Ayurveda

Sri Dhanvantari the primordial God (Avatar) of health care, founder of Ayurveda


I first heard about this word almost 10 years ago, maybe more, from a documentary shown on public television PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). The film was about a doctor from New York who was wondering why there were diseases that western medicine has pretty much given up and yet were cured in India like muscular skeletal diseases, migraine headache, even paralysis. So she decided to make a trip back to her native India to find out. While there she travelled the country meeting many different so-called medicine men. These doctors all practiced a health science called Ayurveda. I found the film fascinating because unlike western medicine where the doctor might describe the same medicine for a particular symptom, in India the Ayurvedic doctor would prescribe different medicine or treatment method for different people depending on the life-style and the constitution of that person. From the film Ayurveda was not just about eliminating the symptom but help the individual to heal from inside, addressing the cause of the dis-ease. This made sense to me and sparked my interest in Ayurveda.

After watching the film i started to look for Ayurveda online from time to time. I was so surprised that there were a lot of information, articles regarding this subject. Yet my understanding of Ayurveda was very hazy and in the mean time i was side-tracked to other things so i did not actively try to undertand more about this subject. Time passed until 2010 when i started seeing a chiropractor for spinal adjustment and i found out that my chiropractor was also into Ayurveda. When he offered a class on this subject i signed up right away and it was quite an eye-opening experience, and through this class i also learned what Yoga really means, but that's another post (here it is, finally)

What does Ayurveda mean?

The word Ayurveda is composed of two Sanskrit words 'Ayus' for life and 'Veda' for knowledge or science. So Ayurveda could literally means the knowledge or science of life. Ayurveda has been practiced in India for more than 3000 years and very well documented.

According to Ayurveda each person is physically, physiologically, and psychologically made of certain percentages of 3 doshas: vata, pitta, kapha. Each of these doshas is a combination of some of the 5 elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether, vata is air and ether, pitta is fire and water, kapha is earth and water. When one or more of these doshas are out of balance the person gets sick. According to this site "In Sanskrit, dosha is defined as 'doosyati iti doshah.' The literal meaning of this is 'that which contaminates is called dosha.' So doshas may be considered the pathogenic factors, or disease-causing agents in the body".  Restoring the balance of the dosha leads to restored good health. If you want to find out what is your constitution you can take a dosha test available on various sites on the Internet but i recommend you try a few because none is perfect, imho :-)

The more i learn about Ayurveda i realize that it is a key to understanding one's own nature and from that one can achieve wisdom to live mindfully in good health physically and mentally.

In India there are many Ayurvedic centers where the patient would come in to have his or her dosha imbalance diagnosed by a doctor via pulse reading. Treatments include various types of herbal massages, compresses, steam bath, herbal medicine, and nutrition. Each center is self-contained in the sense that all treatments, including the making of herbal medicine are done in-house.

There is a growing interest in Ayurveda in the United States and one could find many centers but research is recommended to find the trust-worthy one. I also learn that Ayurveda is being looked at by medical schools and health organization like UCLA and the NIH. I love to see what they find out.

Here are some of my recommendations if you want to know more about this fascinating life science:

California College of Ayurveda
Ayurvedic Institute
American Institute of Vedic Studies
Ayurveda (Audio)
Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution (book)
India: A Second Opinion (Front-line documentary). Click here for full-length version of the film. Good interview.
AYURVEDA: art of being (Documentary)
The Knowledge of Healing (Documentary)

Yoga

    When i started to learn 'Yoga' about 5, 6 years ago in a community class i thought Yoga was an exercise that would make me flexible and strong.  In 2011 i took an Ayurveda class from my chiropractor i found out that Yoga is much, much more than an exercise. From the Ayurveda class i first heard about Patanjali Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. Out of curiosity i asked my chiropractor's recommendation for books on these two subjects. What a revelation these books gave me on Yoga and in my humble opinion they are must-reads for all Yoga practitioners.

In reading these books realized i did not know what Yoga is about at all!  Yoga is not an exercise but a profound philosophy which teaches one to achieve self-realization and liberation of the soul.  Yoga philosophy also teaches one to cultivate oneself to serve humanity through a set of rules for character building and spiritual development.

The exercise or series of postures called asanas as practiced in Yoga studios  is merely the third of eight limbs mentioned in Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.  Although practicing asanas will make one flexible and strong, the main purpose of the asanas is to quiet the mind to prepare one for meditation which will eventually lead to self-realization, and union of individual and universal conciousness.  According to BKS Iyengar, probably the greatest yoga teacher alive, "Yoga is not a therapeutic science at all.  Yoga is a science for liberating the soul by bringing the consciousness, the mind, and the body to a stage of integration".   Mr. Iyengar also considers practicing the asanas as meditation in action. Therefore,  if we just approach Yoga as a mean to bring about physical fullfillment then we might have short-changed ourselves, imho.

When i was writing on Ayurveda i mentioned that i would write a post on Yoga and i thought i would finish one very soon after but months have passed until now. The reason was that the more i learn about Yoga philosophy through reading books, articles, and practice the less courage i have on writing about this profound subject. Somehow i think that anything i write about Yoga could be very misleading unless i became a real yogi, which is unlikely to happen in this lifetime :-).   According to Mr Iyengar " All may be able to do yoga but only one in a million is fit to be called a yogi."   Therefore all i like to do is to share with you the writings about Yoga philosophy, written by yogis, that have inspired me in my practice.

I love to hear from you :-)

Namaste


Books (more to come)

How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali
Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
The Tree of Yoga (Shambhala Classics)
Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika
Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga

Note:  Regarding yoga asanas, I like to  follow the form created by BKS Iyengar.  The reason is because it pays great attention to detail on how different parts of the body should be precisely aligned in order to get maximum benefit and minimize the chance for injury.   Iyengar yoga (based on Hatha yoga) frequently uses props such as blocks, strap to help the body ease into the posture.   Iyenga teacher training is demanding and from this report there are 3892 Iyenga yoga teachers in the world and according to NAMASTA (North American Studio Alliance)  in 2005 there were 70000 people holding teaching certification in the North America alone.  In the US there are currently only 925 Iyenga teachers so in many parts of the country it is not easy to have a teacher close to where you live but if you could locate one  i strongly suggest that you  take the class if possible.  I am taking two classes, one Iyengar which concentrates on techniques, and one non-Iyengar which provides a flowing sequence like a workout.  I find this works best for me from the exercise standpoint.

Titbits
In 2005 NAMASTA determined the figure of 70,000 yoga teachers based on both an estimate of the number of teachers who received training and readership surveys by the major yoga publications. The estimate includes people who might no longer be teaching and teachers who have received different levels of training. 

The picture at the top of the post was created from this photo using Photoshop ( i had so much fun! :-) )

Outer light



  becomes inner light

two aspects of the same reality

Aromatherapy with Floracopeia

When we breathe that perfume, we are breathing the breath of the living soil. ~ David Crow






I am having so much fun playing with the essential oils from Floracopeia. It's like creating therapeutic painting with beautiful scents :-)

I went to a 5 days aromatherapy certification retreat early September (9/7-9/11) and met so many wonderful people. I flew to to Sacramento from Long Beach and shared the drive with my two new friends Pamela and Sara to the retreat. The scenic drive was quite beautiful and many times it reminded of the drive to my favorite Yosemite National Park. We made a short stop at downtown Nevada City and i had a wonderful custom order crepe (with organic bacon, cheese, garlic, pesto, kale) from the roadside tent stand. We arrived at retreat center at around 4:30pm and checked into our rooms. I shared a big room with 4 bunk beds, 1 twin, 1 full bed with only one roommate, Lisa, who was so nice and we got along great! :-)

The intensive and interesting lectures were given by the eloquent David Crow (i love his book "In Search of the Medicine Buddha") and the knowledgeable Jade Shutes. Everyday we started with the optional Yoga exercise at 7am until 8am when breakfast was served. Then the lectures began until 1pm to break for lunch then lecture continued at 2pm until 6pm break for dinner, then lecture again from 7pm to almost 10pm! There was so much material that at time it seemed quite overwhelming to me but i savor every moment of it. I love the hand-on sessions which we got to created aromatic massage oil and spritzer. Jade created for each of us a natural version of Vics, and an inhaler. Jade's lecture on blending was great! I found David's slide presentation of the plants where the essential oils came from quite excellent. I particularly love the smelling of the oils where each of us got a perfumed strip dipped in oil and learn how to appreciate the aroma. David's meditative approach to savoring the scent was quite profound, imho. I also love the idea of incorporating concept of Ayurveda into aromatherapy.

We did have some breaks during the lectures so i got to walk to the nice 'shady creek' one afternoon and one time before breakfast to have a few meditative minutes with my roomate Lisa.

I also went to visit the organic garden where some of the vegetables we ate came from.

The beautiful retreat center Shady Creek was about 30 minute north of the charming little town of Nevada City ( i can see myself living here :-) ). The main lecture hall was beautifully built with a wooden dome shape and skylight at the top.

We had all of our meals outside and the weather was perfect.



The delicious vegetarian food was mostly if not all organic which get a big thumb up from me! The salad bar was full of colors and the beautiful home-grown heirloom tomato was so meaty, juicy, and sweet. I am not a raw tomato fan yet i kept loading my plate with the delicious chunks. There were about 8 different kinds of dressings ranging from the regular range to tahini, rasberry, avocado ... and even wild dulse from the Atlantic. The cooked food was also hearty, flavorful and so were the wonderful cookies, scones, croissants, and a wide variety of organic herbal teas.

The retreat was truly a fantastic introduction to the world of aromatherapy for me. The Floracopeia staff was outstanding. I had a great time meeting people from all over the US as well as some from Japan, Brazil ... with different background but have the same interest in hollistic medicine and healthy lifestyle.

Since returning from the retreat i have been creating many synergies for spritzer, diffuser, and massage oil and gave them to family, friends to try, besides myself of course since i have been having problem with sleeping ( too much exciting readings :-) ) and muscle pain ( maybe from my Yoga workout :-) ) ... I am still learning the therapeutic effects of the oils so it's fascinating to experiments with the 24 oils i got from the learning kit. Some of my favorite scents are pinon pine, silver fir, and the uplifting citrus oils like mandarin, lemon, bergamot. The heavy, grounding, and meditative aromas like vertiver, patchouli, frankincense ... are more like acquired taste at the moment.

Books:
Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit: Restoring Emotional and Mental Balance with Essential Oils
The Art of Aromatherapy: The Healing and Beautifying Properties of the Essential Oils of Flowers and Herbs
The Practice of Aromatherapy: A Classic Compendium of Plant Medicines and Their Healing Properties
The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy: Over 600 Natural, Non-Toxic and Fragrant Recipes to Create Health - Beauty - a Safe Home Environment