One of my students recently asked: May I please ask you to define Ayurveda. I have studied it for 1 year now and I know what it is but how do you explain it to a client or in a workshop? What words to use?

Hmmmm.... Ayurveda is this whole life and everything about it!

1) Definitions are for thesaurus, dictionary, books and Wikipedia and life is all about experiences. Share what it has been for you! Everyone can read books at their own. Definitions are limitations and Ayurveda is everything. Not possible to define. It is however possible to expand on it.

2) When someone asks you, they are looking for your perspective on the subject and not a bookish definition. Partly one signs up for the subject and partly for you. Share how has Ayurveda transformed you, what aspect of its study and application has touched you, benefitted you. Inspire people, do not teach them!

3) Ayurveda is what you eat, what you digest, what grows around you, the changing seasons, the solar and lunar cycles, the daily routine, the life beneath earth, on earth, in the sky, in waters. In fact what ever you see, hear, sense, smell, taste is ayurveda. Whatever you cannot see with naked eyes is also Ayurveda.

4) It is all around you and within too. It has been there since time immemorial. It is the innate wisdom of creation, sustenance and dissolution. Since the time we took the presence as a particle moving through time and space, changing structures, bodies, accumulating karmas. It is the philosophy to understand the existence, the science to live life according to the principles of life itself, the art to love as you live. It is all of it.

5) Most of our communication is non verbal (more then 90%). What you dont say with words and more with the brilliance of your eyes, body language, hand gestures is far more effective and read then what limited words can communicate. Make sure what you say is in Alignment with what you think and what you feel. Everyone gets that. Words create more misunderstandings then clarity. Let them (words) come from a place of experience instead of memorizing and definitions.

Uttishtha Jagruta Prapya Varani Bodhata”
Get up, Arise and stop not until the goal is reached!!

How you live your life matters and more than that how you live everyday of your life matters!

So, what is ayurveda?

Ayurveda is not merely a study of herbs and doshas, it is a living science. It helps us understand who we are, how to stay established in the state of health and how to live a life of dharma.

Want to know more about ayurveda? Join me! Essential Ayurveda for Yoga Professionals, Starting Aug 23, 2023