What is the Ayurvedic understanding of the concept of healthy?
‘Healthy’ is termed as ‘Swasthya’ in Ayurveda – one who stays in his ‘sva’ (self). This ‘sva’ involves the total personality of man including consciousness (atman), body (sharira) and mind (manas). “sva’ also denotes Prakriti or constitutional normalcy -which makes the concept of sva different from person to person. This is quite different from the world of ideal blood counts, ideal height -weight ratios, ideal heart rate etc. Ayurveda regards each individual as unique, a brand new painting with its own set of colors. So what may be normal to one and constitute his or her health may be quite abnormal to another. In Ayurveda people do not come from a cookie cutter – so Ayurveda provides the encouragement and tools for self analysis, understanding one’s native nature (Prakriti) and departure from one’s native nature (Vikruti). Ayurveda recommends a return to nature, to what is simple and intrinsic to man’s life, and provides information to make responsible choices which promote good phys
