What is Ayurveda- Natural Healing Therapies by Raje Airey and Jessica Houdret

 Natural Healing

Ayurveda is the art of living a balanced life.  This is the path to good health, happiness and longevity. Ayurveda teaches a broad-based doctrine of holistic living with practical instructions on how we may best achieve this. 

Rooted in the philosophical and spiritual traditions of India, at the heart of Ayurveda is the understanding that everything in the universe is interconnected: we are not isolated individuals but are part of the greater whole, linked to the web of life by invisible energy pathways, or prana, the “breath of life”. Similarly, within each of us, everything is connected and operating on many different levels.  Ayurveda recognizes that our emotions, intellect and physical body, together with our actions and surrounding environment, are all interlinked and influence each other.  Good health is achieved when all these aspects are balanced and in proportion with one another.  This leads to inner harmony and equilibrium-a feeling a being “at one” with the world and oneself. 

There are eight branches to the “tree”of Ayurveda, each one offering various aspects of health and healing, including surgery, gynaecology, paediatrics and medicine.  Ayurvedic medicine is the branch responsible for treating our health on a day-to-day basis.  Its aim is to prevent and treat ill-health so that we are left free to develop our spiritual potential.  This does not mean that you have to have any particular religious belief to benefit from Ayurvedic medicine as the philosophy both acknowledges the uniqueness of the individual, and is also very practical in its applications.  It is founded on the belief that all diseases stem from the digestive system and/or by following an improper diet. 

Ayurveda’s primary method of treatment is through nutrition, supported by the use of herbs, massage and aromatic oils, but there are also many other outlets, including yoga and meditation, crystals and colour healing.  It is about finding what works for you and then applying it to improve your life in whatever ways seem most fitting.

~ by heavenly1 on February 25, 2008.