Basics About Ayurveda Medicine
Ayurveda is one of the world’s oldest systems of natural medicine. It originated in India more than 5000 years ago and to date coexist with conventional Western medicine. Yet many have little idea about the systems fundamental principles. In short, Ayurveda system is an approach to managing health and wellness.
The word “Ayurveda” means science of medicine. Boiled down to the basics, it takes its cues from the universe - ayurvedic medicine is all about balance in one’s life.Balance in your life starts the moment you are born. As a newborn, you possessed innate qualities that helped to frame your physical and mental patterns. The essence of who you are at the start of your life is called prakriti. At the other end of the spectrum is vikruti, which is who you are today. Vikruti is basically your prakriti combined with all that has affected you throughout life - this includes your friends, what you choose to eat, the type of work you do, your hobbies and on and on.
In ayurvedic medicine, the closer you are to prakriti, the better. Conversely, the more divergent you become from the essence of who you originally were, the greater the potential for discord in your life and health. For example, you’ve always felt safe and ease in small settings, yet your work environment is is an open office arrangement where desks are closely spaced in a large, bustling of people. According to ayurvedic principles, it’s possible that discord could be contributing to your frequent headaches.
When there is discord in life - meaning too much divergence from your innate self - this can lead to dosha imbalance. The ter dosha refers to your energy pattern. To simplify, dosha imbalance is generally thought to lead to problems with metabolism, allowing for accumulation of toxins in the body. For instance, if you are a dry kind of person - your skin may tend to be dry and you may be of a slight build - toxins may be more likely to accumulate in your joints. So if you are streesed or you make bad food choices, your joints may become painful.
Ayurvedic practitioners consider carefully what dosha is of greatest influence in a person. Before identifying what disease may be at work, the practitioner neds to understand who the person is and if there is great discord in the person’s life between innate and the current self.
Ayurveda considers everything you encounter to have therapeutic value. Whatever you come in contact with - the foods you eat, how you dress, the way you sleep, what you see and hear - affects you in some fashion and shapes you.
Like western medicine, ayurvedic medicine has different branches - among them are internal medicine, surgery and pediatrics. In general ayurvedic medicine practices such as yoga, massage or meditation appear to be safe and may be effective. But good quality scientific studies on ayurvedic practices are limited. Of particular concern are therapies that involve use of metals - sufficient scientific data is lacking to recommend their use and some have the potential to be toxic. As science develops and researchers go deep into investigation, more about ayurvedic supplement may be known in the near future. For now, if you use any ayurvedic supplement, do so under an experts supervision.
Taken from Health & Nutrition Magazine with small modifications.