Ayurveda is a Sanskrit term meaning the “science of life,” and it is considered the sister science to yoga. At the most basic level of understanding, Ayurveda is the area of knowledge that allows us to keep our bodies healthy so that we can achieve union with the divine through the practice of yoga.
If you think of someone contorted into a difficult pose when the word “yoga” comes to mind, you may want to let go of that preconception, especially if it’s discouraging you from practicing. While the practice of asana (literally, “seat,” or what the yogic postures are known as) is a part of the eight-fold path of yoga, it is not the highest goal. The highest aim of yoga is to attain moksha, or full realization of the soul’s union with the divine. Asana is merely a tool that helps us find comfort in our bodies so that we may practice meditation with more ease.
In this way, Ayurveda is also a tool to maintain health in the body so that we are not hampered by pain and disease in our quest to understand our relationship with the divine in the universe. Anyone can practice yoga‒even someone who is confined to a wheelchair‒as anyone can benefit from Ayurvedic healing. Ayurveda addresses the physical body as well as the subtle bodies, and therefore can benefit where there is disease in the body or imbalance in the mind.
When trying to explain Ayurveda to someone with no familiarity with it, I often describe it as the Indian counterpart to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Many people have heard of acupuncture, which is a healing modality employed by TCM, but not many people understand that it was Ayurvedic physicians who first discovered the energetic points (called marma points in Ayurveda) that are used by acupuncturists.
When patients are treated by Ayurvedic practitioners, it depends on the state of disease as to what recommendations the physician or health advisor will make. While it is possible to treat and cure diseases that have been active in the body for many years, it is not an overnight process. Ayurveda strives to treat the disease at its root cause rather than the symptomology the disease presents, so it may takes months or even years of treating a disease through herbs and diet before a reversal is seen. This eventual elimination of the disease is complete, though, and will not include a host of obnoxious or even deadly side effects as are common in the pop-a-pill quick fixes proposed by pharmaceutical companies.
The strength of Ayurveda lies in preventative measures and a holistic approach to healthcare, which makes it a complementary practice to allopathic medicine. While allopathic medicine is well designed to treat sudden traumatic injuries and diseases in their most advanced stages, Ayurveda is best used as a preventative strategy. It can be efficacious in later stages of disease, but it is often to the patient’s advantage to work with allopathic health care givers in later, more intractable stages of disease or during acute situations, like a heart attack.
For treatment both of strongly rooted chronic disease and for yearly preventative maintenance, panchakarma is recommended. Panchakarma comes from the Sanskrit “panc” (meaing five) and “karma” (meaning action). This practice is composed of deeply detoxifying and healing treatments designed to treat the vikruti, or current condition of imbalance, of the patient.
As the name implies, there are five detoxification treatments designed for particular doshic imbalances: vamana (therapeutic vomiting), virechana (purgation), basti (enema), nasya (nasal purgation), and rakta mokshana (bloodletting). Each of these treatments is related to a specific imbalance, with rakta mokshana used in cases where profound and speedy relief is required.
