Ayurveda is considered by many scholars to be the oldest healing science. In Sanskrit, Ayurveda means “The Science of Life.” Ayurvedic knowledge originated in India more than 5,000 years ago and is also called the “Mother of All Healing.”
It stems from the ancient Vedic culture and was taught for many thousands of years in an oral tradition from accomplished masters to their disciples. Some of this knowledge was set to print a few thousand years ago, and the principles and treatment modalities have endured over time.
The foundational principles of many of the natural healing systems now familiar in the West have their roots in Ayurveda, including Homeopathy, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Unani Medicine.
The true appeal and power of Ayurveda lies in its comprehensive approach to health. By considering the entire person - body, mind, and spirit - it provides an unparalleled roadmap for maintaining good health, as well as preventing and managing illness through completely natural methods. These include nutrition, lifestyle, exercise, relaxation, breathing techniques, medicinal herbs, and various cleansing and revitalization methods. Ayurveda's holistic view of health is unmatched in its ability to offer practical guidance for achieving optimal well-being.
Ayurveda places great emphasis on prevention and encourages the maintenance of health through close attention to balance in one’s life, right thinking, diet, lifestyle and the use of herbs. Knowledge of Ayurveda enables one to understand how to create this balance of body, mind and consciousness according to one’s own individual constitution and how to make lifestyle changes to bring about and maintain this balance.
Just as everyone has a unique fingerprint, each person has a particular pattern of energy—an individual combination of physical, mental and emotional characteristics—which comprises their own constitution. This constitution is determined at conception by a number of factors and remains the same throughout one’s life. The concepts of universal interconnectedness, the body's constitution (prakriti), and life forces (doshas) are the primary basis of ayurvedic medicine.
Numerous internal and external factors can disrupt the balance and lead to changes in one's constitution. Emotional and physical stresses, such as one's emotional state, diet, seasons, physical trauma, and work and family relationships, can impact this balance. Understanding these factors empowers individuals to take suitable measures to neutralize or reduce their effects and restore their original constitution.
Balance is the natural order; imbalance is disorder. Health is order; disease is disorder. Within the body there is a constant interaction between order and disorder. When one understands the nature and structure of disorder, one can re-establish order.
