Why ayurveda?
The answer of this question lies in the question.
Ayu means
life, Veda means knowledge. So the
knowledge of leading healthy life is
called Ayurveda.
We all know
how precious human life is and to live a good quality life we need to have
healthy body and mind. Ayurveda astutely
describes things one should do to keep our mind and body healthy.
In this
modern age our lives have become fast , stressful and filled with all kind of
pollutants. By leading this lifestyle we are definitely earning money than ever
but at the cost of our valuable health. As Dalai lama once said “He
sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to
recuperate his health”.
How many of us
spend an hour or even 5 minutes for daily exercise or hobbies or to relax? I am
sure that only few of us do this. Most of us will argue that we have no time
for all these. The lifestyle we have today is the root cause for most of our health
issues. It certainly has created ill effects on our body and ultimately affecting
our mind.
In corporate
world, working style is very stressful. That is why at a very young age our
generation is facing health problems like spondylitis, obesity, diabetes,
anxiety and in some cases heart attack. Further, in women we are seeing problems
like dysmenorrhoea and problems with menstrual cycle, depression, PCOD, thyroid
problem, and in extreme cases suffering from early menopause, breast cancers
and cervical cancer. This is not limited to this only the condition worsens
when this work style is accompanied with wrong eating habits. Drinking and
smoking intensifies
the scenario.
We stay away
from home for education or job. Irregular and late working hours are a trend
and all these reason affects the timing of eating, so to save time or to adjust
to this hectic schedule most of us eat junk food or ready to prepare food or the
last option is hitting a restaurant. Thus we open the gate for many illnesses.
There are many recipes which we can prepare at home, are nutritious & don’t
even take much time.
In my coming
articles I will definitely share them with you. So the point is by leading such
a lifestyle and erratic eating habits we are making our body weak and sick.
We have been
told prevention is better than cure which translates to the fact that if we
take care of ourselves from the start we can avoid medicines for life.Through Ayurveda our sages have made it easy for us.
Yes,you
heard it , Ayurveda is the only science that not only describes treatments of
all illnesses in detail but also provides measures to prevent these illnesses. Only
ayurveda outlines our Dincharya which means how we should start our day,
what activities should be done and the most importantly what is the science
behind it and Rutucharya, means knowledge of do’ s and dont’s that
should be done in every season for e.g. in winter we should do abyanga by oils
as in this season dryness is increase.
Ayurveda
considers each and every part of body internally and externally. It divides it
in Ashtang Ayurveda which is as follows-
1.
Kaya-chikitsa:-
Internal medicine
2.
Shalya-chikitsa:- Surgery
3.
Bala- chikitsa :-
Pediatrics
4.
Graha-chikitsa :-
Psychiatry
5.
Urdhvanga-chikitsa:-
Ear, Eyes, Nose & Throat
6.
Danstra-chikitsa:-Toxicology
7.
Jara-chikitsa/Rasayana:-
Gerentorology
8.
Vrishya/Vajikaran-chikitsa:-Aphrodisiacs
Below we share some basic Principles of
Ayurveda -
- Saptadhatu –
Basic structure of body ,fundamental elements which nourish body are called
dhatu in ayurveda.they are Rasa(lymph) , Rakta (Blood),mansa (Muscles/Flesh),
Meda (Fat) , Asthi(Bones) , Majja(bone marrow) , and shukra(semen).
- Mala – Waste products
of body which includes urine,stool and sweat. Effective elimination of malas keeps body healthy.
- Tridosha Sindhanta - Ayurveda says our universe consists of five elements namely
air,water,fire,earth and ether(Sky) and our body physiology consists of three
elements called Tri Doshas – Vata(Air), Pitta(fire and water) & Kapha(Earth
and water).Ayurveda calls it TRI-DOSHA
sidhanta.It controls all physiologyical functions of body for e.g vata
controls all movements, pitta controls digestion, n strengthing of body is done
by kapha dosha.
- Trayostambha -
in this importance of Aahar( Diet ), Nidra(sleep) & Brahmacharya(Celibacy) for a
healthy body and mind is described. Ayurveda calls it Trayostambha which means 3 pillers of life.
- Shadrasa in diet- rasa means taste and shada means six ,only ayurveda has put a concept
of diet with six tastes which include sweet, sour, salty, pungent,
bitter,astringent tastes.These shadrasa have direct effect on digestion and influences vata pitta and kapha.
- Ayurveda
also has told about Rajaswala Parichrya , this talks about things that should be
done during menstruation.
- Panchakarma - is one of the most important therapy
described in ayurveda.When tridosha are in imbalanced state , either we can treat
them with medicines to keep them in normal state or if they can not be treated
with medicines , we use panchakarma to bring balance to all the doshas. It
includes
a. Vamana- (vomiting)used
to remove excess kapha dosha.
b.
Virechana-(purgation)used
to remove excess pitta dosha.
c. Basti-
(enema)used to remove excess vata dosha
d.
Raktamokshan-(leech
therapy) used to remove toxins in blood.
e.
Nasya-( treatment
of drug through nostrils)- cures diseases of head
and
nose.
- Garbhasanskar-
for mental and physical development of faetus ayurveda told us a specific
schedule called “masanumasik garbhini parichrya”, in which they have written a
details of do’s and dont’s that should be followed in preganancy.
- Suvarna Prashan - The process in which suvarna bhasma(purified ash of gold)is given with
fortified ghee prepared with herbal extracts and honey.It can be given to age
group of 0-16 yrs on pushya nakshtra.It increases immunity power, physical
strength, intellect, sharpness grasping power. Increases appetite, tone of skin
etc.
We can see
the horizon of Ayurveda where it explains the science behind each and every
activity of our life
There are
some mis conceptions in our society about Ayurveda like, it is only limited to
panchakarma or detoxification (spa ) or Ayurvedic medicines with heavy metals
causes side effect . Also some people think that Ayurvedic treatment had
complicated do’s and don’ts. The fact is ayurveda is not limited by this. Miraculous
results have been seen if followed in a proper manner. It is an ocean and we
have not even taken a single drop.So let’s
take dive in an ocean of our ancient science.
Let’s start
from the ABCD... of Ayurveda.
