Ayurveda: Microcosm of the Macrocosm
Image: The Human Body as Microcosm in India, Greek Cosmology, and Sixteenth-Century Europe
So I realize that I haven’t sent a newsletter in a very long time, and if you are new here, this will be your first experience reading a message from me in this format. Welcome.
Allow me to re-introduce myself. My name is Alli Rae. No, Rae is not my middle name, I have one of those too. And yes, I like to be called Alli Rae not just Alli. I live in sunny Miami where the energy feels vibrant, pungent, and rajasic. Stick around ARae Life long enough and you will learn what pungent and rajasic mean. I spend a chunky percentage of my time managing a yoga studio in South Miami, the other chunk I piece into crumbs of things that fill me up like teaching yoga, practicing yoga, reading, anything in the sun, walking, cooking, loving on Oliver and my dog, Shiva, and studying Ayurveda & Yoga. I have so much gratitude for my everyday life.
In the spirit of introductions, the inspiration of this newsletter grew out of a strong desire to share the practical science of life that is Ayurveda and it’s universal principals that when applied daily, make for a radiant life.
Calling on all who seek greater harmony, radiant health and longevity, give a warm welcome to Ayurveda.
Ayurveda: Man is the Microcosm of the Macrocosm
Image: Ganga Ma by Giulio Di Sturco
Ayurveda has been viewed in the West as this esoteric science. Unattainable and difficult to understand. Mainly because the world view in the West is rooted in questioning, analysis and logical deduction. However, in Ayurveda’s origins in the East, the keys to understanding are unlocked with acceptance, observation and experience. Approach Ayurveda from this viewpoint, and the 5,000 year old tested and refined teachings will come naturally to you like water running down a river.
“Man is a microcosm, or a little world, because he is an extract from all the stars and planets of the whole firmament, from the earth and the elements; and so he is their quintessence.”
— Paracelsus
The teachings of Ayurveda are simple, practical principles based on natural laws in so being they are universally available to everyone. [insert Oprah meme, “You get Ayurveda! You get Ayurveda!] Because we are in fact nature. Ayurveda and all Vedic knowledge teaches that we are a microcosm in unity with the macrocosm. So truths about nature as a whole are to be inferred as truths of human nature. When we begin to understand this idea, the health system of Ayurveda becomes the most natural and resonate system we can use as a way for living well and healing holistically.
“Health is a state of living in harmony with nature as a whole, and with our own basic natures. Because we are formed from nature and have a sympathetic resonance with her, only nature can heal us when we become ill. When we eat when we are hungry, rest when we are tired, and create when inspiration comes, we live in sync with nature’s tempos. Disease will not last in a body-mind that is flowing in harmony with the rhythms of the cosmos, which sustain the material world with energy.”
— Bri. Maya Tiwari
If you take away anything from this letter, I hope it’s that you understand Ayurveda is so much more than the Pitta, Kapha, and Vata constitutions which the modern mainstream medium so eloquently plucked from and reduced Ayurveda to. My wish in sharing the teaching of microcosm & macrocosm is so that you understand where the idea of the three doshas actually originated from, and to begin to understand Ayurveda more intimately. Ayurveda is not a fad diet or a quick fix to “eat for your dosha.” Ayurveda is an ancient path, a middle way of living in harmony with the natural rhythms of nature as a whole, and with our own basic natures like water running down a river.
“Man is the microcosm of the macrocosm ; the God on earth is built on the pattern of the God in nature. But the universal consciousness of the real Ego transcends a million fold the self-consciousness of the personal for false ego.”
— Carl Jung
