I discovered Ayurveda some 12 years ago when I started studying and practicing yoga, after all, these two systems arose together and influenced each other over the years.
Ayurveda is a holistic system of medicine around 5,000 years old rooted in one of the most ancient traditions of India which arose from the need of seers to understand human beings in their totality. These seers said that Ayurveda originated from the very creative intelligence behind the universe, according to this science, nothing in our universe is random, and humans are not an accident or a random design of chemistry but an expression of a living consciousness that is universal and powerful, a force that can transform itself once it’s properly understood. This is why it is considered a sacred science.
Ayu means life, which encompasses all aspects of our nature: the physical, mental, emotional and the spiritual. And Veda means knowledge or science, therefore it is translated from Sanskrit as: “The wisdom of life” or “The knowledge of life”. Thus, Ayurveda is a way of life, about life, its powers and its resources.
Being the complete medical system that it is, classical Ayurveda consists of eight branches:
- Internal Medicine
- Surgery
- Ophthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology
- Pediatrics
- Toxicology
- Psychology
- Rejuvenation
- Aphrodisiacs
What sets Ayurvedic medicine apart from the medicine system we’re used to in the West is that it is not based on a narrow view of the human body and the mind but rather a beautiful, harmonious and profound communion with life itself and its manifestations within our entire psychophysical and spiritual components, and reclaiming that connection with life and with ourselves is the basis for healing and Ayurveda’s premise.
Although Western medicine has its place in our health, more and more people have started to realize the limitations it presents, one of them is that its main focus is on controlling disease from the outside, this has proved to be insufficient when we are trying to reach a certain balance and well-being that is long-lasting and sustainable. And so it is here that Ayurveda has an enormous advantage because its main focus is on the individual himself or herself; Ayurveda places its attention on understanding the unique bioenergies of the patient, then on identifying the root cause and then controlling the disease by balancing the very unique life force within the individual.
And the most incredible thing is that Ayurveda is not just in the hands of a few experts, for the more complicated subjects and diseases it might be, but Ayurveda is a medical system that empowers us to be in charge of our own health and well-being. It is said that the best Ayurvedic practitioner is not he or she who heals the most people, but he or she who teaches people how to use Ayurveda to heal themselves.
Ayurveda empowers us by giving us understanding of our unique bioenergies, the very ones that pervade the universe itself and are the elements that allow it to materialize on the physical plane. Through this knowledge we get the opportunity to know them and to learn how to balance them so that we can maintain our unique approach to perfect health throughout our lives. It is with this in mind that Ayurveda gives us access to specific and individual advice to how we should eat, how we should exercise, what plants we should consume, what meditation practices are most fitting for us and even the impressions that we feed ourselves on daily basis.
But again, Ayurveda doesn’t stop at the physical level for Ayurveda’s highest goal is that each of us is able to align all of the components that make us human and to use them responsibly to achieve our highest goal, for our own sake and that of humanity.
As we move towards a period of wanting to evolve individually for our own sake, and collectively for the improvement of our societal structures, we are starting to realize that we are more than a body mass that needs healing from the outside, we are starting to realize that we are holistic beings that need an equally holistic approach to get to the root of our pains, aches and discomforts physically as well as emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
Ayurveda can help us do exactly that.
If you want to learn more about how to be in charge of your own well being and find balance according to Ayurvedic principles, I invite you to sign up for my free 2 week Ayurvedic Well-Being Program here. It is my pleasure to spread the word on Ayurveda.
Blessings always,
Ruth
