BEAUTY IN AYURVEDA

Since ages the definition of beauty & youth has equated to a svelte muscular composure, toned body, flawless complexion, lustrous hair, balanced features & an overall charming personality. Till today, the aspiration to behold the most beautiful physical composure, is a dream for every woman. However, the modern means of achieving these beauty goals are quite superficial & are limited to regular salon visits, application of well-marketed chemical based skincare & cosmetic products, slimming medications & surgeries, slimming centers, derma clinics, botox for those perfect features & other short-cut techniques to attain the required physical appearance. Overtime, drawbacks of these modern techniques to attain beauty at a superficial level are quite visible in women losing their actual charm under layers of make-up & camouflaging techniques. Quite Interestingly, the entire world is now looking towards ancient Indian Ayurveda for its approach towards beauty in holistic sense!

As per Ayurveda, each woman is beautiful in her own right & can enhance her appearance, features & overall vitality & radiance by abiding to the Ayurveda lifestyle. This age-old 5,000-year-old healing system from India, throws light on unique perspective of beauty, focusing on the importance of inner & outer balance. Dive-in into the world of Ayurveda & you will soon realize that beauty & skincare is much more than those self-claimed most effective skincare & self care products that you use daily. The idea of beauty as per Ayurveda is unique, yet very close to the operations of nature & functioning of human body.

About Ayurveda, Human Body & Beauty

Ayurveda distinguishes individuals based on their composition comprising of three primary universal forces: vata, pitta and kapha. These primal energies are also called doshas, & each individual is believed to have a unique composition based on the combination of these inherent energies. These energies possess unique characteristics & their inherent combination in each individual decides one's physical, mental & emotional make-up. The inherent combination of energies keeps changing its ratio depending on one's dietary & lifestyle choices. From this perspective, the human body is a flowing system predominated by the forces of these three energies that one inherits by birth. Closer the balance of energies that one maintains, closer one becomes healthy in physical, mental & emotional sphere. From the modern perspective, this concept of Ayurveda is justified, considering that each second millions of cells die-off & new ones birth. Considering this unique capability of existence, you can change your beauty & appearance inside-out in a year's time as the new cells are reborn based on what you feed your cells on daily basis, how well you oxygenate them with breathing process, how stress-free you keep the cells by taking measures against free radicals & how disciplined you self care to avoid harm to cells in any way. Clearly, outer beauty reflects as a state of inner working conditions of the body.

Definition of Beauty in Ayurveda

As per Ayurveda, the definition of beauty is way beyond cosmetics, salons, gyms, derma clinics & botox. Beauty as per Ayurveda is a state of balance of one's existence in all spheres of life, & this balance is affected by what you eat, what time you eat, how much you eat, what you choose to eat, whether you follow a disciplined inside-out cleansing routine, whether you consume foods that help detoxify oneself internally versus consuming foods that produce toxins & create internal impurities, whether you follow a natural skincare routine that is free of hazardous chemicals & whether you practice purifying daily practices that keep one youthful & ageless through the years. In its holistic sense, Ayurveda defines beauty as "Roopam, Gunam, Vayastyag, iti Shubhanga Karanam". These three pillars of beauty equate to:

Roopam-The Outer Beauty: The quality of Roopam manifests as clear, radiant, flawless complexion & healthy, lustrous hair. Roopam holds a much wider meaning than a toned body, clear complexion & beautiful hair; Roopam, as per Ayurveda, is a reflection of good health, primarily good digestion that is an outcome of good eating habits & close-to-nature lifestyle.

Gunam-The Inner Beauty: The quality Gunam manifests as a warm, cheerful & pleasing personality with a magnetic charm. This trait in an individual comes across as clear innocent heart & mind.

Vayastyag-The Lasting Beauty: The quality of Vayastyag manifests as a timeless appearance comprising of a much younger looking & cheerful personality irrespective of the chronological age.

Idea of Beauty as Per Ayurveda:

As per Ayurveda, beauty is a state of balance within the body. A clean, clear flowing system with pure blood without any impurities builds muscles & cellular structures, that manifests as a radiant & attractive physical body outwards. Proper hydration at the cellular level, optimal metabolic processing within the body that coordinates the chemical & hormonal reactions affecting the skin, enhanced blood circulation with flow of dense nutrition being supplied to skin cells, outwards selfcare with natural ingredients & techniques, techniques to drain the lymphatics & keeping skin clean, porus & breathing, is the purpose of Ayurveda approach to a beautiful physical appearance inside-out.

Imbalances & impurities in tissues, cells, organs, nerves, vessels & other parts of the body are the foundational cause of faster aging as per Ayurveda. These imbalances occur due to poor eating habits & choices, stressful living, leading life away from nature, insufficient sleep, insufficient water intake, shallow breathing patterns & lack of daily discipline in one's routine.

Ayurveda's Take on Cosmetics & Beauty

Emotions show on face & cannot be camouflaged with make-up. A sad & gloomy emotional state will show on your face as a dull complexion. Overtime, you might end up acquiring wrinkles on specific facial spots where gloominess & sadness create folds. According to Ayurveda, the state of happiness, anger, sadness, cheerfulness, excitement, joy, bliss or calm, each single emotion shows on face & body & cannot be hidden under the layers of cosmetics. These emotions emerge from deep within to reflect to the outermost existence of your being. It is clearly believed in Ayurveda that the expression of 'Self-Realization' for good creates the most beautiful inner vibrations that manifests as radiant outer personality. Such people do not need cosmetics, botox or any othet superficial anti-aging techniques to gain their best beauty potential!

Infusing Ayurveda Beauty the Natural Way Into Your Daily Routine

• Ignite Your Agni-Revive your digestive power for your best outward appearance. Agni is considered to be the primal force behind digestion that holds all the power to grace you with a beautiful complexion. Consuming seasonal foods, chewing foods well, consuming warm foods & not eating late at night are a few factors that support agni. Ginger is considered to be a superfood to ignite sluggish agni & tea made from ginger must be consumed early morning to get your digestion going well through the day. The agni strengthening practices will ensure you remain slender, enjoy great muscular health & have a radiant outer appearance for years to come.
• Choose Foods that Beautify-Foods containing antioxidants including vitamin A, C & E, foods containing fiber, food containing good oils top the beauty nutrition essentials. Top-foods to boost your beauty quotient include green tea, turmeric, flaxseeds, lemon, walnuts & green leafy vegetables top the list of beauty foods. These foods when consumed fresh are brimming with pranic energy & nourish cells, tissues & organs to their full capacity. Overtime your beauty begins to transform with the internal changes that happen as a result of consuming these beauty foods regularly.
• Live Life in Harmony with Nature-Align yourself to the daily rhythms of nature, rise early & go off to bed early, avoid eating late at night, eat as per seasons & just flow with the flow of situations without stressing much. That's a subtle mantra to achieve your best appearance inside-out.
• Follow Ayurveda Cleansing Practices: 'Oil Pulling' is practiced using cold-pressed sesame oil to pull out toxins from the oral cavity. It is a great technique to detoxify the entire oral cavity including teeth & gums that hold most toxins. 'Dry Skin Brushing' helps activate the lymphatic system & stimulates blood circulation to help purge toxins from the body through the medium of sweat & removal of dead skin cells. It also strengthens immune system. 'Abhyanga' is self-anointing the body using medicated Ayurveda massage oils. This practice deeply nourishes the tissues, re-energizes, calms the mind & keeps skin youthful for ages. Abhyanga, as per Ayurveda should be done daily as a pre-bath ritual.  
• Skincare with Natural Ingredients: Keep your skin chemical-free & breathing using natural cleansers to ward off impurities from the body. Ayurveda herb-infused cleansing powders, pastes & oil formulations are super-healing & beautifying & can help deal with skin aging issues in the long run!
• Practice Yoga & Meditation: Yoga, pranayama & meditative practices help co-ordinate the breathing pattern, thus helping balance hormones & create a state of joy within. Such practice helps recreate a state of balance within & deal with internal imbalances beautifully & almost perfectly. This state of internal peace reflects as a beautiful, radiant personality outwards.