Ayurvedic yoga tailors yoga practices to the individual needs of each student, incorporating pranayama, dietary and lifestyle considerations. The Ayurvedic approach recognizes three constitutional types and seeks to create a yoga practice tailored to each student’s needs. Dietary and lifestyle considerations are also important in maintaining optimal health.
Ayurvedic yoga is a classical yoga school in which yoga practices are tailored to the individual constitutional needs of each student. An Ayurvedic yoga practice may incorporate yoga asanas or postures, but usually also incorporates pranayama, or breathing exercises, as well as dietary and lifestyle considerations. The goal of this type of yoga is generally to promote physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. The Ayurvedic approach of this school of yoga generally refers to the Ayurvedic system of medicine, which recognizes three doshas, or constitutional types, known as pitta, vata, and kapha.
While most people possess qualities of all three of these constitutional types, one or two types generally dominate the person’s physiology and mental state. According to the Ayurvedic system, a person’s physical, psychological and spiritual needs and preferences may vary according to their constitutional type. Ayurvedic yoga generally seeks to help students create a yoga practice specially tailored to their needs.
Many yoga teachers and practitioners believe that Ayurvedic considerations were once an integral part of traditional yoga study. Different yoga postures are believed to have considerably different effects on the mind and body. It is believed that students will benefit most from practicing yoga if they choose postures and breathing exercises that support the needs of their physical constitutions.
The combined characteristics of the chosen series of poses can also be used to support the Ayurvedic constitution of an individual student. A kapha dosha may prefer a series of poses that build muscle strength, while a pitta dosha may choose an interesting and varied series with aerobic benefits. Vatta doshas generally prefer a more spiritually oriented series of restorative yoga poses.
The intensity of the yoga practice, as well as the sequence of poses chosen during a specific practice, can also vary from season to season in Ayurvedic yoga. Muscle strengthening poses are seen as the most beneficial during the winter months, while varied aerobic sequences can be carried out during the summer months. A spiritually focused, restorative practice is often recommended during the fall and spring seasons.
Dietary and lifestyle considerations can also be a part of Ayurvedic yoga. The Ayurvedic system of medicine generally recommends that each person follow the most acceptable diet according to their dosha qualities. Sleep and exercise patterns can also be adjusted to better support an individual’s dosha. Ayurvedic medicine teaches that imbalances in the doshas can lead to disease, so maintaining the most appropriate diet and lifestyle for the dosha can help maintain optimal physical and mental health.
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