Ayurveda & Yoga – The Perfect Pair for Your Health

Yoga is already widely practiced in many forms outside of Eastern culture. But in the Ayurvedic clinics of Western countries, it is clear that Ayurveda is becoming more and more recognized as an important alternative therapy.

First and foremost, the simplest approach to understanding the connection between Ayurveda and yoga is to consider yoga as an Ayurvedic therapy.

As for yoga, its goal is to balance the mind, body, and spirit through a variety of asanas (postures), pranayamas (breathing exercises), and meditation techniques.

According to Ayurveda, the practice of yoga helps to purify and balance the nadis. This is an important task because this vast network of channels allows the life force, also known as prana, to flow through the body.

Yoga is not just about holding a pose for a while and working out. Yoga has six branches or paths, each with different histories, philosophies, and intentions recommended for different body types. The body types are determined by the Ayurvedic dosha theory.

The body type theory is one of the most important parts of Ayurveda and essentially distinguishes three basic types (doshas). The three doshas – Vata, Pitta and Kapha – determine a person’s physical, emotional, mental and spiritual constitution.

There is a basic constitution (main type) that we inherit, and there are conditions that add variety to this picture. The latter always results from our current life situation.

You can determine your inherited basic constitution with the help of a test, but to determine the current constitutional type, it is advisable to seek the help of an experienced professional. Only with this knowledge can therapy begin.

Both yoga and ayurveda use the theories of the five elements – earth, water, fire, air, and ether – and the particular patterns of energy (doshas) that emanate from them to explain how the human body and mind work.

Yoga’s asanas and pranayamas improve physical endurance while balancing prana, which is closely related to Ayurvedic principles of health maintenance.

The integration of Ayurveda and yoga is about studying the three doshas in order to tailor yoga practices to your specific physiological and character needs.

Once you know your constitutional type – your dosha – you can begin your own personalized yoga practice. This means doing asanas that are in harmony with your type and level. This is important because having a headstand with great healing power is useless if you cannot do it properly.

Each asana has a specific effect on the doshas, similar to the effects of different foods. By choosing the right yoga practices and foods, the doshas will function well, making it also easier to lose excess weight.

Together, these two ancient practices of yoga and ayurveda form two facets of the same holistic approach to health and wellness. Ayurvedic Yoga fuses the two belief systems to provide you with a powerful and comprehensive set of tools for both identifying and actively managing health issues.

It is recommended that you speak with a yoga therapist for the best possible health improvement. They will determine your unique doshas and create a personalized program to change your lifestyle. How much, how often, and how you want to work with the therapist will depend on your individual needs.

Keep in mind that the main focus of Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy is lifestyle modification. As such, it provides a clearer view of each area of your life rather than a quick fix.

A 2021 study evaluated the effects of Ayurvedic medicines, lifestyle modification, and the addition of yoga to conventional treatment protocols for patients with essential hypertension over a 6-month period. They concluded that this integrated approach led to a reduction in medication dosage in 33.1% of patients and to discontinuation of medication in 36.7% of participants.

In one case study, a patient diagnosed with diabetes and hypertension underwent a special treatment program five days a week for three months. The program used yoga exercises (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama) and deep relaxation techniques (DRT) along with Ayurvedic medicine to assess their effect on the patient’s condition. In addition to a reduction in blood pressure and blood glucose levels, subjective symptoms such as palpitations, sweating, burning sensations in the soles of the feet and palms of the hands, numbness, and general weakness improved.

We can now appreciate the benefits of combining yoga with Ayurveda. You run the risk of turning your yoga practice into a mere workout if you are not familiar with Ayurvedic principles, and let’s face it, that is not the purpose of yoga.

Ayurveda classifies people into three body types (doshas) based on their physical characteristics as well as their emotional tendencies and behaviors. By studying how the doshas work, you can experience the positive effects of customized yoga practices on your body, mind, and spirit.

In fact, studies also show that the combination of Ayurveda and yoga helps treat a variety of diseases by having a great impact on lifestyle management and vitality. You can think of Ayurvedic yoga as a way to bring harmony to your life in four key areas: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

The question is: wouldn’t you love to live a more complete and harmonious life?