Ayurvedic Medicine

Ayurvedic Medicine is a holistic health care option which began in India approximately 5000 years ago.  It
is the traditional medicine used by one-fifth of the world’s population. (Ballentine, 1999) “The term Ayurveda combines two Sanskrit words–ayur, which means life, and veda, which means science or knowledge. Ayurveda means “the science of life.’” (Deepak Chopra, 2007)

Ayurvedic medicine focuses on creating wellness by balancing material, psychological, and spiritual
relationships, a holistic health care approach. Chopra states that ayurvedic medicine is a very basic, simple kind of approach.  We are all part of the universe, an intelligent entity  The human body is a part
of the universe.  These comprise a whole.  They are the same thing in different forms.  The more in touch with this deeper reality we become, the more successful we are in healing ourselves and our planet.
(Carroll, 2003)

According to Ballentine (1999) the ayurvedic medicine practitioner (physician) uses a diagnostic  system based on “tridosha,” a basic three-pronged conceptual tool derived from five elements found in nature: Earth/Water (kapha); Fire (pitta); Air/Ether (vata).  Kapha/pitta/vata describe these elemental states as they are expressed in the body.

“Kapha” in Sanskrit is used in colloquial Indian languages to indicate mucus, the most common manifestation of Kapha in the human body. Liken it to the combination of earth/water which yields mud or murkiness,
slowness, heaviness.

The element fire is represented as “pitta”.  Pitta stands between kapha and vata, so is located centrally in the body and is transformational in nature. That is, it is capable of converting the matter of kapha into the subtlety of the remaining elements.

Vata is responsible for motion and animation and is related to most disease states. It is the hidden, intangible aspect of a person. Vata is capable of sweeping pitta from its position in the solar plexus chakra into other areas of the body, resulting in imbalance and illness.
(Ballentine, 1999)

Using ayurvedic medicine, physical, psychological and spiritual relationships are brought into balance using holistic health care techniques such as, meditation, natural health supplements, herbal remedies, and yoga . These represent holistic health care approaches to wellness.

References:

The Chopra Center.com website (2007)

Carroll, Robert Todd (2003) The Skeptic’s Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing
Deceptions, & Dangerous Delusions.

Rudolph Ballentine, M.D.(1999), Radical Healing. New York: Harmony Books, pp. 194-195

Ayurveda  Medicine
Holistic Health Care