Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution [Paperback]

I was given this book by a friend and absolutely found it amazing. If you're new to it or ayurveda seems to mystical to you, this book explains it. The author is a westerner and is able to communicate his knowledge of ayurveda extremely well. Ive read a lot of books on ayurveda this beats every one of them by far (and is way better than the books Ive read by Deepak Chopra), simply because it digs beneath the superficial understanding of ayurveda to why it makes sense scientifically.

For example, all of the other books I previously read on ayurveda described an individuals health as a natural balance of three elements (wind, fire, and earth). This book made the useful distinction of describing an individuals health as the balance of 3 natural FORCES in your body (vata: catabolism, pitta: metabolism, kapha: anabolism)

I have ulcerative colitis and over a couple of years of my own personal research and experimentation I've come to certain natural methods to help treat my condition. But later on when I got my hands on this book I was suprised to find that most of those recommendations were already described here.

My recommendation is take this book and read it very slowly and carefully digest the points on ayurveda and youll have a really really solid practical understanding of the science that you can use for the rest of your life.

One of the most rewarding and useful books I have ever read

I first read "Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution" by Robert Svoboda eight years ago, and it was in fact the first book on the subject that I had ever read. It is an engagingly written, perfectly organized introduction to a discipline that I call "data dense." That is to say, ayurveda is an extraordinarily complex study of the forces and forms, events and processes, that govern the structure and functioning of the human body in health and disease. Because of Dr. Svoboda's clear and logical elucidation of that study, it is made understandable to the reader willing to invest the time and thought in surveying its breadth and plumbing its depth.

Dr. Robert Svoboda is an American author and an ayurvedic physician who is one of the luminaries of the field: a teacher, writer and practitioner who alone has done more to raise public awareness of the ancient healing art than any other Westerner and one of the dozen leading ayurvedic educators in the world today. He is the author of a dozen books on the subject and countless professional and popular articles. Svoboda graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1972 and in 1973 moved to India to study at the prestigious Tilak Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya (an ayuvedic medical college) in Pune. In 1980, he graduated from the University of Pune with the degree of Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) and was awarded the distinction of "Ayurvedacharya." Svoboda is the first Westerner to graduate from a college of ayurvedic medicine and to be licensed to practice ayurveda in India.

For the individual new to ayurveda, this book is the best introduction available. The author communicates his deep knowledge of ayurvedic science extremely effectively, probing beneath the superficialities and illustrating clearly the reasons that it makes sense scientifically and philosophically.

Dr. Svoboda's work on the role of the "prakriti," the constitutional psychobiological types postulated by ayurveda's theory comes after much research and clinical experience. Prakriti, the individual `s constitution, is the basis of ayurvedic medicine; ayurvedic theory asserts that if an individual (or his physician) comprehends the nature of their own constitution, they can extrapolate with precision what comprises a good diet and lifestyle specifically for them. This emphasis on the unique needs of each individual in maintaining or restoring a state of health is the "crown jewel" of ayurveda and is what makes it distinctive from all other healing arts.

In addition to explaining the theory underlying "prakriti," this valuable work illustrates how best to bring each constitutional type into healthy balance, addressing some of the most commonly encountered health challenges such as obesity and malnutrition, asthma, allergies, rheumatic diseases, tuberculosis and cancer.

Dr. Svoboda does not stop at the fundamentals: he generously gives his readers a small taste of some of the more rarified realms of ayurvedic practice in the concluding chapters of the book on Indian alchemy (rasa shastra) and on the metaphysics that lie behind and beyond the workings of this ancient science. That taste of what ayurveda has to offer leaves the reader hungry for more (and of course, there is very much more).

I unhesitatingly recommend "Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution" for anyone curious as to what ayurveda is all about: the person considering consulting an ayurvedic practitioner, the Western-trained health professional interested in or wishing to augment his or her effectiveness using ayurveda's principles, the student of yoga curious about yoga's "sister science," or anyone inquiring into ancient India's vast contribution to world science.

Dr. Svoboda has done wonderful work in writing this book, and deserves much gratitude for his effort. This is one of the most rewarding books I have ever read, and one that inspired me to continue my study of ayurveda.

This is a really good book, but I would not call it a good introduction to Ayurveda. I would recommend Amadea Morningstar's books for the beginner. The writing style is a bit 'wooly' and vague for the beginner, but if you have a good basic understanding of Ayurveda, it is perfectly clear. Not really a 'how to' manual for living Ayruvedically, but fills in the holes left by the more basic manuals.

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