What Is Ayurveda?

With the hectic life style of the 21st century where myriad things need to be done all at once and multi-tasking is the name of the game played on a daily basis, it is very easy for one to feel anxious, frustrated, angry, depressed, or even fatigued. The life force energy (Prana in Sanskrit) that allows you to feel vibrant, happy and peaceful can get disturbed.  Your life situations and every day events can throw your sense of balance and well being off kilter.  You may realize that you are an obsessive, compulsive, thinker who is constantly dwelling on thoughts that are not nourishing or life enhancing. Your mind body system may feel imbalanced and you know that “something doesn’t feel right”.

Sometimes, there is physical pain in the body in addition to the mental or emotional stress.  There may be a medical diagnosis of a disease like high blood pressure, hypertension, asthma, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome or other condition like weight gain that needs attention. Or there may be an addiction that you are dealing with.

Ayurveda is the “science of life” and is an ancient natural healing system that originated in India over 5000 years ago. It is a part of Vedic Science which includes yoga, meditation, breathing techniques, herbs, bodywork, massage, and more to heal the mind body and spirit. Ayurveda reflects the healing wisdom of ancients in the East and is based on the some basic principles that can be learned and practiced by everyone, so they feel empowered to lead a healthy lifestyle.  It is important for each individual to understand their own mind/body type and be able to apply the principles to correct any imbalances that may occur during the course of one’s lifetime.

The body has an innate ability to heal and Ayurvedic techniques allow for that process to occur naturally. Every individual is born with their own natural balance and sometimes this natural balance gets disturbed due to various reasons that may include work/family/relationship stresses or other environment related issues.  Healing can occur through multiple modalities, so it is important to recognize that each individual has a unique mind/body constitution that must be honored in order for healing to occur.

According to Ayurveda, health is not merely the absence of disease, but is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being. The central philosophy is that the mind and body are one and the same, and that physical health cannot be achieved without emotional, mental and spiritual health. It recognizes that physical symptoms of pain or discomfort that manifest in the body, or mental and emotional turmoil are the tip of the iceberg and the underlying causes need to be addressed in order for an individual to heal completely.

Ayurveda indicates that a healthy person is one whose basic physiological functions are being performed normally, appetite and digestion are strong, elimination is regular, and there is a general sense of well-being in the mind, body and spirit. To this end, Ayurveda aims to identify imbalances in the mind/body system as early as possible in the pathogenesis if the disease, so they can be eliminated and the body can be brought back into a state of homeostasis.
Ayurveda is recognized by The National Health Institutes/Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NIH)/ NCCAM) as an Alternative Medicine, a complete medical system. Website http://nccam.nih.gov