Editor’s Note: This is a guest article by Kellen Brugman of Fair Havens Yoga. She teaches yoga and offers Ayurvedic consultations and healing therapies in Nashville, Tennessee. Read Kellen’s blog for more ayurvedic tips and information.
We are not only “what we eat”, but what we hear, touch, see, taste and smell.
Our senses are the pathways in which we perceive the world. Sensory, as well as physical, mental and emotional influences affect our body, mind and consciousness. We are not only “what we eat”, but what we hear, touch, see, taste and smell. We experience the external world through the processes of listening, touching, looking, tasting and smelling. Our experiences with the external world affect the health of our inner world. Tanmatra Chikitsa is the process of healing and balancing the body, mind and spirit through the five senses – the doorways of perception.
The five senses (pancha tanmatra) are the doorways of perception. When healthy impressions are ingested, one experiences harmony and good health. When unhealthy impressions are ingested, one experiences disharmony and is more susceptible to disease. Just like consuming junk food creates disease in the physical body (and eventually the mental and spiritual body), the intake of low quality things such as loud music, violent movies and negative conversations directly affect our mental and emotional states.
Tanmatra Chikitsa is one of the many Ayurvedic therapies used to restore the body to health. It focuses on how impressions such as sound, touch, images, food and aromas can either contribute to imbalance or can restore balance to body, mind and consciousness. According to Dr. David Frawley, director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies, “The mind is very sensitive to impressions. Our impressions feed our life-force and motivate our actions.” So it is very important to take in positive impressions.
Positive impressions can help restore balance to the three doshas. The doshas (vata, pitta, kapha) are the three basic types of energies that are present in everyone and everything. Vata, Pitta and Kapha are combinations of the five elements (space, air, fire, water, earth). The doshas create and maintain balance in one’s body. If disturbed, they lead to the start of the disease process. The doshas can be rebalanced through the subtle therapy of Tanmatra Chikitsa, as well as other Ayurvedic therapies such as Panchakarma, massage, diet, yoga, pranayama and meditation.
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Excellent and informative article, Kellen. To anyone interested in learning more about ayurveda and your dosha type, I recommend contacting Kellen & checking out her blog. She’ll also be checking these comments so feel free to ask any questions while we have an expert on hand.
I give yoga and Kelly La Sha’s latest book “Liquid Mirror” credit for healing my mind body and soul. I feel so great after using techniques from both.