Ayurvedic Medicine
Many healing practitioners worldwide refrain from methods used in Western medicine in favor of those that provide a different angle on human wellness. Thanks to it, they can better understand the complexities of the human body, its mind, and corresponding spiritual landscapes.
Two healing systems that stand out in this regard are Ayurveda and Classical Chinese Medicine. They avoid the Western, materialistic approach to spiritual healing. Instead, they offer unique solutions that allow the patient to connect with their source of spiritual power and dedicate it to their recovery and awareness without worrying about anything else going on in the world.
These healing modalities can benefit one’s physical and spiritual well-being by supporting a deeper body-mind connection and a profound state of relaxation. Furthermore, they may serve as something much more significant, becoming the foundation of a new personal philosophy of life.
What to Know
Here is everything worth knowing before one dives into a journey of spiritual healing, somatic awareness, and learning to love oneself unconditionally:
Ayurveda
Essentially, Ayurveda is a holistic healing system native to the Indian subcontinent. It is considered the oldest system of medicine in the world and is based on the principle that all living beings have five elements — Aakash (space), Jala (water), Prithvi (earth), Teja (fire), and Vayu (air).
Each element is associated with a specific type of energy (humor), known as the doshas. Ayurveda believes each individual has a unique combination of these doshas, which determines their physical and mental constitution.
The goal of Ayurvedic treatments is to bring the doshas into balance, thereby promoting health and well-being. Ayurveda practitioners use a variety of techniques to achieve this, including herbal remedies, essential oils, breathing exercises, dietary changes, acupuncture, sound therapy, and more.
Overall, Ayurveda emphasizes the use of natural methods to support cleansing and detoxifying the body, restoring balance, and promoting good health. This factor makes it not only an effective healing system but also a philosophy of life. It encourages individuals to live in harmony with their environment and with their own bodies.
Ayurveda and Hinduism
Ayurveda is closely associated with Hinduism, one of the world’s oldest and most prominent religions. These ties are easily noticeable in the approach of its practitioners to physical and mental well-being.
The classical Ayurveda texts describe how Hindu gods taught sages the art of Ayurveda, along with its various techniques and wellness practices. The light of this knowledge was later revealed to human physicians and carried on for generations until this day.
Many followers of Hinduism pray to Dhanvantari, the Hindu physician of the gods. He is regarded as the avatar of the god Vishnu and the pioneer of Ayurvedic practices. Devotees usually ask in their prayers for Dhanvantari to bless them and their loved ones with good health.
At its core, Ayurveda is much more open to practices regarding spiritual healing than Western-based philosophies. It supports wellness through a combination of integrative bodywork and finding the ebb and flow of spiritual paths.
Working with their non-physical guides, allies, and teachers allows one to mediate between the worlds of the unknown and that of mundane existence. This deep connection with the spiritual side of human life makes Ayurveda a more well-rounded approach than operating within the confines of practices established in Western culture.
Doshas
As mentioned previously, every individual has a unique combination of doshas (humors). The term originates from Sanskrit and can literally be transcribed as ‘that which can cause problems.’
According to Ayurveda, there are three elemental bodily humors: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Each humor plays a different role in maintaining balance and promoting sound physical and mental health.
Here is a brief description of each of these humors:
Vata
Vata is related to air and wind. It represents the energy that allows movement. According to some modern authors, it is also responsible for promoting the correct function of the nervous system.
This humor is primarily characterized by the properties of cold, dry, and light. When in balance with other doshas, it is said to promote pain relief, helping combat illnesses like flatulence, rheumatism, and gout.
Pitta
Pitta in Sanskrit means ‘bile.’ In Ayurveda, it represents metabolism and is characterized by heat, moistness, and sharpness, among other things. When maintained in balance, its beneficial properties are supporting protection against excess body heat, burns, and skin redness.
Pitta is vital for the functioning of the human body because it uses bile to direct digestion and improve metabolism. When unbalanced, it may support increased inflammation.
Kapha
The final element of the Ayurvedic three-dosha theory is Kapha. This dosha represents phlegm — a combination of earth and water, which is an essential component of the human body.
Keeping Kapha in balance with other doshas is vital because it is considered to be the carrier of nutrients. Moreover, Kapha is said to be responsible for creating all soft organs. It is characterized by tenderness, heaviness, softness, and slowness.
The Importance of Doshas
According to Ayurveda, the natural composition of these three humors may affect various aspects, such as a person’s personality, preferences, and physical state of health. If it is unbalanced, it may become an element of disease or sickness.
Doshas are believed to be constantly present in a person’s body and mind, affecting them from the day of their birth until death. They are said to play a significant part in developing one’s body-mind, including physiological and psychological characteristics. For instance, Ayurveda practitioners believe that doshas are involved in shaping human physique and personality.
Interestingly, factors that affect the unique combination of doshas in one’s body are also plentiful. They range from the constitutions of one’s parents to the time of conception.
An Ayurvedic practitioner can help people discover their dosha composition to promote better physiological, mental, and emotional health. It serves as a helpful blueprint for finding the most optimal methods to keep doshas in their natural balance and support whole-body healing and wellness.
Panchakarma
Panchakarma is a five-step cleansing process used in Ayurveda to promote the removal of toxins from the body. It involves oil massages, steam baths, sweating, and using laxatives and emetics. One of its parts, Shirodhara, is a therapy in which a stream of warm oil is poured onto the forehead, inducing a relaxed state of awareness and helping one’s body and mind restore balance.
Ayurveda practitioners use panchakarma to manage their health and well-being proactively. Although each panchakarma treatment is modified to suit the specific dosha composition of the individual and their problem, the process follows a similar structure in every case.