Dosha and Five Elements

Importance of Doshas and Five Element concept in Ayurveda

Ayurveda life science explains that all of nature is made up of 5 element: space, air, fire, water, and earth also known as ‘Panchmahabhuta’. When all of these elements are charged with Prana (life – force), they combine to form 3 Doshas 

• Vata – Space + Air
• Pitta – Fire + Water
• Kapha – Water + Earth 

These three building blocks are in everything that exists, including humans. Our existence is a kind of play among these three forces, and the balance among the doshas is what determines our state of health. When our bodily doshas are in harmony or in balanced state, we feel strong, our organs function properly, our complexion is healthy, and we experience a sense of well being. When any one of the dosha is out of balance or in an aggravated state, then our system go out of balance in many number of ways.

According to Ayurveda every one is born with specific constitution, which known as bodily Prakurti. It is decided both by the dominants dohsas of the moment itself the season you are born in and the time of day and by the dominants doshas of parents. Thus a person born of parents who have Kapha dominant in their constitution will likely have Kapha dominance, too. The bodily doshas constitution remains same with us for our life time, affected with duration of time, season, environment we live in. We remain healthy when we learn to regulate that doshas that tends to dominate and go out of balance from it natural state.

Ayurveda, the traditional medical system of India, has delineated three categories of fundamental regulatory principles of the body, mind, and behavior. These three categories, called doshas, are named Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. They all reflect certain qualities that we experience through our senses. In a way, they express the language of nature. Each of the dosha controls different aspect of our body and each one locates itself in particular areas of the body. Each of us has all of the doshas within, but usually one dosha is dominant. This simply means that a person has more traits associated with one dosha over another. It also means that a person will have more tendency toward imbalance in that particular dosha.

An Ayurvedic practitioner help you to determine the dominant dosha in your body by several methods. A Ayurveda treatment and Ayurvedic healing should be based on you analysis of you bodily doshas for optimum results, along with dietary instruction and advices on daily life style routine.