Ayurveda Glossary
Agni: fire element, fire of digestion
Ahara: Ayurvedic nutritional science
Ama: everything undigested by the body and/or spirit
Akasha: space element
Asanas: Yoga positions
Asthi: bone tissue
Ayus: life, era
Basti: medical enema
Charaka Samhita: oldest collection of texts of the Ayurveda physician Charaka
Dhatus: the seven tissues of the body (Mamsa, Meda, Rakta, Rasa, Shukra, Asthi, Majja)
Dosha: three types - Vata, Pitta and Kapha - of basic regulatory forces which guide physical and spiritual attitudes, characteristics and functions in a human being
Ghee: clarified butter, ghee
Guna: characteristic (of Doshas)
Jala: water element
Jyotisch: Vedic astrology
Konstitution: constitution, inherited genetic more-or-less unchanged character of the body, spirit and soul of a human being
Majja: bone marrow and brain
Mamsa: muscle tissue
Marma: vital points, energy pressure points
Meda: fatty tissue
Nadis: energy canals, activated by special treatments in therapy
Ojas: the life force or vigor of a human being, responsible for charisma, inner peace, health, vitality, resilience and joy of life
Prakriti: the inherited, genetic constitution of a human being
Pranayama: conscious regulation and deepening of breathing
Prithivi: earth element
Rakta: blood
Rasa: plasma
Rasayanas: (literally: the correct flow of plasma in the body) Ayurvedic rejuvenation viz. anti-aging therapy
Sattwam: clarity, pure intelligence
Shukra: reproductive tissues (semen, ovum,)
Srotas: body canals
Sthapatya Veda: Vedic science of harmony in building
Subdoshas: subdivisions of the Doshas, five per Dosha, representing qualities of the body and the spirit
Surya Namaskara: sun salutation, salute to the sun, a sequence of movements in Yoga (asana)
Sushruta Samhita: Collection of texts of the Indic physician Sushruta
Sutra: aphorism, rule
Vaidya: traditional Ayurvedic physician, learned man to whom traditional knowledge is conveyed
Vayu: air element
Veda: pure, complete knowledge, the intelligence of nature
Vikriti: deviation of the Doshas from Prakriti
