Ayurveda is based on the premise that the universe is made up of five elements: air, fire, water, earth and ether. These elements are represented in humans by three doshas or energies: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. When any of the doshas accumulate in the body beyond the desirable limit, the body loses its balance. Every individual has a distinct balance, and our health and well-being depend on getting a right balance of the three doshas. Ayurveda suggests specific lifestyle and nutritional guidelines to help individuals reduce the excess dosha. A healthy person, as defined in Sushrut Samhita, one of the primary works on Ayurveda, is "he whose doshas are in balance, appetite is good, all tissues of the body and all natural urges are functioning properly and whose mind, body and spirit are cheerful
According to Ayurveda, perfect health is a state where mind, body and spirit are balanced. All activities of the mind and body are governed by three biological principles or doshas -- Vata, Pitta and Kapha each of which is made up of some of the five elements of creation or mahabhutas. Vata is mainly air and space, governs movement in the body-the flow of blood. Since the other two doshas, Pitta and Kapha, cannot move without Vata, Vata is considered the lead dosha. Pitta, mainly fire and water, governs heat, metabolism and transformation. Digestion is an important Pitta activity. Kapha is made up mainly of earth and water. Among other things, Kapha controls weight and lubrication in the lungs, for example. Each of the doshas is also related to a season of the year -- Kapha with spring, Pitta with summer and Vata with fall and winter. When all of these doshas are perfectly in balance in an individual, it means that all the systems and activities of mind and body are functioning at optimal levels. When one or more of these doshas goes out of balance, it causes a disorder. Some factors that can cause these doshas to become imbalanced are improper diet stress, pollution or the weather.
Ayurveda is applicable to every living thing, as implied by its name, the science of life. Vedic sciences attribute life to more things than we normally do - the things such as air, wind, fire, earth, planets, stars, etc. are all thought to possess conscience like living beings. The basic premise of Ayurveda is that the entire cosmos or universe is part of one singular absolute. Everything that exists in the vast external universe also appear in the internal cosmos of the human body. The human body consisting of 50-100 million cells, when healthy, is in harmony, self-perpetuating and self-correcting just as the universe is. The ancient Ayurveda text, Charaka, says, "Man is the epitome of the universe. Within man, there is as much diversity as in the world outside. Similarly, the outside world is as diverse as human beings themselves." In other words, all human beings are a living microcosm of the universe and the universe is a living macrocosm of the human beings.