The general idea of health has two components; true health and diagnosed health. Many times the person is declared to be healthy, but he is stressed, has disturbed sleep, blotted. Battling for toilet every morning and he feels something is wrong. Often this is termed as psychosomatic disease or neuroses, or imagination.

Ayurvedic treatment methods are of two kinds; constitutional or clinical. Constitutional remedies include diet, mild herbs and proper life-style per constitution. Clinical remedies consist of strong herbs and medications and Pancha Karma.

Ayurveda recognizes six tastes in food and herbs. These are sweet, salty, sour, pungent, bitter and astringent. Each is composed of two elements. Sweet is composed of earth and water; salt is composed of water and fire; sour is of earth and fire; pungent of fire and air; bitter of air and ether; and astringent of earth and air.

According to Ayurveda the human body is ruled by three fundamental life-forces; Vata, Pitta and Kapha. These are often translated as "wind", "bile" and "phlegm". Vata is also often called the biological air-humor, Pitta the biological fire-humor and Kapha the biological water-humor.

Ayurveda has its complex clinical methods including surgery and the use of strong medications. These, however, are secondary to its primary self-healing approach. Its eight branches are internal medicine (kayachikitsa), surgery (shalyatantra), diseases of the head (shalakya tantra), pediatrics (kaumarabhritya), toxicology (agadatantra), psychiatry (bhutavidya), rejuvenation (rasayana) and revitalization (vajikarana).

Ayurveda is the knowledge or science, Veda, of life or longevity, ayur. It is the medical aspect of Vedic science and is regarded as an Upaveda or secondary Vedic system. Today it is perhaps the most commonly known of the Vedic sciences. In the Vedic and Yogic system health is seen as a basis for creative and spiritual growth, not as an end in itself. The goal of life is not just to live but to find the meaning of life. Hence we should use the time and energy our health provides for developing our higher nature. Thus Ayurveda naturally leads to the other and deeper aspects of Vedic knowledge.