Pankaj Seth, B.Sc., ND - Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine Pankaj Seth is a graduate of the 5000 hours ND program at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (Toronto). His naturopathic medical practise of 10 years integrates Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture, Eastern Bodywork, Yoga and meditation. Pankaj has taught clinician level courses as well as numerous workshops for laypersons on Eastern medicine and spirituality and has been featured on television, radio, print and web media. He can be reached through his website at www.lotus-medicine.com

How to...

In Ayurveda, the first step is determining one's constitution. And then there is a whole host of information on things that fit and things that do not. So the information can look like a list of "do's" and "don't do's", but this would not be the most artful way of looking at what Ayurveda has to say. In fact, it is possible to transform the "don't do's" into "how to's".

When you are more aware of your individuality, including your limits, it takes art to enlarge your experience into those things (foods and otherwise) which are somewhat difficult to digest for you as an individual. People vary in what they can and cannot easily bring into their lives, this is a self-evident fact. And the art is to know how to take in those experiences which are known to be difficult to digest, known by experience or learned about as per Ayurveda's lists.

Something difficult to digest need not be understood as forbidden. Rather, one can develop the knowledge of how to digest and assimilate it. Perhaps it takes working with its amount, or combining it with something which counters its extreme qualities which by themselves are off-putting. An example: ice cream is cold and damp and sweet and fatty, and your Achilles' heel may be the easy digesting of any or all of these qualities. So, what to do? Adding cinammon, cardamom or cloves, which are all hot will balance the ice cream making it much easier to digest; this is an experiential truth you can see for yourself. Now, cayenne and black pepper are hot too, so they will counter the cold and damp as well, but they do not combine as well with ice-cream in terms of producing an agreeable taste; the aesthetics are all wrong with this combination. So the art involves knowing the nature of the experience that you are considering as well as your own natural limits, and then coming up with a solution which counters the extreme qualities in an easthetically pleasing way. In this way, one can take in everything worthwhile in the world. And Ayurveda teaches this art.

Countering indulgences

You will have noticed that your digestive ability (for food or other things) varies, is not a constant. Though you may have certain tendencies, there is still a large measure of flexibility in your digestive abilities. When you are fatigued, or worried or even excited, your digestive ability is less than when you are rested and calm. When you have the flu or perhaps a flare up of some illness which plagues you, then again you digestive ability will change for the worse. You will simply find that your limits have become more numerous in these times; your freedom to do as you wish has become lessened. In these times, you will notice that many things have become less than easily compatible with you. So, digestive ability varies with many factors and you can simply find this out with increased self-awareness. There will be signs when you have gone over your limits in some endeavour. Maybe its a feeling of heat or cold, maybe a mild headache or fatigue, or an abdominal bloating, or a faster heartbeat. The first signs are subtle and if you learn to recognize what these are for you, then you can prevent yourself from going too far into an incompatible experience. And knowing even the basics of Ayurveda can greatly increase your knowledge of these things, can greatly increase your preparedness and artfulness.

Let's say that you have gone overboard with some indulgence; food, excercise, alcohol, coffee etc. You will notice that some signs of imbalance are present and it seems the only thing you can do now is to wait it out, or perhaps reach for some symptom reducing medicine. This is where the art of Ayurveda shows itself to be much more than a list of "don't do's". For any imbalance you can encounter, there is some natural substance (food or herb), some breathing technique, some Yoga posture, some meditative method which can quickly bring you back to balance and ease. Through a study of Ayurveda one can approach this kind of knowledge where you minimize your suffering after crossing over into indulgence. An example: after too much coffee you experience a racing mind and insomnia, but a few minutes of being in the Yoga Posture known as "Child's Pose" and/or a few minutes of keeping your tongue down at the floor of the mouth, and/or drinking a calming herbal tea will take you powerfully towards balance. So again, its a matter of "how to". This is of course applicable to many things including tiredness, bursts of anger, indigestion, headache, back pain and so on. It is possible to quickly move out of uncomfortablity if Ayurvedic know-how has been acquired, thus preventing the insidious movement towards frequent and pervasive uncomfortability known as dis-ease.

A greater art

Far from being restrictive, Ayurveda enables a greater enjoyment of life. If you know that you will be pushing probably beyond your natural limits, say in overworking, physically or mentally, then there are things you can do beforehand which will temporarily increase your ability/stamina. Certain foods and herbs can produce a greater strength, and you will find that if your activites follow the taking in of these things that you have a greater ability, a greater strength. In fact, one can make a lifestyle habit of taking these things in continually (in a low dosage), or can take them infrequently in larger doses (for a temporary but large effect). Thus you can continually become stronger, even as you age, and/or you can sometimes create a temporary but extremely powerful energy output. As you ponder this, keep in mind that not all strengthening herbs are suitable for everyone, the fit depends on your constitution as well as any illnesses you might currently have. So this part requires a deeper study or professional help.

To the artful, nature is very friendly, very kind, very generous. But to those who are young in art, she appears to hem them in on every side, seemingly imposing insurmountable limits, looks to be dangerous and a devourer. The two faces of the goddess... and one sees whichever his art enables.