About Prabhava
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PRABHAVA: Our Philosophy
Health can be broken down to three interrelated aspects: the physical body; habits of thought and behavior; and one?Äôs notions of transcendence or meaning. Working with any one of these aspects will positively benefit all three, while working with all three will provide the greatest lift to any one.
Health is an ongoing process with demands that change from the moment of birth to the moment of death. While creating and meeting goals for one's own health is a valuable tool, we at PRABHAVA believe that there is no "arrival point." Over time our bodies change and our minds evolve, and the healthy individual recognizes these changes and adjusts his or her lifestyle accordingly. Ayurveda provides a logical and intuitive system that enables the individual to be aware of those changes as they happen, so that lifestyle adjustments may be made along the way. If one maintains an awareness of even the most basic Ayurvedic principles, then gone is the need to wait for fully fledged disease symptoms to point out what changes should have already been made.
The Physical Body
The age-old cliché, "You are what you eat, " almost sounds fantastic or symbolic in a culture which relies so heavily on foods which come from unknown sources, or from sources that we would prefer not to think about. The truth remains, however, that the physical bulk of our body has been formed from the physical bulk of what we have ingested, and assimilated. Likewise, the more subtle energetics of the food also give shape to the more subtle aspects of the individual, like moods or dynamicism.
The impact of eating natural, simple foods is matched by the ability of our digestive mechanisms to properly absorb and process that food. Toxicity, stress and difficult food combinations are among the factors which can impair our body's ability to incorporate otherwise health-promoting foods.
In a culture of diet fads, and "one-size-fits-all" declarations on health and diet, Ayurveda offers the perspective that one man's watermelon is another man's pork chop. A ginger tea may give a Pitta-constitution acid reflux, but provides an excellent digestive aid to a Kapha person. Maybe you can handle bananas in the winter, but in the spring they leave you with a brain fog. Ayurveda gives you an instrument to gauge the effects of food (and everything else too!) on your system, and opens you up to your own intuition about what works best for you.
Habits
Habits are a tremendously positive and useful tools for a person to achieve one's goals, work and live happily, and have enough extra energy to grow, develop, play, and relax. It would be a tough road if the pains of brushing one?Äôs teeth were felt the same at 40 years of age as they were at four. And it would certainly be difficult to maintain relationships if a person didn't maintain a certain level of consistency in the way one reacts to jokes, or gifts, or bad news! Habits shape a person's daily actions, and more subtly, they shape the way a person thinks and feels about things.
In developing new positive habits, such as an exercise routine for example, one should draw strength from the countless bank of habits one already has developed which provide strength and comfort.
When aiming toward self-improvement, we run the danger of focusing so intently on what is wrong with us, that we ignore the entire subconscious bank of qualities that we LOVE about ourselves! Ayurveda is not about steering away from dangers and eliminating disease; it is about honoring the person you are and striving to develop the very best version of that person, for the benefit of all.
Meaning