The Approach
What we describe, and what we don’t.
Ayurveda is, before anything else, a vocabulary for describing a person and a season. This page sets out the terms we use and what happens in a consultation.
The terms
Four words do most of the work. They are descriptive categories from the classical texts, and we use them as the texts use them.
- Prakriti
- The constitution a person is described as having — the proportions of the three doshas said in the texts to be settled at birth, and used from then on as a reference point.
- Dosha
- Three functional categories — vata, pitta and kapha — used in classical Ayurveda to describe patterns of activity. They are a vocabulary of description, not a diagnosis.
- Dinacharya
- The daily order: the sequence and timing of waking, cleaning, eating, working and sleeping that the texts lay out as a regimen.
- Ritucharya
- The seasonal order: the same principle applied across the year, with the regimen described differently for each season of the classical calendar.
A first consultation
Ninety minutes, in four parts. You leave with a written description and nothing else — no prescription is issued on a first visit.
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01
Intake
A conversation, around forty minutes, covering sleep, appetite, digestion, work, travel and the shape of an ordinary day.
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02
Examination
Pulse, tongue and a set of observations, recorded on a standard form. Nothing is taken away and nothing is sent to a laboratory.
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03
Description
The terms above, written out as they apply to you. This is a description of what was observed, in the vocabulary of the tradition.
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04
Discussion
Which therapies exist, what each one involves, how long each takes, and what a course of them would ask of your week.
What we don’t do
- We do not tell you that a therapy will treat, cure, relieve or improve any condition. Nothing on this site makes that claim, and the descriptions are written so that they cannot be read as making it.
- We do not publish testimonials, star ratings or review counts.
- We do not name practitioners or show photographs of them.
- We do not claim certifications, accreditations, awards or years in business.
- We do not collect your data. There is no form anywhere on this site, no newsletter, no booking system and no analytics.