there is an In Service Training module that can be studied once you’ve graduated but nothing during the course of the initial training. In many ways I think this is a shame because I see Ayurveda as fundamental to the type of yoga a person might want to practice. As yoga teachers we can never please all the people all the time but we can bring postures and practices into all the classes we teach that can benefit the different doshas. We can also use a quick dosha assessment to help develop suitable personal practices both for ourselves and our private students. I often think that whole “finding the right yoga teacher for you” has as much to do with the practices appeal to your dosha as it does with you and the teacher’s chemistry.
How much do you know about Ayurveda? Has it helped your yoga practice and/or teaching?
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Over the next three weeks I’ll look at each of the individual doshas in turn and discuss what food, practices and lifestyle adjustments can help to balance them. Until then you might want to research into what your dosha is if you don’t already know. There are many online resources and quizzes to find out what your dosha is so why not try one of these.
http://www.whatsyourdosha.com/
http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/sq/ayurvedic-assess.htm
(Remember that these quizzes do tend to be rather general and more than one answer may be appropriate to you. Try to answer according to what has been true for the majority of your life).
Recommended Reading
Yoga and Ayurveda – David Frawley
Yoga for Your Type – David Frawley
Ayurveda – Life Health and Longevity – Robert E Svoboda
The Book of Ayurveda – Judith Morrison
Disclaimer: I am not an Ayurvedic doctor and these posts are merely an overview for anybody who is interested in reading more about Ayurveda. If you have a pre-existing medical condition please consult a trained Ayurvedic doctor.
This is such good timinig because recently I’ve been thinking a lot about my dosha and diet. I’m a Vata and I defo don’t eat according to this, nor do I always exercise accordingly. Looking forward to reading your posts on this. x
In my teacher training we did a session on doshas, but coverage of the topic was definitely light on. BUT I’ve been seeing Ayurvedic practitioners since 2001 on and off. I know that I’m pitta-kappha and that when my pitta is off-balance, it tends to look like it’s my kappha flaring up.
Also, with my Guru I’ve learned quite a bit about Ayurveda, but it’s still what I’d call relatively basic knowledge. I can generally look at someone and tell you what their dosha is (most people are usually a combination of two out of three, and very few are tri-doshic). I can’t go into great detail about the doshas though – sort of like being able to understand a foreign language but not necesarily speak it.
I have a reasonable understanding of what foods to eat (and not) for my doshas… not that I always stick to that, but I try.
From my studies, I’d also say this: that yoga (asana, meditation, pranayama etc), ayurveda and jyotish are considered interwoven.
It’s something I’ll study in more detail some day, just not now. Svoboda is definitely good reading, as is anything by Dr Vasant Lad.
this is why I think pranayama is taught indiscriminately in group yoga classes. When I was at KYM the teachers in our pranayama class were shocked when I told them that a teacher will open a class with kapalabhati sometimes. they asked me, how can a teacher know everyone’s dosha? I said, they don’t.
that quiz was super informative! I thought i was Kapha-Piita, turns out my body is Kapha and equally Pitta/Vata, but my mind is Vata! It makes so much sense that they are separate!
We briefly touched on this in YTT, going over the main qualities of all 3 and the ayurvedic times of day.. hasn’t influenced me too much. I need to get to bed earlier for sure though!
i love that website… it reminds me of preteen quizzes i used to take in glossies.
at kripalu there is a 500hr ytt that serrves a dual purpose to advance skills as a yoga teacher and ayurvedic practioner. planning on doing it, but i want to teach a few more years before i do.