Ayurvedic medicine isn’t just something you hear about during your yoga class -it’s a tried and true holistic practice. While your family doctor won’t bring it up, Ayurveda is well-respected and widely practiced.
Like many natural healing methods, Ayurvedic medicine has multiple applications when it comes to promoting health and longevity. Find out how to incorporate it into your self-care by reading on below.
What Is Ayurveda
Ayurvedic medicine is a 3000-year-old tradition that hails from India. It’s actually one of the oldest holistic medicines around and it’s still practiced today throughout the world.
While Ayurvedic medicine is the first course of action in its native India, it’s considered a form of complementary and alternative medicine in the United States (1).
This is partly because unlike western medicine, Ayurveda is meant to promote health and prevent illness, not fight disease. It always doesn’t just focus on your body: Ayurveda believes that wellness comes from the balance between the mind, body, and spirit. In fact, the concept of interconnectedness and balance is at the heart of this medicine.
Shifts in this balance cause disease. This can occur due to genetic or birth defects, injuries, climate and seasonal change, age, and your emotions.
In a way, Ayurveda is more of a way of life than an exact science. However, many of the herbs and treatments it suggests have been proved by modern medicine.
Doshas: The Foundation Of Ayurveda
Ayurveda believes that everyone is made of five elements: space, air, fire, water, and earth. The elements are integral for the three doshas, or mind-body types (2,3).
1. Vata Dosha
Ruled by: space and air
This Dosha rules cell division, breathing, blood flow, heart function, thought and waste management. It’s affected by fear, grief, and late nights.
In balance: Promotes creativity and vitality
Out of balance: Leads to fear, anxiety, asthma, heart disease, skin problems, and rheumatoid arthritis.
2. Pitta Dosha
Ruled by: fire and water
The pitta dosha controls your digestion, metabolism, appetite, hormone balance, and body temperature. It’s affected by eating sour or spicy foods and spending too much time in the sun.
In balance: Leads to contentment and intelligence.
Out of balance: Ulcers, Crohn’s disease, anger, heart disease, high blood pressure, and infections.
3. Kapha Dosha
Ruled by: water and earth
This dosha controls growth, muscle function, hydration, strength, stability, weight, and immune response. This affected by sleeping during the day, eating sweets, or consuming too much salt.
In balance: Expressed as love and forgiveness.
Out of balance: Can lead to insecurity and envy, breathing disorders, cancer, diabetes, nausea after eating, and obesity.
What Science Says About Ayurvedic Medicine
Modern medicine isn’t keen on supporting ayurvedic treatment, but sometimes it simply doesn’t have a choice.
As the National Health Institute attests to “A preliminary clinical trial in 2011, funded in part by NCCIH, found that conventional and Ayurvedic treatments for rheumatoid arthritis had similar effectiveness. The conventional drug tested was methotrexate and the Ayurvedic treatment included 40 herbal compounds.” (4)
Other key ayurvedic treatments, like Boswellia and turmeric, have succeeded in treating inflammation in multiple studies. Researchers have found turmeric to be effective in treating arthritis and digestive disorders while Boswellia is effective for osteoarthritis.
The University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality & Healing also highlights an interesting case study (5):
“Denise was a 58-year old female diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She was undergoing chemotherapy, and her oncologist recommended seeking Ayurvedic advice on effective ways to deal with her side effects. After an exhaustive examination, Denise’s Ayurvedic practitioner created a tailored diet and herbal treatment for her.”
“After following this regimen, Denise’s nausea abated and her energy increased, giving her the ability to once again enjoy her everyday routines and responsibilities.”
12 Ayurvedic Medicine Tips For Better Health
These ayurvedic tips are easy to integrate into your habits, and their positive impact is well worth the effort.
1. Scrape Your Tongue
Cleaning your tongue is an often overlooked part of oral hygiene. The tongue has multiple grooves that harbor food residue and bacteria long after you’ve had your last meal. This can contribute towards bad breath as well as periodontal disease (6).
It isn’t surprising that you don’t know how to clean your tongue, but it’s easy to do. All you need is a tongue scraper from your local drugstore or a toothbrush with a built-in tongue cleaner. Every time you brush and floss, follow up with a tongue scraper and a tiny dab of toothpaste. Gently scrape back to front and follow up by rinsing with water (7).
2. Eat Sweet, Sour and Salty Foods
Craving salt foods during the colder months is normal. In fact, in the fall and winter, ayurvedic medicine suggests that you up your intake of salty, sweet and sour foods to warm your body from the inside out. You should also eat warm foods and spice your meals generously.
3. Give Yourself an Oil Massage
Massage isn’t a luxury: it’s an integral part of self-care and continued health. Massage therapy is sometimes necessary to promote muscle recovery, undo muscle knots, lubricate joints, reduce inflammation, reduce stress, move along lymph, and drain sinuses. An oil massage is a great way to moisturize your skin and facilitate muscle manipulation to get the most out of every motion.
Here’s how you can incorporate ayurvedic massage into your daily routine:
- Make sure bathroom is warm and place an old towel on the floor to prevent oil stains.
- Heat some water to near boil and pour water into a medium-sized bowl.
- Use this water as a bain marie to heat up your massage oil. You can do this by placing the oil into a small bowl and placing this bowl into the bowl of water. The oil should not come into contact with the water.
- Remove the small bowl once the oil is warm.
- Begin to undress and stand on the towel.
- Apply the oil to your body, starting from your head and moving all the way down to your feet. Spend time on each body part, including your ears, nails, elbows and knees. Use long strokes for the limbs and circular motion for the chest, abdomen, and joints.
- When you’re done, let the oil penetrate the skin for 10-15 minutes.
- Follow up with a warm shower, being careful to not slip as your feet will be oily. Use soap where needed and shampoo your hair.