Ayurveda has more than 5000 years of history and is a holistic approach to health that is designed to help people live a well-balanced live. Ayurveda is a branch of the Vedas, Atharva Veda. The term Ayurveda is taken from the Sanskrit words ayus, meaning life or lifespan, and veda, meaning knowledge. Like the Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda has becoming popular recently as the world look for holistic and natural ways of healing. It does not treat health or disease only but instead it takes into account an individual’s entire wellness (mind, body and soul).
Ayurveda believes that every human being has four biological and spiritual instincts: religious, financial, procreative and the instinct towards freedom. A balanced and healthy body is the foundation for the fulfillment of these instincts.
The basic principles of Ayurveda
Ayurveda sees the human body as a blend of the five basic elements: Sky, Water, Earth, Air and Fire. The elements combined in such a way so as to control all the processes of health and disease. It is regulated by the three bio-regulating principles of thridoshas (body’s three systems, or doshas) nervous (Vata), the venous (Pitta) and the arterial (Kapha). All people have vata, pitta, and kapha, but usually 1 or 2 are dominant in a given individual.
According to Ayurveda, illness arises when these doshas, are out of balance. Many factors such as stress, an unhealthy diet, the weather etc. can disturb the dosha balance. Such disturbances are expressed in the body as disease. To balance the three systems, Ayurvedic physicians primarily prescribe herbal medicines and massage with oil. Additional healing methods can include yoga, sweat baths, meditation, nasal cleansing etc.
The balance of all energies in the body helps to reduce the process of physical deterioration and disease. Thus, Ayurverda helps a healthy person maintain health, and a diseased person to regain health. It is a medical-metaphysical healing life-science, the mother of all healing arts. The practice of Ayurveda is designed to promote human happiness, health and creative growth.
Why Ayurveda?
The constitutional/individualised approach is the essence of the Ayurvedic health system. It is effective, safe and holistic in its approach.
This treatment is suitable for individual’s suffering from stress-related conditions that are usually not effectively cured by conventional western medicine. Remedies also aid in curing disorders such as diabetes, high blood pressure, infertility, arthyritis, hypertension, and several other chronic illnesses and infectious diseases. Ayurveda aims to treat diseases and maintain health via treatments such as medications, massage, yoga, cleansing and detoxification programmes, diet control and exercise. Remedies are also natural and herbal, which helps in correcting imbalances in the body and treat conditions.
