Prakriti???????

[Guest guest]

Re: always cold...what am I?

> You know, when I filled out the dosha test in the Deepak Chopra book, I

> came back all three doshas! But he said "tri-dosha" is very rare...so I

> assumed I did it wrong. My shape is very kapha and I am very motherly,

> but my energy/personality is very vata.

 

the fault isn't yours, its the absolute sheer silliness that reduces

the art and science of Ayurvedic medicine to a survey that could just

as easily be published in "Cosmopolitan" to rate your sex life. I

apologize for my vexation but having spent more than ten years studying

this subject, I get awfully annoyed when something is protrayed as

"ayurvedic" i.e. these prakriti surveys found in various books and

online, when they have no basis in tradition. Its like using an

"ayurvedic" shampoo or toothpaste - they don't actually exist in

Ayurveda... the vaidyas in India laugh at such nonsense.

 

And with all due respect to Deepak, the fellow is an endocrinologist

with lots of interesting ideas on how quantum theory supports the

tenets of Ayurveda, but little training or experience as an Ayurvedic

physician. His books are at best a fair introduction to Ayurveda, but

highly colored by his experience with the Maharishi Ayurved folks.

Although I don't agree with everything he writes, David Frawley's "a

comprehensive guide" is a good introduction (although he too has these

silly prakriti surveys...), and Lad has new "encyclopedia.". These two

guys have been instrumental in supporting and raising the status of

Ayurveda in NA, although the have their own idiosyncrasies and ideas

that don't have any basis in traditional Ayurvedic teachings (e.g.

Lad's concept of pulse diagnosis).

 

Although it may seem like shameless promotion I myself am completing an

introductory txt on Ayurveda which I hope will be finished in the next

few months - but it may be a few levels beyond complete novice. The

text is currently available from Wild Rose College as a correspondence

course (www.wrc.net).

 

Beyond these the best bet tho is to go to the extent sources, and read

something like Kanthamurthy's sutra sthana (vol 1) of the Ashtanga

Hrdaya (although there are some errors/mistranslations in this as well)

There are some Ayurvedic texts out of India but unfortunately these

are poorly written and entirely concerned with theory (not practice),

or at least written in "indian english" which english speakers may find

somewhat awkward and confusing (anyone who has ever traveled in India

will know what I mean by "indian english" - its no form of disrespect,

its actually an archaic form of english from the Raj era, peppered with

various "indianisms")

 

Regarding prakriti, it is of relatively minor importance if for no

other reason than:

1) it is difficult to ascertain, esp. in multi-dosha combinations

2) it is often masked by disease symptoms, i.e. vikriti (which is

probably your case)

3) people change

 

Thus I was taught to ignore prakriti and treat the body on the basis

that it is dominant in prithvi and ap (i.e. earth and water). Look at

your most dominant symptoms and treat them on the basis of their

energetic quality (e.g. hot, cold, dry, wet, slippery, rough etc.) If

you are cold then use heat; if you are dry then moisten. etc. Look at

the gurvadi gunas, the ten pairs of opposite qualities and decide which

qualities you express - then use the opposite guna or quality to treat

it, using herbs, foods etc. that have this quality.

 

guru (‘heavy’) laghu (‘light’)

manda (‘slow’) tikshna (‘fast’)

shita (‘cold’) ushna (‘hot’)

snigdha (‘greasy’) ruksha (‘dry’)

shlakshna (‘smooth’) khara (‘rough’)

sandra (‘solid’) drava (‘fluid’)

mrdu (‘soft’) kathina (‘hard’)

sthira (‘stability’) chala/sara (‘movement’)

sukshma (‘subtle’) sthula (‘obvious’)

vishada (‘friction’) picchila (‘lubrication’)

 

from these qualities arises the 3 doshas:

 

vata is light, cold, dry, rough, moving, subtle and creates friction

pitta is light, fast, hot, greasy, smooth, fluid, soft, and moving

kapha is heavy, slow, cold, greasy, smooth, solid, soft, stable,

obvious and lubricated.

 

I liken prakriti to your natal astrological chart, a good overview of

who you started out as, and vikriti (disease tendency) to your transit

chart - where you and your prakriti are now.

Caldecott

phyto

http://www.wrc.net/phyto