The Benefits of Ayurveda
Ayurveda is one of the oldest systems of holistic self-care and healing. It originated in India and has existed for thousands of years helping people with their physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing.
Ayurveda defines a healthy being as one whose bioenergetic constitution (Doshas), bodily tissues and digestive fire are in a balanced state, whose excretory systems (sweat, urinary, bowel) are working efficiently and whose senses, mind and spirit are in a clear, equanimous and tranquil state.
Ayurveda is a comprehensive system for health promotion and disease prevention, based fundamentally on creating an optimum natural healing and regenerative state within your body, mind and spirit.
DIET - FOOD AS MEDICINE
Choose wholesome foods and a dietary plan suited for your constitution, season and requisite nourishment on a daily basis. This means avoiding misguided dietary fads as one size does not fit all.
Furthermore, Ayurveda encourages eating with full awareness and eating only when hungry to ensure Agni (digestive fire) is optimum for proper digestion, assimilation and elimination. Try eating fresh, warm, easy-to-digest, nourishing foods cooked with healthy oils and digestive spices, particularly if you are prone to the effects of coldness, dryness, bloating, constipation, insomnia, anxiety, flu, colds and respiratory illnesses.
Ayurvedic home remedies for rekindling Agni (digestive juices) to improve digestion and enhance nourishment:
Take 1 tsp grated ginger mixed with a pinch of rock salt and a little bit of lemon juice, 15 mins before lunch and dinner.
Start your day with a glass of warm water (100-150ml). Add 1 tsp each of honey, lemon juice and freshly grated ginger, adjusted as per your body's requirement.
Ayurvedic home remedies to strengthen the nervous system and prevent fatigue:
Soak one walnut, one pod cardamon, 1/2 inch cinnamon stick overnight. Eat all together the next morning before breakfast
Soak 4 almonds and two black peppercorns in warm water overnight. Peel the almonds and chew them together with the peppercorns before breakfast
LIFESTYLE
For optimal health, it is important to maintain a balanced lifestyle suited to one’s inherent constitution
Find your rhythm by establishing regular eating, sleeping and morning routines that harmonize with the circadian and seasonal cycles.
Avoid the suppression of natural urges, such as urinary and bowel movements, thirst, hunger, sleep and emotional expressions.
Find the correct exercise regime: yoga, asana, and pranayama practices as per your body-mind constitutional needs, season, lifestyle, physical capacity, mental state and energy level.
Listen to and follow the messages you are receiving from your body to avoid unnecessary stagnation and illness.
Make space in your daily schedule for relaxation and self-nurturing rituals to soothe the senses and nervous system.
Try to spend as much time in natural surroundings as possible to counteract modern lifestyle and to foster harmony with nature.
BODY THERAPIES - ABHYANGA
From an Ayurvedic physiological perspective, the skin is an organ of assimilation and elimination that has a continuous relationship with the gastrointestinal tract, internal organs and the nervous system.
Abhyanga is the external application of therapeutic and rejuvenating oils to the head and body with specific movements to lubricate, soften, release blockages and toxins, and improve lymphatic and cardiac circulation.
This helps to prevent premature aging, improve complexion, relax the body, mind and senses, thereby promoting a general sense of acceptance, love and gratitude.
It is also useful in relieving muscle stiffness, sciatica, chronic fatigue, dry skin, constipation/bloating, diseases of the nervous system, tremors, Reynaud’s syndrome, osteoarthritis and various neuromuscular conditions.
