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Ayurveda is a system of medicine that originated in India several thousand years ago.

It is based on ways to prevent, manage, or treat health problems by keeping the body in balance. This is accomplished by cleansing the body of substances which cause disease, strengthening the constitution and immune system, eliminating the mental causes of disease, and keeping the life-essence and energy systems flowing smoothly.

Ayurveda aims to integrate and balance the body, mind, and spirit (it can be viewed as "holistic").

Although Ayurveda has been the main system of health care in India for thousands of years, conventional (Western) medicine is becoming more widespread there, especially in urban areas. About 70 percent of India's population lives in rural areas; about two-thirds of rural people still use Ayurveda and medicinal plants to meet their primary health care needs. In addition, most major cities have an Ayurvedic college and hospital. Ayurveda and variations of it have also been practiced for centuries in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Tibet.

The term Ayurveda combines two Sanskrit words--ayur, which means life, and veda, which means science or knowledge. Ayurveda means "the science of life."

The history of Indian medicine is probably as old as the Indus Valley Civilization dating back to 3000 BC. It was between 1200 and 700 BC, that the four sacred Vedas were composed. References to diseases, herbs and herbal cures can be seen in all the four Vedas especially in the Rig Veda. Ayurvedic practice was flourishing during the time of Buddha (around 520 BC),

Many Ayurvedic practices were handed down by word of mouth and were used before there were written records. Two ancient books, written in Sanskrit on palm leaves more than 2,000 years ago, are thought to be the first texts on Ayurveda

It is important to take note of the differences in the philosophy of the Western lifestyle and medicine, and that of the ancient teachings of Ayurveda:

Western medicine accepts the idea of continually ingesting hundreds of man-made chemicals, drugs, and highly processed and artificial foods with no nutritional value.When the body can no longer handle this onslaught of poisons and artificial food, Western Medicine advises the use of yet more chemicals in the form of drugs which are then used to cover up the symptoms of disease.When these drugs exhibit toxic side-effects, generally more drugs are administered to mask the body's efforts to eliminate the offending substances.Pain, muscle weakness, rashes, and other problems are seen as acceptable and inevitable.The body is considered to be a faulty, ineffective machine in need of drugs to "fix" it by poisoning it into submission.

Ayurveda, as well as Chinese Medicine, Homeopathy and all holistic practices, to some degree, believe that disease is due to physical and mental imbalances within a person, and those imbalances are treated by restoring the natural balance mentally and physically. In Ayurveda your whole life and lifestyle must be in harmony before you can enjoy true well being. Lifestyle interventions are a major Ayurvedic preventive and therapeutic approach.

The main goal of Ayurveda is nothing less than a state of perfect health, for the individual and for society and the environment as well, in which every man and woman is inwardly in balance and outwardly in harmony with the environment and the laws of nature

Every day our systems are exposed to literally millions of bacteria, viruses, allergens, and carcinogens, and yet our immune system has the intelligence and skill to deal with all those invaders and keep us healthy. However, when stress, inadequate nutrition, toxins or fatigue weaken the immune system, those same invaders may produce disease. Every second the body is adjusting to countless thousands of changes, keeping us in balance. Disruptions can be physical, emotional, spiritual, or a combination thereof. Imbalances weaken the body and make the person susceptible to disease. Whatever comes along to upset the balance, the body knows its own nature, knows what ideal temperature it should be and the correct chemistry it needs to maintain health, and attempts to keep referring back to that blueprint to maintain proper balance.

Also, there can be no mental health without physical health, and vice versa. In Ayurveda, symptoms and diseases that could be considered as mental thoughts or feelings are just as important as symptoms and diseases of the physical body.

Nature has set us up with all the equipment we need to be perfectly healthy. Health is our natural state, and ill health is unnatural.

Perhaps the most important lesson Ayurveda has to teach is that our health is up to us. We decide to keep it poisoned, malnourished and sickly, or vibrant, well-nourished and healthy.Every day of our lives, every hour of every day, we can and do choose either health or illness. When we choose wisely, our body rewards us with health and happiness. When we persistently choose unwisely, our bodies, in infinite wisdom, eventually set us straight: We get sick and get a chance to rest and rethink our choices.

Rebecca Jablonski

http://creatingwealthandhealth.info/

http://herbsofindia.info/