I know many of you are acquainted with the word “yoga” – many of you are practicing it, while others frown upon it. Yoga is not just restricted to a yoga mat or “Namaste”. This is a part of a healing discipline. And yoga overlaps with another word – AYURVEDA (ayur-life, veda-science), which is also another branch of healing discipline. Many people have not heard of this branch of science but yoga and Ayurveda are inter-related arising from the same Vedic system, providing a holistic approach towards healing the human body.
Ayurveda is the science of life originated from India, more than 5000 years ago – made from herbs, oils, plants, milk etc. Sounds exotic, eh? Ayurveda is the perfect combination of science and the art of healthy living. This is popular due to its natural healing ways that work on illnesses and improve the general well-being of a person. Ayurveda is based on the principle that to achieve and conserve health over the course of your life, you need to re-balance emotions, improve diet, practice yoga and “pranayama” (breathing exercises), and make lifestyle adjustments.
Just imagine a life without popping a pill to treat your normal headache – instead you would resort to crushing and blending herbs and applying the paste over your forehead. And for rejuvenating your body, a full body massage followed by steam bath………it may sound very luxurious to you, but trust me, these were all needed to get your body back into shape. Nowadays, people have reduced Ayurveda to something that is similar to what you get at your local spas. But Ayurveda is much more than that. It is the oldest healing science.
Ayurveda places great emphasis on prevention of diseases and the maintenance of health by de-toxification through proper diet, life style, right thinking, etc. Heard of mind, body and soul? Yea…you need a balance of all these three to be in perfect health – in perfect sync with nature. This branch of healing science brings a balance to one’s life. It strives to attack the root cause of and strengthens the body by balancing the dosas – ensuring complete cure. Many external and internal factors such as physical trauma, disruptions in relationships, illnesses, etc. bring a disruption to one’s balance, a disruption to one’s mind, body and soul. Balance is the natural order – Health is order and disease is a disorder.
Sometimes all of us would feel out of sort and cannot recognize what is wrong with us. Sometimes we don’t feel well and cannot put our finger on what is wrong – we recognize that we’re out of balance. When we finally go to the doctor, we are told there is nothing wrong. What is really happening is that this imbalance has not yet become recognizable as a disease. But it is grave enough to make us notice our discomfort. We may start to wonder whether it is just our imagination and we may also begin to consider alternative measures and actively seek to create balance in our body, mind and soul (consciousness).
Of course, there is a difference between Ayurveda and Western medicine and it is important to understand this because you cannot delude yourself thinking that only healing science is enough. A combination of the two, perhaps? Western allopathic medicine focuses on symptomatology and disease, and uses drugs and surgery to rid of the pathogens or unhealthy tissue. Don’t get me wrong…many lives have been saved by this approach. In fact, surgery is embraced by Ayurveda. However, drugs, because of their toxicity and artificial chemical components, often weaken the body. Ayurveda does not focus on disease…….Ayurveda maintains that all life must be supported by energy in balance…which means when there is minimal stress and the flow of energy within a person that is balanced, the body’s natural defense systems will be strong and can more easily defend itself against disease. Unlike Western medicine, Ayurveda treatment and medicines are devoid of chemicals and therefore are free from side-effects.
Mind you, it must be stressed that Ayurveda is not a substitute for Western allopathic medicine. Ayurveda can be used in hand in hand with Western medicine to make a person stronger and less likely to be afflicted with disease and/or to rebuild the body after being treated with drugs or surgery.
Anyway, always keep in mind that your progress toward balance and health is proportional to how well you stick to the guidelines of diet and lifestyle, whether it is natural and holistic in approach like Ayurveda or in Western allopathic medicine or a combination of both. Old habits sometimes die hard and your changes may be very slow however, to achieve progress, the changes need to be made. You are in charge of your own proportion of change.