In Ayurveda, bodily symptoms are said to be the expression of finer forces within the body. We are made of fire, air, water, earth and ether. A deficiency or excess of one or more of these elements is what the practitioner of Ayurveda may detect using pulse diagnosis, tongue diagnosis and constitutional typing. Treatment in Ayurveda can include changes to diet, lifestyle, herbal remedies and a system of cleansing called "panchakarma".
A valuable lesson from Ayurveda is that healing takes time. It is said that for every one year of living in disease it will take one month for healing. Calculate say 20 years of ill health will take one year and eight months to come back to optimal health. The process of healing requires an investment of time and energy on the part of the patient.
You will find practitioners of Ayurveda and entire spa/retreat centres based on Ayurvedic principals. Cookbooks are available which provide recipes that are suited to the different constitution types and most will include questionnaires for identifying your own constitution.
Finding a balance among your elements is a process. We test the new lifestyle over a period of time and we learn about ourselves and our tendencies. Do we tend to burn hot all the time or are we slow, cold and dense in our movements. The surprising thing about healing with Ayurveda is that the elemental balance we hold at any given time will change, but it is said that our constitution remains constant throughout our lives. The challenge is in fine tuning our lifestyle to suite our constitution and recognize when the balance is set off before physical illness sets in.