Ayurveda and the art of pottery making are both amalgams of art and science, with ancient roots. I am drawn to the rhythm and balance that lie at the core of both Ayurveda and pottery. Each has provided me with priceless insights and lessons that ground and shape me. Centering on the wheel has been a living metaphor for life itself. Wheel throwing, much like Ayurvedic guidelines for creating a balanced life, has helped me make personal choices and follow daily practices that are grounding and centering.

The five basic elements that the universe is made of— Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth are at the core of both pottery making and Ayurvedic living. While centering clay and obsessing over the clay-to-water ratio, I observe how the water and earth elements dance together until the clay particles, much like platelets, become compressed in the process of transformation. Then, the air dries the pot, and the fire element of the kiln completes the metamorphosis from a lump of clay into a final object.

To me, this process of transformation is not very different from how Ayurveda describes the transformation of our daily inputs. The five basic elements that we take in daily— food, water, impressions, and breath— when taken in the correct ratios, are digested and assimilated properly, ultimately affecting the health of our mind and body. The dynamic dance of the five elements is thus central to both Ayurveda and pottery making. In both pottery and the Ayurvedic approach to health, the balance of these five elements is key; an excess or lack of any one of them can lead us away from optimal health or the creation of the object we desire.