RELATIONSHIPS
AND AYURVEDA
By: Lissa Coffey
Ask anyone and
you'll get the same answer: What's the most
important thing in life? Love! We want to be
in love, and we want that love to last. So how
do we go about finding that one person to share
our lives with? And how do we live happily ever
after with that person once we find him or her?
There are many ways of
looking at our compatibility with other people
- such as the Mars/Venus theories, and the Love
Signs system based on astrology, among others.
But long before any of these formulas were even
a twinkle in the cosmos, philosophers and scientists
in Ancient India devised a system of health
care called “Ayurveda” - or “the
science of life.” Within this holistic
system lies everything we need to know about
love.
Ayurveda explains the nature
of everything in the universe. It is a compelling
way of looking at all of life, the physical,
emotional, mental, and spiritual. Ayurveda “types”
people by “dosha” according to both
their physical features and personality traits.
Ayurveda tells us how we “tick,”
and how we relate to the rest of the world,
including the other people in it!
It is impossible to go
through this life alone. We all have relationships,
people in our lives to interact with. The purpose
of those relationships is to help us learn and
grow. And more than that, the purpose of any
relationship is to help us learn more about
ourselves and who we really are.
As important as our relationships
are to us, how much time and effort do we really
put into them? So often we go about living our
lives and expect that another person either
fits into that picture or doesn't. But we each
have needs, and temperaments, and ideas about
how we like things to be. When we better understand
ourselves, and each other, we can focus on what
is important, and what makes a relationship
work.
Once you find out your
particular dosha, whether it is Vata, Pitta
or Kapha, and the dosha of the person with whom
you are in relationship, then you have access
to all kinds of information that corresponds
to the two of you.
Love is an amazing phenomenon,
and the reason that all of us are here. It's
worth our study, our attention. Why are we attracted
to the people we are attracted to? Why is that
we feel as if we “can't help” who
we fall in love with? What is the chemistry
that draws us to certain people?
We may never figure ourselves
out. Or maybe we already have. Maybe the ancient
texts are right and all the answers we will
ever need are available to us now… we
just need to keep learning and growing until
we finally “get it.”
One thing's for sure. Finding
love and connection is one of the most important
- and pleasurable! - things we come here to
do. My hope is that Ayurveda, with its ancient
Indian secrets for keeping love burning bright,
will not only help you in your process of self-discovery
but enable you to find and nourish the love
matches of your dreams.
