Vyāyāma
Vyāyāma · vi-āyāma, “exertion, bodily exercise”
Grammar: masculine noun, from vi and āyāma (stretching, exertion, from ā and the root yam): “exertion”.
Meaning: bodily exercise, which in Āyurveda keeps the doshas in balance and makes the body hardy.
In the scriptures: in the Agni Purāṇa, Dhanvantari teaches Suśruta about vyāyāma in the Āyurveda that Agnideva relates.
It removes kapha. In the medicines that remove all diseases, Dhanvantari gives the signs of kapha-vyādhi: laziness, watering in the mouth, heaviness of the body, sweetness in the mouth and a longing for warmth. Unctuous and hot food, the oil bath and drinking oil remove vāta-roga; ghee, milk, sugar-candy and the rays of the moon remove pitta; triphalā oil taken with honey, and exercise and the like, remove kapha-roga; and the pūjā and dhyāna of Vishṇu remove all diseases (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 280).
When to exercise. In the chapter on rasa and the rest, Dhanvantari teaches that one should not exercise during indigestion, after a meal, or after drinking water. The day has four parts (yāmas), and one should not exercise when half of the first yāma has passed. One should bathe once in cold water; hot water lessens fatigue; one should not hold the breath. Exercise removes kapha, bathing removes excess pitta, and to sit in the sun after a bath is good. One who exercises becomes able to bear the sun and other hardships (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 281).
Related terms: Kapha · Pitta · Vāta · Dosha · Snāna · Āyurveda
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 280–281