Calling all food enthusiasts, Ayurveda nerds, open minded health advocates.

Here is a dose of Ayurvedic wisdom, sister science of yoga, to spark your curiosity.

Understanding rasa can aid in balancing the doshas in body and mind and a enhance our relationship to food as delicious medicine and increase health.

What is Rasa?

Rasa means taste, which is the primary focus of this content.

Sankrist is a very profound mantric language, and words have many meanings. Rasa translates to taste, melody, experience, comprehension, interest, enthusiasm, appreciation, emotion, juice, plasma, mercury(metal) semen and essence.

What are the tastes in Ayurveda?

There are 6 tastes defined in Ayurveda to qualify food.

Sweet(Svadu)

Sour(Amla)

Salty(Lavana)

Bitter(Tikta)

Pungent(Ushna or Katu)

Astringent(Kashaya)

How do the elements relate to the 6 tastes?

The 5 elements are present in all substances, with 2 predominant ones in each substance.

They are:

Sweet: Earth+Water

Sour: Earth+Fire

Salty: Water+ Fire

Pungent: Air+Fire

Bitter: Air+Ether

Astringent: Air+ Earth

What organ is responsible for recognizing the tastes?

The tongue. Different areas of the tongue with different special taste buds allows us to experience the tastes. They also will affect how other organs respond.

What happens to your body when you eat something very pungent? Your heart starts beating faster, your stomach begins to growl, the body is stimulated. Because this taste is related to the stomach.

For "Understanding Rasa, part 2" we will be discussing how the tastes affect the doshas and how to recognize the foods by taste category.

UPDATE:

Mondays Yoga are back in the weekly online schedule.

We begin next Monday 8/29 at 9:00 am. Hope you can join.