Intro to Ayurveda extra #1

Here is the text more or less to the video. The videos have more information but this text can help you guide and understand easier. 

Blessings, 

Leo Cordero

Ayurveda Intro

Ok, now let’s get into the Science of Life, Ayurveda.  

Some say Ayurveda is around 5 thousand years old some say is around 10 thousand years old.

Let’s consider this: it is said in certain circles that Ayurveda could be older than 10 thousand years.  It is information that was not recorded anywhere, because anywhere it would be recorded it could be destroyed for that purpose it was passed from the teacher to the student, person to person, with much dedication, respect, and participation.  It even had lineages of doctors and we could call them shamans of Ayurveda.

The people studying and developing this Science were sages or saintly people.  Deeply connected with nature over the course of their lives.

Now imagine this, one of these deeply connected persons in alignment with nature and its natural rhythms organically downloads this sacred information. Then they dwell over the course of their lives on the expansion and understanding of this download and then they pass it on to a student that could be a family member, daughter, son, or partner.  Then they do the same, they ruminate on that information, but since they were different people, it is said in Ayurveda that each practitioner or physician or doctor brings a new vision of the Ancestral Science, then what was learned before and passed from that teacher to the student, was expanded with newer fresher ideas and so on.  

Now imagine something else.  This happened over the last 10 thousand years and with millions and millions of people.  From generation to generation, from cultures to cultures, from tribes to tribes, from families to families.  

Then we get to the time in which it started to be recorded which happened somewhere around 3500 years ago or 1500 BCE. And from then on, they kept registering all those amazing observations and downloads.  Ayurveda is considered Sacred Wisdom, which means that it will never change and it has never changed, mainly because it is Natural Law.  

In my belief, the gathering of this information started a very long time ago. First of all, Ayurveda is Sacred and Universal Law, so it is timeless, which means that it has no beginning or end, it just is.  Ayurveda is wisdom and wisdom is eternal.  It is just the way things are at the core of the essence of existence.

Now, of course, we have to use words in order to transmit it and in order to bring an understanding of the science or the knowledge.  But many times, particularly in the effort of translating from Sanskrit to English, the meaning achieved in English becomes a bit limited by the reaching of the language itself.

Sanskrit for that purpose is a sacred language, that resonates with the sounds of the Universe and communicates at that level.  So the words encompass a far-reaching meaning.  This is because there is not just a simple meaning to the words, but there is also vibration and frequency in the sound of the word that resonates with nature and the universe.

Anyhow, we will use the English language and at the same time bring the essence of the practices and the meanings.

Although Ayurveda is very clear when it says that every treatment is based on the individual for example if converse with an Ayurvedic Physician or Doctor, it is completely clear that it is based on the individual.  For example let’s see a few qualities that are involved in this individuality for each person: weather, location, age, diet, exercise, relationships, work, spiritual practices, and so on.  So, we are all completely different, while at the same time, we all come from the same essence.  My aim here is that you will learn how to work with yourself.  In the SHJ Program, I wish you to learn about your own individualism, about yourself both at the level of the mind and the body.

The scientific method Ayurveda uses is based on experience and observation of what is and from there an analysis of what has been observed.  Although this observation comes from a very still place of connection with the Source of Everything.  A place of stillness.  This is why Ayurveda is said to be channeled by Saints or Sages or Rishis they are called, which would be the word used in Sanscrit for a sage or a saint.

Imagine that they say, that the pharmacy of Ayurveda, the understanding of the plants, which in some lineages is of over 21 thousand plants is vast.  It took them they say over 1500 years to gather the experience to have what is understood and known as the Ayurvedic pharmacy, with all the use of oils, herbs, metals, and everything you can think of that come from nature.

Ayurveda bases itself on the understanding that there is an Essence in the Universe that permeates it All, we could call it Life Force or Prana (using the Sanskrit term, you might have heard about this word. Prana, Life Force).

The main task of Ayurveda and of this course is to make the flow of that Prana as efficient as possible and to remove the blockages that are affecting both the mind and the body.

In this one planet where we inhabit, all humans and all creation as we know, animals, plants, water, earth, wind, fire, and the space within and without in everything exists,  this Life Force has three components, one that comes from the Sun which is heating and transformational called Agni.

Another one that comes from the Moon is cooling and nurturing called Soma.

And another one is called Marut which is the Divine intelligence or what I like to call the Mystery.

Everything on this planet is made of this Prana or Life Force also called Energy. Out of Prana (and its components for that matter), the main elements arise. Which by the way are mentioned in every ancient piece of ancestral knowledge from shamanism to Tibetan medicine, to traditional Chinese medicine to Ayurveda.  So
From Soma, the energy that comes from the moon, we get the earth and the water.
From Agni, the quality of the energy that comes from the sun, we get the Fire.
And from Marut, that aspect of the energy that connects with the Divine intelligence, we get the air and the space.  

The 5 elements made from Prana then exist in everything that we can see, touch, smell, hear taste, and experience through our senses, which are the senses of perception that we have in our physical bodies in order to relate with the 5 elements.

Body and mind are one, this is the basis of all these sciences.
This means that everything we do in the body affects the mind and vice-versa. Thinking that the body and the mind are separated is like thinking that the waves are separated from the ocean.

These senses are given to us to experience creation.  The problem can arise if attachment to the sense perception is developed, which is a normal state of consciousness in most humans.  Attachment means, for example, listening to music constantly, overeating, in other words indulging in the sense of taste, watching tv for hours, or sexual contact, and similar.

Although sense perception is a blessing in itself when it is not used in an indulging way.  In other words, sensing and being present with the senses brings awareness to the Essence of our existence and is a spiritual practice in itself already.  We could define spiritual practice as a practice that brings us out of the thinking mind and puts us in touch with the stillness of creation and the essence of Prana.

The good thing is that this understanding of the arising of the senses from Prana already is telling us that we are made of an essence, consciousness. Ayurveda as well as other ancient traditions help us cultivate this wisdom in us.

The entire structure of the body, as quantum physics explains, is made from subatomic particles. Which consist of the five elements. In the world outside as well as within, it is easy to see that some matter is solid as the earth element, some are liquid as the water, some is gaseous as the air, and in every case, the temperature is present, which would be the fire element.  The fifth element ether is the space in which everything exists and manifests

These five elements have also a subtler reality particularly if you experience them within your own physical body.  This is a spiritual practice in itself.  For example. The element of the earth brings the concept of weight all the way from heavy to light. The fire element brings the range of temperature from cold to heat. The air element has to do with motion, from stillness to movement and finally, the water element has to do with cohesiveness, with binding things together.  All the particles arise with a particular predominance of one or more of the elements while the others remain latent, they are there but as a building block since everything is made of Prana.  The practice itself is feeling the wide range of possible sensations that could arise within the inner body. This is awareness.

In this way we can understand how from Prana, elements are created which have characteristics or qualities and since elements were created and the main mission of Creation, Divinity or Consciousness is to know itself through itself, is to observe itself, then the senses of perception arise in the body of a person. Let’s keep it at the level of the body which is the most important aspect of this course.

Anyhow it is very amazing and heart-opening to see life from this perspective, because right there, if you relax into this knowledge, then the wise aspect of it, comes into you with no effort.  In other words, it could feel like you already know this, somehow like, saying, yes, yes, of course, it makes sense.

At least this was how I felt when I first came in touch with this wisdom.

Ok, so far, we have seen Prana, the Life Force, the three components of Prana, that come from the sun and the moon, Agni / fire, Soma/water and earth, and Marut air/space.  Then the 5 elements of creation and how they range from subtle to grossest (earth, water, fire, air, and space) and the 5 senses of perception in order for us to relate with nature and also for consciousness to experience itself. (Vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell)

We are born with a combination of these elements, in other words, Prana manifests in us depending on, and this could be a little astrological, but is also common sense, Prana manifests in us depending on the position of the planets, the moon, the sun, the amount soma Agni and Marut Prana itself is determined also by the orchestration of all creation in a way and the Soul.  Who decides that is part of another talk and probably not even important for what we are talking about today. All I could say is that it is Natural Selection, it is all Nature manifesting itself through that life form.

The term Prakruti means, the foundation of nature, the amount of the different elements present in any life form.  the Natural selection or choice of a particular amount of the elements.  This could be interpreted also as the way in which we were born and the combination of the natural elements within our physical body and the mind because the mind also carries qualities of the elements.  Why is this important, because at some point we will talk about Doshas and the body types, and Prakruti means which is the combination of elements that are more predominant in you, in your mind, in your body, in your digestion, and at the same time, which are the possible imbalances that you could experience which once you determine that, you could act easily by using the Universal Law of same increases same and opposites balance, we will talk more about this later.

So Prakruti is the combination of elements in you or your body type, said in easy words.

All this information will ground in you little by little.  Just know or better said, just feel it. Let it sink in more as a feeling rather than a piece of intellectual information.

The elements come to a point where they need to manifest as life, due to the playfulness of the creative energy inherent in nature.  Is like Existence, wishes to be life because it is life, everything in one way or another is living or existing or vibrating.  So these elements find a way to express life by combining or carrying the very nature of where they come from.  For example. Fire comes from the sun, fire is also the power to digest and transform in essence. Wind moves, in the body which means the energy that creates movement.
Earth and water, have fluidity and solidity creating, therefore, mass, like muscle and fluids within the body.

Continues in next video…