AYURVEDA'S LANGUAGE OF WISDOM
With its visually descriptive use of language to connect all aspects of the world we live in, Ayurveda deeply resonated with me. We are not necessarily taught about the interplay of energy in the modern world other than electrical circuits and yet when you really think about it we have always intuitively drawn on the 5 elements; Space, Air, Fire, Water, Earth (types of energies) to describe ourselves, the world and our place in it - see the slide above. Understanding how the elements combine, build and shape our world really hit home for me. This is the essence of Ayurveda and I believe Ayurveda simply explains to us and reminds us that which we already know as energetic beings through our own intuition and the honing of our (these days often dulled) senses.
Some of the most common feedback I get whenever I or someone else is explaining and speaking of Ayurveda is “the way you explain it and the relationship of the energies makes so much sense!”. This is because we are OF nature and in constant interplay with the energies around us, be that other people, the environment and even the food we eat.
We now have the scientific apparatus to prove what Ayurveda and other ancient philosophies have known - that energy is everything and everything is energy. We can even measure the energy field people generate around them and the effect of positive and negative energetic influences.
The wisdom of Ayurveda often shows up in the form of metaphors perhaps demonstrating more Ayurveda in our everyday language than most people would expect. As well as the general ‘energy’ of someone or something being part of our daily speech e.g. ‘I liked the vibe of the place’, ‘I loved his energy’, ‘they were an energetic match’, as mentioned above we also use types of ‘energies’ - energies with particular qualities for example the 5 elements - to narrate our world. According to Ayurveda, all of creation manifests in a unique combination of the five elements: space, air, fire, water and earth which together compose everything that we can perceive with our 5 senses, in fact Ayurveda teaches us that these 5 elements are inextricably linked to our 5 senses.
For example ‘her eyes burned brightly’ is a frequent literary phrase used to describe someone with their eyes alight, full of fire. Below are some more examples directly relating our senses to their associated elements:
Space (ether) element - Ears/hearing: He’s so open to listening, The sound of silence
Air element - Skin/touch: ‘Her touch was light as air’
Fire element - Eyes/sight: ‘Their eyes burned through me’
Water element - Mouth/taste: ‘His mouth watered at the taste’
Earth element - Nose/smell: ‘Nose to the ground’ (i.e sniffing for clues/wisdom)
So tune in to the next time you use elemental/energetic metaphors to describe an experience to someone or to relive it yourself. Consider how the elements play their part in influencing our world, and also consider how you are using the descriptive language of Ayurveda to help utilise this age old wisdom to better navigate and understand life.