20 gunas or 20 attributes

agni: essential form of fire and heat; the basis of good digestion.

ahamkara: the ego.

ahara rasa: nutrient material, acted upon in the digestive tract by rasa dhatu agni.

alochaka: form of pitta dosha found especially in the eyes.

ama: toxin, resulting from weak digestion.

amalaki fruit powder - Embilica officinalis

amashaya - The stomach; literally, the receptacle for undigested food or ama.

ambu vaha srotas - The bodily channels carrying water. The roots or governors of this channel are the pancreas, soft palate, and choroid plexus in the brain. Its pathway is the mucus membrane of the gastrointestinal tract, and the openings are the kidneys, tongue, and sweat glands.

amla - sour taste.

anna vaha srotas - the channels transporting grains or food, the digestive system, alimentary canal.

apana - one of the five types of vata, which goes downward and is responsible for excretion/expulsion of feces, flatus, urine, menstrual blood etc.

artava: dhatu related to reproduction and creativity, acts with shukra

asthi: dhatu related to bone.

avalambaka: form of kapha dosha, found especially in the chest.

avipattikar churna - an Ayurvedic medicine popularly used to treat hyperacidity.

Ayurveda - the knowledge about body, mind, senses and soul.

ayusa - combined form of soul, mind, body and senses, lifespan.

dhatu is an element, either 1) one of the seven dhatus, the constituent tissues which support life, or 2) one of the three dhatus, the balanced forms of vata, pitta and kapha, which are also the supporters of the organism.

dosha: term used to describe the dhatus vata, pitta and kapha when they are out of balance; non physical forces which can lead to an accumulation of physical waste products.

duhkha: suffering, unhappiness, ill health; literally, “bad space.”

Embilica officinalis - amalaki fruit powder

kapha - One of the three doshas, combining the water element and earth elements; the psycho-physiological energy that forms the body's structure and holds the cells together.

Kapila - The name of the sage who founded the Sankhya school of philosophy.

karma - action; the law stating that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction; specific action of a substance or herb; along with guna (attribute), karma makes up the inherent nature of a substance, according to Vaisheshika.

karma yoga - One of the main paths to liberation; the path of taking positive action and surrendering the fruits of all actions to the Divine.

khavaigunya - Any weak or defective space in the body that exists because of past trauma, chronic disease, or hereditary influence and becomes a place where aggravated doshas can easily lodge and create disorder.

khichadi: an Indian dish of rice and split mung beans.

kloma - pancreas; the root of the water carrying channels; kloma also refers to the choroid plexus in the brain.

majja: dhatu related to the bone marrow and nerves, brain, nervous system.

malas: wastes that must be excreted from the system, but which serve the body between their creation and excretion, i.e., feces, urine, and sweat.

mamsa: dhatu related to muscle tissue

manas: the thinking mind.

margas: pathways in which the doshas flow.

mutra: urine.

mutra vaha srotas: channel (srotas) for excretion of urine.

ojas: the essential form of water within the body; the ultimate product of good digestion. It acts as a receptacle for the subtle fire within the body.

pitta - One of the three doshas, made up of the fire and water elements; governs digestion, absorption, assimilation, nutrition, metabolism, and body temperature.

prakruti: 1) the first creation, the great ocean from whence comes all life, or 2) the individual inborn or genetic constitution.

prana - The vital life force without which life cannot exist and which is primarily taken in through the breath; the flow of cellular intelligence that governs cellular communication, sensory perception, motor responses, and all subtle electrical impulses of the body; the subtle essence of vata dosha. Prana has a functionally integrated relationship with ojas and tejas.

prana vaha srotas - The bodily channels that take in and carry prana, or life force. The roots or governors of this channel are the left chamber of the heart and the entire gastrointestinal tract. The channel continues along the respiratory tract and bronchial tree, including the alveoli, and opens at the nose.

prana vayu - One of the five subtypes of vata dosha, prana moves inward and downward and is associated with the nervous system, where it governs all sensory functions and maintains attention, and with the lungs, where it governs the inhalation aspect of respiration.

pranayama: special breathing exercises. See Chapter XII, Ayurveda: The Science of Self-Healing. Also spelled as prana yama

prinanam - nutrition, the main function of rasa dhatu.

prithivi - earth element.

purisha agni - The fire component of the membranous structure surrounding the organs of the excretory system, it governs the elimination of feces. It also helps to absorb liquids and minerals, forms the stools, and maintains the temperature and color of the feces.

purisha vaha srotas - The bodily channel that carries feces; the root or governor of this channel is the cecum, rectum, and sigmoid colon. The pathway of the channel is the large intestine, and the opening or mouth of this channel is the anal orifice.

raga - desire, affection; enthusiasm; coloration; one of the functions of healthy agni.

rajah - menstruation; one of the superior by-products of rasa dhatu.

rajas - One of the three universal gunas (triguna) or qualities of consciousness; the principle of kinetic energy; active, mobile, and responsible for all movements.

rakta - blood.

rakta agni - The fire component present in the blood, it is responsible for the digestion and assimilation of nutrients that nourish blood tissue.

rakta dhatu - blood; one of the seven bodily tissues, rakta consists of red blood cells, and in Ayurveda is a separate tissue from the plasma (rasa dhatu). Its main functions include maintenance of life, oxygenation, and transportation of nutrients. Rakta is said by Sushruta to be the fourth dosha because ultimately all untreated disorders will affect the blood, and because unhealthy blood causes systemic problems in the same way that an aggravated dosha does.

rakta moksha - bloodletting or blood cleansing, one of the five cleansing actions of pancha karma; a specific treatment for removing excess pitta and blood purification.

ranjaka - coloring, dyeing, one of the five types of pitta.

rasa - juice, taste, flavor, essence, liquid, fluid. More commonly rasa refers to taste; the tanmatra relating to water element; the subtle quality of the water element that exists in objects, allowing them to be sensed by taste; the first experience of food in the mouth; there are six tastes in our diet - sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent.

rasa vaha srotas - channels carrying plasma or lymph.

rasayana: rejuvenation therapy.

roma kupa - sweat glands; one of the openings of ambu vaha srotas.

ruksha - dry, arid, not greasy, emaciated, thin.

rupa - signs, symptoms, indicators or marks (of diseases).

Sama Veda - The third of the Four Vedas.

Sankhya - A major school of Indian philosophy founded by the sage Kapila. It gives Ayurveda a systematic account of cosmic evolution according to 25 categories - purusha, cosmic spirit; prakruti, creative energy; mahad (mahat), cosmic intelligence; ahamkara, the individuating principle or “I-maker”; manas, the individual mind; indriyani, the 10 sense faculties and motor facilities; tanmatras, the five subtle elements; and pancha maha bhutas, the five gross elements.

shamana: palliation

tejas: fire element as it relates to mental function; subtle fire throughout the body.

three dhatus: the balanced forms of vata, pitta and kapha, which are also the supporters of the organism.

trikatu: herbal mixture of dry ginger, black pepper, and Indian long pepper.

triphala: an herbal medication consisting of three Indian herbs (Haritaki, Amalaki, and Bibhitaki), often used to aid elimination.

vikruti - Unnatural, imbalanced, or modified state; the current state of the individual, as opposed to prakruti, the original state of the constitution; a state of the body and mind in which the individual is more prone to disease.

vipaka - The final post-digestive effect of food that occurs in the colon and has an action on the excreta - urine, feces and sweat. Vipaka is described as sweet, sour, or pungent (spicy).

virya: the heating and cooling properties of a food.

vata - One of the three doshas, vata is associated with ether and air elements. It governs all movements and activities in the body.