Ayurveda. Three doshas
For example, most of the physical phenomena attributed by modern physiology to the nervous system can be identified with vata. Equally, all chemical processes occurring in the human body can be attributed to pitta, including enzymes, hormones and the entire digestive system. And the activity of the skeletal and anabolic (assimilation) systems and, in fact, the entire physical shell as a whole can be considered as kapha.
Thus, each dosha shares each of its qualities with another dosha (although there remains slight differences in the nature of the shared quality), while the remaining third dosha has the opposite quality. Moreover, each has an inherent ability to regulate and balance itself, and this ability is provided by the antagonistic qualities due to the constituent elements of these doshas.
When the doshas are balanced, that is, in a state of equilibrium, then everything is in order with our health. The great Ayurvedic sage Charaka said: “Vata, pitta and kapha maintain the integrity of the living human organism in its normal state and combine with each other in such a way as to make a person a complete being with his powerful indriyas (sense organs), good complexion and undoubted longevity " Disease occurs only when there is an imbalance of the three doshas. And since it is the strongest dosha that usually has the greatest tendency to increase, a person is most susceptible to diseases associated with the increase of his strongest dosha.
It is important to understand that these three doshas are forces, not substances. Kapha is not mucus; it is the force that causes mucus to appear. Similarly, pitta is not bile; but it is precisely this that determines the generation of bile. The word "dosha" literally means "error" or "out of whack" because the doshas indicate those erroneous directions that can lead the system to become out of balance.
It is equally important to understand that the three doshas within any person are constantly changing due to the associated qualities of the doshas of a particular lifestyle and environment, such as time and season of the year. It is also important to understand that these three doshas are not separate energies, but different aspects of the same energy present together in an endless variety of combinations where their qualities overlap and are interrelated.
However, in Ayurveda, only three types of constitution are considered - in monotypes, when only one dosha predominates, in dual types, when two doshas are approximately equal in strength, and, in very rare cases, a third type of constitution is found, when all three doshas are equally strong. Within this broad classification, the first category contains various subtypes, which are listed below for easier consideration.
