Ayurveda started as an oral tradition some 5000 years ago in India. This tradition was first documented in the Rig Veda.Ayurveda ( Ayur= Life, Veda= Knowledge) is quite simply, Life Knowledge.It aims to help us lead a life where Mind, Body and Spirit stay in a State of Balance, with each other and with the Environment.Ayurveda believes Disease is caused when Life Balance is disturbed. Disease is expelled by the restoration of that Balance.
This holistic healing system therefore does not work on the symptoms of a disease. It goes to root causes- trying to understand why an individual has lost physical, mental or emotional balance.This is why in Ayurveda each person needs a different line of treatment. The cause of each person’s imbalance is unique. So, necessarily,the Ayurvedic intervention too is unique to each individual.
Ayurveda does not create dependence. Its goal is to help each person attain, a Balanced Way of Life and the ability to correct imbalances when they occur. The way to do this is through knowledge and altered behavior.This is why part of the Ayurvedic practitioner’s healing effort is to counsel and teach the people who come to him for healing.KERALA AYURVEDA: PURE HERBS,Ayurveda started with pure herbal preparations. Parts of trees, shrubs and plants were freshly gathered and made into simple, safe, effective remedies for illnesses. These were applied externally and ingested and used along with touch-therapies ,dietary interventions and lifestyle alterations to keep Life Balance.
Some 2500 years ago, the first of many add-ons to Ayurveda came in the form of using extracts/powders/burnt residue of metals, gems, minerals and poisons to cure chronic and difficult ailments. They could be effective, but ,unless carefully made and administered only by specially trained doctors, could harm as well.Over the centuries, successive waves of invasions into the Indian sub continent brought new systems of belief which integrating with indigenous Ayurveda, changed it as well.
Today Kerala remains the only bastion of pure ancient Ayurveda. This is only because no one ever invaded her. Thus she preserved purely herbal Ayurveda. This form of Ayurveda is naturally gentle, completely safe and has no side effects. In its holistic purity it heals the full body-mind-spirit continuum.AYURVEDA AND THE WORLD,Ayurveda , is of course widely practised in India .What is astonishing is how far it has spread around the world,In Nepal a WHO survey highlighted the fact that 75% of the population used Ayurveda as a healing system.
Sri Lanka is another major hub for Ayurveda, with over 60 Ayurvedic hospitals and over 200 Ayurvedic clinics in the Government sector , catering to around 11% of the Sri lankan population.In the US, Ayurveda started as a New Age alternative healing system. Today it is being seriously practised by increasing numbers of mainstream Americans. Names like Deepak Chopra and David Frawley are becoming recognized as serious proponents of Indian Ayurveda in the US.
In South Africa, imports of Ayurvedic medicine are allowed and a full degree course is being offered in Natal university,The Russian Government has recognised Panchkarma treatment as a line of treatment. The process to recognise the Kshara Sutra treatment has started as well,Ayurveda is taught at the WellPark College of Natural Therapies in Auckland which is recognised by the New Zealand Government.In Japan Ayurveda is being studied and followed for the last 3 decades.The Institute of Traditional Oriental Medicine in Tokyo teaches Ayurveda with a special course on panchkarma
In Florence, Italy, the Instituto Italiano de Ayurveda conducts a 3 years course of Ayurveda with over 400 hours of lectures.In Hungary Ayurveda is an official and accepted system of medicine and is an obligatory subject for a post-graduate degree course since 1997.The Government Unani and Ayurvedic college in Bangladesh ( affiliated to the University of Dhaka) runs a 5.5 year degree course in Ayurveda.The list goes on……in Greece and Israel and Australia and….DID YOU KNOW ,After spending 20 years in India studying Ayurvedic plastic surgery methods, Joseph Constantine Carpue in 1815 performed the first major reconstructive surgery naming it the ‘Indian’ method of nose reconstruction.
Yoga is a complete system of spiritual development. Like Ayurveda, it intertwines body, mind and spirit.Yoga is a Sanskrit word meaning to ‘yoke or harness together’. What is yoked together Through yoga the body, mind and spirit are seamlessly yoked together and become one with the universe.Living a Yogic Life is a 2 step endeavor:To balance body ,mind and spirit into perfect health . This uses breathing exercises, asanas, meditation, visualization techniques, ethical imperatives and a gentle discipline in matters of diet and sleep
In this state of perfect health to realize and live the 4 great Yogic truths.WHAT ARE THE 4 GREAT YOGIC TRUTHS,Live in the Now:Let go the past.It is a baggage of memories and fears which will weaken and cause pain.Do not live in the future.It creates expectations/apprehensions not reality.If expectations are not fulfilled you experience pain and disappointment .Apprehensions weaken. They take away the ability to live happily in the present.
Let Life Flow because this too shall pass.The Yogi knows every Now will pass and he cannot control the Future. Thus he enjoys happy moments in the Now without egoism. When something bad happens he endures, striving to do his best. Bad or Good, everything is transient. Fully engaged with the world: stay detached,Worrying about the future is useless . You have no control over it. Worry takes away your ability to deal with the present. Thus to do your best for your loved ones, have a sense of detachment.
Have compassion for all: never turn your head and walk away,To the best of your ability hurt no one nor allow hurt to happen.Hurting others is actually hurting yourself because we are all part of the same Energy Pulse which binds every one of us together.YOGA: A SISTER SCIENCE,The History of Yoga,From 3000 BC when stone seals of yoga postures surface, Yoga has been seen as a Path to Enlightenment. It has always been twinned with Ayurveda.The Buddha believed wholly in the power of asanas, mudras, meditation and pranayama .
Members of the Jain faith too have literature on Yoga.The Bhagavad Gita showed 3 ways to attain the Ultimate Goal:Bhakti Yoga: The Path through faith, love and devotion
Jnana Yoga: the Path of the rationalist through Knowledge,Karma Yoga- the Path of dutiful action without seeking personal gain,Patanjali was the first to codify Yogic teaching into the Ashtanga Yoga or eight-fold path around 400 CE.
From India, Yoga traveled West in the early 19th century as a philosophy. However in the 1930’s vegetarianism and Yoga became a way to keep fit and healthy. Asanas became synonymous in the West with Yoga.Yogasana is mainly practiced for weight loss and curing many diseases including back pain, diabetes, thyroid and piles. Today however, more and more people come to India to understand Yoga beyond asanas: to absorb the philosophy and adopt the Yogic way of Life .