Ayurveda Basics - Gunas - Qualities are Everything!

Every material object has a unique set of qualities. The ocean is wet, vast and salty, air is light, subtle and readily movable, whilst soil is heavy, dense and stable. It is by the unique qualities that we recognise an object and differentiate it from other similar objects.

Without its qualities, the object would cease to be that particular object. The qualities and the object are inseparable.

Each human being has their own unique combination of qualities, manifesting in their physical features, their physiology and their personality. Human beings differ significantly in their body size and shape, size of their bones, muscles, skin tone and texture, natural hormonal balance, facial features and physiologically! The variety is truly amazing when you consider it.

Likewise, you may know a person who has a 'hot-headed' personality, while another is as 'cool as a cucumber', another is 'sharp like a tack', and yet another is a 'salt of the earth' character. It's interesting to pay attention to the language we use to describe qualities in people!

Whilst the possible qualities are almost infinite, Ayurveda boils it down to ten pairs of opposite qualities (with some variance between different Acaryas):

heavy (guru) / light (laghu)

hot (ushna) / cold (sheeta or hima)

dry (ruksha) / unctuous (snigda)

cloudy (picchila) / clear (vishada)

mobile (chala) / steady (sthira)

sharp (tikshna) / dull or slow (manda)

solid (sandra) / liquid (drava)

gross (sthula) / subtle (sukshma)

hard (kathina) / soft (mrdu)

rough (khara) / smooth (slakshna)

Imagine each pair of qualities representing a spectrum, with every object placing somewhere on the spectrum, either at the extreme ends with an obvious presentation, or somewhere in the middle.

For example, the quality of heaviness can be found physically with more density of muscle, soft tissue and bone, or excess weight; in food that is harder to digest; and temperamentally in a person who is deliberate, slow, steady and methodical in their actions.

In contrast, lightness is noted in the body with a thin frame, less muscle and tissue bulk; foods that digest easily and quickly; and temperamentally in a person who moves plentifully and with ease but may also be unsteady. Both heavy and light are needed at the right time and circumstance, but balance is absolutely necessary.

Each of these qualities has a predominance of the 5 gross elements (pancha mahabhutas), of earth, water, fire, air and ether, and we can also observe the above qualities in those elements. Fire obviously is predominantly hot, whereas water is typically cool (unless heated by fire). Earth is stable and wind or air is moving/unstable. Ether is subtle and earth is gross.

Certain groups of qualities and elements are likely to group together:

- light, dry, cold, subtle, rough, clear, mobile - the qualities of air and ether combined - these combined qualities become what we know as Vata Dosha.

-hot, sharp, light, unctuous (oil gets a fire blazing!), and liquid. When these combined qualities group together they are called Pitta Dosha.

-dense, heavy, stable, smooth, solid, cloudy (unclear), and coolness. Altogether these qualities are known as Kapha Dosha.

An Ayurvedic practitioner knows the potential for how these qualities can manifest is different regions and systems of the body. They are equipped with methods to read and understand the manifestation and combinations of qualities, and learn special methods and substances that can perform a counterbalance.

For example, many ayurvedic therapies use oil, which is unctuous (snigdha) to offset the dry quality (ruksha) which increases in the body with overuse, exposure to cold and with old age.

This is another aspect of ayurvedic understanding and treatment.