Balancing Your Yoga Practice with the Embodied Wisdom of Ayurveda
Ayurveda is the sister science of Yoga. Ayurveda and Yoga define one's life in a similar way— as the conjunction of mind, body, and spirit. These two sister sciences are inextricably woven together, and inherently connected.
As I first began studying Yoga in 1993, I learned many dietary and lifestyle practices that I thought were Yogic, but in fact they were from the vast healing tradition of Ayurvedic medicine, folded into our practice and teaching of Yoga. Later, as I began studying Ayurveda, I saw that Yoga was a complimentary aspect to the enormous scope of healing modalities within Ayurvedic medicine and that the Yoga practice should ideally balance one's true nature.
Yoga asana, pranayama, and meditation techniques may be prescribed to help remedy any number of ailments (mental, physical, or spiritual) that contribute to the student's suffering. Yoga can be taught in an individualized and customized way for the student’s Ayurvedic constitution (“prakruti”) and current imbalance (“vikruti”). In this way, the two paths which lead to the same goal, are far more powerful together.
Balancing Your Yoga Practice with the Embodied Wisdom of Ayurveda
by Melissa Spamer