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Nature's Healing Qualities: The Gunas Written by John Joseph Immel, Asheville, NC

What are the Gunas?

The gunas are the twenty most important sensations. Ayurveda is about how you feel. It places emphasis on sharpening the five senses. Development of the five senses offers a clearer perspective on reality. Through the gunas everyone can experience Ayurveda directly.

All of Ayurveda begins and ends with the gunas. The five elements and the doshas are simply common collections of gunas. To know Ayurveda know the gunas. The first eight gunas are heavy and light, sharp and dull, hot and cold, oily and dry. On Joyful Belly we've selected only those gunas that are most useful in cooking.

Facts About Gunas

• The gunas are the twenty most important feelings.
• Gunas are organized into ten pairs of opposites.
• Similar gunas aggravate each other.
• Opposite gunas balance or pacify each other.
• Gunas are easy to experience.
• Vata, pitta and kapha are simply packs of gunas that cause each other.

To Learn More, Click on a Guna Below

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For sharp, try pungent.
For dull, try heavy.
For rough, try dry.
For dense, try heavy.
For hard, try heavy.
For soft, try liquid.
For mobile, try light.
For stable, try heavy.
For subtle, try clear.
For gross, try heavy.
For sticky, try gooey.

How to Think Ayurvedically

To think Ayurvedically rename the disease and the medicine as a feeling. Use the gunas. For example, influenza is a noun but a cold is an adjective. Some people get a hot flu. Others get a cold flu. While treating the flu is mysterious treating its coldness is simple. Use 'hot'. The treatment becomes more obvious when we can rename the disease as a feeling.

Food & the Gunas

Ayurveda also views food as a feeling. It classifies food by its effect rather than nutritional content. Chilies are hot but cucumbers are cool. Bread is heavy but salads are light. Butter is oily but popcorn is dry. Black pepper is sharp but cheese is dull.

Gunas & Dosha

Claudia Welch says that "Gunas are like dogs; they travel in packs." Some gunas tend to have affinity for each other. For example cold causes dry. When the body is cold the blood vessels constrict. The constriction restricts blood flow making the arms and legs dry. The three doshas are three different packs of gunas.

What about Satva, Rajas & Tamas?

In yoga, the gunas are sattva, rajas, tamas. In Ayurveda those are called the maha gunas. Rajas and tamas are considered to be the doshas of the mind. Sattva is considered to be a balanced mind.

Heavy

Cold

Oily

Light

Hot

Dry

Liquid

Gooey

Clear

Difficult

Easy

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