Adaptogens and Rasayanas — two traditions that found the same thing 5,000 years apart

Le règne tranquille — racines, polypores, mycélium. La résilience du vivant prête au quotidien.

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Le règne tranquille — racines, polypores, mycélium. La résilience du vivant prête au quotidien.

— Le règne tranquille — racines, polypores, mycélium. La résilience du vivant prête au quotidien.

Two Soviet pharmacologists, Lazarev in 1947 and Brekhman in 1969, sought substances that raise the body's resistance to physical and mental stress — without being stimulants, without dependence, without notable toxicity. They called them "adaptogens". The initial list: Eleuthero, Rhodiola, Ginseng, Schisandra, Aralia.

Five thousand years away — in the Ayurvedic tradition, codified in the Charaka Samhita around ~1000 BCE — an almost identical category exists: the Rasayanas. Substances that nourish the seven dhatus (the bodily tissues), restore the ojas (vital essence), and support longevity and resistance. The core list: Ashwagandha, Shatavari, Amalaki, Guduchi, Haritaki.

The plants do not all overlap. But the functional logic is the same.

What "adaptogen" means exactly

Brekhman and Dardymov (1969) set out three criteria:

1. The substance is non-toxic at normal doses of use. 2. It raises non-specific resistance to stress — physical, chemical, biological — regardless of the nature of the stress. 3. It has a normalising action: it supports the low when it is too low, restrains the high when it is too high. A modulator, not a one-way stimulant.

This third criterion is the most important — and the most misunderstood. An adaptogen does not "boost". It steadies the HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal), modulates neurotransmitters, supports mitochondrial energy production. The effect is not immediate like a stimulant — it reveals itself over a 2-to-8-week course.

Rasayanas — the Ayurvedic version

In Sanskrit, Rasayana breaks down into rasa (essence, the vital fluid, the first dhatu) and ayana (way, path). The "path of the essence". Not a substance, a process — a way of living, a way of eating, a set of practices that nourish the most subtle and most fundamental tissue of the body.

The Rasayanas are classed by their target: — Medhya Rasayanas: for the intellect, the memory (Brahmi, Shankhpushpi, Guduchi, Amalaki) — Balya Rasayanas: for physical strength (Ashwagandha, Bala) — Vajikarna Rasayanas: for sexual and reproductive vitality (Mucuna, Shatavari, Safed Musli) — Ayushkara Rasayanas: for general longevity (Haritaki, Amalaki, Guduchi)

A classic Rasayana is not a pill — it is a complex preparation (lehya, a paste cooked with ghee, honey and spices), taken within a sober way of life, often in retreat (Kuti Praveshika Rasayana), over 3 to 6 months.

Plants at the meeting point of the two traditions

Some plants appear in both corpora: — Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera): a central Rasayana in Ayurveda + a clinically studied adaptogen in the West. Withanolides, sitoindosides. Long associated with steadiness under stress, the thyroid, testosterone, and cognition. — Rhodiola rosea: a Soviet adaptogen + a millennia-old Tibetan use, Solo Marpo. Salidroside, rosavines. Long turned to for acute stress and for low mood. — Eleuthero (E. senticosus): the "Siberian ginseng". An Evenki use in Siberia + a central Soviet adaptogen. Eleutherosides. Endurance, recovery. — Schisandra chinensis: Wu Wei Zi (the five-flavour berry) in TCM + a Brekhman adaptogen. Lignans. An adaptogen long associated with the liver and with cognition.

What adaptogens are not

The commercial popularity of the word "adaptogen" has produced a semantic inflation. Anything "positively stressful" (coffee, intense exercise, cold) has been called an adaptogen by some influencers. That is not what the term means.

Adaptogens in Brekhman's sense are specific plants (or fungi), with a documented pharmacology, that modulate the HPA axis. They do not replace sleep, food, or the structural handling of stress. They do not "give" energy — they let the body manage the energy it has better.

Red lines and precautions

Adaptogens interact with certain medications: immunosuppressants (caution for transplant recipients), thyroid medications (Ashwagandha), anticoagulants (Eleuthero). Pregnant or breastfeeding women avoid most adaptogens unless advised by a health professional. Always assess with a practitioner in the context of a chronic illness.