AYURVEDA: THE SCIENCE OF LIFE

Ayurveda is a holistic approach which regards patients in their entirety, as both body and soul. © Niderlander - Shutterstock, Salamanderman - Shutterstock

Ever since Ayurveda became popular among celebrities such as Madonna, Demi Moore and Cindy Crawford, this ancient system of Indian healing has finally gained a solid foothold in the western world. But Ayurvedic medicine is nothing new: it has been practiced in India for thousands of years.
AYURVEDA: THE SCIENCE OF LIFE

Ever since Ayurveda became popular among celebrities such as Madonna, Demi Moore and Cindy Crawford, this ancient system of Indian healing has finally gained a solid foothold in the western world. But Ayurvedic medicine is nothing new: it has been practiced in India for thousands of years.
In Ayurvedic teaching, there are five great elements: space, air, fire, water and earth. They manifest themselves in the body in the form of three kinds of dosha, or vital energy – vata, pitta and kapha. The forces which deal with movement, circulation and the lymphatic system are called vata, while pitta encompasses all transformative processes such as digestion and metabolism. Kapha gives the body its stability and structure – the joints, for example, and anything to do with sleep and the immune system. Every one of us is born with all three doshas, although they are present in different combinations. One person might be a pitta-kapha type, and another could be a vata-pitta. The dosha mentioned first is always the stronger one.The doshas are in equilibrium in a healthy person but go out of balance when you are sick. The challenge is then to determine the levels of doshas present in each patient and correct any imbalance. Ayurveda physicians examine the pulse and the tongue among other things and ask their patients questions about their habits, diet and disposition. The therapies then focus on treatments for specific doshas – nutrition, relaxation techniques, treatment with Ayurvedic medicines (which may come in the form of teas, tablets, powders or oils) and a detailed code of behavior for a well-balanced life.As originally set forth, this school of treatment is certainly not always gentle. A prime example of some of the harsher methods in Ayurveda is the purification process known as panchakarma, a detoxification program to free the body of unhealthy substances. The first phase involves preparing the patient by inducing sweating and “greasing” the body inside and out by means of massages with oil and / or drinking clarified butter (ghee). Patients with too much kapha are given emetics to induce therapeutic vomiting, while excessive pitta is treated with laxatives, and too much vata calls for herbal enemas to detoxify the system. If needed, a proper Ayurvedic regime can also involve bloodletting, inhaling the smoke from burned herbs and rinsing out your nasal passages. Such unpleasant procedures are the reason why it is much more common to practice “Ayurveda light” in western countries – in other words, without purgative vomiting and other distasteful remedies.Ancient healing
Ayurveda can literally translated from the Sanskrit as “the science of life.” It was established by several Indian scholars who documented their knowledge about healing practices between 100 and 700 A.C.E. Like many other sacred writings, this compendium was developed and revised repeatedly over the centuries.
Today, a modernized version of traditional Ayurveda is practiced throughout India, while in the western world a version known as Maharishi Ayurveda is popular. This was founded in the 1980s by the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whose goal was to revive Ayurveda. He expanded on the old system by introducing new elements, including Transcendental Meditation, the controversial practice he developed.