Okay, but what is ayurveda?
Ayurveda. Let me start with how to pronounce it first. R-U-VE-DAH. That’s it! Ayurveda is a sanskrit word. What is sanskrit? Well, it is a very auspicious language! Some of the most ancient documents we have today are written in this old Indo-Aryan language. The ancient texts, perhaps you’ve heard of them, the Vedas are generally described as being composed as far back as 1500 BCE! You didn’t know you were going to get a mini history lesson with this, did you!?
Okay, so you know a sanskrit word now! So what does ayurveda mean? The word literally translates to the ‘science (or wisdom) of life’. ‘Ayuh’ is life and ‘veda’ is wisdom, science or knowledge. It is an all encompassing platform for health and wellness. Though this practice of ayurveda has been in existence for thousands of years and is a normative experience for people in India currently, it is relatively new to the West. My short answer to the question ‘what is ayurveda’ is that it is the sister science to yoga. But there is so much more. Keep reading for a deeper dive!
There are two things with Ayurveda that I think are really important to know right away:
1) The emphasis placed on maintaining the health of the person
2) Restoring the health of a person experiencing dis-ease (disease) or imbalances.
My own experience with Western medicine is in stark contrast to this idea of maintaining health, or what is also called prevention (svasthavrtta in sanskrit). I’ve heard from people in my life who have described experiences of being told they had to wait for a cancer screen to come back or there was no treatment offered until they had cancer (or whatever the disease was). Without getting too much in the weeds here, because I can also do that, I want you to know that in Ayurveda, there is an understanding of 6 different stages of a diseased progression. This is called ‘sadkriyakala’ in sanskrit. This means there are ways of recognizing the manifestation of diseases before there is a fully identifiable disease. The first 3 of these stages (caya, prakopa and prasara) occur before the disease has fully manifested. In these 3 stages, the disease itself can still be prevented. The final 3 stages of the diseased progression (sthana samsara, vyakti and bheda) can be understood as when the disease has more fully manifested. Though there is/can be a cure, it is more difficult to get there at this point (in the final 3 stages). I’m not western medical doctor and to be honest, my experience with the medical system in the West is minimal both in that I’ve had little need to seek the services of a medical provider and for the last 5 or so years, I have sought the guidance of an ayurvedic practitioner (or an otherwise alternative care provider, like a chiropractor), I’m saying this so you understand my context here.
Having said all of this, I want you to know this next point. And one of the big reasons that I love ayurveda so much is that it is a very specific approach to caring for people. In no particular order here are some key points:
People seeking care (rogis) are trusted to have their own healing mechanisms from within (healing is an inside job, the ayurveda professional just helps to facilitate this healing). The doctor isn’t a healer (just a healer of themselves), each of us are our own healers!
Each person is made up of a very unique body and psychological constitution (prakriti).
Rather than a cookie cutter approach where everyone is treated as a type of machine that just needs to be given a pill, there is recognition in the ayurveda field that everybody is different and every treatment (cikitsa) should be tailored to that rogi.
Practices or remedies (cikitsas) provided may be long term (think yoga practice or daily rituals) and may also be short term (think herbs or formulations, what is called dravyas) to boost the body's own wisdom to care for and heal oneself.
The recommendations are meant to be obtainable and accessible for a wide range of people. While there may be recommendations for something more intensive, if this is not feasible either because of finances, inability to travel (because of physical limitations), unwillingness to try something (ghee is often used as a medicine and this may not work for someone who is living a vegan lifestyle), or the needed herbs may not be available… it is incredibly important to meet rogis where they are.
The person is viewed not just as a body (sarira) or not just as a mind (manus) but rather seen from all levels: physical, spiritual, emotional, behavioral, familial, universal etc.
Sounds really great, right? There’s more! Ayurveda comes from a scientific and philosophical framework. There is so much to explore within each of these, but for now I just want you to expose you to the following:
There are 3 compilations of texts (samhitas) outlining Ayurveda which come from schools of physicians and surgeons. The texts are known as Caraka Samhita, Susruta Samhita and Astanga Hrdayam.
Astanga Ayurveda describes the 8 different classifications of care (you may liken this to the 8 limbs of yoga, if you are familiar with that). You may recognize some of these from the western system (though to be clear these have been established in ayurveda for thousands of years): internal medicine (kayacikitsa), surgery (salya tantra), ear/nose/throat/eyes (salakya tantra), pediatrics (kaumarbhrya), toxicology (agadatantra), psychiatry (bhutavidya), rejuvenation (rasayana) and aphrodisiacs (vajikarana). The difference between the western approach and ayurveda here, is that there are no specialized professionals- one professional can work with you for each of these.
There are 6 categories of philosophical understanding (Saddarsana) on which ayurveda is built. These categories are Samkhya, Nyaya, Vaiseika, Yogadarsana, Mimamsa and Vedanta. They are fascinating to learn more about!
So, long story short… ayurveda, is an all encompassing, amazingly deep and rich field for healing and restoring the health of each of us. There is so much more, so friends… think of this as a preview of coming attractions!
