Health Through Balance Knowing nature to be whole and complete, good health implies restoring that natural state of completeness and wholeness. According to the science of Ayurveda, health is a natural state when there is perfect balance of your body, mind, and spirit. “Any treatment that attends only to the symptoms is not a good therapy. The best treatment is one that balances the whole and does not create other disorders.” – Charak Samhita Inner Intelligence No matter how imbalanced you may feel, there is always residing deep within an inner intelligence which seeks balance. Modern medicine describes this natural state of balance as homeostasis, the in-built tendency towards equilibrium. Ayurveda describes balance to be when the doshas [bodily humors], agni [metabolism] an...
Improve Your Digestion Naturally According to the most ancient and revered textbook of Ayurveda, the Charak Samhita, “the distinction between health and disease arises as the result of the difference between wholesome and unwholesome diet.” Similarly, Hippocrates [the father of modern medicine] has said, “leave your drugs in the pot at the pharmacy if you can’t cure your patient with food.” “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” – Hippocrates Food As Medicine We have all heard the saying, “you are what you eat”. Though true, it would be more accurate to say, “you are what you eat, digest, absorb, and assimilate”. With that in mind, let us now introduce the most fundamental principle according to the science of Ayurveda. This principle is “Agni” – The Diges...
Sugar Cravings One moment, you’re innocently going about your day – the next moment, you discover yourself in the clutches of desire. Despite having a healthy salad for lunch it is now 2:30 pm and you somehow find yourself lost in desire with an overwhelming losing battle for a chocolate cupcake with buttercream icing. “The Afternoon Dip” Do you ever notice that in the mid-afternoon you feel that dip in your energy? In a study from Tufts University, 91% of women said they experienced strong food cravings. And willpower isn’t the answer. The solution to this daily conundrum may actually be more simple than we anticipate assuming we discover the root cause of this craving. The Brain’s [Demanding] Energetics By eating fewer calories a day or restri...
Revolutionizing Healthcare Despite all the advances of the modern world we as a race have never been more sick than ever before. A Broken System – Approximately … 600,000 people die from heart attacks annually in the U.S. 800,000 strokes occur annually in the U.S. often related to high blood pressure 50,000,000 people in the U.S. suffer from autoimmune conditions 120,000,000 people worldwide are affected by mental depression 1,000,000,000 people around the world suffer from diabetes and obesity Digest Tone Good health depends on strong, efficient digestion. Digest Tone supports the digestive system and elimination; assists the body in absorbing nutrients; high-quality antioxidant; wide range of benefits. It’s very intuitive to acknowledge that in order to regain a...
Seasonal Guide For Autumn It’s that time of year when you first feel that crisp breeze and know that summer is gone and autumn begins revealing herself. Although every season has its traits – autumn has a particular beauty about it. Noticeable changes of autumn include the leaves changing colors, days getting shorter, and mornings growing chillier and more crisp as summer begins to fade away. Dry, Light, Cool, Rough, & Windy The qualities of autumn depict the element of “air” which can easily be understood by the nature of wind. The wind during this time of year becomes more gusty and naturally tends to dry the body [i.e. dry skin, dry eyes, constipation, etc.]. From an Ayurvedic perspective this season is thought to aggravate “vata”. Vata regulates all movement wit...
“LEAKY GUT SYNDROME” Although the phrase “leaky gut” was never well accepted in the medical community, research over the past two decades has revealed that gut health is critical to overall health, and an unhealthy gut contributes to a wide range of diseases including diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, depression and chronic fatigue syndrome. Ancient Wisdom Of Ayurveda … “Due to the purification of the body, the capacity of digestion and metabolism is enhanced, normal health is restored, all sense organs start working with vigor, old age is prevented and diseases cured.” – Charaka Samhita Ch. 16 Sutra 17-19 In Ayurvedic medicine, most treatable diseases arise from the presence of “ama”, a toxic by-product of poor digestion. Mirroring this ancient wisdom...
Hypothyroidism + Impaired Gut Health Hypothyroidism is one of the most common thyroid disorders and it has been estimated that 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease. Although there is no direct mention of the thyroid gland in the ancient teachings of Ayurveda there is, however, a condition by the name galaganda mentioned by certain manuscripts as we shall soon explore. Clinical Symptoms Hypothyroidism is often associated with weight gain, mental slowing, depression and dementia, constipation, dry skin, hair loss, cold intolerance, hoarse voice, irregular menstruation, infertility, and a wide range of other not-so-desirable symptoms. Old School vs. Ancient Wisdom Long gone are the days of managing hypothyroidism with a synthetic or bio-identical hormone thinking that...
“All disease begins in the gut.” – Hippocrates Hippocrates – who is the father of modern medicine has stated that – “all disease begins in the gut”. However, even more impressive is the science of Ayurveda. The literal meaning of Ayurveda is “The Science Of Life” and dates back thousands of years. Ayurveda is an ancient science which takes a positive and preventative approach for maintaining health which is beautifully explained with the following quote … “The aim of Ayurveda is to maintain the health of the healthy and to cure diseases of the sick.” – Charaka Sutrasthana 30:26 Gut Health – Gut Flora The ancient wisdom of Ayurveda has stated long ago the health benefits of optimal digestion [“Agni” – The Digestive Fire]. Modern science is onl...
3 Health Benefits Of Ghee The ancient science of Ayurveda has long revered ghee [clarified butter] as an elixir for health and longevity. Very much like butter, ghee has received a bad reputation for many decades due to its high saturated fat content. Research is revealing that instead of increasing the risk of heart disease, ghee may actually decrease the risk instead. That’s not all. Ghee made from grass-fed cow’s milk containing vitamins A,D,E and K, along with fatty acids conjugated linoleic acid [CLA] and butyric acid is now revealing other interesting health benefits. Ghee + Heart Health: Ghee is rich in conjugated linoleic acid [CLA] which is a fatty acid with known protective qualities against arterial plaque formation and diabetes – known risk factors of heart disease...
Why Not To Drink Cold Water Sit down in any restaurant and very often the first thing offered is a tall glass of ice cold water. The wisdom of Ayurveda considers ice cold water as a big no-no. Ayurveda considers optimal digestion as being the fundamental pillar of good health and explains further that drinking cold beverages actually extinguishes the digestive flame. In fact, drinking cold water especially with meals is actually considered to be a common cause of indigestion as we shall explain further. Your Sacred Digestive Flame The very act of eating is life-giving and optimizing digestion is a key principle in the science of Ayurveda. Many ancient cultures considered fire to be sacred. Fire represents the alchemical transformation of one thing into another. The science of Ayurve...
Simple Ways To Help Manage Anxiety The modern world is stressful. Lucky for us – the teachings of Ayurveda provides for simple and practical ways of developing inner calmness and an overall sense of well-being. In fact, the time-honored focus of Ayurveda is to create this very inner calmness and sense of well-being. The Ancient Wisdom Of Ayurveda Anxiety is a subjective feeling characterized as an unpleasant state often associated with fear and nervous behaviors. From an Ayurvedic perspective, much of these symptoms [of anxiety] originate from vata aggravation. We can think of “vata” as being that movement which directs and drives all activities of the body and mind. If this movement, within the mind specifically, becomes imbalanced it can manifest and express itself as...
How Food Affects Your Mind According to the teachings of Ayurveda food not only nourishes the body but also nourishes and affects the mind. Ayurveda has a very elegant way of explaining certain qualitites of the mind – namely, sattva [pure], rajas [dynamic], and tamas [stable/heavy] qualities of the mind. Qualities Of The Mind From the most fundamental perspective we can say that – mind is movement. The movement of thoughts, feelings, and emotions make up most of what we generally consider to be the mind. These three shifting qualities [sattva-rajas-tamas] of the mind are briefly described below. Sattva Sattva [pure] qualities of the mind are expressed mostly as love and compassion, righteousness, and often describes the kind of person who seeks after truth in life. Sattva indi...