Pari's Blog

Introduction

Addressing all 5 elements of Ayurveda’s Pancha Bhoota is important to activate the body’s internal mechanism to heal itself. I cannot emphasis this more, all five elements must be addressed.

Please first read the brief summary of Pancha Bhoota in the article on principles of Ayurveda.

Earth Element

Balanced Diet. Our body is composed of Earth (iron, carbon, calcium, sodium, potassium, and trace amounts of copper, phosphorous, zinc, chromium, selenium,…) all assembled together as proteins, hormones, etc. A major part of our body (a huge bulk of what we haul around on our two legs) is dedicated to digesting and extracting nutrients from food, and eliminating waste. The second major part is in delivering/circulating these raw materials and energy through the body (via the heart, lungs, and circulatory system). The third major bulk of our body is locomotion (skeletal and muscular system), and the fourth and final bulk is the nervous system (brains and neural network).

Since a large part of the body (stomach, liver, pancreas, spleen, small intestine, large intestine, kidney…) is dedicated to extracting nutrients from food (including detoxification and waste removal) it is vital to take note of what kind of food/junk we put into it. To keep those organs healthy, it means eating right. Ideally, you’d adjust your diet according to your body type.

Body type in Ayurveda is measured in terms of your dosha composition (vata, pitta, kapha, vata-pitta, pitta-kapha, vata-kapha; see Ayurveda). Accordingly, the types of food (and even exercises such as massage points) are prescribed in Ayurveda. I highly recommend Maya Tiwari’s Ayurveda Secrets of Healing. But don’t wait to consult an Ayurvedic practitioner or for getting a book. While it is a science to determine what is the right diet for you, it is not a rocket science to determine what is a bad. You do not need a book or some health guru to tell you that following is bad and to eliminate them:

• Avoid trans-fats.
• Avoid artificial sweetners.
• Importance of vegetarian diet.
• Avoid produce treated with pesticides and other chemical fertilizers (vs organic)
• Avoid of indulging in to much of anything (salt, sweets, fatty foods,…)
• Avoid of preparing food in aluminum, microwave, non-stick,…
• Avoid processed foods. Instead use whole wheat, brown or parboiled rice, jaggary (raw cane sugar)
• Use the good oils – those that have a track record of having beneficial properties for centuries (coconut oil, sesame oil, olive oil).
• Avoid soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, and smoking.
• Beware of additives ranging from preservatives to high-fructose corn syrup.
• Change your eating habits. This old adage alone is very effective in maintaining proper weight: “breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, and dinner like a pauper.” Unfortunately we have this reversed (people hardly eat breakfast,… and they eat a huge dinner). Sleep early and wake up early. That way you can take a nice huge breakfast (with all the ghee you want without the guilt), and a very light anti-oxidant type of dinner (like fresh fruits, steamed vegetables,…). Do an experiment: try eating a pizza in the morning vs before sleeping for a few days, you’ll definitely see a weight gain in the later.

One of the things I find in Western culinary and diets (even though there is emphasis on eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables; especially green leafy vegetables) is the lack of emphasis on herbs and spices. Spices are loaded with complex micronutrients that science simply can’t fathom to understand the works of. For example: mint, coriander, cilantro, curry leaves, oregano, cumin, anise, fenugreek, turmeric, ginger, black pepper, cinnamon sticks, cardamom. In fact a good amount of the Ayurveda food recipies are some sort of fresh chutneys. But these are all null and void when not prepared properly (like the deep fried or boiling instead of steaming).

Water Element

Water Therapy. It consists of the following regiment, to be done daily:

• Immediately after waking up, after brushing teeth (preferably with natural non-fluoride toothpaste), one should drink 1.8L (approx. 8 cups; for adults) of water in one continuous gulp. One can start with 2 cups and increase to full capacity over a few weeks. Adjust accordingly according to your BMI (Body Mass Index), between 6-8 cups.
• The water should be at room temperature and de-chlorinated, preferably filtered to remove excess salt.
• Do not eat or drink anything for the next 45-60 minutes.

You will notice:

• Frequent urination. Initially the body reacts by requiring to urinate 5-6 times a day (you’ll probably be rushing to the restroom for about 3 times in the first 3 hours), then as the body adjusts to it, it reduces to 3-4 times over the course of the day. That is, the water circulates in your body throughout the day.
• You will experience complete bowl movement within an hour. This is an extremely important aspect of any Ayurvedic treatment: to completely clean/flush your bowls. If not, your intestinal wall gets coated with “aama” which not only prevents absorption of nutrition, but can result in toxicity. Over half of all our body ailments are associated with imbalances caused by aama (whose coating can range from slimy, acidic, hard/encrusted, diseased, etc). If you are not flushing your bowls properly, then that must be your first and foremost goal. The simplest treatment is hydration. One liter of water coursing its way through the tract, in one shot, hydrates and flushes the tract.
• The mind will be much clearer, as the water gets rid of powerful oxidants and other free radicals which latch on to parts of a cell that blocking neuro-receptors and hormones (much in the same way that silver gets tarnished).
• Boosts the immune system. For people who don’t do water therapy, more than 50% of the bodies defenses are distracted by occupying itself in fighting battles around intestine (as when food is not flushed out with clean bowl movement, it putrefies, attracting and breeding all sorts of bacteria; and the toxicity can lead to other diseases).
• Improves complexion and regulates body weight. It is no small coincidence that gymnasts and models are coached to drink plenty of water in order to maintain their figure and complexion.

If water therapy is so beneficial, then how come very few have heard of it? Well, do you think a professor in a university will survive by getting funding from the local municipal water company or from a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry? Yet numerous people in the West who have been using water therapy for ages: athletes, gymnasts, models, etc. That’s why you see them always hydrating themselves, not just for health and fitness, but to keep their weight in shape, skin tone, focus, etc. I’m sure there are studies on water therapy, but its visibility pales in comparison with the pharmaceutical industry. Not to mention, the industry has the means of squelching 9 research papers, and amplifying only the 1 which is in their favor.

Fire Element

Hatha Yoga. Fire represents energy. Every cell in your body is bustling with sparks of energy. For every breath you take, zillions of sparks of life energy encapsulated in oxygen bonds are exchanged between the lungs and the cells. Your whole body is constantly flowing with streams of energy. Not only is yoga exercise important for “burning calories”, it is essential for activating vital energy centers (chakras) and massaging vital organs in your body. The best form of exercise is hatha yoga (or simply “yoga”, as it is known in pop-culture). I just refer you to the Yoga Journal.

Space Element

Meditation. Any form of meditation (raja yoga, bhakti yoga (puja, bhajans,…), transcendental meditation,…) that insulates your mind and withdraws your senses from the barrage of bombardment from the external world. It gives time-out for the brain. Allowing the brain to casually do some house-keeping in the body. It relaxes your entire mind and every organ in your body. Now modern medicine is also “discovering” that the state of mind has direct impact one’s health. Mental stress can greatly amplify and induce any disease (cardiovascular, cholesterol levels, diabetes, cancer, prevent recovery of ailing organs like liver, kidney, etc., prevent success of surgery, etc.). Clinical trials have shown that even the smallest amount of meditation has great benefit.

Don’t leave your bhakti or meditation in your puja room. Try to bring into your life. Have some sort of constant reminder, and focus on it regularly (like before every meal for example). Instead of going temple to temple, bring the temple into your house. That’s another tragedy, people go temple to temple and beg to god for a cure. Begging greatly weakens you. Don’t beg to god, try to elevate yourself to connect with god (or Higher Conscious, The Source, whatever you want to call it). There is no shortage of techniques in India to do that – ranging from meditation to classical spiritual literature, bhakti poetry, bhajans, etc. Whether in a temple or in your room, connect with god like that and activate/engage your space element.

One’s mental state greatly affects the body. If the mind is constantly discontent/agitated (anger, jealousy, envy, insecurity, fear, hatred, short-temper, impulsiveness, craving/wanting for affection, recognition, attention, etc.), it will have damaging effect on the body. One of the purposes of addressing the Space Element is to eliminate this mental agitation, and put the mind in a state of peace (or even state of bliss), without which the healing process itself will hindered/agitated.

Prayer/meditation like any other of the five elements also requires dedication. Be creative and experiment, but be dedicated: fix a time and space (like a fixed area of your room), and do it without fail. By making it into a regiment. Like rubbing an iron with magnet and energizing it, your connection with the Cosmic Consciousness (Krishna, Siva, or Chirst Consciousness whatever you want to call it) will be established more efficiently. The more your mind is God-centered, the more chances you’ll have in effecting any change. See article on Yoga.

The best person to pray/meditate is oneself. If that is not possible (like if the person is bed-ridden, a child, or does not believe in prayer), then the closer the person is (in terms of relationship) to the person who is being prayed for, the more effective. Unless you’ve achieved a level of enlightenment where you see everyone as your own children (like great yogis, sages, reiki masters, etc), it is difficult to deeply connect with the person (in terms of universal compassion/empathy) unless you’ve known the person closely (like a parent and child, husband and wife, siblings, best friends, etc).

Air Element

Pranayama. Proper breathing. Prana is not “air”, but the vital life energy that circulates in and out your body, and within your body. Ayurveda identifies several types of life-energy currents at work in different sections of your body. The one which works throughout your body is prana. By controlling our breath we insure proper circulation of this prana. Many diseases are essentially caused by improper prana circulation, or blockages of this prana. Ayurveda prescribes a certain way of controlling your prana by alternate breathing through your right and left nostrils, retaining, exhaling, and inhaling for certain number of counts. Note that Ayurveda books warn that when this is done wrongly or forcefully it can have negative effects. The safest way of “controlling” your prana would be to just observe your breath as you do pranayama, never force it, do to a level that is natural.

Further Reading

• Ayurveda Secrets of Healing – by Maya Tiwari
• Ayurveda – Healing Hands