Understanding Unani Philosophy
A Living Tradition, Not Just a System
If the yoga and Unani work we do in RUHANI resonates with you, this page offers a closer look at the Unani side of that lineage – the elements, humors, temperaments, and vital forces that quietly shape our work together.
Unani philosophy (Yunani) is a healing tradition that has evolved over millennia – from ancient Greek physicians through Arabic and Persian scholars like Ibn Sina, into how it is still practiced today. It is not only a way of treating illness, but a way of understanding what it means to be human inside a living, intelligent cosmos. Rather than asking “How do we suppress this symptom?”, Unani asks “What is out of balance here, and how is this person’s inner world responding to their life, environment, and choices?”
The Elements - Language of Quality
Four Humors - How Elements become Flesh
Four Humors - How Elements become Flesh
Unani begins with a simple observation: everything carries qualities. Some things are warm and activating, others cool and settling; some are light and mobile, others dense and grounding. These patterns are described through the four elements – fire, water, air, and earth – not as literal substances, but as ways of talking about how life behaves.
These qualities show up in your everyday life: in the foods you crave, the climates you prefer, how you react under pressure, and what brings you back to yourself. You might notice: do you naturally gravitate toward heat and stimulation, or do you feel better with cool, calming influences?History
Four Humors - How Elements become Flesh
Four Humors - How Elements become Flesh
Four Humors - How Elements become Flesh
In the human body, elemental qualities condense into four vital humors: blood (dam), phlegm (balgham), yellow bile (safra), and black bile (sauda). Each humor carries its own mix of warmth or coolness, moisture or dryness, and quietly shapes how you feel, think, digest, sleep, and relate to the world.
When the humors are in balance for your constitution, there is a sense of inner coherence: energy, mood, and digestion work together and you feel more like yourself. When they drift out of balance, the body and mind begin to speak through signals such as fatigue, restlessness, heaviness, irritability, or feeling strangely “off” without a clear reason.
- Blood (dam) – hot & moist, linked to vitality and a more expressive temperament.
- Phlegm (balgham) – cold & moist, linked to stability, lubrication, and substance.
- Yellow bile (safra) – hot & dry, linked to intensity, metabolism, and drive.
- Black bile (sauda) – cold & dry, linked to grounding, structure, and deep reflection.
Changes in the humors are one way Unani explains shifts in mood, energy, appetite, and sleep. Instead of seeing these as random, we look for patterns that can be supported and rebalanced through practice and lifestyle.
Your Nature, Your Practice
The Vital Forces - What keeps Us Alive and Healing
The Vital Forces - What keeps Us Alive and Healing
Every person has a unique constitutional temperament (mizaj) – a particular blend of warmth, coolness, dryness, and moisture that shapes how you respond to food, stress, climate, and even relationships. What calms one person may overwhelm another; what energizes one may drain someone else.
Classical Unani describes four primary temperaments: sanguine (damawi), choleric (safrawi), phlegmatic (balghami), and melancholic (saudawi). Rather than forcing you into a generic template, RUHANI uses this understanding to shape practice: more cooling and grounding where there is intensity and heat, more lightness and circulation where there is heaviness or stagnation, and more spacious, regulating work when the mind runs fast.
When you understand your temperament, you stop forcing yourself into routines that quietly work against your nature. Practice, lifestyle, and even rest can then be chosen in ways that support how you are actually built, making change more sustainable and less like a fight with yourself.
The Vital Forces - What keeps Us Alive and Healing
The Vital Forces - What keeps Us Alive and Healing
The Vital Forces - What keeps Us Alive and Healing
Alongside elements and humors, Unani describes three vital forces that animate and organise life:
- Ruh (vital spirit) – the subtle essence that connects body and soul, carrying consciousness and vitality through the body.
- Quwwa (vital powers) – the capacities that allow us to move, feel, think, and digest, including physical, psychic, and natural powers.
- Tabiyat (mediatrix naturae) – the body’s innate healing intelligence, constantly seeking balance.
Working with these forces means we do not only chase symptoms. We pay attention to what strengthens or drains your underlying capacity to heal, adapt, and feel present in your own life.
How this shapes work with RUHANI
In RUHANI, these principles don’t stay on the page. They quietly inform how sessions are designed, how we understand what you are experiencing, and how we pace your process.
- Elements and humors influence the kind of practice, rhythm, and lifestyle shifts I suggest.
- Your temperament (mizaj) shapes how much stimulation, stillness, heat, or cooling your system can genuinely benefit from.
- The vital forces guide how gently or deeply we work at any given time, so that the process supports your natural healing intelligence instead of fighting against it.
The aim is that you don’t just understand these concepts, you feel them: in your breath, in your sleep, and in the way you meet daily life.
Free Consultation
You are welcome to book a free 20‑minute conversation to explore how this approach might support your goals.
The body is the house of the soul; take care of it to ensure a peaceful residence for the spirit
Ibn Sina
