Column of Ma Prem Sitara, Ayurveda therapist & Osho Meditation facilitator
Path
For me, Ayurveda is an experimental path that brings us back to a forgotten – or distorted – notion : time. Give it some time. Slow down: the only way to regain space, listen, feel, observe and finally hear what, very subtly, is already there and speaks so clearly. What Bob Dylan sang : “The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind… the answer is blowin’ in the wind”
Indian “Knowledge of Life” knows that Man is endowed with all the attributes of Nature and his physical body as well as his mind are in a perpetual movement (chaos) which finds, because it is destined for this by nature, its balance (harmony) through transformation. In the West, for example, and in particular under the impetus of the Catholic Church, we have been educated in immobility, immutability : in the family, in work, we find, we settle, we build, we stay and we hold out, even if it means making concessions, not to move and above all, to make it last, these elements constitute the basis of a society that can function. A cultural refusal of natural transformation?
Every human being has a unique physiological and anatomical constitution that distinguishes them from all others. This basic structure, which never changes, is called Prakriti – the physiological and anatomical constitution of birth. Based on the Doshas – Vata, Pitta and Kapha, three intelligent principles that are the basis of each individual’s anatomy and physiology, based on a unique combination of the elements Air Ether Fire Water Earth in the body – and the Gunas – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, intelligent principles that govern psyche characteristics. Culture, on the contrary, implies general and global rules, identical for everyone and this is reflected, for example, in the rhythms of work and consumption that generate recurring problems of anxiety, stress, sleep and food. So much so that large groups of companies, especially in China or Japan, in North America too, are increasingly open to adaptation, to the proposal of wellness activities (Yoga included!) to support their employees and ensure that they can continue year after year. I have the feeling of a rubber band that we have pulled a lot on one side… and that we are starting to want to bring back to the other, on the human shore.
The principle is that the human being is made to be healthy and if they are not, it is an external disorder, a misalignment, which probably created them. Health for Ayurveda means being in harmony, renewed as much as necessary, with one’s environment and in all aspects of one’s life. Another concept used in Ayurvedic care pathways, Vikriti – imbalance at a given moment in time in which a person is and which causes him physical or mental disorders. Vikriti is linked to the movements of life, no one can avoid it but through feeling, observation and attention to oneself, intelligence develops to balance it naturally and simply and thus, to be open to adaptation, to changing direction, to following our path. A phenomenon, the most natural in the world.
The vital energy, the Prana in Sanskrit, flows from the Cosmos, its primal source, into our physical body as in a funnel: from the largest to the smallest element, the Prana is the red thread, the common point, the one that makes exist. All of Creation – Purusha – is filled with it, including ourselves since we are included, we are part of it. Self-knowledge through Ayurveda invites us to feel this life energy in ourselves and let it flow and, therefore through our attention, simply, we can independently ensure that there is nothing that constrains too much or blocks this flow of energy. The practices of Yoga, Pranayama (breathing) and Meditation have been available for millennia to learn to focus more and more clearly and easily on this energy.
What I understand is that the path already taken and with all ready does not exist. There is only this infinite source of energy made to be felt. At any time, if we feel it, we can let it guide us. We are faced with an accidental Existence that, by chance, brings us movements and situations. We can hear and decide our attitude. Rumi, the Persian mystical poet wrote : “As you walk on the path, the path will appear.” We are the creators of our path.
Ma Prem Sitara
