an ancient cure for modern life

7/27/2019 An Ancient Cure for Modern Life

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Ancestral Cura para la Vida ModernaLa tensin diaria con seguridad trastorna el equilibrio de Vata, excediendo laenerga nerviosa. Las terapias que presentamos son recomendaciones del

Ayurveda, que restablecen el equilibrio de este dosha o bio-tipo.

Uno de los sellos de la supuesta modernidad, es el concepto de lamultitarea. Esta se erige como el mayor de los logros, adems se alardea deella para demostrar estatus o excelencia. As que, es comn escucharexpresiones como: Soy todo un experto en la multitarea! Como en elescritorio mientras trabajo; lavo los platos hablando por telfono; manejo elauto mientras hablo por telfono; etc. Todo esto sumado a la dinmicamoderna de realizar viajes constantes, acostarse tarde en la noche, la sobreestimulacin continua e incansable, contribuye al desequilibrio de vata dosha,que afecta a los otros doshas que nos conforman, y por consiguiente a todoslos bio-tipos, no solo a los nativos de vata.

Para comprender este desarreglo o desequilibrio de vata, es necesarioentender que es vata. Es uno de los tres bio-tipos metablicos o doshas,

descritos por la ancestral ciencia de la salud y la vida, el Ayurveda. Vata es lacondicin biolgica que presenta una mayor presencia del elemento aire.Literalmente vata significa: lo que sopla, en referencia al viento (aire). Vatacontiene un aspecto secundario, que es el ter, el cual es el medio en el cualse mueve. El lugar que ocupa en el cuerpo es la cabeza, las cojunturas y loshuesos.. Vata is the principle of movement, ruled by air and ether. The other twodoshas are pitta, the principle of assimilation ruled by fire, and kapha, thestabilizing force, ruled by earth and air. Ayurvedic doctors say that we are eacha unique combination of these three. For most of us, one type is predominant,another secondary. But whatever one's native type, when a person goes out ofbalance, the vata principle destabilizes most easily, causing other kinds of

health and emotional problems.According to Ayurveda, this is the force that governs all movement in the body,including the in-and-out flow of the breath, the action of our limbs, thecirculation of subtle energy in our organism, and the mind's ceaseless flow ofthoughts, words, and images. Unlike earthy kapha, solid and grounded andwith a tendency to get stuck, or fiery pitta, sharp and focused and knowing justwhere it wants to go, vata, like the wind, wanders here and there, its directionever-changing.Performers like Michael Richards, who played Seinfeld's Kramer, Lisa Kudrowacting ditzy and off-beat on Friends, and Woody Allen, with his anxious patter,have made us laugh at the off-centered, nervous spaciness typical of vataderangement. While these qualities may seem funny when we see them on

film, it's not fun to experience the jerky stops and starts of breath, thoughts,speech, nerves, and limbs that result from a vata imbalance. And the healthconsequences aren't laughable either.Vata's Rise and Fall

The pressure and pace of modern life can tip anyone into vata imbalance. Buteven if you spent your life meditating in the woods, it's not easily avoided.Ayurveda holds that sturdy kapha is dominant in childhood, ambitious pittarules in the prime of life, and vata prevails in our senior years. Our senior yearsbring the vatic qualities of dryness, roughness, and irregularity, manifesting in


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such health complaints as arthritis, constipation, anxiety, insomnia, andstiffness.Fortunately, we can look to ancient wisdom for answers: Ayurveda has evolvedways to remedy vata imbalance and its accompanying diseases, andthroughout hundreds of years ancient Ayurvedic physicians and yogis devisedmany techniques to prolong lifehoping to gain more time to attain self-

realization.Undoubtedly, the Westerner most knowledgeable about these Ayurvedicrejuvenative practices is Svoboda, who teaches at Albuquerque's AyurvedicInstitute and is the author of Prakriti (Sadhana, 1999), an excellent introductionto Ayurveda. For the last 25 years, Svoboda has traveled to India to receiveand learn traditional rejuvenative treatments and to study Indian culture,philosophy, and practices. Last year he offered a small group of students aweeklong immersion in the health model and way of life he practices. Alongwith Iyengar Yoga teacher Ellen Leary of New Hope, Pennsylvania, Svobodadesigned a retreat reflecting the Indian world view that Ayurveda, hatha yoga,and other spiritual practices like meditation and chanting are aspects of anintegrated system of healing and spiritual evolution. As I flew to the Caribbean

Island of Tortola, I wondered if, even with these gifted guides, it would bepossible to alleviate some of my stress-building vatic habits in one week.

The Beauty of RoutineVatas tend to be erraticor as workshop participant Paul Busch, an Iyengar

Yoga teacher from Minneapolis (and a vata), described himself, "addicted tovariety." While stalwart kaphas plod along, rising, eating, working, and sleepingpunctually, vatas zigzag out of regularity, rising and going to bed at odd times,skipping meals, and not keeping to any regular pattern. Although this makeslife interesting, it is also destabilizing. The cure: Establish a predictable routine.

The first evening of the retreat, Svoboda explained that they had carefullystructured our schedule and practices to emphasize rejuvenation, particularlyfor balancing vata. Since dry, rough, airy, fast-moving, and irregular are the

core qualities of vata, the Ayurvedic approach is to prescribe treatments,activities, and foods that provide the opposite qualities: oiliness, grounding,slowness, heaviness, consistency, and flow. Svoboda and Leary asked that weadhere to their schedule, even if it meant steering clear of the sun-drenchedbeach below. Instead of going after "fun," we tasted a different kind ofenjoyment: a restful night's sleep.

This was the beginning of our routine: Every night we went to bed early, andevery day began at 6 a.m. We entered the day gently with an optional morningmeditation, followed by an hourlong class in pranayama at 6:30 a.m. This isvery important for vata, whose flow can become disturbed by transitions,particularly abrupt ones, like dashing straight from the dream state to thecomputer upon arising.

"Vata is discontinuous, so if there's a transfer of energy and direction, like at ajuncture or at any transition, that's where vata becomes agitated," Svobodasaid. No chance of that here. Unlike other classes I'd attended, where evenbeginners launched into advanced pranayama techniques like alternate nostrilor bellows breathing, Leary, who recently returned from a month at the IyengarInstitute in Pune, India, led us in a simple, restorative pranayama practice.We used props in Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Bound Angle Pose), toensure our bodies were in correct alignment and our diaphragms gently lifted.


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We supported our legs with homemade sandbags and a belt, allowing the groinarea to deeply relax. Leary gently guided us in sensing the inner thoracic area,and after a time, without any forcing, we slowly lengthened and deepened ourbreath.Expanding and steadying the breath helps pacify vata because it counters theconstrained and shallow breathingand attendant anxietythat result from

vata's fast pace. Leary instructed us to allow this expansion to happen withoutforcing it, encouraging us to take a step back from the vatic and Westerntendency to overdo it."Breath is essential to rejuvenation," Svoboda explained later, when wegathered on the stone front porch for one of his three daily talks. The termprana, he told us, denotes consciousness and life force. Because prana iscarried on the breath, increasing our breath capacity brings in more life forceto nourish the physical tissues of the body. "As the organism becomes moreconfident there is ample prana, it relaxes," explained Svoboda. Whileregulating the breath is necessary for vatas, inducing a calm state is healing toeveryone's cells, bodies, emotions, and thoughts.But everything in its own time. Lest we fuel our spiritual evolution with

ambition, Svoboda reminded us that we won't get there any quicker bypressing the pedal to the floor. Even when it comes to spirituality, each of thedoshas has its own way of overdoing or underdoing it. Kaphas are most likelyto be kicking back and smelling the flowers, finding no motivation to practice atall. Pittas may be driven to become spiritual overachievers, losing contact withcompassion as they pile up attainments.Vatas overdo because they are mentally stimulated by so many options butwithout doing one thing consistently. This tendency carries over into other lifeactivities. "My eyes are bigger than my stomach," commented Busch. "My mindwants a smorgasbord, staying up late, watching stimulating films, or engagingin late night conversations, while my body would prefer to get some rest. Andlike all vatas, I overrule my body."

Underdoing ItThe retreat schedule, routine yet relaxing, defeated all vatic temptations tooverdo. There's no point in overdoing a practice like pranayama, Svoboda toldus, because we can't take in more prana unless we have room for it. In mindscrammed with thoughts, organs clogged with toxins, and bodies stiffened withneglect, there is just no space for anything else. Wherever there are blockages,the flow throughout our system is obstructed, causing vata disorders. Thepractices we learned opened the space for that flow. To open the mind, therewas meditation. To expel toxins encumbering our digestive tract, there wereAyurvedic herbs and diet. To release structural and muscular blockagesimpeding our movement, there was hatha yoga.After our daily pranayama, we performed Suryanamaskar (Sun Salutation) to

the rising sun on a deck overlooking the ocean. With their addiction to variety,vatas find it boring to do asanas slowly and repetitively. Of course, more thananyone else, they need to take the time to allow themselves to become steadyin each pose. "As a vata I love constant change, and it's the worst thing forme," noted Busch. Suryanamaskar is beneficial for vatas, who tend to have stiff

joints, because the asanas move all the limbs and lubricate the joints.Suryanamaskar also regulates the flow of energy through the nadis, channelsof subtle energy that run through our organism, like acupuncture meridians.


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While pittas and kaphas do well with more strenuous exercise, repetitive,flowing movement balances vata, so it is best for vatas to do Suryanamaskarslowly. These poses can align vatas mentally and spiritually, Svoboda pointedout, if they face the sun, real or imagined, while doing them. Focusing gathersvata's scattered energies, Svoboda said, and directs them toward "the sun, thesource of light and consciousness in the world."

Practice Is PerfectionFollowing a well-earned breakfast, we next performed abhyanga. This is anAyurvedic oil massage and a classic prescription for healing vata that bringsvata's dry, rough, and irregular tendencies into balance with the oil'ssmoothness and heaviness. Ayurvedic clinics in Kerala, India, are renowned fortreatments like pizhichil, in which as many as four people simultaneously oilmassage a single client, or shirodhara, in which oil is slowly poured onto thetop of the head. When oil is absorbed through the skin, it dislodges toxins,explained Svoboda, which otherwise impede the flow in our system, block themovement of prana, and aggravate vata.Ayurvedic physicians also use food as medicine, considering the effect of everyfood and spice on each dosha. Cream of wheat, for example, while grounding

for vatas, is too heavy for already grounded kaphas, who tend toward weightgain; on the other hand, a vata should probably pass on the chili becausebeans cause gas. Although people associate Ayurvedic cuisine with Indian food,the two are not synonymous. A diet balancing to one's dosha can consistentirely of Western or international dishes. The retreat offered gourmet spacuisine, delicious and balancing to all three doshas.Ayurveda views the digestive process as a metaphor for all we take in. Manypeople eat whatever is available, watch whatever is on the tube, and believethe common consensus on many subjects. But Ayurveda asks us to considerwhat we can handle, as vata's delicate nerves and digestion are easilyoverwhelmed by a bad mealor a bad movie, for that matter. Svoboda andLeary urged us to use the retreat practices to refine our inner awareness, so we

could begin to discern the effects of the foods, images, and ideas we take in.This is helpful for all doshas, but particularly for curious and experimentalvatas, who want to try everything even though their powers of assimilationaren't always up to it.Anything taken in but not processed remains in our organism and becomes atoxin, Svoboda told us. That's why it's important to recognize what is beneficialand decline what isn't, rather than leave the gate open to any and all forms ofinput. Vatas are great communicators and love chatter. But as much as theylove it, it is jarring to their nerves. The solution? To practice limiting inputandoutput.All chatter ceased on the day dedicated to silence, a traditional form of spiritualausterity practiced in India. Silence is believed to have a purifying effect on the

sense of hearing and on the mind itself. In silence I noticed how much breathand energy I habitually waste on words. At meals I never missed theconversation, which I now realize was often used to stave off fears or feelingsof emptiness. In silence these feelings were given room to come into the lightof awareness, where they could dissolve. Our silent afternoon asana classbrought the entire group into a state of inner and outer focus, as we followedLeary in a strong series of standing poses, the ocean breezes and our own


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breath the only sounds we heard. Silence, I discovered, is a restorative postureas powerful as any physical one.

The retreat showed me what Savasana (Corpse Pose), the most basicrestorative pose, was all about. With my busy work schedule, I frequentlyomitted this asana from my practice at home, dashing from other asanasdirectly to the phone or computer keyboard. The flip side of this kind of vatic

overdoing is an energy crash, from which a judicious rest can protect you."Savasana brings you as close as possible to perfect physical alignmentbecause it is easier to do correctly than any other pose. Being still while inalignment allows all levels of your being to move into alignment," explainedSvoboda. This is why Savasana feels so restful, physically, mentally, andspiritually. With enough rest and alignment, even restless vatic energy canstabilize.At first, with its new terminology, Ayurveda can seem exotic, even to someonelike me who has traveled to India and studied hatha yoga and meditation for 14years. But in truth, resting deeply, eating healthful foods, following a regularschedule, moving at a gentle pace, stretching all my limbs, taking deepbreaths, and limiting stimulation are all the basics of good health. There's

nothing exotic about these practices.What is unusual is that we live in a society where we have to make an extraeffort to practice them and resist the pressures that lead us to neglect self-care. Following the Ayurvedic and yogic techniques seemed unfamiliar at first,but when I practiced them, my body (or was it perhaps some subtler aspect ofmyself?) recognized them. As modern Americans, we may have forgotten howto care for the human being, but Ayurveda remembers and can remind us ofwhat we once knew.Alison Rose Levy is a New Yorkbased writer on yoga, health, and psychology.She is currently training to teach Anusara Yoga while at work on her first book.Return to http://www.yogajournal.com/health/647
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/482http://www.yogajournal.com/health/647http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/482http://www.yogajournal.com/health/647

an ancient cure for modern life

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