Ancient Healing Art Becoming More Popular
Ayurveda is an ancient holistic system of medicine and natural
healing from India, and is the oldest known form of healthcare
in the world.
We can find historical evidence of Ayurveda in the ancient books
of wisdom known as the Vedas, written over 6,000 years ago, of
which only a small portion is available to us from that time.1
Tibetan medicine and traditional Chinese medicine both have their
roots in Ayurveda. Early Greek medicine also embraced many concepts
originally described in the classical Ayurvedic medical texts.
Ayurveda has been used and practiced throughout the subcontinent,
Indonesia and many other countries in the surrounding region for
thousands of years, although it was often suppressed during various
occupations in those areas.
Recently the western world, particularly Europe and the United
States, has become increasingly fascinated with and interested
in Ayurvedic medicine.
The Science of Life
The world Ayurveda roughly translates as “The Science of
Life.” It is merger of two Sanskrit words: ‘Ayu’
(the root of ayur & ayus ) which means ‘life,’
and ‘Veda’ which means a combination of ‘science,
knowledge and wisdom.’
According to Ayurveda, first noted by the ancient Ayurvedic scholar
Charaka: human life is the combination of mind, body, senses and
soul.
Ayurveda sees that the senses and the mind work in conjunction
with one another and greatly influence our physiology.
Ayurveda is not just a medical system. It sees human beings as
an integral part of nature. It believes that human beings should
live in harmony with nature just as the animals and plants do,
and utilize the laws of nature to create health and balance within.
It adheres to this focus in guiding human beings to maintain health
by using the inherent principles of nature to bring an individual
back into equilibrium with his or her true self.
The ancient texts reveal that Ayurveda was also originally used
as a regime to remove obstacles on one’s path to Self-Realization.
At some point the medical aspects began to take priority over
the spiritual forms of healing.
Today, these spiritual aspects of Ayurveda have taken a back seat
to the medical focus. As Ayurveda becomes more commercially viable,
the spiritual aspects may continue to lose ground. Yet there are
a growing number of practitioners who employ these spiritual therapies
and find better results than limiting their approach only to the
medical, physical realm.
Understanding Ayurveda
Ayurvedic wisdom offers life-enhancing practices as well as herbal
medicinal preparations for the health and well being of the whole
human being: body, mind, and soul. It is much more than just a
system to treat symptoms or physical illness.
Ayurveda describes three fundamental energies that govern our
health and well being, and are seen both in our internal and external
environments. Called ‘doshas’ these three energies
are known as:
Vata (Air/Wind)
Pitta (Fire/Sun)
Kapha (Earth & Water)
Ayurveda sees these primary forces in a unique
combination in every individual, and as relating to the characteristics
of our mind and body. Every individual has a unique proportion
of these three forces that shapes our nature.
These doshas also have the characteristic of being: movement (Vata),
transformation (Pitta) and structure (Kapha). We are all made
up of unique proportions of Vata, Pitta and Kapha. The ratios
of the doshas vary in each individual. Because of this, Ayurveda
sees each person as a special mixture that accounts for our diversity.
Ayurveda gives us a model to look at each individual as a unique
makeup of the three doshas (and sub-doshas), and thereby design
treatment protocols that specifically address a person’s
health challenges.
Herbs are often recommended to supplement the nutritional requirements
on a regular basis to build and maintain a healthy physiology.
As some of the Ayurvedic herbs are now recognized to be the most
potent and powerful adaptogens on the planet -- and since stress
is now known to be a significant factor in over 80 percent of
all illnesses -- these herbs are essential in any health program
designed to promote and maintain a healthy human body.
When any of the doshas become aggravated, thereby upsetting the
natural harmony for the individual, Ayurveda suggests specific
lifestyle and nutritional guidelines as well as specific medicinal
herbs to assist the individual in reducing and rebalancing the
dosha that has become excessive or out of balance.
Ayurveda goes into great detail to describe the medicinal attributes
of many herbs and their correct usage to compliment and hasten
the healing process, and to strengthen the body’s organs
and systems.
Ayurvedic Herbs: Controversy Over Pharma Attempts at Patents2
Growing awareness in the west of the efficacy of Ayurvedic herbs
and formulations has led to controversy and battles with the western
pharmaceutical companies trying to patent these herbs.3
Only recently discovered in the west, Ayurvedic herbs such as
Neem, Ashwagandha, Tulsi, Shatavari, Turmeric, Amalaki and Brahmi
as well as traditional preparations such as Triphala and Trikatu
have long been known to have significant medicinal value without
adverse side effects.
Several pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions in
the west have come into conflict with Indian academic institutions
and traditional Ayurvedic practitioners over the intellectual
property rights of herbal products researched by the western agencies.
The Ayurvedic practitioners have known about the efficacy of such
products for centuries, and so contend that they carry precedence
with regards to patent rights on such products.
Free Trade Industrial Agriculture Rules Threaten the World’s
Farmers
Per the World Trade Organization Trade Related Intellectual Property
Rights Agreement:4
“Indian farmers, traditional practitioners, and traders
will lose their market share in local, national and global markets.
For example, recently the U.S. government granted a patent for
the anti-diabetic properties of karela, jamun, and brinjal to
two non-resident Indians, Onkar S.Tomer and Kripanath Borah, and
their colleague Peter Gloniski. Yet the use of these substances
for control of diabetes is everyday knowledge and practice in
India. Their medical use is documented in authoritative treatises
such as Wealth of India, the Compendium of Indian Medicinal Plants
and the Treatise on Indian Medicinal Plants.
If there were only one or two cases of such false claims to invention
on the basis of biopiracy, they could be called an error. However,
biopiracy is an epidemic.
Neem, haldi, pepper, harar, bahera, amla, mustard, basmati, ginger,
castor, jaramla, amaltas and new karela and jamun have all been
patented. The problem is not, as was made out to be in the case
of turmeric, an error made by a patent clerk. The problem is deep
and systemic. And it calls for a systemic change, not case-by-case
challenges. The potential costs of biopiracy to the Third World
poor are very high since two-thirds of the people in the South
depend on free access to biodiversity for their livelihoods and
needs. Seventy percent of seed in India is saved or shared farmers’
seed; 70 percent of healing is based on indigenous medicine using
local plants.”
Obtaining Potent, Efficacious, Organic (Heavy-Metal Free) Ayurvedic
Herbs
It has been mostly individual practitioners who procure, grow,
dry and prepare these herbs and preparations in an effective,
potent manner, whereas commercially available Ayurvedic products
have been of substandard quality.
It is only recently that a few companies have started producing
high quality organic Ayurvedic herbal products, most notably,
ORGANIC INDIA Pvt. Ltd. Headquartered in Lucknow, UP. North India.
Ayurveda Moving West
Clinical practice, research and education in Ayurvedic medicine
remain the most authentic in India. However, attempts are being
made by westerners to export the essence of Ayurveda to complement
their own medical systems, where the pharmaceutical industry and
allopathic medicine predominates.
As a result of regulations in medical practice in Europe and America,
the most commonly practiced Ayurvedic treatments in the west are
massage, dietary counseling and herbal advice.
The NAMA (National Ayurvedic Medical Association-USA) is one of
several groups seeking to set standards for Ayurveda in the west.
There are 26 schools in the US and dozens in Europe which are
teaching 500+ hour courses for proficiency at Ayurvedic Health
Practitioners, certified but not licensed.
In the United States, the NIH NCCAM expends some of its $123 million
budget on Ayurvedic medicine research. In addition, the National
Institute of Ayurvedic Medicine, established by Dr. Scott Gerson,
is an example of a research institute that has carried out research
into Ayurvedic practices.
Dr. Gerson has published part of his work on the antifungal activities
of certain Ayurvedic plants in medical journals. Other notable
researchers on ayurveda in the West include Dr. Bala Manyam, the
Maharishi Ayurveda group in Fairfield, Iowa, and Dr. Mano Venkatraman
at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Ayurveda is a Recognized Medicine
Ayurvedic practitioners are regularly appointed as an “Honorary
Ayurvedic Physician” to the President of India. Every year
on the occasion of Dhanvantari Jayanti, a prestigious Dhanvantari
Award is conferred on a famous personality of medicine, including
a doctor of Ayurveda.
Ayurveda is a statutory, recognized medical system of health care
like other medical systems existing in India. Ayurvedic medicines
have to be approved, registered and licensed by the Central Council
of Indian Medicine (CCIM), which governs and recommends policies
for the research and development of the system.
In India, practitioners in Ayurveda undergo five and a half years
of training, including one year of internship in select Ayurveda
medical schools, where they earn the professional doctorate degree
of Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery.
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