My introduction to the ancient Indian system of medicine called Ayurveda was in 1979.
It was at Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, which at that time was the UK’s main centre of Transcendental Meditation (TM).
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of TM, was starting to introduce Ayurveda to the West and Vaidya Dwivedi, an Ayurvedic doctor turned up to give us a lecture on this holistic health system.
Unlimited in scope
From the start of the talk I was fascinated because Ayurveda seemed to coherently tie together so many strands of natural medicine.
Ayurveda includes a vast range of both preventative and curative approaches to health, such as:
- body-type specific dietary and behavioural advice
- herbal and mineral preparations
- daily and seasonal routines (Dinacharya and Ritucharya)
- detox therapies, such as Panchakarma
- meditation and energy balancing techniques
- body and breathing exercises such as yoga and pranayama
- Marma therapy (said to be the origins of acupuncture)
- surgery, which traditionally included plastic surgery and the re-attachment of limbs
- paediatrics from pre-conception to birth and childhood
- maintaining physical and mental health as you age
- aroma, colour and gem therapies
- music and mantra therapies
- balancing and integrating all the five bodies or Koshas covering our essential nature or Atman: physical body, energy body, mental/emotional body, knowledge body, bliss body.
Throughout the history of Ayurveda almost every natural health modality seems to have been used.
Feeling the pulse of your life
Numerous of diagnostic methods have also developed in Ayurveda over time, the most famous being Nadi Vigyan, or pulse diagnosis.
With Nadi Vigyan the practitioner feels your pulse using three fingers, which represent your body’s three governing principles or doshas – Vata, Pitta and Kapha. One finger feels Vata, the dosha responsible for movement, and includes the elements of air and space. Vata governs all movement in the body and has quick, light, subtle and cooling qualities.
Another finger feels Pitta, the principle of change and transformation and includes the elements of fire and water. Pitta governs heat, digestion and metabolism.
The last finger detects Kapha, representing stability and structure and the elements of water and earth. Kapha governs structure and fluid balance and has the qualities of heaviness, slowness and thickness.
The Ayurvedic practitioner will probe different levels of pulse to detect the state of balance or imbalance in different parts of your physiology. They look for:
- What your doshic balance was at the time of your birth – how much of earth, water, fire, air and space is in your underlying nature (Praktriti)
- The condition of your seven types of body tissue (Dhatus)
- How much Ama or toxins are present
- How much Ojas is present – Ojas supports life and is the finest product of digestion
- How well your Shrotas or body channels supply your cells with nutrients and remove waste.
This helps the practitioner find out the nature and location of any imbalances at the root of existing health conditions, or which may develop into future problems. The pulse also helps the practitioner assess the state of your heart, mind and senses, and how well coordinated they are. Thus, in less than a few minutes, an experienced Ayurvedic practitioner can give you detailed recommendations based on your pulse.
Purifying your life
When Maharishi first introduced this science to the West, and formulating what is now known as Maharishi AyurVeda, he asked some of the top Indian Vaidyas working with him, what is the one Ayurvedic strategy that can quickly improve a person’s health? The answer was, Panchakarma.
Panchakarma means five actions or five broad groups of detoxification procedures. The effects of the individual therapies systematically build on and complement each other to achieve long-term and profound purification of the body.
Maharishi set up courses for doctors and therapists in Europe and the USA, and I trained as an Ayurveda therapist in 1985. Along with another therapist and two Ayurvedic doctors, I helped set up Britain’s first Panchakarma clinic in Skelmersdale, Lancashire.
The treatments we learned to give on our courses are systematically combined to eliminate toxins and harmful substances from the body. These toxins have accumulated as a result of improper food, lifestyle, environmental toxins and stress.
Panchakarma improves health in the most holistic way by removing the basis of most ill health – physiological stress and toxic build-up. People with chronic disorders frequently find relief from their complaints, while healthy people experience an increase in zest, vitality, and performance.
The right kind of detox
Dr Donn Brennan, the founding President of the Ayurvedic Practitioners Association, UK, is our clinic’s supervising practitioner. He states that, “Purify your body of toxic build-up is one of the top strategies to both cure and prevent illness, but it’s important to purify in the right way. Some popular detoxification methods can accelerate the ageing process as they disturb the underlying balance within the Doshas and body tissues. Also, they usually fail to successfully remove oil-based toxins, which are the most pernicious type of toxins”. He explains that, “Through the internal and external application of specific herbalised oils, Panchakarma is highly effective at removing both water-based and oil-based toxins”.
One study showed that 58% of pesticide toxicity had been remove after 12 days of Panchakarma treatment.
Improving world health
Our present medical system has great success with acute and emergency conditions, but is less successful at treating the rising tide of long-term chronic illnesses, such as obesity, auto-immune diseases and depression. I would say that it is in this area, as well as in the areas of health education and prevention, that Ayurveda can offer a major contribution to world health.
info@ maharishiayurveda.co.uk
www.maharishiayurveda.co.uk
blog.maharishi.co.uk
