From Atoms to Awareness: The Science of Triguna in Ayurvedic Practice
If you are familiar with some Ayurveda fundamentals - either because you are a patient or because you take an interest and have done some studying on your own - then you're likely familiar with the concept of tridosha. Tridosha is another name for the group of three doshas (dosha from the Sanskrit root dush, meaning to spoil or to be spoiled).
The three doshas of vata, pitta, and kapha are super groups of physiologic functions that take place in all living organisms. Vata is the group of faculties relating to movement and transport; pitta is the group of functions relating to digestion, transformation, and inflammation; kapha is the cluster of stuff pertaining to structure, protection, and lubrication. Collectively, these comprise all of the actions and processes that support life. The three doshas are also the vehicle by which imbalance and disease develop - in other words, they cause spoilage, and/or they take on spoilage.
But did you know that there are two other doshas described in Ayurvedic canon, that only pertain to the mind?
Well... there are!
And we'll be taking a bird's eye look at these in this post, and highlight why they are important to our practice here at The Buddha's Medicine.
But first, some more background.
An Overview of Triguna
The word "guna" in Sanskrit broadly refers to an attribute or a quality of something, depending upon the context. For example, in Ayurveda, each dosha is made up of two elements, which themselves are comprised of qualities sometimes referred to as the gurvadi gunas (and at other times, tattvas, which in this context is a synonym).
In relation to people or things, a guna may simply be expressed in the form of a colloquial adjective.
And then there is Triguna. Triguna is the grouping of three universal, cosmological qualities that are inherent to all matter, whether living or non-living. And all matter has all three in some proportion or another.
Although it might seem - based on the terminology - that Triguna and Tridosha could be similar, in reality, they're not that similar, save for the fact that there are three of each and that the number three is expressed in the prefix, "tri."
Triguna is comprised of the three gunas of sattva, rajas, and tamas. In a sense, these represent aspects of the atomic nature of material substrata.
So, what does that mean exactly?
Triguna, in More Detail
What that means is that each of the three gunas is analogous to one of the three parts of the atom. (I promise I'll bring this back to Ayurveda and health in a bit.)
Sattva is the quality of luminosity, clarity, and, in a sense, awareness. It therefore is analogous to the proton. The number of protons in an atom is what defines (or clarifies) its elemental identity, no matter how that atom might be interacting with other atoms. For example, oxygen atoms will always have 8 protons, no matter what molecule they might be a part of.
Then there is rajas, the quality of momentum, activity, and reactivity. Rajas is the quality inherent to the electron. It is responsible for taking on energy and dispersing that energy in various ways, including in reactions with other atoms and molecules of various kinds.
And finally, tamas is the quality of inertia, dullness, and decay (in the recycling/composting kind of sense). Tamas is represented in the atom by the neutron, a relatively energetically inert particle that contributes more mass to an atom than anything else. Neutron shedding is a relatively common form of nuclear decay in the universe (though not the only one).
Triguna in Health
So I promised I'd come back to Triguna as it pertains to Ayurveda and health, and here we are!
The simple version of Triguna's application in the context of Ayurveda is as follows:
Sattva (in general) promotes awareness, balance, harmony, and clarity - though it does rely on the presence of both rajas and tamas in some measure to accomplish this.
Rajas translates into increased activity with increasing prominence. We need some amount to operate in our day-to-day lives. When rajas overtakes sattva and tamas, it can contribute to restlessness, irritability, anxiety, instability, and so on.
Tamas presents as resistance, sloth, stupor, and sleep. We need some in order to rest deeply and restoratively. If tamas overcomes sattva and rajas, however, then stubbornness, unreliability, depression, and a general lack of cognitive and emotional awareness can result.
We need all three in some measure in order to function and thrive. It is optimal to have more sattva than either rajas or tamas. It is best to have the least amount of tamas, relatively speaking, though we want tamas to take over more when we go to bed.
Can you identify from these descriptions how and why rajas and tamas are considered doshas (and why sattva is not)?
Here's the Cliff Notes version of the rationale: if a dosha is a thing that causes spoilage or becomes spoiled (i.e. causes imbalance or takes on imbalance) as per the definition above, then both rajas and tamas meet that definition! Their influence, again, is specific to the mind, since they are inherently perceptive and behavioral when it comes to living beings.
Applying Triguna to Plans of Care
Each aspect of Triguna - sattva, rajas, and tamas - can be enhanced or diminished relative to the others. And that principle is how we work with Triguna clinically at The Buddha's Medicine. For example, if someone is in a highly rajasik state, we'll work to reduce rajas via primarily sattvic interventions, activities (meditation, breathwork, activities that promote interpersonal harmony, etc.), and foods (fresh, seasonal, mostly plant-based, and minimally salty, spicy, and bitter), and also tamasik interventions to some degree (scheduling do-nothing downtime, ensuring adequate and timely sleep, etc.). If someone is in a tamasik state, the emphasis is mostly on increasing sattva, with a little bit of rajas (spice in food, relatively vigorous physical activity, scheduled proactivity in various ways, etc.).
Can someone have too much sattva? Technically no, because sattva is not a dosha. However, a person can have too little of both rajas and tamas at the same time, and this can be a problem. How might that look? It is possible, for instance, for a person to spend too much time in a state of sattvik spiritual inquiry, and disregard the material realities of their life.
There is much more we can say about Triguna, but we might be here a bit too long.
Triguna and You
Are you curious about your Trigunik profile and how sattva, rajas, and tamas can be used therapeutically for you? Do you struggle with focus, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, spiritual bypass, or another behavioral challenge? Or perhaps multiple?
As always, if you are curious about your constitution & health (or health of a loved one),, you can book a cost-free, 15-minute Consultation, and we'll discuss!
Dr. Matt Van Auken, MD, MPH
Dr. Matt is an Ayurveda-trained, triple board-certified physician.
