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Atman in Ayurveda: Understanding the Self, Mind, and Consciousness

Today, let’s talk about a concept in Ayurveda that is present in everything the system talks about, but not everyone gets into it or knows about it because the whole concept itself is too abstract on the surface. I am talking about Atman, which translates to the self, the soul, or simply the knower. Now, before jumping into what Atman really means, let’s start with something which we are more familiar with in terms of Ayurveda, which is the Manas, the mind. So, mind is essentially the part of you that reacts. It takes in the stimulus and turns it into a response. It distinguishes between likes and dislikes. For example, if something you eat tastes good, you want to eat more of it, and if you experience pain, you pull away. You don’t want to experience it again. This is what the Manas does. However, Atman is something else entirely. It is a part of you that is aware that all of this is happening. It’s not the reaction itself, but it’s the one noticing the reaction. While Manas distinguishes experiences into pain and pleasure, Atman is simply aware of the inside and outside, it is the very awareness of this experience. Here’s a simple way of how I think about it. When you’re feeling unwell, usually the food that you eat every time, or the food that you like, you don’t want to have it and it might even taste unpleasant to you. But nothing about the food has changed. What changed is how it is being received by your body. This shift, the change between you and your mind, is the job of Atman. It is adjusting your experiences based on what is happening inside you. Now, Atman cannot itself be described the way we describe everything else in the body, because it has no color, no shape, no texture. Its presence is not known entirely or directly. But even if you don’t see Atman, you infer it. How differently a person can respond to the same thing, and how something within them prompts them to respond in that particular way. The whole Atman can also be understood through this perspective, from the whole idea of possession, how it naturally comes to us when we talk about our things. When we say, “I am tired,” there is still this strange distinction between the one who is experiencing tiredness and the tiredness itself. This distance implied between someone who possesses and something that is being possessed, is where the idea of Atman comes from. All the parts of your body are what is possessed by you, the person. So, despite any changes or aging or anything, the one that is staying constant is me, my. The idea of the owner is what is Atma. And this whole distinction isn’t just philosophical. There’s a real practical framework of diagnosis around it too. In Ayurveda, illness comes in three severities. One is ordinary, one serious, and one that is heading to a very fatal outcome. And the way you tell these apart isn’t just purely because of external signs, but how clearly the person can experience their own feeling. How clearly can they experience things like their preference, discomfort, desire, how they feel, and if all of this is intact in a coherent way. Because once illness starts to get serious, all of this starts to blur. The person struggles to clearly experience. Memory becomes hazy, and the coordination too falters. And in most serious cases, the patients may not be able to experience anything at all. They might feel numb. They can’t tell you how they feel because the whole response, the whole connection between your Atma, Manas, and the senses has weakened and there’s only basic signs of life that’s left. This is such a different way of thinking about diagnosis compared to how we actually imagine ancient medicine, which is reduced to something that is purely external, physical observation. In Ayurveda, the presence of your mind and the clarity of your awareness itself is one of the most important ways to diagnose what is wrong inside you, and it is sometimes arguably more important than any physical sign. Now, the takeaway from all of this is very simple, despite how abstract Atman sounds. And before even Ayurveda gets into the details of the body, bones, tissues, or organs, it is first establishing that awareness that is present inside every one of us, and everything else is built on top of that basic confirmation. Health is never only about visible, measurable parts of the body. It is always, at its core, something that is changing inside you. And I think this is where Atman becomes much less abstract than it initially sounds. Because when we hear words like soul or self, it can immediately feel like we’re entering a completely philosophical conversation, something very distant from the body and from medicine. But Ayurveda doesn’t really separate these things in the way that we might expect. The person who is experiencing the illness is not just the body that is carrying the illness. There is the body, there are the senses, there is the mind, and there is this awareness that experiences all of it. If ideas like this interest you, you can check out our courses on Charaka Samhita and Ashtanga Hridayam which talk in depth about how Ayurveda understands the self, the mind, and the body as one connected system and much more.

Satva, Rajas and Tamas: The Three Forces Behind How We Think and Act

When we look at something that already exists, we tend to focus on what we can see. To us, in our mind, a book is a book, a building is a building and a person is a person. But let us go a little deeper, what made that thing come into existence in the first place? What happened before we could see the finished form? What allowed an idea to become reality? According to the Ayurvedic understanding of nature, three fundamental qualities are involved in this process: Satva, Rajas and Tamas. These are not substances in the ordinary physical sense. They are the principles that influence how things are conceived, developed, organised and eventually brought into a definite form. They also influence how we think, respond to situations and behave. From an idea to something real Think about something as simple as a printed page. Before the page existed, someone first had an idea. They imagined that information could be communicated through a page. Then came the practical process where the paper had to be selected, its size had to be decided, the text had to be organized and the printing process had to be worked out. Only then could the page actually be produced. This can be understood through the three qualities. Satva is associated with clarity, awareness and the emergence of an idea. Rajas is associated with activity, movement and the effort required to bring that idea into action. Tamas provides stability, limitation and resistance to further alternatives. It allows something to settle into a definite form. All three have a role. An idea without action remains an idea while an action without direction becomes scattered and without some form of limitation or stability, nothing is ever finalised. This principle can be observed everywhere, from something as simple as making a page to something as complex as the development of a living being. Satva, Rajas and Tamas in the mind Ayurveda extends this idea beyond the physical world and applies it to Manas, or the mind. Every person has Satva, Rajas and Tamas in relative dominance. This explains us why two people can experience exactly the same situation but respond to it completely differently. This is where understanding the predominance of Satva, Rajas and Tamas becomes important. The Satva-dominant mind A person in whom Satva is more prominent tends to be curious, observant and interested in understanding things. They want to know why something happened. If they fall ill, they may want to understand the cause, the relationship between their habits and their symptoms, and what they can do to improve their situation. They may also be better able to remain composed during difficult circumstances. Instead of immediately reacting, they tend to step back, understand what is happening and work towards a solution. This does not mean that a Satva-dominant person does not experience pain, fear or distress. Rather, their ability to understand and process the situation can influence how they respond to it. The Rajas-dominant mind Rajas is associated with movement, activity and constant engagement. A Rajas-dominant person may be more expressive about both pleasure and discomfort. They may actively seek experiences, stimulation and reassurance. If something happens to them, they may not necessarily be interested in understanding the deeper cause immediately. What they often need first is clear guidance and reassurance. Once they feel confident about the course of action, they may be able to move forward. Their mind is active and constantly responding to what is happening around them. The Tamas-dominant mind Tamas is associated with resistance, confusion and difficulty in moving forward. A Tamas-dominant person may struggle to understand or accept what is happening around them. When they are facing a difficult situation, fear and apprehension may become stronger. They may repeatedly question advice, seek opinions from several people and still find it difficult to make a decision. Even with the outcome seeming clear, they may find it difficult to take a first step. This is also why the same advice might not help every person, as they might not react to it in a similar way. Why this matters in Ayurveda For Ayurveda, treating a person is not limited to identifying physical symptoms. The way a person perceives, expresses and responds to those symptoms also matters. Let us take an example, someone may experience severe pain but barely express it while there is another person who may express relatively mild pain very dramatically. Someone else may not even understand that their symptoms require attention. Now, the individual’s mental state might affect the way they communicate or show signs to understand about their condition. If a practitioner judges the severity of a condition only by outward expression, there is a possibility of misunderstanding the situation. Ayurveda’s understanding of Satva, Rajas and Tamas also highlights something that is often overlooked in modern conversations about health. Two people can have similar physical circumstances but very different experiences of illness. Our perception, emotional response, understanding and behaviour can influence how we deal with what is happening to us. This does not mean that mental qualities magically determine whether someone will recover. Nor does it mean that a person’s illness is simply a result of their mindset. Rather, the Ayurvedic framework recognises that the mind is part of the individual’s overall experience and therefore deserves attention during care. Three qualities, one constantly changing mind Satva, Rajas and Tamas should not be understood as three permanent personality categories. They are present in everyone, in different proportions, and can change depending on circumstances. A person may be calm and thoughtful in one situation, highly restless in another and completely withdrawn in a third. The important… Continue reading Satva, Rajas and Tamas: The Three Forces Behind How We Think and Act

What Your Body Is Telling You Before You Ask It

There’s actually a lot we can tell about a person without asking them a single question. If they are not feeling well, you can notice the way they look unusually pale, or that their voice sounds different, weaker than usual. Their eyes may look different, their skin may look dry, their lips may look chapped, or maybe they might just look exhausted. These are just some observations. Ayurveda actually has an entire section in the Charaka Samhita talking about this kind of observation called Indriya Sthana. The very first chapter is called Varṇasvarīyam Indriyam where Charaka describes how a physician should pay attention to changes in a person’s complexion, voice, and other signs when assessing an illness or the severity of a disease. Because Ayurveda doesn’t look at the simple question of what disease this person is actually having. It instead goes a little deeper into asking what the body is telling us about the illness. It is actually our body that gives out the first signs of illness before it becomes something more obvious. Disease isn’t always the beginning of the story. It is ultimately important to keep in check the signs that our body is giving away, always. यच्चान्यदपि किंचिद्वर्णवैकृतमभूतपूर्वं सहसोत्पद्येतानिमित्तमेव हीयमानस्यातुरस्य शश्वत्, तदरिष्टमिति विद्यात्। An abnormal change that was not present before, appears suddenly, and occurs in someone whose condition is already declining. Such a change, Charaka says, should be recognized as an ariṣṭa, an ominous prognostic sign. Now, one of the most important ideas in the chapter is the distinction between Prakriti and Vikriti. Prakriti refers to a person’s natural state, while Vikriti refers to the deviation from that state. A person’s appearance may naturally vary depending upon their constitution, age, environment, and other individual characteristics. So we can’t just vaguely determine that one particular complexion may be healthy or unhealthy. We need to look a little deeper. Charaka’s list of things to examine is very extensive. He not just mentions the complexion and voice, but also the smell, taste, touch, eyes, ears, nose, the mental state, and many more. The list goes on. In fact, Charaka tells us that a person should be observed as a whole, because a single unusual sign doesn’t entirely tell the entire story. A temporary change with an obvious explanation is different from a sudden change that appears without apparent reason in someone whose condition may already be deteriorating. So generally, the whole idea is that observation becomes meaningful when it is placed in context. The entire emphasis here is on the change that you witness within your body. And I think this is where this idea becomes useful even outside the context of an Ayurvedic physician examining a patient. Because most of us don’t necessarily pay attention to our own bodies or the signs they are giving out. We know how we feel ultimately, whether our face is looking normal when we wake up, or if our skin is feeling as usual. We know our baseline. But when you wake up feeling different we brush it off as, “Maybe I have not rested well.” But you need to understand that the baseline is important. Because if you suddenly feel unusually tired for several days, or maybe your appetite has changed, or there are other signs your body that are trying to tell you, then I think this is where we need to stop looking and start observing what is wrong. Because from an Ayurvedic point of view, disease is never something that simply comes overnight. Long before it becomes serious, your body is already trying to protest against it through different signs. None of those signs individually might feel like a big deal. And that is exactly why they get ignored. But when you look at the whole picture, these small signs can slowly lead up to something more serious. Disease isn’t the starting point, it is actually much closer to the end of the story that your body has already been trying to tell you for a while now. We are often quick to notice when there is something wrong with our phones, our cars, or our laptops. We notice that the battery is draining faster than usual, or the screen is running slow, or the phone is lagging a bit. But when it comes to our bodies, we often ignore the same signs. And maybe it is because our lifestyle has changed. We sleep less, work more, eat at odd hours, and keep pushing ourselves through the day. We think our body is adaptable, but it isn’t. Your body is constantly giving you information. The question is whether you are paying enough attention to notice it. You don’t have to become an expert at interpreting every single sign. You just need to know what your normal looks and feels like, so you can recognize when something starts to change. If you want to understand your body a little more deeply, you can explore our courses on the Charaka Samhita and Ashtanga Hridayam, and learn how these texts approach the body, health, and the signs it gives us.

Samanya and Vishesha: The Ayurvedic Principle of Balance

Think of this situation, you probably find it familiar. You come home tired, and instead of hitting the gym or going for a walk, all you want to do is sleep. So, you lie down but when you get up instead of feeling refreshed, you feel even more tired. There might also be days when you feel jittery and restless instead. So, you go for a walk or hit the gym hoping it will help. But rather than feeling energised, you end up feeling even more wired than when you started. You must have noticed that nobody has really taught us this. We just vaguely assume that rest will fix our tiredness, or movement will fix our restlessness, without actually stopping to think about whether they really do. Interestingly, Ayurveda has actually talked about this phenomenon. The Charaka Samhita has a verse that describes this very pattern. सामान्यमेकत्वकरं, विशेषस्तु पृथक्त्वकृत् । तुल्यार्थता हि सामान्यं, विशेषस्तु विपर्ययः ॥ It can be roughly translated to Samanya brings things together, Vishesha pulls them apart. Samanya is sameness of quality; Vishesha is its opposite. This verse introduces us to two words. One is samanya, which means sameness or similarity. The other is vishesha, which means difference or distinction. And the principle the text is pointing towards is that things that are similar to each other tend to increase each other, while things that are opposite to each other tend to reduce each other. It’s almost like fields, where one thing can either reinforce what is already there or counter it. Rest is slow. So, if you are already feeling heavy and slow, more rest isn’t necessarily going to rebalance you. It only reinforces that feeling of heaviness and sluggishness. On the other hand, restlessness is hot and fast. So, if you respond to that feeling with more movement, you might end up feeling even more hot and wired rather than actually calming the restlessness. You’re reinforcing the qualities that are already present. Now that we think about it, it sounds obvious. But we rarely think about our own habits in these terms. This principle can also be applied to the food we consume and our body’s internal balances, what Ayurveda calls the doshas. It’s quite simple. Whatever quality is already present in excess, you don’t add more of it. You reach for its opposite instead. On a cold day, for example, if you’re already feeling stiff, dry and cold you naturally want to add some warmth. Similarly, if you’re feeling sluggish or heavy after a meal, you probably don’t want to eat something even heavier, right? You want something lighter. In fact, the very first chapter of the Charaka Samhita, called Dirghanjivitiya, which is about the desire for long life, talks about exactly which tastes can calm which imbalances. It goes through all six rasas, or tastes, and explains their qualities and what can be used to pacify different states. Take Vata, for example. Vata is dry and is associated with movement. So, it is calmed by substances with opposite qualities. If you’re feeling dry and cold, if you’re in a Vata state, you would reach for sweet, sour and salty tastes because these carry qualities of moisture, warmth and weight. Or if you feel like your Pitta is rising, you’re overheated or you’re feeling short-tempered, bitter and sweet tastes can help cool things down. And this is important: none of the six tastes are universally good or universally bad. It’s not that sweet is unhealthy and bitter is healthy. Each taste has its place whether it is helpful or unhelpful depends entirely on the state it is meeting. There is no fixed list where cold foods are always bad or sweet foods are always bad. It depends entirely on the person, the place, the timing, and the state of the body, not just the substance itself. This is one of the core ideas of Ayurveda. It is individualistic. The same food or medicine can be helpful for one person but not for another. If you must have also noticed, even for the same person, something that suits them one day may not suit them on another day. It depends on what qualities they are already carrying in excess at that particular time. Ayurveda says that even a well-known poison, used with the right knowledge, at the right dose, for the right person, can become the best possible medicine. And a substance that’s technically medicine, used without that understanding, can do as much damage as poison. The substance alone is never the whole story. You have to look at what you’re giving, who you’re giving it to, why you’re giving it, how much you’re giving, and under what circumstances. And this brings us back to samanya and vishesha. Because the real question isn’t simply, “Is this food good?” Ayurveda’s answer is rarely just about the thing itself. It is about the relationship between the thing and the person receiving it. If this way of looking at Ayurveda interests you, you might enjoy our courses on the Charaka Samhita and Ashtanga Hridayam, where we go deeper into the texts and the ideas behind them. Sometimes, going back to the original texts can change the way you understand Ayurveda, and even the way you look at your own life.

Your Moods Have a Pattern Too, Here’s What Ayurveda Says

Ever had one of those days where you feel completely calm and clear-headed, like nothing can shake you? And then there are days where you feel restless, edgy, almost itching to argue with someone over nothing? And then, of course, there are the days where you don’t want to do anything at all. Not work, not talk, not even get off the couch. If you’ve felt all three of these at different points in your life, you already understand the Trigunas, even if you’ve never heard the word before. We talk a lot about Doshas when it comes to Ayurveda, Vata, Pitta, Kapha. But those three govern the body. What most people don’t know is that Ayurveda had a separate set of three for the mind. These are called the Trigunas: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. And honestly, I think this is one of the more underrated ideas in the whole system. Let’s break it down simply. Sattva is that calm, clear state of mind. Sharp focus, a settled heart, the kind of headspace where good decisions just come naturally. Rajas is the restless one, driven, ambitious, a little impatient, always chasing the next thing. Tamas is the heavy one, sluggish, foggy, the mental version of hitting snooze five times in a row. Here’s the part I find genuinely interesting. Ayurveda didn’t treat these as personality types you’re stuck with. Unlike your Dosha, which is largely fixed from birth, your Guna shifts, sometimes within the same day. You could wake up Sattvic, turn Rajasic by 3pm after back-to-back meetings, and end the night fully Tamasic on the couch, scrolling your phone with zero motivation to move. Same person, three different mental states, all in twelve hours. That alone tells you something important. Ayurveda wasn’t describing who you are, it was describing where your mind happens to be, right now. And that’s a much more useful way to think about your own moods, isn’t it? We tend to label ourselves. “I’m just a lazy person.” “I’m always anxious.” “I’m just wired this way.” Ayurveda would gently push back on that. It would say, you’re not permanently anything. This is honestly a bit of a relief when you sit with it. Ayurveda also didn’t leave you to just observe your Guna. It gave you actual levers to pull. Food, for one. Ever notice how a heavy, greasy meal makes you want to do absolutely nothing afterward? That’s Tamas showing up through your plate. Ayurveda classified food the same way it classified minds: Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic, and it genuinely believed what you eat nudges your mental state, not just your waistline. Sleep, company, the media you consume, even the pace of your day. Ayurveda considered all of it capable of tilting you toward one Guna or another. This is where it gets a little uncomfortable, in a good way. Because it means your 2am doom-scrolling isn’t just a habit. It’s actively feeding a Tamasic state. And that overpacked schedule you’re proud of might be keeping you stuck in Rajas far more than you realise, wired, busy, but never actually at peace. Ayurveda wasn’t saying Rajas or Tamas are bad, by the way. You need Rajas to get out of bed and get things done. You need a bit of Tamas to actually rest. The goal was never to eliminate them. It was to notice which one you’re leaning on too heavily, and gently steer yourself back toward Sattva, the state Ayurveda considered closest to genuine wellbeing. So why doesn’t this concept come up as often as Doshas do? I think it’s because Doshas feel more “medical.” They explain digestion, body type, physical symptoms, things that are easy to point to. Gunas are quieter. They live in your mood, your focus, your patience, things we’re used to blaming on stress or personality instead of actually examining. But if you ask me, understanding your Guna day to day might be more useful than knowing your Dosha. Because most of us aren’t struggling with our body type. We’re struggling with why we feel foggy, restless or completely unmotivated, and not knowing there was ever a name for it, or a way back to balance. If ideas like this interest you, our guided courses on Charaka Samhita and Ashtanga Hridayam explore concepts like the Trigunas straight from the original texts.

Ayurveda Named the Reason We Keep Doing Things We Know Are Bad For Us

Have you ever eaten an extra serving despite being full? Have you ever stayed up scrolling through your phone and lost track of time? Have you ever decided to be a little lazy and skip your workout? Admit it, we’ve all at least done any one of these once in our lives. And here’s the thing, none of us do this because we don’t know better. We know exactly what we’re doing. We just do it anyway. Ayurveda had a word for this, thousands of years before behavioural science made a whole field out of it. It’s called Pragyaparadha. And according to Ayurveda, this one idea sits behind almost every disease we end up bringing on ourselves. The word comes from two Sanskrit roots. Pragya, meaning wisdom or intellect. Aparadha, meaning offence or crime. Put the two together and Pragyaparadha literally means an offence against wisdom. Not a lack of wisdom but an offence against it. That difference matters a lot. Ayurveda wasn’t talking about ignorance here, it was talking about something far more familiar and honestly, a little harder to admit to. Knowing exactly what’s good for you, and choosing the opposite anyway. Ayurvedic texts describe Pragyaparadha as actions of the body, mind or speech, done despite knowing better. Eating something you already know doesn’t suit you. Brushing off clear signs that you’re exhausted. Saying something in anger that you know you’ll regret the second it leaves your mouth. None of this needs ignorance. It just needs one moment where awareness loses to impulse. Ayurveda believed that this pattern, repeated enough times, becomes one of the root causes of disease itself. This is a very different starting point from how most of us think about getting sick. When something goes wrong with our health, we usually look outward first. We look for the virus, the deficiency, the bad gene, the environmental trigger, the food we ate, or sometimes, simply, bad luck. And of course, these things matter. Ayurveda never claimed that everything that happens to the body is a consequence of personal choices. But it also asked us to look somewhere else, somewhere most of us are much less comfortable looking: at the small, repeated choices we make against our own better judgement. Because sometimes, we already know. We know we are tired, but we stay up anyway. We know we are full, but we take another serving because it tastes good. We know that certain foods leave us feeling terrible, yet somehow, they keep finding their way back onto our plates. We know we need to move, rest, slow down, or stop stressing about something, and still find ourselves doing the exact opposite. We think subconsciously that stayiny up one late night is not going to affect our health, one indulgent meal is not going to make us sick. But we forget that we keep repeating these things quietly, so much so that you’ll realise it stopped becoming a choice and started becoming a pattern. The doshas getting disturbed again and again by the same habits. The body constantly having to compensate for the same disruptions. Small imbalances being ignored because they are still small enough to live with. Until, eventually, the body cannot keep correcting itself quite as easily as it once did, and disease gets the room it needs to take hold. And honestly, this sounds a lot like something we are already talking about today. There is an entire area of behavioural science concerned with the distance between what we know and what we actually do. It is often described as the knowledge-behaviour gap, and you do not need a psychology degree to recognise it in your own life. We are not exactly short on information. And yet, somehow, knowing all of this does not guarantee that we will act on it. We can have all the information in the world and still find ourselves repeating the same habits we promised ourselves we were going to change. And this is where I think the concept gets particularly interesting, because Pragyaparadha is not really about not knowing better. It is about knowing better and then, for whatever reason, choosing otherwise. There is something almost painfully human about that. And here is what I particularly like about the Ayurvedic approach to this. It does not seem interested in turning that observation into another reason for us to feel terrible about ourselves. There is already enough guilt attached to health. Every day, we are given another reason to feel like we are failing at taking care of ourselves. Pragyaparadha gives us a slightly different way of looking at the problem. Instead of asking, What is wrong with me that I keep doing this?, perhaps the more useful question is, Why did I act against what I already knew? That question takes us somewhere much more interesting. Ayurveda places importance on cultivating Sattva, a state associated with clarity, steadiness and a balanced mind. The answer, therefore, was not simply to keep collecting more knowledge. It was to develop the mental clarity required to actually live according to the knowledge you already have. Because there is a huge difference between knowing something and being able to act on it. And this is also why practices like Dinacharya, the Ayurvedic approach to daily routine, make more sense when viewed through this lens. They were not simply a collection of rituals designed to give you another checklist to complete every morning. At their best, routines create regularity, and regularity gives you the opportunity to notice yourself. You start noticing when you are actually hungry instead of eating because the clock says it is lunchtime. You notice when your sleep is beginning to deteriorate. You notice when your digestion feels different, when your energy is lower than usual, when… Continue reading Ayurveda Named the Reason We Keep Doing Things We Know Are Bad For Us

5 Ways Ayurveda Understands Food and Digestion

Most of us consider food in terms of calories, protein, carbs, or whatever the latest diet trend tells us we should be eating. Ayurveda looks at food a little differently. Food is not just fuel in Ayurveda. It can affect digestion, energy levels, mood and general well-being. Ayurveda asks not just, “How much should I eat?” but “What am I eating? When am I eating it? And is it right for me?” And to understand this way of looking at food, we first need to understand how it describes food and its effects on the body. Here are five ways Ayurveda understands food, digestion and eating. Food Is Understood Through Six Tastes, Not Just Flavour In Ayurveda, taste is not only a matter of enjoyment, but is seen as a direct indication of the effect a food has on the body. The shad rasa, or six tastes, are mentioned in the classical texts: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. Every taste has its effects and qualities. Sweet foods for example have traditionally been seen as building and nourishing. Bitter foods are considered to be lightening and detoxifying. Pungent foods are supposed to stimulate digestion. It is not that any one taste is inherently ‘good’ or ‘bad’, a well-balanced meal or diet should ideally include a variety of tastes, since each one plays a different role in the body’s response to food. Digestion Is Treated as the Centre of Health One of the most fundamental principles of nutrition in Ayurveda is the concept of Agni, or digestive fire. Agni refers to the body’s capacity to process and transform what we take in, not just food, but also experiences and emotions. Even the most nutritious diet cannot be considered useful if the body cannot process it well. That is why it is equally important to pay attention not just to what we eat, but also to our ability to digest it. How do we measure that? Your body is always giving you signals. If you feel sluggish or bloated after having a heavy meal then it might be a sign of slow digestion. If your meals leave you with acidity, and you feel hungry very often, these may be signs that your digestion is not functioning optimally. That is why, Ayurveda emphasizes heavily on eating at regular times, being mindful when eating and avoiding overeating. Food Is Classified by Its Effect on the Body, Not Just Its Content In Ayurveda, food is not understood only by what it contains like the carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins or minerals. It is also understood through its qualities and the way it affects the body after we eat it. Foods are described as heavy or light, hot or cold, dry or oily, among other qualities. These qualities help us understand how a particular food may influence digestion and the body. For example, some foods may be nutritious but still feel heavy or difficult to digest. This is why Ayurveda pays attention not just to the food itself, but also to how it is prepared, what it is combined with, and how it is eaten. Cooking, using spices and choosing the right combinations are not simply about making food more flavourful but are also considered ways of making food easier for the body to digest and use. So, in Ayurveda, eating healthy is not only about choosing the food with the best nutritional profile. It is also about understanding how that food interacts with your body. Seasons and Individual Constitution Shape What “Balanced” Means Ayurveda does not believe that there is one perfect diet that works for everyone. It looks at each person differently through the concept of the three doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. These are understood as different combinations of qualities that influence how our body and mind function. This is why the same food may not affect everyone in exactly the same way. What feels light and comfortable for one person may feel heavy or unsuitable for another. Ayurveda also considers the season and environment when deciding what is appropriate to eat. Our needs can change with shifts in weather, temperature and routine. For example, the foods and habits that may feel appropriate during a hot summer can be very different from what suits the body during a cold or dry season. So, Ayurvedic nutrition is not about following a fixed list of “good” and “bad” foods. It is about understanding what your body needs at a particular time and in a particular situation. Food and Lifestyle Are Never Completely Separate Ayurveda does not look at food as something separate from the rest of our daily life. Sleep, stress, exercise, daily routine and even the time at which we eat can influence how our body handles food. Think about eating the same meal on two different days. One day, you may sit down calmly and eat without distractions. On another day, you may eat the same meal while rushing, working or feeling stressed. The food may be the same, but the way you experience the meal can be very different. This is why Ayurveda places importance not only on what we eat, but also on how, when and in what state we eat it. The idea is simple. Food is one part of our health, but our daily habits, routines and environment play a role too. Whether you’re simply curious about Ayurveda or want to study it seriously, understanding the classical texts is the best place to begin. You can check out my courses on Charaka Samhita and Ashtanga Hridayam and start learning Ayurveda beyond social media and simplified wellness advice.

Why Most Ayurvedic Doctors Never Practice Outside India, and Why That Needs to Change

Ayurveda has one of the largest trained healthcare workforces in the world. Yet very few Ayurvedic doctors ever practice outside India. The problem isn’t a lack of talent. It’s a lack of global recognition. When people talk about taking Ayurveda to a global audience, the conversation often revolves around awareness. International interest has largely focused on wellness and herbal products. But they overlook a much bigger challenge. If qualified Ayurvedic doctors cannot easily practice outside India, how can Ayurveda truly become a global healthcare system? The answer lies in something far less exciting than marketing. It lies in regulation, recognition, and infrastructure. India Has Thousands of Qualified Ayurvedic Doctors India has built an impressive educational system for Ayurveda. According to government data, the country has more than 379,000 registered Ayurveda practitioners and over 750,000 registered AYUSH professionals overall. These aren’t hobbyists or wellness influencers. Most Ayurveda physicians complete the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS), a government-regulated medical degree that takes five and a half years to complete. Their education includes subjects such as anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, diagnostics, surgery, gynecology, ENT, ophthalmology, and clinical training, alongside classical Ayurvedic principles. In other words, these are highly trained healthcare professionals. Yet despite having such a large workforce, very few ever practice outside India. Inside India, a BAMS degree is a recognized medical qualification regulated by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine. Outside India, the situation changes dramatically. In many countries, the degree has little or no official recognition. A BAMS-qualified physician moving to countries such as the United States cannot simply continue practicing as a doctor. Instead, they often have to register through voluntary professional associations that do not grant medical licenses, prescribing rights, or hospital privileges. This creates an unfortunate situation. A physician who spent more than five years completing formal medical education may appear no different, from a legal standpoint, than someone who completed a short certification course in Ayurveda. For patients, employers, and healthcare regulators overseas, distinguishing between the two becomes difficult. Recognition Builds Trust Healthcare systems rely on trust. That trust comes from clear educational standards, licensing systems, and professional regulation. When hospitals hire doctors or governments approve healthcare providers, they need reliable ways to verify qualifications. This is where Ayurveda faces an important challenge. There is currently no widely recognized international system that allows foreign regulators to quickly verify whether someone has completed an accredited BAMS program. As a result, every country has to assess qualifications independently. Many simply choose not to create formal licensing pathways for Ayurvedic practitioners at all. Without a straightforward verification process, expanding professional recognition becomes much more difficult. Traditional Chinese Medicine Took a Different Approach Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers an interesting comparison. China invested heavily in creating international systems that support its practitioners. Government-backed TCM centers operate in numerous countries through official partnerships. Training standards are clearly defined. Foreign governments have established mechanisms to recognize qualified practitioners. This doesn’t necessarily mean TCM has better practitioners. It means the profession has stronger international infrastructure supporting those practitioners. That infrastructure makes global mobility possible. Why Credentials Matter As Ayurveda grows in popularity around the world, more people are offering Ayurvedic consultations, wellness coaching, and lifestyle advice. Some are formally trained physicians. Others have completed shorter courses or self-directed study. For the average patient, it can be extremely difficult to tell the difference. That creates confusion. It also affects the credibility of the profession as a whole. When inaccurate information is shared publicly by someone presenting themselves as an Ayurveda expert, the reputation of qualified practitioners is often affected as well. Without internationally recognized credentials, patients have no easy way to identify who has completed years of medical education and who has not. Ayurveda Needs Better Global Infrastructure The challenge isn’t producing skilled practitioners. India has already done that. The challenge is building systems that allow those practitioners to be recognized internationally. Several important steps could help move Ayurveda in that direction. A globally accessible registry of accredited BAMS graduates would allow patients, hospitals, employers, and healthcare regulators to verify qualifications with confidence. Mutual recognition agreements between governments could make it easier for qualified Ayurvedic physicians to practice in countries where there is growing demand. Clear international credentialing standards would also help distinguish fully trained doctors from wellness practitioners with shorter certifications, creating greater transparency for patients. India could continue working with international organizations such as the World Health Organization to develop consistent benchmarks for Ayurvedic education and professional practice. Government-supported clinical partnerships overseas could further strengthen the profession by allowing experienced Ayurvedic physicians to work within recognized healthcare institutions abroad. None of these ideas are unprecedented. Many healthcare professions already use similar systems to support international mobility and recognition. The Future of Ayurveda Depends on Its Practitioners Ayurveda’s global future isn’t limited by a lack of knowledge or skilled professionals. India already has hundreds of thousands of qualified Ayurvedic doctors who have undergone years of structured education and clinical training. The real challenge is ensuring that the rest of the world can recognize those qualifications with confidence. When patients can easily verify a practitioner’s credentials, when healthcare systems understand what a BAMS degree represents, and when governments create clear pathways for qualified physicians to practice internationally, Ayurveda will have a much stronger foundation for global growth. The medicine has always been ready. Now it’s time to build the systems that allow the people practicing it to be recognized around the world.

Why Ayurveda Needs Evidence, Not Excuses!

Some people believe asking Ayurveda for evidence is disrespectful. I disagree. Evidence does not weaken Ayurveda. It protects Ayurveda. It separates real practice from misinformation. It helps the world understand what our teachers preserved for centuries. The Question of Evidence Like any other traditional system of medicine, Ayurveda has also faced this criticism and scrutiny over the question of evidence. As modern healthcare has become increasingly evidence driven, Ayurveda has often been judged against standards developed for the biomedical framework. This has led many people to dismiss it as unscientific, not because of a lack of knowledge, but because the knowledge has been traditionally generated, preserved, and communicated in a different way from the standards of modern medicine. To understand this, we need to look at how Ayurvedic knowledge has evolved. For centuries, Ayurveda was taught through the gurukula system, where learning was transferred from the guru to the disciple. Students did not simply memorize texts. They observed patients alongside their teachers. Most of the knowledge was practical rather than purely theoretical, and knowledge was often refined through observation and experience. Ayurveda therefore had its own framework for validating knowledge. It relied on its own set of parameters. What it did not develop was the kind of biomedical research framework that has formed the foundation of modern healthcare today, and this is important. Ayurveda is one of the world’s most extensively documented traditional medical systems. Classical texts like the Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, and Ashtanga Hridayam have preserved its principles for centuries. However, while the core philosophy and knowledge have been documented, clinical practice was never recorded in the systematic manner expected today. Individual case studies, long-term treatment outcomes, and standardized datasets are all part of modern clinical culture. Where the Gap Actually Comes From As a result, this historical gap explains why Ayurveda has entered the modern scientific era with a wealth of classical wisdom but comparatively limited research documentation. In recent decades, significant efforts have been made to bridge this gap. Institutions working under the AYUSH framework have invested in research on Ayurvedic formulations, therapies, and clinical practices. This brings us to another challenge. Much of this research has been expected to conform to the language and methodology of biomedical science, including its full set of protocols. These are valuable tools, but they were never part of the traditional system of Ayurveda. Presenting Ayurveda through this different scientific language is not just a challenge; it can lead to gaps in both evidence and translation. Hence, to address this gap, significant efforts are being made. Addressing The Gap In May 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025 to 2034, a ten-year roadmap built specifically to strengthen the evidence base for traditional medicine systems including Ayurveda. India’s Ministry of Ayush has signed a three-million-dollar agreement with WHO to bring Ayurveda into the International Classification of Health Interventions, the same global data framework biomedicine uses to track treatment outcomes worldwide. WHO is also building a Traditional Medicine Global Library, already holding over 1.5 million records of evidence maps, clinical journals, and policy documents. None of this happens for a system that has nothing to prove. It happens because global health authorities have recognized that Ayurveda’s outcomes are real and worth documenting properly. The medicine was never the problem. The documentation was. And documentation is not a threat to Ayurveda. It is its greatest opportunity. Evidence does not exist to replace classical knowledge. It exists to preserve it, strengthen it, and make it accessible to a healthcare system that increasingly relies on measurable outcomes. If Ayurveda is to serve future generations across the world, its principles must be communicated in a language that researchers, physicians, policymakers, and patients can understand. Authentic knowledge should never be afraid of scrutiny. If a treatment consistently produces positive outcomes, documenting those outcomes only strengthens confidence in that practice. At the same time, we must also recognise that not every aspect of Ayurveda fits neatly into conventional biomedical research models. Ayurveda is fundamentally personalised. Two patients with the same diagnosis may receive different treatment plans because their constitution, digestive capacity, lifestyle, stage of disease, and overall health are different. Standardised clinical trial designs often attempt to minimise variation between patients, whereas Ayurveda intentionally incorporates individual variation into treatment decisions. This means Ayurveda deserves research methods that respect the complexity of whole-system, personalised care rather than forcing every principle into a framework originally designed for modern healthcare standards. The goal should never be to make Ayurveda imitate modern medicine. The goal should be to develop rigorous methods that can evaluate Ayurveda on its own principles while maintaining the scientific standards expected in global healthcare. This is where the future lies. After treating thousands of patients across the world, one thing has become clear to me. I do not see evidence and tradition as competitors. I see them as two generations of the same commitment: the commitment to helping the person in front of you and being honest about what works. Our teachers built Ayurveda on direct observation of patients over centuries. Evidence based research is simply the modern language for continuing that same observation, at a scale and rigor our teachers never had access to. The future of Ayurveda needs both. The wisdom of our ancient texts. And the language of modern validation. One without the other is incomplete.

The Future Doctor Will Not Just Treat Disease

For a long time, healthcare has always been about this one question: How do we treat disease? It learned to spot symptoms and diagnose problems. That is how it worked. But today, a new question has emerged because of the lifestyle changes people have experienced over the past 50 years due to technological advancement. That question is: How do we keep ourselves healthy and prevent disease from developing? The focus is no longer on waiting for a diagnosis or for disease to strike. It is about asking how we can keep a person well in the first place so they don’t get a disease. This big shift has changed the healthcare industry. And Ayurveda, from the start, has always been about preventive care rather than treating disease. This also changes how we look at the role of a doctor. A doctor is not only someone who steps in when something goes wrong. A doctor also helps a person understand what is happening inside the body long before disease develops. Looking Beyond Symptoms Symptoms are important. They tell us that something needs attention. Modern medicine has made remarkable progress in diagnosing and treating diseases. But Ayurveda looks at another part of the picture. It asks what may have disturbed the body’s natural balance before those symptoms appeared. Was it irregular eating? Poor sleep? Too much stress? A lack of movement? Or was it a combination of small daily habits that slowly added up over time? Understanding these patterns helps us understand the person, not just the disease. Disease does not appear overnight One of the most important ideas in Ayurveda is that disease rarely appears all at once. The body usually gives small signals before a larger problem develops. They are often easy to ignore because they do not stop us from carrying on with our day. It may begin with poor digestion after meals. It may be feeling tired even after a full night’s sleep. Some people notice changes in their appetite. On their own, these may not seem like major concerns. Most people learn to live with them. They become part of the daily routine. Health Is Built Every Day Most of our health is shaped by the choices we repeat every day. The time we wake up. The food we eat. How well we digest it. How much we rest. How we respond to stress. These may seem like small things, but together they influence how the body functions over time. What Prevention Is Not About Sometimes people think preventive care means never getting sick. That is not realistic. Anyone can fall ill despite taking good care of themselves. Prevention is about giving the body the best possible support so it can function well. It is about recognising small changes early and making simple corrections before they become bigger concerns. It is a practical way of caring for health. Why This Matters More Than Ever The reason this feels urgent right now is not a coincidence. Lifestyles have changed dramatically over the past few decades. Sleep schedules have become irregular. Food is more processed than it used to be. Screens keep people sitting still for most of the day. Stress has become a constant. These changes did not happen suddenly. They built up slowly, year after year, the same way disease often builds up slowly in the body. This is exactly why the question of prevention matters so much today. The conditions that create imbalance are far more common today than they once were, which means the need to understand those patterns is more important now too. The Future Doctor If this shift continues, and there is every sign that it will, the doctor of the future will look a little different. That doctor will still treat disease well. That part of the job does not go away. But that doctor will also sit with deeper questions regularly. Why did this imbalance begin? What daily pattern led here? What small change can prevent it from happening again? Ayurveda has trained doctors to think this way for a very long time. As modern medicine slowly moves toward prevention, it is really just walking a path Ayurveda walked long before it. This is not Ayurveda changing to catch up with medicine. It is medicine finding its way back to a question Ayurveda never stopped asking. If this got you thinking about your own health, your daily habits, or why your body responds the way it does, our Charaka Samhita and Ashtanga Hridayam courses are a great place to start. They take you back to the foundations of Ayurveda, helping you understand its principles directly from the classical texts and how they can be applied to everyday health.