Ayurvedic therapy: regulating wind, fire and water

The so-called "adjustment of the three major energies of wind, fire and water" in Ayurveda has never been about pursuing a "universal standard balance" where the three are equal, nor is it about completely eliminating a certain excessive energy, but about returning the three to the inherent proportion of your innate constitution. All adjustment plans must match your current imbalance. There is no "wind, fire and water conditioning formula" that applies to everyone.

I stayed at a traditional Ayurveda clinic in Kerala for 21 days last year. Varada, a veteran doctor who followed me, treated a girl from Mumbai who was 30 years old and worked as an Internet operator. She had been suffering from migraine for almost two months. She checked the social media platform and saw that the symptoms corresponded to "excessive pitta (fire energy)". She drank buckwheat tea and ate raw salad every day for half a month. As a result, the headache did not go away. Instead, she started to have diarrhea. She would wake up at 3 a.m. and keep her eyes open until dawn. Varada took her pulse, looked at her fingernails and tongue, and said that she was born with a constitution dominated by Vata (wind energy). In the past two months, she had to catch 4 flights on business trips and stay up late every day to change plans. It was Vata that got messed up first and floated up with false fire, which was not real fire at all. Drinking cold clear fire would only make the wind energy disperse more, which would make her head hurt more. The prescription given to her was very simple: drink warm milk with a small piece of ginger added every morning on an empty stomach, and rub the soles of her feet with warm sesame oil for 10 minutes before going to bed. After doing this for 7 days, most of the girl's headaches disappeared.

When many people first come into contact with Ayurveda, they like to take a set of online test questions, label themselves as "Vata people", "Pita people" and "Kapha people", and then follow the general list of food and rest on the Internet. There are really many people who fall into this trap. Interestingly, Ayurvedic doctors from different schools actually have quite different priorities in terms of conditioning: the traditional school in North India pays more attention to the innate physical benchmark (prakriti) when you are born, and all adjustments must be based on this benchmark. ； The South Indian school in Kerala pays more attention to your current state of imbalance (vikriti), and sometimes the solutions given even seem to be completely opposite to the requirements of your innate physique - for example, people who are born with Kapa (water energy) dominant should eat less sweet and greasy foods , exercise more, but if you have been working overtime recently, have severe edema, and always feel tired, and you cannot run and exercise as soon as you get up, you must first do a week of full-body oil therapy to open up the blocked energy. Otherwise, the more you move, the more Vata will be dissipated, and the water and dampness will not be discharged, and the swelling will become more severe.

I was born with a slightly high Vata constitution. A few years ago, I suffered from joint pain and constipation in the winter. I read online that Vata people should eat more high-fiber vegetables to promote peristalsis. After eating broccoli and celery for a week, I became so bloated that I couldn't even eat. Later, after asking a familiar doctor, I found out that Vata is inherently cool and dry, and raw high-fiber vegetables will aggravate dryness and make intestinal peristalsis slower. Later, I changed to drinking 10ml of warm ghee with 3 grains of black pepper on an empty stomach every morning. After drinking it for 3 days, the constipation was relieved. I also insisted on applying some warm coconut oil to the joints after taking a bath every time I had joint pain in winter. Now I almost never have it.

Of course, modern medicine currently has no way to accurately measure the values ​​of the three major energies through instruments. The diagnosis and conditioning of Ayurveda are more based on the experience accumulated over thousands of years, which is why it has always been controversial. I have also met many people who think it is "metaphysics". In fact, there is no need to deify it. It is more like a set of lifestyle guidelines from ancient India. It is suitable as a supplement to daily health management and absolutely cannot replace regular medical treatment. If you really have organic problems such as gastric ulcers and gallstones, don't just think about drinking aloe vera juice. Go to the hospital for examination when you need to, and don't delay treatment.

Oh, by the way, in fact, there is no need to go to a clinic for oil treatments that cost thousands to adjust Feng Huo Shui on a daily basis. There are many small methods that can be done at home, and there is no need to remember complicated taboos. Just follow the feelings of your body. For example, if you have been experiencing inexplicable anxiety, unable to sit still, hair loss, and insomnia recently, it is probably due to vata drift. Don’t buy soothing supplements blindly. Just rub the soles of your feet with warm sesame oil for 5 minutes before going to bed, and put on cotton socks to sleep. Don’t tell me, several of my Internet friends have tried it, and they are more effective than taking melatonin. If you have been craving for cold food recently, have mouth ulcers, or have a bad temper at the first glance, it is pita fire. Drink some freshly squeezed aloe vera juice and eat half a crisp pear, and you can basically suppress it. Don't hold it on. If you have been feeling lazy recently, feel heavy, have phlegm in your throat, and have edema, it is because of Kappa blockage. Make some ginger tea and add half a spoonful of tangerine peel. Drink it for two days and you will feel better. Don't drink iced drinks. The more you drink, the worse the blockage will be.

I have been involved in Ayurveda for almost 6 years, and I have seen too many people try to use standard answers to guide themselves, but instead they become more and more confused. In fact, the core logic of this therapy has never been to make you become a "standard healthy person", but to let you learn to observe your body: what you eat makes you feel good, what you do makes you sleep soundly, and when you feel tired - these signals are more accurate than any test questions or any doctor's judgment. After all, wind, fire, and water are the three types of energy that come with your body. They are not good or bad, and balance is never an absolute value. The best state is when you feel comfortable.