The Three Stages of Disease in Ayurveda: Accumulation, Aggravation, and Pacification

This process has been thoroughly studied and its phases delineated in great detail. The disease process begins with disturbances in the balance of the doshas. Temporary imbalances are common and quite normal; problems arise if the aggravated condition is not corrected. In the normal course of events, vata, pitta, and kapha go through cycles of change in three stages: accumulation, provocation or aggravation, and pacification.

Pitta, for example, begins to build up and accumulate in the late spring. It is provoked or aggravated in the hot summer months, and it naturally becomes pacified when the weather cools down in the autumn. If the increased dosha isn’t pacified naturally through a change in seasons, it undergoes further changes and disease may result. If a person with a predominantly vata constitution experiences some degree of increased vata in the fall due to the cool, dry, windy weather, but it returns to normal soon after, disease will not develop.

The person can aid the process of restoring balance, for example, by eating moist, warming foods and dressing warmly in the windy weather. How to Transform Negative Feelings Negative feelings can cause hurt both to ourselves and to others. If we express anger or criticism, for example, we inflict pain on someone else. On the other hand, repressing such feelings creates problems for ourselves, as the stressful biochemistry affects the internal organs and systems down to the cellular level.

If both expressing and holding back negative feelings can be harmful, what shall we do when these emotions boil up in us? Ayurveda offers a way to learn from such situations and resolve them in a positive manner. At the moment the feeling comes up, look into it. Let’s suppose it is a feeling of anger.

Take a long, deep breath, let yourself feel the anger, and exhale it out. Give the feeling total freedom to express itself within you, so that you look at it honestly and feel it. Breathe into it, surrender to it, and be with it. Breathe into it, and breathe out.