Prakriti and Vikriti are elementary ideas in Ayurveda that assist perceive a person’s inherent constitutional physique kind and their present state of well being. These ideas are used to advertise steadiness and wellness by personalised approaches to weight-reduction plan, life-style, and therapy.
In easy phrases, Prakriti refers back to the pure structure we’re born with, whereas Vikriti represents our present well being situation
Each Prakriti and Vikriti are primarily based on the three doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, which kind the physique’s structure. Every particular person is a singular mixture of 1, two, or all three doshas.
This text delves deeper into the ideas of Prakriti and Vikriti, explaining their significance and purposes in Ayurveda.
On this article, we’ve got defined the ideas of Prakriti and Vikriti intimately.
Understanding Prakriti
The phrase Prakriti is derived from three parts: the prefix ‘Pra,’ that means “origin”; ‘Kri,’ that means “to do”; and ‘Ti,’ that means “to accentuate.” Collectively, Prakriti refers back to the entity that manifests on the time of origin.
Prakriti represents the unique physique structure or the inherent mixture of doshas that an individual develops on the time of conception.
It’s the nature you might be born with and is exclusive to you. Every particular person’s structure is predetermined at beginning and influenced by varied traits, together with look, persona, habits, and dietary preferences. Prakriti determines an individual’s bodily and psychological traits and stays fixed all through their life.
In line with Ayurveda, this occurs as a result of an individual’s Prakriti is set at beginning by the panch mahabhutas (air, fireplace, water, ether, and earth), doshas (vata, pitta, kapha), and trigunas (sattva, rajas, and tamas).
Doshaja Prakriti
On the time of conception, the predominance of 1, two, or all three doshas determines a person’s Prakriti, referred to as Doshaja Prakriti.
Doshaja Prakriti is additional categorized into three classes: Eka Doshaja Prakriti, Dwandvaja Doshaja Prakriti, and Sama Doshaja Prakriti.
- Eka Doshaja Prakruti – Because the identify suggests, people with a predominance of 1 (eka) dosha have an Eka Doshaja Prakriti. This sort is comparatively uncommon. Amongst these:
- Vata physique kind is taken into account inferior (heena).
- Pitta physique kind is taken into account average (madhyama).
- Kapha physique kind is considered superior (uttama).
- Dwandvaja Doshaja Prakruti – That is the commonest kind of Prakriti, the place a person has a mix of two doshas. There are three variations:
- Vata/Pitta (or pitta/vata) – Vata major and Pitta secondary (or Pitta major and Vata secondary).
- Pitta/Kapha (or kapha/pitta) – Pitta major and Kapha secondary (or Kapha major and Pitta secondary).
- Kapha/Vata (or vata/kapha) – Kapha major and Vata secondary (or Vata major and Kapha secondary).
- Sama Doshaja Prakruti – Among the many rarest Prakriti sorts, people with a Sama Doshaja Prakriti have a balanced mixture of all three doshas. That is thought of the very best (sreshta) physique structure. Nonetheless, it’s difficult to keep up attributable to trendy unhealthy existence and dietary habits.
Manasika Prakriti
Manasika Prakriti refers to a person’s psychological or psychological structure, which is set by the mixture of the three Gunas Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. Because of this, an individual’s Manasika Prakriti will be categorized as Satvik, Rajasik, or Tamasik.
Understanding Manasika Prakriti is essential for choosing the proper strategies to help psychological and emotional well-being, akin to yoga, meditation, or tailor-made dietary and life-style practices.
Equally, figuring out an individual’s Doshaja Prakriti helps an Ayurvedic practitioner perceive their persona, temperament, traits, and general well being, enabling them to advocate acceptable therapies and interventions.
What components decide the Prakriti of a person?
The formation of Prakriti is linked to completely different parts, akin to earlier karmas, the bodily and psychological well being of the mom and father on the time of conception, the mom’s weight-reduction plan and train routine, social milieu, the follow of wholesomeness by the mom (throughout being pregnant) and youngster within the postnatal interval, and several other others.
Owing to the above, the next are the first components that decide the Prakriti of a person:
- Sukra-Shonit Prakruti (circumstances of sperm and ovum)
- Kala-garbhasaya Prakruti (time of the season of conception and circumstances of the uterus)
- Matu-ahar Prakruti (weight-reduction plan and life-style habits of mom)
- Pancha Mahabhuta Vikara Prakriti (affiliation of the 5 primary parts)
Different components that additionally affect the Prakriti are:
- Jatiprasakta (Race/caste/ Occupation)
- Kulaprasakta (household/ancestry)
- Desha-anupatini (geo-climatic components)
- Kala-anupatini (time scale)
- Vaya-anupatini (age) – determines the dominance of dosha
- Pratyatmaniyata (individuality)
Methods to determine a person’s Prakriti?
A questionnaire is often used for Prakriti evaluation. It contains questions on your habits, look, physiological processes akin to digestion and excretion, in addition to your moods and general nature.
The evaluation includes a scientific examination utilizing three strategies: scrutiny (Darshan), palpation (Sparshan), and questioning (Prashna). It examines three facets:
- Construction of the physique (Rachanaanusari) – Bodily traits.
- Physiological (Kriyaanusari) – Bodily features.
- Psychological (Manoanusari) – Psychological and emotional traits.
The variations in these traits collectively outline a person’s Prakriti.
To precisely decide your Prakriti, it’s endorsed to seek the advice of an skilled Ayurvedic practitioner. They’ll assess your physique kind primarily based on the solutions supplied throughout the Prakriti evaluation take a look at.
Whereas there are quite a few on-line questionnaires, quizzes, and assessments accessible, they need to be used with warning, as they might lack the precision of an expert evaluation.
Significance of Prakriti in Ayurvedic therapy
In trendy utilization, the time period Prakriti usually refers back to the bodily structure, referred to as Deha Prakriti. This structure is set by the distinctive dosha ratios that every particular person is born with.
The Ayurvedic idea of Prakriti is important for sustaining well being, understanding illness, and guiding therapy. Ayurveda emphasizes that by understanding your Prakriti, you’ll be able to determine the components that affect your well being and well-being, enabling you to guide a wholesome, comfortable, and fulfilling life.
Understanding your Prakriti helps you keep well being by following the suitable weight-reduction plan and day by day routine. It additionally lets you recognise what would possibly disrupt your steadiness, resulting in illness or sickness. With out this self-awareness, you could wrestle to keep up steadiness, stop sickness, or deal with imbalances to revive well being and wholeness.
Moreover, data of your Prakriti might help you in a number of methods:
- Adapting your life-style to stop or handle dosha imbalances.
- Making use of preventive well being measures to keep up equilibrium.
- Customizing your weight-reduction plan based on your dosha to reinforce nutrient absorption, digestion, and elimination.
- Making certain you eat the suitable meals in the suitable quantities and on the proper instances.
- Personalizing your sleep patterns for higher relaxation and restoration.
- Selecting the best train routine to remain match and wholesome.
Understanding Vikriti
In Ayurveda, a person’s state of well being or imbalance is known as Vikriti. The Sanskrit phrase Vikriti, that means “after creation,” refers to an individual’s organic state, which will be influenced by their setting from the second of conception.
A Vikriti evaluation in Ayurveda is used to determine how exterior components have impacted an individual’s bodily, psychological, or emotional well being. Vikriti will be regarded as the manifestation of any present doshic imbalances.
After fertilization, the human embryo is uncovered to and influenced by its setting. Optimum improvement happens when the embryo grows in a steady setting. Equally, after beginning, a baby thrives in a great and nurturing ambiance, selling well being and well-being.
Nonetheless, in an setting or life-style that’s lower than splendid, the three doshas can fall out of steadiness, inflicting a deviation from the person’s Prakriti. This state of imbalance is Vikriti.
In contrast to Prakriti, which stays fixed all through life, Vikriti is dynamic. It might change from everyday, with the seasons, or throughout completely different life phases. Thus, whereas Prakriti displays a person’s inherent structure, Vikriti represents their present state of imbalance.
What components decide the Vikriti of a person?
To make choices to revive our equilibrium, it’s useful to grasp the traits of every of the doshas. This enables us to acknowledge what has gotten out of steadiness or what has amassed.
Vikriti or doshic imbalances can happen attributable to a number of components akin to weather conditions, dietary habits, life-style, sleep patterns, frequency of train, stress, and plenty of exterior components.
The aggregation of a selected dosha will be felt throughout quite a few seasonal adjustments. We often purchase traits of the prevailing dosha all year long due to how intently tied our physiology is to the world round us. Because the seasons change, this accumulation is most noticeable.
For instance, your prakriti is Pitta which comes with good digestion and a steady thoughts. Nonetheless attributable to a seasonal change, your digestive system might flare and you could expertise psychological fog, an indication of Vata vitiation. In such instances, despite the fact that your Prakriti has not modified, the dominance of the vata dosha is figuring out the imbalances brought about in your physique.
Significance of Vikriti in Ayurvedic therapy
Understanding an individual’s Vikriti after which determining what parts of that particular person’s setting have led to the disruptions is without doubt one of the key targets of Ayurvedic therapy. The time period “setting” right here refers to each the particular person’s life-style and the inputs they get by their 5 senses.
To determine the basis signs of a illness, vikriti evaluation is step one in all Ayurvedic therapies.
One solution to determine the underlying causes for sickness or illness is to correlate the ratio of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha in an individual at any given second with their physiological composition. One can evaluate it to the particular person’s inherent prakriti and have a look at operational indications like digestion, elimination, or sleeping patterns.
As soon as understood, the aim is to rework the setting.
Figuring out an individual’s Prakriti is vital for understanding their elementary tendencies, however understanding their Vikriti is vital for making a therapy technique.
Distinction between Prakriti and Vikriti
Now that we’ve got understood some primary ideas of Prakriti and Vikriti, we will summarize the distinction between the 2 beneath:
- Our intrinsic structure is called Prakriti, and the imbalance that develops once we don’t stay in accordance with that construction is called Vikriti.
- Prakriti refers back to the mind-body type or structure. Vikriti interprets to the current scenario.
- Within the Ayurvedic perspective, one’s Prakriti is often considered from the attitude of dosha predominance within the physique structure. However, the vikriti is seemed into the imbalances or vitiations occurring within the doshas structure throughout the Prakriti.
- Understanding our Prakriti helps us grasp what our elementary nature is. Studying our Vikriti supplies us with the flexibility to take cost of our well being path.
- To find out prakriti, components akin to circumstances of sperm and ovum, time of the season of conception and circumstances of the uterus, weight-reduction plan, and life-style habits of the mom, and affiliation of the 5 primary parts are seen. Whereas, the components seemed into when figuring out vikriti are – the basis reason for the dysfunction, vitiating variables, vitiated components, structure, location, time, power, and signs.
How do imbalances in Prakriti and Vikriti manifest?
Doshas play an vital position on the subject of imbalances within the physique and thoughts. Despite the fact that most of us are a twin doshas structure (bi-doshic physique kind), the Prakriti is dependent upon the dominant dosha.
So, when your dominant doshas are vitiated it could possibly result in a ton of bodily and psychological sicknesses, ailments, or illnesses. Furthermore, the imbalance will also be brought about when the second dosha overpowers your dominant dosha.
For instance, you may have been recognized as having a Vata-Pitta physique kind with vata because the dominant dosha. Which means you may have a Vata Prakriti. When your Vata is imbalanced, you’ll expertise restlessness, fatigue, poor circulation, bloating, joint ache, and so on. There can also be an opportunity that the pitta dosha has grow to be imbalanced and also you would possibly expertise signs like indigestion, acidity, pimples, pores and skin rashes, anger, irregular sleep, and so on.
Nonetheless, you must also perceive that we might or might not be capable to hyperlink our imbalances to our organic construction. There are additionally probabilities that you just might need a vata-pitta prakriti with each doshas dominant when in comparison with the kapha prakriti.
In such instances, if an individual reveals indicators of sudden weight acquire, it could recommend that they might be experiencing kapha vitiation.
The manifestation of imbalances in Prakriti and Vikriti additionally is dependent upon the present life-style, seasonal adjustments, and the setting you might be residing in.
Merely put, the imbalances within the prakrit and vikruti are manifested within the type of bodily and psychological issues on account of vitiated doshas.
- In case your vata is imbalanced, it could result in extreme issues with circulation, broken tissues, crackling joints, improper digestion, constipation, extreme weight reduction, psychological chaos, or insomnia.
- In case of pitta imbalance, ulcers, extreme sweating, sunburn, acidity, hair fall, vertigo, egoism, a rise of damaging feelings, and so on could also be skilled.
- Folks with a kapha imbalance will discover lethargy, weight acquire, lack of urge for food, oily pores and skin and hair, melancholy, lack of motivation, stubbornness, and so on as signs.
One other level to recollect is that in case your vata will get vitiated, there’s a excessive chance that the opposite doshas would possibly get affected as effectively. It’s because Vata is chargeable for circulation throughout the physique and between the organs. So if the circulation is blocked, the organs will be unable to work on the optimum degree.
Conclusion
To sum up, Prakriti is the mixture of doshas you might be born with, influenced by components such because the circumstances of the sperm and ovum at conception, the well being of the mom’s uterus, and the time and season of conception.
Vikriti, however, refers to your present state of being, which is dynamic and adjustments based on your setting. It’s typically thought of an imbalanced state of the doshas.
An Ayurvedic practitioner diagnoses your well being situation primarily based in your Prakriti and Vikriti by a collection of questions. This helps decide which doshas want consideration to revive steadiness.
From the traits of Prakriti and Vikriti, it’s clear that the aim of Ayurveda is to accumulate the data obligatory to acknowledge when a Vikriti imbalance arises, serving to to stop sickness or illness. Ayurveda additionally aids in growing practices and rituals that hold our Prakriti balanced.
