Indian Holistical Medical Practices - Ayurveda and Yoga

chillibreeze writer — Padma Prabhu

India is a treasure trove of different medical sciences like Yoga and Ayurveda. Despite urbanization, people in India still follow these ancient practices to keep themselves healthy.

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Good health is a perfect balance between the body, mind and the soul. These sciences have, in their own ways, helped people achieve this goal effectively.

Yoga is a complete science in all respects. It touches every sphere of human life. It provides a complete lifestyle, a complete medication system and above all a complete spiritual insight. It is not bound by the narrow-mindedness of gender, religion, caste, community, area and language.

Yoga involves different breathing exercises (Pranayama) and different postured exercises (Asanas). It mainly focuses on concentration (dharana) and meditation (dhyana), helping a person to get an insight into oneself, to meet the supreme soul and attain complete bliss. Practicing yoga helps to revive the dormant energy, rejuvenate the tissues and help in new cell formation. It strengthens the various physiological processes making the body healthy and active.

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Light yogic exercises reactivate the nervous system and regulate the blood circulation. With the practice of Pranayama and Asanas the glands and muscles of the body contract and expand and diseases get cured naturally. Yoga helps a person to develop balanced thoughts and behavior which leads to a pious mind and helps one think auspiciously and do good deeds. On the whole, it helps a person to have a perfectly balance between physical and mental health.

There are eight yogic practices each meant for the following:

1. Mental and physical cleansing;
2. Soul enlightenment;
3. Curing diseases like diabetes, gastric trouble, abdominal pain, obesity, constipation, chronic acidity and all other stomach related diseases;
4. Cervical spondylitis, dislocation of disc;
5. Allergy, sinusitis, respiratory problems;
6. Migraine;
7. Depression; and
8. High blood pressure, stress, cholesterol and heart diseases.

Apart from curing ailments, Yoga also specifies the following daily routine to be followed by a person to maintain good health:

1. Diet (Ahara): A person’s body develops with diet. Diet has an effect not only on the body but also on the mind. A person should eat good vegetarian food. Overeating is bad. Food should be consumed at regular intervals and preferably at the same time daily. One should drink lots of water. A verse in Sanskrit states that a person who drinks water early in the morning, buttermilk after lunch in the afternoon and milk after dinner at night, never needs to consult a doctor.
2. Sleep (Nidra): Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. A healthy person needs at least 6 hours of sound sleep. Children and elderly people need eight hours of sleep. Staying awake the entire night and sleeping in the morning hours causes ill health. Retiring to bed at night time and waking up in the morning at the right time makes a man healthy and capable.
3. Exercise (Vyayam): The human body requires regular exercise. There are many ways of exercising. But the best way is to practice Asana and Pranayama. Other types of exercises help to shape the body but can never help in achieving the mental concentration, tranquility or the peace of mind which these can provide.
4. Bath (Snan): Bathing refreshes, cools and cleanses the body. One should have a bath daily. One should wait for the body temperature to be normal after exercising to have a bath. If not ill, one should have a bath with cold water. Bathing with warm or hot water results in faulty digestive power and weak eyesight. It also leads to untimely greying of hair and hair loss. The body suffers from excess heat and essential ingredients of the body are washed away. One should rub the body with a rough textured cotton towel (khadi). The skin acquires a beautiful glow with this practice. If one suffers from constipation he/she should rub the stomach with a dry towel. Bathing in a river or pond is very beneficial.
5. Meditation (Dhyan): On completing the routine for personal hygiene like a daily ablution, one should meditate for 15 minutes to one hour. This helps the person to gain peace of mind, happiness and contentment.

Ayurveda, as the name suggests (‘Ayus’=long life ‘veda’=knowledge), is a science of long life. It is one of the ancient medical sciences involving surgery. The medication here is by syrups or oils made from the herbs, shrubs and roots of plants or by using different minerals available naturally. These metals, animal parts and minerals are purified by individual processes before being used in making medicines.

Ayurvedic oils are used for massage, which help to relieve pain and reduce swelling in different parts of the body. In the case of Arthritis, these oil massages have been known to release the deep seated toxins in the joints and thereby reduce pain and swollen joints.

Like other medical sciences, Ayurveda also has different branches such as:

1. Internal Medicine-Kayachikitsya Tantra;
2. Surgery-Shalya Tantra;
3. Ears, nose, eyes and throat-Shalakya Tantra;
4. Pediatrics-Kaumarabhritya Tantra;
5. Toxicology-Agada Tantra;
6. Purification of genetic organs-Bajikarana Tantra;
7. Health and Longevity-Rasayana Tantra; and
8. Spiritual Health-Bhuta Vidya.

The Ayurvedic centers are called ‘Vaidya Shala’ and the different herbal medicines are prescribed by a certified Ayurvedic medical practitioner, who holds a BAMS-Bachelors of Ayurvedic Medical Science degree.

All in all, these holistic medical sciences cure human ailments using simple medications and do not have any side effects. These medications not only cure the disease but also help develop a perfect balance between the body, mind and the soul thereby not only bringing about an upliftment and development of an individual but also the overall development of society, nation and the world.

These medical practices have been successfully followed in India for ages and have been the basis of healthy generations before medical sciences from the West even developed. While the other medical sciences aim at only curing the ailments, these holistic medicines provide a way of healthier living too. They are gaining popularity in the West due to their phenomenal curing ability and will last for generations to come as people crave for a healthier and more spiritually-inclined lifestyle.

India should be proud of its pristine history in the field of these holistic medicines and should treasure and spread its healing sciences across the globe for the betterment of mankind for generations and centuries to come.

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—About our writer:

Padma writes for chillibreeze.