AYURVEDA AND ITS BENEFITS
Ayurveda is a system of healing unlike any other, offering a unique approach to health care in the form of self-discovery. With its roots in ancient India, Ayurveda is a tradition thought to be over five thousand years old. Today, Ayurvedic medicine is respected by the government of India and is offered in treatment centers and hospitals around the country.1 Join us as we explore Ayurveda’s westward expansion, its basic principles, and how the Ayurvedic Profile™ quiz can help you harness the power of Ayurveda to achieve your own optimal state of wellness.
` What Is Ayurveda?
T`he name “Ayurveda” is derived from two words in Sanskrit, “ayuh” meaning “life” or “longevity” and “veda” meaning “science” or “sacred knowledge.” Ayurveda’s definition therefore roughly translates as “the science of longevity” or “the sacred knowledge of life.”
At its root, Ayurveda is a holistic tradition and way of living that can help each of us to claim and celebrate our capacity for wellness. Ayurveda can help us:
Sync up with our truest inner nature
Honor and develop our strengths
Hone in on our challenge areas
Redirect detrimental tendencies
Maintain balance in the face of adversity
In other words, Ayurveda is not simply about taking an herbal formula and waiting for the results. Instead, Ayurveda encourages you to be an active participant in your own journey toward healing. This involves learning about your relationship with the elements and the unique combinations they create called doshas, which we will explore below. First, let’s take a look at Ayurveda’s background.
Benefits of Ayurvedic Medicine
The beauty of the Ayurvedic approach is that it is as elegant and intuitive to the novice as it is the seasoned Ayurvedic practitioner. For those relatively new to Ayurveda, the tradition offers a clear path to improved wellness and vitality. The same set of principles guides the skilled Ayurvedic practitioner in directing potent remedies to specific organs, tissues, and channels throughout the physical and energetic bodies.
At the heart of the Ayurvedic approach to wellness is the idea that like increases like and that opposites balance. So whether we are attempting to mitigate the effects of certain innate vulnerabilities, or trying to correct an active imbalance, we can apply the energy of opposites in order to steer our bodies in the right direction. The twenty qualities mentioned above provide the most straightforward illustration of how the concept works, and their grouping into ten pairs of opposites makes for a fairly intuitive grasp of how this wisdom can be applied in practical terms.
Beyond its traditional roots, there are many other reasons why you might be interested in exploring an Ayurvedic lifestyle. Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of the basic principles of Ayurveda, let’s explore some practical benefits Ayurveda has to offer.
8 Health Benefits of Ayurveda
Integrating Ayurveda into your life can be immensely beneficial to your overall sense of wellness, but what are some specific issues it can help with? Let’s explore eight distinct areas in which Ayurveda can improve your health:
1. Prevention
The traditional practice of Ayurveda is used to treat the cause as opposed to the symptom. It is therefore considered to be more preventative in nature than many other forms of medicine. Ayurveda can show you how to support your immune system and minimize the stress that often leads to imbalances and illness, getting to the root of the problem.
2. Daily Routine
Learning about Ayurveda can help you establish a dinacharya, or daily routine, to help you feel grounded, stable, and ready to start each day. Your daily routine might involve cleaning your tongue upon waking, practicing some yoga or meditation daily, and soothing your system periodically with a loving oil massage.
3. Ayurvedic Diet and Food Combining
Ayurveda has many diet and food combining suggestions to help maximize the agni, or digestive fire. Learning about your constitution and state of balance will help you determine which dietary choices are right for you.
4. Exercise: Ayurveda and Yoga
Certain asanas can have a cooling or heating effect on the body. Learning yoga poses from an Ayurvedic perspective is helpful for determining which poses would bring you optimal wellness.
5. Ayurvedic Herbal Support
Ayurveda has many insights into the world of herbal medicine. While we always encourage reaching out to a practitioner for additional guidance, discovering more about Ayurveda can help you learn more about Ayurvedic herbs, as well as which method of taking herbs is right for you.
6. Ayurveda for Energy and Vitality
Ayurveda’s approach to energy and vitality is multifaceted, with a special focus on adrenal health. By supporting your adrenals and finding natural sources of energy, you can stay active and doing what you love without experiencing a crash or depleting yourself afterwards.
7. Ayurveda for Beauty
The Ayurvedic perspective on beauty focuses on the whole being, body, mind, and spirit. Ayurveda has tips for luscious hair, smooth skin, and more. Its holistic approach will leave you feeling beautiful from the inside out.
8. Ayurveda for Sleep
A surprising number of life’s challenges are caused by imbalanced sleep. Whether you need to sleep more or less, Ayurvedic methods can help improve your waking hours by helping you get to bed peacefully and consistently.