In Western medicine, we consider the human body an open system, says Dr. B. M. Hegde, Indian medical scientist, educationist, and author, and Editor-in-Chief of the medical journal, Journal of the Science of Healing Outcomes. But, he tells the audience in his 2016 TEDx MITE talk, “Ayurveda Over Western Medicines,” that the human body is a closed system. All it needs to heal itself is within itself. And, if Western and Eastern medicines can complement one another, 2% of emergency “quick fixes” for broken bones and life-saving traumatic circumstances, Ayurveda can help fix the other 98%. The future of medicine is the combination of all scientifically-validated healing practices, according to Dr. Hegde, Ayurveda among them.
Ayurveda, Explained
Ayurveda is the ancient, alternative medicine system from India that’s intent on preserving and maintaining health and wellbeing through diet. You will sometimes hear, Ayurveda called “yogic science” because it is the other side of yoga’s physical practices for building strength, resilience and maintaining the body through physical and mental practices.
Ayurvedic science promotes the inner workings of your spiritual and internal organs, which is why nutrition is so well-developed within Ayurveda. Its history dates back, by account of some scholars, to prehistoric times of the Indus Valley Civilization and even earlier. So, to call Ayurveda ancient is shortchanging how truly ancient a healing practice it is. Remarkably, after more than 7,000 years of accumulated wisdom passed on through the generations, about 80% of Indians on the Asian continent practice some mixture of traditional and modern medicines that includes Ayurveda, according to the National Institutes of Health.
To understand Ayurveda, one must understand the doshas. Doshas are the three types of energies–vata, pitta and kapha–that make up every person. These doshas in balance, and you maintain the body’s ability to work, compassion and other virtues for life. Doshas that are out of balance lead to fear, insecurity, and ultimately disease of the body.
Each person has usually one or two doshas that present themselves more often. For the Vata Dosha person, your energetic physiology and personality, when in balance, produce abundant creativity and vitality. For the Pitta Dosha individual, your energies come from the metabolism and foster contentment and your intellectual capabilities. And, last, for those with a dominant Kapha Dosha, your body’s growth and immunity are central to you and provide love and forgiveness. Again, everyone has all three of these doshas in them, but those fluctuate from person to person, and this in Ayurveda is where individuality and dispositions originate.
Do you want to know what main dosha you tend toward? Check out this dosha quiz from Yoga International.
Further, Ayurveda is divided into eight complementary parts, as explained in Planet Ayurveda’s “Eight Branches of Ayurveda”:
– “Kaaya Chikitsa (Internal medicine),
– Baala Chikitsa (Pediatrics treatment),
– Graha Chikitsa or Bhoot Vidya (Psychiatry),
– Urdhyaanga Chikitsa (treatment of eyes, nose, throat, head related disease),
– Shalyaroga Chikitsa (Surgery),
– Damstra Chikitsa – Agad Tantra (toxicology),
– Jara Chikitsa – Rasayana (Geriatrics), and
– Vrishya Chikitsa or Vajjikarana (Aphrodisiac therapy).”
Ayurveda, Meet Quantum Physics
To understand how Ayurveda works, we turn back to Western sciences, specifically and most peculiarly quantum physics, thanks to Dr. Hegde. He mentions in his TEDx talk mentioned above the book, The Quantum Doctor: A Quantum Physicist Explains the Healing Power of Integral Medicine by Amit Goswami, PhD. In it, Dr. Goswami reinterprets many ancient healing practices, from Traditional Chinese Medicine, including acupuncture/acupressure, homeopathy, and Ayurveda, for modern medicine through the lens of consciousness and our understanding of quantum physics today.
It’s simplest explanation is in the understanding that energy and mass are two sides of the same coin, as Albert Einstein once stated. In this sense, your mind and your body are two sides of the same coin. And, through your greater conscious self-awareness you will be able to heal your body.
Dr. Goswami goes into detail in The Quantum Doctor how an integrative medicine approach to whole-being wellness is the future of medicine, about which Dr. Hegde is speaking.
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While with yoga, “showing up to the mat” every day is the mantra of most yogis, ayurvedic doctors approach every day something more akin to the question, what are you putting in your body? When impurities breach your lips, your health and vitality escape.
To practice Ayurveda well then, you simply need to eat less impurities, like processed or “junk” foods, and eat more plant-based, quality whole foods. It’s a simple, but difficult change in the way you live, but good health and longevity are the byproduct offered through the Ayurvedic lifestyle.