Why Ayurveda?
Ayurveda is a natural medicine of Indian subcontinent having a holistic approach and recognised by World health Organisations (WHO). Instead of treating diseases, it treats patients. Comparing to other systems of medicines, it is unique in different ways. Understanding the uniqueness of Ayurveda will help you to determine why you should follow Ayurveda.
Ayurveda was gradually evolved and developed in India about 5000 years ago. You can find teachings of Ayurveda in Vedas, one of the oldest available writings of the world. Many historians suggest that it is from India, Chinese and Arabs learned medicine, and spread into Europe resulting into development of other systems of medicine.
In the past, (even now) Ayurveda continued to thrive and develop against all odd times. India was under the control of different rulers, who suppressed, banned or did not provide the support rulers supposed to give Ayurveda, in order to propagate other systems of medicines like Unani, Modern medicine and/ or Homeopathy. Sometimes the ban is due to some special policies like ahimsa (non violence) by some Buddhist Rulers who banned Ayurvedic surgery believing all surgeries are actions of violence as they cause pain. Amongst all these circumstances, even though sometimes Ayurveda faced some flaws, Ayurveda continued to thrive and serve people, because Ayurveda can help and heal people suffering from various health issues. After independence of India, its popularity started to grow beyond the boundaries of India.
One of the hardest obstacles faced by most of the sciences is to define life. But Ayurveda defines life. One of the simple definition of life is the association of body, mind and spirit. By its theories developed from Indian philosophy, which are practically very applicable and effective, Ayurveda understands life and gives advices to increase longevity and quality of life.
Even though Ayurveda is based on theories that are developed thousands of years ago, they are applicable and effective still today. These theories equip Ayurveda to understand newly discovered diseases and to provide treatments. In fact, in today’s world Ayurveda’s possibilities are higher. Living close to nature by following Ayurveda can prevent the occurrence of life style diseases. If used properly, most of Ayurvedic herbal products have only little or no side effects, so it can be used in old age safely. More over Ayurveda can be integrated with other systems of medicine to manage complex pathologies and/ or prevent or reduce side effects.
Ayurveda defines health as ‘a balance of body constituents, proper elimination and wellness of special perception, mind and soul’ in Susruta samhita, a book dating back to BC 500. Almost all classical Ayurvedic books begin with defining, caring and promoting health. Ayurveda narrates daily regimes, seasonal regimes, diet and social and occupational factors that can increase our wellness.
If you apply Ayurveda in your daily life, you will be able to prevent the occurrence of diseases. Also, according to Ayurveda, a disease manifests after passing through four stages of pathology. If these stages are diagnosed timely, it is possible to prevent the progress of pathology and occurrence of future diseases.
Sometimes you may find it hard to digest the principles of Ayurveda. But it is easy to follow them. These principles can be applied to daily habits like your way of breathing, way of eating, choice of food, sleep, activities, etc. Understanding of Ayurvedic body constitution is useful even to save your relations. Apart from their particular effects, most of the external Ayurvedic treatments are relaxing and enjoyable.
Ayurveda understands body in a unique way and always considers the body-mind-spirit complex of the individual. Our body is made of three basic constituents (humors/doshas). They are air factor (Vata), fire factor (Pitta) and water factor (Kapha). These functional particles when in balance lead to health, and when imbalanced lead to diseases. According to various factors of fertilization, the ruling dosha is different from person to person. This is the reason for our individual differences. Ayurveda understands these individual characteristics as prakruti (Ayurvedic body constitution), which has a huge level of application. Understanding one’s prakruti can help to determine regimes and treatments that will work for you. There are other constituents of body like agni (digestive fire), ojas (essence of body), prana (subtle energy of body) which are unique to Ayurveda and nurturing of which can increase quality and quantity of life.
Ayurveda has a very popular range of treatments. Ayurveda advises medicated foods, teas and jams, herbal juice and paste, hot and cold infusions/ teas, tablets, powders, alcohol based preparations, fat/oil based preparations, herbal oils, tinctures, ointments, medicated distilled waters and so on. These different media of medicines enable Ayurveda to make use of different active principles of herbs that are soluble in water, fats and/ or alcohols. Also these media help medicines to bypass different barriers of body successfully.
Ayurvedic body treatments are also applied along with internal medicines wherever possible and/ or required to enable fast recovery. Sometimes external treatments alone are enough for the recovery from the diseases. This is particularly important if due to any medical reasons, your GP/ specialist banned you taking any other medicines even herbs internally. Ayurvedic body treatments include hot oil massage, pouch massage, therapeutic scrub, streaming of herbalized oil or liquids on body and/ or head (shirodhara). Ayurvedic body treatments can be tailored according to individual needs. Apart from the specific therapeutic benefits, all of these body treatments are truly relaxing. Apart from these body treatments there are specific detoxifying treatments like emetic therapy, purgation, medicated enema, etc. known as panchakarma. So in most of the cases it is possible to select a treatment that is emotionally, culturally and economically viable for you.