Practical Ayurveda

Discover the foods and recipes that are right for you, natural remedies for a variety of common ailments, and the power of yoga, meditation, and massage with Practical Ayurveda. - Amazon Product Description

In a nutshell description

This is a practical book explaining what Ayurveda is and how to bring it into your life. Ayurveda is the Science of long living and a healthy life.

Ayuhu = longevity, span of life. Veda = branch of knowledge.

The book starts off by explaining about the four aspects of the body (Doshas, Agni, Dhatus, Malas). It leads you through to discover what kind of body constitution you have and then dives more into detail about each body type. It then goes into Lifestyle talking about daily routines and looking after your body.

It then goes quite deeply into the food and diet aspect of Ayurveda and how different diets suit different body constitutions and how the seasons play a very important role in how our bodies are.

Next it brings exercises and focuses predominantly on Yoga. It lays out different Asanas and an explanation on the benefits each one brings. It introduces breathing exercises too and how incredibly important the breath is to a healthy organism.

Finally it comes to the mind and how to introduce positive thinking and meditation into your life. This is another type of Yoga (raja Yoga) and how it can bring balance and harmony into our lives.

There is so much information packed into this book and it is filled with wonderful illustrations. It’s a book that really justifies having the hard copy.

Quotes to make you think

Life is meant for service and not for self-seeking. Hold your life of the service of others. The more energy you expend in elevating others, the more universal energy will flow into you.

Why I love this book

I really like this book because the approach of Ayurveda just makes so much sense to me. This isn’t a one size fits all approach, it’s about understanding yourself and your body and then applying the specific suggestions to what works for you. It made me aware of so many aspects of myself that I somehow knew but never formulated into specific thoughts.

The part about the different body types and the energies within the body and how everyone has different combinations of these was a revelation to me. It really made me look at people around me differently, I saw them all in a new light.

There is also a section I really liked - ‘Looking after your body’ which lists ten practises you can do in the morning. Things like clearing your nasal passage, cleaning your tongue, inhaling aromas… simple practises but when combined together over a period of time they really made a difference in how I generally felt.

I still have much to learn from this book and about Ayurveda but this book gives such a great introduction and really opened my eyes about many aspects of life.

Read this book if…

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain a deeper insight into themselves and their mind and bodies. Personally I think this will be helpful for anyone but I also understand you have to be in a certain place in life to really absorb and appreciate what is written here.

There is a great deal of information in this book so it’s definitely a book you can keep coming back to. However, even just reading a section at a time can really have an influence on how you see yourself.

Some good further reading/watching/listening

This is a long but great introduction in Ayurveda if you are interested. It is a lecture given by Jason Milne:

This is a great intro video into the different Ayurvedic body types:

Where to get it

Get this book on

About the author

The Sivanada Yoga Vedanta Centre was established in 1957 by Swami Vishnudevanada. It is a nonprofit organisation which focuses on the teaching of classical Yoga and vedanta philosophy for the physical, mental and spiritual well being of humans. More than 25,000 Yoga teachers aev graduated from international Sivanada teachers since 1969.

Publication Date

5 June 2018