Do you look at your face and wonder why do you keep getting those zits or dark circles? Or do you keep thinking about why your face always looks tired and dull? You have tried every lotion, potion, mask or chemical treatment but nothing seems to be working.
In traditional Ayurveda, your face is the window to your internal health. The doctors will be able to tell you in seconds what is the underlying cause for your problems.
How do they do it? How can they find exactly what is happening inside your body just looking at your face?
Ayurveda is a deep science of life and the way of living. It is a 360-degree science that takes into account your mind, body and soul for treatment.
Anything that goes on inside your body is a direct result of your dosha or bodily humour imbalance. These doshas accumulate in certain organs and tamper with their functionality. This affects some vital functions and gives way to toxins in the blood.
To understand this better, we created this Ayurvedic face map to help you identify the root cause of your problems.
What is an Ayurvedic Face map?
Just like a map helps navigate you, an ayurvedic face map helps you navigate the root cause of your problems.
This map has been a part of the indigenous treatment methods for a long time, including the much-coveted Traditional Chinese Medicine system.
This ayurvedic face map is the graphical representation of the knowledge gained from texts like Charak Samhita.
In Ayurveda, any skin ailment like a zit, dryness, wrinkle or a rash is directly proportional to what is going on inside your body. Your skin is the mirror of your internal health. Problems with digestive health or hormonal imbalances in the body, food intolerances or emotional imbalances, everything shows on your skin.
Understanding the Ayurvedic face map
Forehead
The forehead is a troubled area are for many. Be it pimples or hyperpigmentation, these are directly liked to troubles in the bladder and intestine. If you have a problem with the regular movement of bowels like constipation or IBS, chances are you can see it on your forehead too.
Another significant issue causing problems in this area is stress and anxiety. Ever seen the glow on a monks forehead? Fear and anxiety strip off the natural “Tej” or “Ojas” of your body giving you a rough, dry and wrinkly forehead.
What should you do about it?
1. Establish a sleep-waking up routine. Get a proper 8 hours of sleep and try to wake up before 6 AM.
2. Avoid excess sugar.
3. Eat warm comforting foods. Avoid raw vegetables and salad if you have dryness. Saute or steam them instead.
4. Eat plenty of fresh fruits before the evening.
5. Drink at least 8 glasses of water sip by sip to flush out the toxins. This is very common in Japanese culture and who is complaining about their flawless skin.
6. Practice relaxing exercises like breathing, meditation or restorative yoga.
The Nose and Cheeks
The nose and cheeks are linked to the heart, respiratory system, and intestine, kidney, and liver. That sounds a lot but we will simplify it further.
Problems on your nose or around it can be caused due to heart problems like high BP or pollution. Bad circulation, increased oiliness due to cholesterol and heavily polluted air can impact this area in particular.
Your cheeks are a source of a lot of information on this face map. As you can see above, the parts are divided into two zones, left cheek and right cheek and problems in both these areas correspond to different issues.
While acne, blemishes, rashes or hyperpigmentation on the left cheek is because of a weak digestive system and a lot of pressure on the liver causing excess heat in the body. This can be due to stress and a lot of anger issues as well. The similar issues on the right cheek can arise because of respiratory issues like breathing in polluted air and allergens.
What should you do about it?
1. Adopt a way to cool the mind and the body. Relax and slow down the pace of work and life.
2. Avoid eating spicy and pungent food.
3. Avoid strong acid-based products for your skin. Use soothing products like fullers earth to calm down your skin.
4. Drink warm water with lemon in the morning to improve your immune system.
5. Clean your phone screen often.
6. Do not touch your face.
Under eyes
Under-eye bags and dark circles are the biggest nightmares for people. While the creams and gels give you some relief, nothing will work if you don’t give yourself time to heal internally.
Lack of sleep, stress, depression and a weak digestive system wreaks havoc under your eyes. You can tell if the person is stressed just by looking at the eyes.
A weak digestive system increases toxins in the body which affects proper circulation. Moreover, a sluggish digestive system puts a lot of pressure on the liver and kidneys.
What should you do about it?
1. Include fibre in your diet.
2. Don’t compromise on your sleep. Get good 8 hours of sleep.
3. Stop eating junk or minimize intake.
4. Eat light, easy to digest foods.
5. Do not overexert yourself.
6. Practice meditation or relaxing exercises to reduce stress.
Temple
Often unlooked, problems in this area can be a sign of kidney issues. Again, a weak digestive system and too much pressure on kidneys are not good. If you have blemishes that won’t go away or zits in this area, pay attention to how your digestion is.
What should you do about it?
1. Drink plenty of water to flush out the toxins
2. Eat easy to digest food. Avoid junk, excess sugar or fried food.
3. Include warm detox drinks in your diet.
Mouth, Chin and Jaw
Your intestines, hormones, menstrual cycle, dirt, and grease are culprits when it comes to these three areas. The emotions responsible are grief, fear, and worry.
Dark lips are often caused because of low haemoglobin, excessive smoking, sun damage, lipsticks with lead or improper circulation. Some spots on lips can indicate the presence of a parasite.
Problems on the chin area arise due to stomach disorders like too much acid or improper digestion. It can also be because of poor gut health.
Jaw and neck are affected due to hormonal imbalances, irregular menstrual cycles or reproductive issues like PCOS. If you have cystic acne on your jaw, get examined by a good doctor to identify if you have PCOS.
What should you do about it?
1. Practice yoga inversions for better circulation of the blood and other standing poses like tadasana for hormonal and reproductive issues.
2. Get your haemoglobin and hormone levels checked.
3. Get proper rest.
4. Eliminate excess sugar from your diet.
5. Improve your gut microbiome by eating healthy probiotics like yoghurt and kanji.
6. Drink cooling infusions like fennel seeds in hot water or spearmint tea.
Practice meditation to balance your hormones.
Ayurveda is one of the indigenous medical systems that connect mind body and soul for treatment and diagnosis. Your face reveals a lot about your internal health. Now that you know how to read your face using this simple ayurvedic face map to identify the underlying issues, time to find ways to fix them.
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Chakshu is a US alliance certified yoga teacher, a biotechnologist and an Ayurveda evangelist. Her passion is to help people live a toxic-free life, emotionally and chemically. She loves reading self-help books. When she is not writing, she is busy thinking about life.
