MORE IN AYURVEDA

The natural, holistic system of health maintenance called Ayurveda originated in ancient India between 2,000 and 6,000 years ago. A Sanskrit word, Ayurveda is usually translated as “knowledge of life” or “science of life.” In contemporary Western usage Ayurveda and ayurvedic medicine are often used interchangeably. Ayurvedic principles hold that we have the power to heal ourselves through diet, exercise, behavior, and lifestyle. They focus on promoting physical, mental, and spiritual vitality and health, as well as preventing diseases, by creating balance within the three doshas, or life energies, that make up the human constitution. Ayurveda and Yoga are related disciplines, and the two share many characteristics, including an emphasis on breathing, or pranayama.

The three doshas are Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, which correspond, respectively, to air, fire, and water (or wind, bile, and phlegm, alternate translations that sound less lovely to our ears). While everyone has all three doshas, one or two generally dominate each person, leading to a unique dosha makeup called a prakriti. Your prakriti determines your predisposition to certain disorders, health conditions and moods.

What’s your prakriti?

While an Ayurvedic doctor should be consulted to conclude which doshas are most pronounced in your makeup (examinations include thorough questioning, reading of the pulse, and investigation of your tongue, face, eyes, hands, and other parts of the body), a few dominant characteristics in each dosha can help you determine your own prakriti. There are several online tools to help you find out your dosha, including this one from LIME contributor Deepak Chopra.

The whole-person approach of Ayurvedic therapy has multiple aspects personalized to your prakriti. The more familiar ones involve diet and an array of herbal and mineral remedies. Certain foods, or more specifically, tastes—namely, sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent—will either balance or irritate a particular dosha. Exercise, massage, breathing, meditation, and changes to lifestyle also play important roles. In asanas, the exercise component you may know already from yoga, one seeks to increase prana, or life energy. Self-massage improves circulation, while breathing and meditation will reduce stress and encourage a spiritual connection.

History

Ayurveda remains one of the best-known forms of traditional natural health care in the U.S., along with Traditional Chinese Medicine., In the past two decades, Deepak Chopra, who is an M.D. (and appears regularly on LIME), has popularized an approach to illness and healing that integrates Ayurveda and modern medicine. Another well-regarded authority is Dr. Robert Svoboda, who was the first Westerner licensed to practice Ayurveda in India. While the only way to earn a degree in Ayurveda (a bachelors or graduate degree) is to study at a government-regulated College of Ayurved in India, there are many programs in the U.S. where one can receive less formal training, including some at colleges and universities. Nonacademic settings are also common; the Kripalu Center’s School of Ayurveda, which offers training to become an Ayurvedic consultant, is one example. Many practitioners in the U.S. have medical, homeopathic, or naturopathic degrees as well as training in Ayurveda.

As Ayurveda becomes more popular in the U.S., the Indian government has worked to both protect its nation’s ancient traditional medicine (in U.S. patent court, among other ways) as well as to promote it, by working with American medical schools on creating complementary programs.

Context

The mainstream medical community has done little research into the effectiveness of specific Ayurvedic treatments, especially the oral preparations, although the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (part of the National Institutes of Health) lists a few that are underway. Because Ayurveda addresses the origins of illness with an eye towards prevention, critics point out that it is limited in treating severe or advanced diseases for which Western treatment is pharmaceutical drugs or surgery. Ayurveda has, however, been used in a complementary way during the recovery process of surgery and even cancer treatments. It also works well with psychological therapy, given the emphasis on a body-mind connection. Some Ayurvedic preparations include metals that are considered toxic, at least in certain doses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported a few cases of lead poisoning associated with Ayurvedic treatments.

External Links:

Wikipedia - Ayurveda

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (part of the National Institutes of Health), Ayurvedic Medicine Backgrounder

The Ayurvedic Institute

The Chopra Center for Well Being’s dosha self-test

Dr. Robert Svoboda

National Institute of Ayurvedic Medicine

Wed MD - Alternative Medicine

Further reading:

Perfect Health by Deepak Chopra, M.D.

Ayurveda: Life, Health, and Longevity by Dr. Robert Svoboda

The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine (chapter on Ayurvedic medicine)

The PDR Family Guide to Natural Medicines and Healing Therapies