Ayurveda is the science of daily living and a 5,000-year-old preventive medicine system, which operates as a fundamental ecosystem for life and living within nature’s laws. It examines all the energies in the universe that are internal and external to our being, as well as within us.
One of the philosophies in Ayurveda is the concept of balancing our lives through the, which in Sanskrit means ‘essence or taste.’ Taste in Ayurveda has a much deeper significance than we are accustomed to in the West. It is considered critically important in determining the effect that various foods, spices, therapeutic herbs and experiences will have on our state of balance – body, mind and spirit. The six rasas each provide different qualities – sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent – and are used to balance any mind-body (energy) imbalances.
