Common man’s FAQ on Ayurveda

Objective of Ayurveda is to cure ailments of a patient and to maintain and promote health of the healthy by:
• curative healthcare- cure for specific diseases &
• preventive healthcare –wellness
Ayurveda aims at finding the root cause of a disease and then eradicating it completely from the patient.

• People whose ailment has been termed a ‘hopeless situation’ by conventional medical system
• Who seek better management of their health issues that are not satisfactorily dealt with in conventional medical system
• Who require body detoxification and mental rejuvenation
• Who desire better immunity from diseases
• Who wish to delay the effects of ageing process

These are the ideal candidates for Ayurveda therapies.

Ayurveda implies the science of life. It recommends the measures that have to be adopted in routine life style as well as the treatment procedures for diseases. It is a science with its base on the Tridosha principle. Doshas are the representation/generalisation of the biological functions of human body.Both health and disease are based on the balance or imbalance of these doshas.
These variations in the doshas are brought about by various factors of food and other regimen, environment, climate etc. Its a common day experience to find the role of food , food pattern in the formation or mitigation of ailment . How this can be elicited will be detailed further. It can be thought about to a good extent that we are what we eat . There are clear cut and vivid detailing of the remedial measures to bring vitiated dosha to normality / balance by Sodhana (purifying therapy) and samana (curative therapy).

The uniqueness of Ayurveda is Rasayana (Rejuvenation therapy) which aims at increasing the longevity of a person by improving the functions of the Saptadhatus (the seven structural units of the body). This has profound importance in immunity status enhancement of a person and also in the cure of severely ill patients generally incurable diseases. Kerala Ayurveda doctors specialise in this aspect .
The theoratical and practical framework of Ayurveda is wide enough to include all that is essential to make a man healthy and happy. It includes the study of right conduct (dharma), which is necessary for the healthy growth of society in which the man lives. Further it deals with the philosophical aspect of life, the knowledge of which contributes greatly to the comfort and happiness of all human beings. Ayurveda philosophically understands the limitation of human efforts. Still it talks about the means of prolonging life and the methods of invigorating it.

The objectives of Ayurveda are mainly two, the first being the maintenance of positive health -that is preventive healthcare and the other – treatment of diseases ie . cuartive healthcare. These clearly defined objectives are achieved through logically developed means in a classical way. On the basis of objectives defined, the sum and substance of Ayurveda can be classified into two parts –
i. Healthy man’s regimen – the science of positive health (svasthavrittam)
ii. Patient’s regimen (aturavrittam).

The emphasis on the concept of positive health is a unique feature of Ayurveda. The radical shift that occurred in defining health, encourages the medical fraternity of modern times to look deeply into empirically evolved Ayurvedic techniques for the maintenance of positive health. The recommendations that Ayurveda puts forth in this regard include the observance of systematized daily routine (dinacharya), life in accordance with seasons (ritucharya) and well planned schedules of diet and exercise. Ayurveda stresses on the need of maintaining personal, social and civic hygiene for the orderly upkeep of positive health.
Ayurveda recognizes that mind is very powerful both in the causation and cure of diseases. So, strict mental discipline and adherence to moral values are considered a pre-requisite for health. Therefore, ethical basis of life (sadvrttam) is described as an important health support system.

Regular or periodic use of rejuvenative therapy (rasayanachikitsa) also finds a place in the maintenance of positive health because of its therapeutic potentials to delay the process of ageing and also to improve quality of life.
In a nutshell, Ayurveda recommends socio-economic adjustments, modification of personal habits, protection against trauma, control of infection, control of pollution, and prophylatic medication for the maintenance of positive health.

Patient’s regimen (aturavrttam) deals with the curative and palliative measures employed for the medical and emotional care of the patient. It includes definition of the disease, etiology, clinical picture, patho-physiology, prognosis and line of treatment consisting of drugs, diet and life style.

The Ayurvedic approach to a patient and his cure is often termed as holistic. The Ayurvedic therapy is either palliative (samana) or purificatory (sodhana). The palliative approach stresses on the use of medicaments. The famous Panchakarma therapies and the supportive Kerala special therapies belong to the purificatory approach. In both cases, proper control of food and behavioural habits is a necessary component for achieving perfect cure.

A very important contribution by Kerala physicians is the continued practice and enrichment of the panchakarma therapy. Even when they became defunct in the rest of the country due to socio-political reasons, Kerala retained this therapeutic wealth in all its pristine essence. Texts were written here on its practical aspects. More importantly, the famous Kerala special therapies were evolved by the practitioners here. They are essentially preparatory in nature. Dhara, mukkippizhichil, navarakkizhi, etc are typical examples. As the practice of Ayurveda expanded in popular acceptance in the recent past, these treatment modalities have also become more prevalent.

There are several unique herbal formulations described in Kerala Ayurveda texts. Many of them have now received national level acclaim and they are included in the Ayurvedic Formulary of India. One important aspect of Kerala formulations is that the stress is more on herbal components rather than on metals or minerals. There is also the history of Ayurvedic physicians developing some areas of specialisations like Pediatrics, Gynaecology, Obstetrics, Ophthalmology, Martial arts therapy for orthopedics practice etc.

Ayurveda is a vast science with many methodologies of practice and the practice of Ayurveda in terms of implementation of therapies varies sometimes very significantly from north to south, east to west of India and even from zone to zone inside Kerala and even clinic to clinic & strikingly enough from doctors to doctors of the same traditional family. But ultimately all are reasonably effective.

Ayurveda is a science – medical aspects of human life are the major components of it. It aims at preventive, curative, promotive healthcare. It has medical & surgical wings. It covers in details the different facets of human life – food pattern, sleep pattern, sex pattern and even behavoiur in society and ethics of an individual’s life.

Ayurveda in kerala , as in the rest of India, originated over 5000 years ago. The Rig Veda,
the ancient book of wisdom specifically mentions the existence, acceptance and practice of Ayurveda treatments like the rejuvenation treatments, yoga therapy and panchakarma treatments in ancient India. The rulers of the day provided every support for popularizing these ayurveda treatments.

Ayurveda is a science of life that calls on every individual to live in perfect harmony with his natural environment. It is a holistic system that states that health of an individual is based on a perfect balance of three doshas, called the Tridoshas i.e. Vatta, Pita and Kapha. These doshas are nothing but generalisation of the different functions of the body so that the entire biological functions can be summarised into 3 broad categories. This theory has stood the test of time and still draws people around the world to India or be more specific to Kerala !!
These three doshas form the constitution of an individual. When any one of these doshas exhibit an imbalance in an individual due to an unhealthy lifestyle, diet, or too much mental or physical strain, disease sets in. Disease in short is caused by imbalance in the body constitution of an individual.
Ayurveda system of treatment rectifies these imbalances and helps an individual maintain and bring back a perfect balance of his body, mind and soul, thus assuring an individual a life free from every form of disease. A perfect harmony and balance of the body constitution, in short, guarantees perfect health. Ayurveda promotes such a healthy life style.

Ayurveda describes in detail 4 types of prognosis:
1st easily curable;
2nd curable with difficulty;
3rd palliative ie. lifelong bearing and addressing the ailments by attending to it by therapies, food and lifestyle modification;
4thly incurable.
Prognosis is decided not just by the disease diagnosis only but also by the chronicity, severity & complications developed by the disease in the individual & presence of co-morbidity.

In chronic ailments, generally it is found that youngsters age group of 20-30, 30-40 & 40-50 years- [before menopause] are able to attain quicker (and lasting) benefits of therapies even up to 2, 3 or 4 years.

But those who are 50 + age with incurable prognosis in western medicine and with complications of disease are found to have effects of therapies lasting only 6 to 8 to 10 months and with the onset of winter they find health deteriorating. We do have clients who have visited us 7 times in last 9 years. Notably enough, persons with lesser body fat & greater muscle bulk, non-diabetic, non-hypertensive, with favorable astrology charts of their horoscope are able to find better cure prospects.

These are inherent factors in them that favor their cure. But against all odds if a patient adheres to following healthy food and life style aspects with regular usage of herbals for 6 months (minimum 3 months) after completion of panchakarma; practicing regular mantras chanting, regular prayers & spiritual practices – he/she too attains great benefits.

Even though classical text books of Ayurveda declare certain type of prognosis, many times we have observed that there are “forces” beyond our comprehension in favor of [and also importantly enough –against] the healing of a patient.
Ayurveda clearly describes that the will of god can be challenged and overcome by the endeavor of the human being. This is the ray of hope for some of you who face the impossible variety of the prognosis and here comes the role and relevance of daivavyapashraya chikitsa (spiritual therapy) – separate details are furnished about it. This section of Ayurveda is not practiced in resorts but it is fairly commonly practiced in Kerala society. It’s very effective but not always effective.

Health evaluation unlike engineering is not always black and white, it could be grey which means someone may not be having evidence or features of aliments but still may not feel well in body and mind. Definition of health by world health organization and Ayurveda are very similar. Health is a state of physical, mental, social, emotional, spiritual wellbeing & not just absence of disease.

Many patients report defined diagnosis and defined list of symptoms & body mind unease status that clients narrate vividly. But many do not realize that ALREADY they were forming inside their body & mind the platform for future ailments or at least quicker ageing process/slower metabolism/ early degeneration (which finally end up being sure disease scenarios at many organ systems of body and mind).
Many “pre-morbid” conditions are detected on inspection and palpation & surprise the patient.
Among these few examples are sleep’s quality and depth, nasal polyposis, nasal hypertrophy, early cataract features of iris shadow, breathlessness on exertion –breathlessness on moderate exertion, post meal lethargy, sinking stools, urine flow lesser than 20 seconds in one stretch, abdomen fat greater than 35 or 40 inches in ladies & gents respectively, inability to take deep breathing even for 10 seconds in one stretch, excess heat in scalp & abdomen, tenderness and trigger points on scalp or elsewhere, hard abdomen surface, cold touch extremities, falling sleepy with in half hour of any meals intake etc. these just few of the many indicators that the person [ a future patient ] is walking towards the “danger zone”. On many occasion a simple blood pressure measurement has revealed an unsuspecting person to find reading as high as 170/110 mm hg just by chance!!

it is very important to realize that there are three Doshas – vata, pitta and kapha as per Ayurveda theory & practice. Apart from being physically appreciated & also indirectly appreciated by their effect, these entities called Doshas are basically compartmentalization’s of the various functions of body & mind, even though sattva rajas tamas are mind related. Just as physiologically they perform their functions, they go ‘’wrong’’ towards body by pathology that is disease process.
Interestingly enough, even the western medicine acknowledges that human body can go only through these disease pathways- common mechanisms. Degenerative, inflammatory/infective, neoplastic that vata, pitta, Kapha represent respectively.

Most people consider Ayurveda nothing more than a” herbal medical discipline ” , in fact it is a regular practice in Kerala to have the 8 branches of Ayurveda flourish in an extensive manner .

the branches of Ayurveda are General medicine, Pediatrics , Psychiatry, ENT, Surgery, Toxicology, Aphrodisiac medicine & Rasayana chikitsa . These are practised in full authority in Kerala.

Such is the impact of Ayurveda in Kerala that many people opt it as the first preference of medical discipline for their ailments to be cured. Even doctors from other medical disciplines approach Ayurveda doctors for professional help

This article attempts to showcase to the world WHAT CAN AYURVEDA ACHIEVE & WHAT IT CAN NOT as a medical discipline ??

I always wished to bring the ‘’strength and weakness ‘’to the attention of common public
For this ,I had travelled the whole length and breadth of Kerala spending high quality learning time from my teachers who are accepted by all in kerala as the best known specialists of different branches of AYURVEDA in Kerala.

 

This attempt is made for the simple reason that people across the world have either ”over estimated or under estimated ” the real curative powers of Ayurveda , and for somebody who is now part to a traditional family of Ayurveda [ my wife generation is the fifth generation ] its matter of commitment to work to create awareness.

Since there is obvious limitation on size of article for the International seminar of feb 3 , 4 2018 , the best I can do for the reader of this article is to give link to the weblink that elaborate specific cure prospects which helps the common man
http://athreyaayurveda.blogspot.in

The pathologies or disease in a human are neoplastic (relatable to Kapha), inflammatory/infective (relatable to pitta), degenerative (relatable to vata). There are easily understandable examples.

A ] When Kapha is deranged/ vitiated/ corrupted, the symptoms may vary from stuffed nose, productive cough with white (not yellow or green) sputum, high cholesterol, blocked blood vessels in heart, tumors and malignancies to psychiatric conditions like depression. There is more to the list.

B ] The disturbance of pitta can produce acne in face, boils, acidity, gastric or duodenal ulcer, cough with yellow or green (not white) sputum, gangrene, bleeding disorders of malignant nature, psychiatric conditions like the maniac stage. There is more to the list.

C ] Similarly, when vata is affected, it manifest dry foot / cracked feet, sleeplessness, erratic hunger, severe deformity of joints by osteoarthritis, brain atrophy, memory loss & pyschiatiric conditions like phobia & severe anxiety. There is more to the list.
Basically kapha , pitta and vata [if deranged] can have their dangerous negative impacts at any level and any organ system of body or even mind.

This makes me comment that by Ayurveda , by out patient department and in patient department an intensive therapeutic regiment is attempted to every patient in the following segments. Ayurveda attempts to cure and prevent ailments by the healing programme detecting pre-morbid conditions & resolving them.
Metabolism correction with focus on gastro intestinal system
Blood “purification”
Body rejuvenation/anti degeneration

Metabolism correction implies “ama” – endotoxins removal and hence these three segments (a, b, c) qualify to be counter measures to the deranged Kapha, pitta (rakta), vata respectively. This is happening at the physical level. Regarding the mind level, extra efforts, other than the normal panchakarma, may be surely required. May be not –rarely.

Few examples of verifiable/measurable “toxins” are high blood sugar level, high cholesterol level, high sgpt (serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase), high creatinine, high ie (immunoglobulin e), low hemoglobin, high eosinophils, very high hemoglobin like 16 or 17, hyper acidity etc. The list is so long but distinguished…
Even excessive sub cutaneous oedema (extra stagnant fluid over the skin surface) and even deeper in the viscera come in this heading. Anything/ any situation that is against the health welfare of body is considered as “toxins” by us.

What are benefits of panchakarma (the process of eliminating toxins)?
Just as India gifted YOGA to the world, similarly India gifted PANCHAKARMA to the world Panchakarma is a major entity of Ayurveda All the panchakarma therapies have very deeper, far reaching implications in:
Curing ailments
Eradicating pre-morbid conditions
Maintaining tissue vitality& youthfulness
Enhance immunity from disease
In the long run in preventing ailments.

Tentative treatment plan for most of the patients. Let us imagine you went to a muddy field with shoes on. After reaching home you realize that shoes are dirty and that they cannot be used / are not fit enough for immediate usage due to mud coating over shoe. Imagine that the shoes represent the human body, the mud represents the toxins or the physical/emotional stress and the water to clean the shoe surface represents the therapies. This helps one realize that the body is to be attended constantly in treatment of cleaning/detox and only after that, the polish/rejuvenation is to be done.

Even though there is a general plan of therapies that “appears” as the same therapy for all patients , there are distinct variations in the dosage, selection, format, intensity, repetition of herbals utilized and also the formulations of the same.

But it is important to note that the specific herbal ingredients, varied dosages, different frequency of implementation of these procedures create the distinct, striking & profound difference to makes us assertively comment that we are implementing therapies differently from patient to patient.

The difference is created by the selecting of herbs, dosage, number of repeated therapies & many other deeper technical aspects of our programme which are sometimes confusing the internet reader.
a simple example is that in sadyovamana we are using salty water, sweet liquor ice decoction or even milk, based on the clinical condition.

Similarly, for sadyovirechana, we may opt for either of the following – milk and castor oil / castor oil + decoction+ distilled liquid /tablets or honey plus herbal powder /herbal jam, etc.

Enema can be done by using decoctions of different formulas, milk or even oil. It appears as “same” procedure but its effects on the body are very, very different.

Similar is the case of Shirodhara (the procedure of pouring liquid to the forehead). According to the patient’s condition, we select herbal water, oil, milk or herbal butter milk for performing Shirodhara.

Majority of the patients seeking Ayurveda are engaged in out door patient facilities where there is no need to get admitted to a Ayurveda hospital.But should they get admitted the following information helps
The internal level must be also cleaned, segment after segment, and this cleaning is necessary for most of the patients . Therefore, the upper gastro area of the body will be cleaned by sadyovamana (medicinal emesis), the middle gastro area will be cleaned by Virechana (purgation) and the lower gastro area will be cleaned by vasti (medicinal enema). There is also nasya, the therapy consisting in application of herbs through the nasal route.
Raktamokshana therapy (bloodletting), has different methods of implementations and is performed in specific clinical conditions. The list of indications for all these therapies is long
It is important to also convey that these therapies not only have a local effect but a greater systemic effect in the body.

Example: sadyovamana (medicinal emesis) does not only relieve or eradicate hyper acidity, it relieves & cures acute respiratory distress, severe allergic rhinitis / whole body itching due to allergy and the list is long…
Similarly Virechana(purgation) reduces the serum bilirubin level (jaundice) from the values as high as 32 to the normal value 1.1. It helps the level of sgpt sgot enzymes , to drastically fall down to normal, from the values as high as 5000.It also ensures weeping, painful, oozing skin conditions to get better with profound relief after or sometimes by the 2nd or 3rd day.
Similarly, enema or vasti [though appears to reach only till the edge of small intestine] – is the frontline therapy for a wide range of complicated systemic ailments like rheumatoid arthritis. It is also excellent in bringing down serum creatinine levels in one week’s time in kidney failure causes, lowering blood sugar level, in cases of very low hemoglobin levels like 7 gm%, in myeloid dysplastic syndrome & the list continues…

Even though many write ups are reliable in the internet pertaining to Ayurveda, patients are requested not to confuse and corrupt their unbiased viewpoints, by internet information which are NOT always genuine, reliable, authentic or backed by clinical experiences.

Journey/ worsening of a disease from initial inflammation to later degenerative stage-AYURVEDA’S role in modern society is to prevent this happening but it needs apt intervention at apt timing by Ayurveda physicians

In the internet world Oil massages and Ayurveda are the extensively co existing .There are numerous instances of ‘’oil based ‘’ therapies aggravating ailments and causing new set of ailments as many quacks in society perform it on unsuspecting patients. Two therapies that deserve ‘’more popularity ‘’ in internet are dhanyamladhara & udvarthana

Skin has 7 layers (3+4) 3 epidermis & 4 dermis and toxins need to be expelled through skin and from inside the “koshta” (deeper gastro intestinal system &more) that implicates not just abdomen cavity but also the thoracic cavity.

This brings us to the Dhanyamladhara (therapy of herbal water rinsing) and udvarthana (dry powder massage), which perform skin level (even deeper level) cleaning, as they wash off the toxins. These therapies are found to be profoundly significant than external oil massages This therapy is ‘boring ‘for many patients even though there is no other therapy that achieves what it does. Duration can be minimum 3 days but even up to 3 weeks of the above said therapies.

Sirodhara Therapy -The international icon symbol of Ayurveda in internet !
Almost invariably every one of us is in the danger of accumulating abnormally high visceral fat which is nearly sure (not always though) to be exhibited as abdomen fat/increased waist line.

Similar is the matter of psychological stress, brain over-activity of personal and professional nature, carrying an emotional baggage of chronic/short term, deep level emotional or psychological stress in professional & personal life situations.
These two aspects prompt us to enforce the abdomen massage, Shirodhara therapy to be done in almost every client here from the very beginning.

Ayurvedic medicines can start acting in favor of the patient as quick as in few seconds duration that is before one minute time, to as delayed (not denied) as over two months, to show any changes that are appreciable. Immediate benefits or delayed benefits from therapies is a reality.It depends on the chronicity [ duration ] , severity and type of ailment.

No!! what if diseases do not respond at all to panchakarma? A very common unrealistic expectation that many clients have and believe is they consider that the panchakarma process/ programme will “fix” everything. This is a big misconception as panchakarma is only half done of the full healing process. “rasayana” is essential and can be done in modified protocol at home after departure or even more intensively. Rasayana makes functional and structural corrections that happen in next 3 to 6 months after a healing set of therapies

Kutipraveshika Rasayana is an ancient Ayurvedic treatment which goes back to the secret practice of the Himalayan yogis – masters of anti-ageing themselves – and its knowledge was almost lost to the public. This treatment belongs to the category of regeneration therapies which aim at strengthening the human body’s own immunity against ailments and at halting the ageing process. Its effectiveness is based on the almost complete elimination of outer influences on the human senses which goes along with a stronger focus on oneself.

Kuti is Sanskrit for hut, praveshika means to enter: This treatment is conducted in a special house build only for that purpose and completed by a strict regimen with specific medical herbs. The execution of this therapy is very complex; and the exact mixture of the medicines as well as the correct scientific process were only know to a handful of skilled Ayurvedic doctors in the form of passed-on knowledge.

There is much debate about the concept of Sensory Inhibition and its impact on the human body. Sensory inhibition is in fact practiced in multiple forms across the world. However, this topic has not seen the light of the day more so because of the hardships one goes through to practice it. But the benefits of this body purification system is incredibly drastic, long lasting and unbelievably worthy of the effort. They say the fruits are borne by those who put rigorous and whole hearted effort and this is precisely what sensory inhibition does to one’s body.

Ayurveda scripts also talk about a similar treatment form, more rightly called Kuti Pravesika Rasayana which includes sensory inhibition and the specific herbals for ailments or specific objectives of the patient / candidate. It includes a rigorous procedure but what is surprising is the outcome that has been experienced by several maharishis(Saints) of the time. There have been texts stating that the saints who practiced this treatment called Kuti Praveshika Rasayana, they reversed the process of ageing, extending life spans for up to 180 years with complete functionality and flexibility. Moreover, the process healed existing ailments and rejuvenated the body from its very core.

How is it performed?
The process is reasonably long and engaging and requires die hard commitment. Before undertaking a procedure this involving, it is advisable to prepare oneself for the days to come. Usually, KPR is isolation for a month or more and therefore, there is a need to slowly reduce the frequency of the usage of mobile phones, laptops and all other social fronts including actual act of meeting people or going out. When this is practiced gradually, before hand, the transition to the kuti lifestyle is easier in comparison.
The first procedure is to dedicate at least a month’s time to Panchakarma procedures. Panchakarma is the treatment form to detoxify the entire body extensively. There are 5 therapeutic treatments that eradicate the toxins from all parts of the body in all possible ways.

What are the benefits of KPR ?
The modern day relevant benefits are in fact plenty and vary from person to person. The differences in fact are also dependent on the number of days spent at the kuti. Visible changes include:
· Defying natural progression age. Reduction in metabolic age.
· Better handling of stress , Better concentration and attention span.
· Healthier diet, better digestion and high immunity
· Reduction in fatigue and ability to add more productive hours to a normal day
· Better and sharper memory.
· Loss of additional body fat. Body is brought to the correct weight for age and height.
· Better seminal quality and improved count(for men)
· Mental changes. The experience makes one realize the value of a lot of things they take for granted hence leading to better spiritual and mental understanding.
· Addiction control

the above 30 points detailing fairly covers up good amount of information.I have deliberately abstained from mentioning the surgical side of Ayurveda because we have lost most of its glory .History is a proof that the first plastic surgery in the world was performed by Sushruta maharishi which was rhinoplasty -nose reconstruction. Till date Sushruta maharishi has detailed all types of wounds except that of gunshot wound.But the parasurgicals section of Ayurveda is doing fantastic performance in ano rectal cases and in avoiding many conditions of surgery verdicted nature of ailment from allopathy