Ayurveda wellness focuses on lifestyle treatment. It goes hand-in-hand with yoga and meditation. Learn more about the Ayurvedic treatment Coach Keya offers.
Ayurveda Wellness - for optimal health
Ayurveda is a field growing quite popular globally. I keep receiving inquiries about Ayurveda. More often than not, the request is for symptomatic relief.
“I have allergies. I have been to many doctors including naturopaths and acupuncturists. I hear Ayurveda is good. What can you give me to help me with my allergies?”
This form of questioning deeply saddens me. All these educated practitioners tried to give them a pill or treat their disease. I assume they never delved into the cause of the allergy or the ailment of the patient.
Ayurveda is different. Ayurveda is a lifestyle treatment. It goes hand in hand with yoga and meditation(retreating into your deep silence). Yoga begins with the cleanliness of body, mind, spirit, and ends in Nirvana or Samadhi.
Before you get a pill, powder, or potion into your mouth, you must take a count of all that you already put in your mouth.
- Diet is the most important. I am not suggesting a vegan diet, a diet with kale and juices, proteins, etc. Keep a food journal. Watch what you put in your mouth. Eat mindfully with a 100% concentration on the act of enjoying each morsel in your mouth which feeds you.
- The lifestyle comes next. Are you in sync with the sun? the moon? Your body? Do you have a biorhythm? Are you following it? Do you watch what comes out of your mouth? Do your thoughts and emotions belong to you or do you belong to them?
- Home remedies: All that you need is already within you. At times life gets in the way, I know. We call this stress. If what you need is not within you, then it must be in your kitchen. When I came to America and found out that people had a medicine chest in their bathroom I was perplexed. All that your body does not need is eliminated in the bathroom. How can what helps you, your medicine be also in your bathroom?
- Herbal remedies: When your food can’t help you, there are herbs that you need over and above your food. E.g. being from India, I use turmeric extensively in all the food I prepare. Yet sometimes I feel like my body could use a bit more of turmeric. So, I boil a cup of water, add 1/4th of a teaspoon of turmeric powder to the boiled water, and allow it to steep. I pour it out and drink it as a tea. Ginger, cinnamon, lemon, etc can be taken in extra amounts as remedies. Essential oils, teas are all good at making you feel great.
- Panchkarma and Ashtakarma treatments: If you have abused your body and mind for decades and need more, then panch karma treatments help. You should check into a center that specializes in these treatments. Avail of them to recover from your ailment. Before you leave the treatment facility learn what you should do to stay healthy.
- Marma points: These are pressure points in your body. The pressure points are the extreme edge of a meridian in your body. A meridian is the electromagnetic-field around each nerve in your body. When marma points are squeezed for 8 seconds, you feel better. The pressure from the meridians gets released. Your body can return to its normal.
Each step builds on the other. It begins with the right diet, correct lifestyle, home remedies and herbal remedies. Without these, an ayurvedic treatment provides only temporal relief. Your body will return to its diseased state if you do not work on steps 1-4 in that sequence.
If wellness is not sustainable then it is called a treatment, not a cure. Ask yourself what you need (treatment or cure), accept your decision, and be okay with the outcome of it.
Namaste!
Keya Murthy, Ayurveda Wellness Practitioner
Gangotri, Source of River Ganges at 11,000 feet