Ayurvedic Medicine: Brief overview and first lesson

Ayurvedic Medicine
Lesson 1
Ayurvedic medicine is the traditional medicine that has been practiced in India for over 1000 years. It is not just “herbal folk medicine”. It is a highly developed, systemized, and researched approach to medicine that has been patronized by kings, studied, and documented over many, many generations.
The knowledge gained through the research of Ayurveda was originally passed down from teacher to student through the memorization of information as well as practical experience. Our teacher here comes from a family of Ayurvedic doctors and his family home includes a garden that grows some of the remedies and herbs required for Ayurvedic treatment. As an traditional Ayurvedic doctor, one is involved not only in the diagnosis and treatment of patients, but also in growing, gathering, and preparing medicines so that the medicines have their optimal medicinal value. Each plant must be harvested at the optimal time and prepared in specific ways using specific parts of the plant (or mineral). Sometimes, different methods are used to extract the medicinal properties, as different extraction methods will bring out different medicinal properties in the plant and can be more effective in treating different illnesses. As you can see, the science of Ayurveda is very exact … and vast. Besides herbal treatment, Ayurveda also has surgical procedures. The texts on surgical treatments also go back for 1000 years and include surgical instruments and procedures for many, many procedures. In teaching students in ancient times, the texts (of which there are 3 main texts from which they draw and several minor ones) were passed on orally and were written in verse, rhyming and rhythmic verses (slokas) that made it easier to remember the large amount of critical information. Mastery meant perfection of understanding. It was, and is – if properly taught – a demanding subject.
Ayur means life. Veda means knowledge. So Ayurveda means “the knowledge of life (physical and philosophical) from birth to death. The first objective of Ayurveda is Preventive, or Protecting from Disease. Thus, a doctor is on hand to guide a patient in healthy living practices which, if followed exactly, will lead to perfect health and the accomplishment of a person’s Aim in life. The second objective of Ayurveda is to the treatment of a patient who is getting a disease. The ideal, as in all medical practice, is to start treatment in the early stages of disease and before the disease is well established.
Ayurvedic medicine is a wholistic kind of medicine that treats the whole person. It understands the connection between the body, the environment, the mind, the intellect, and the spirit and works to create a balance. Also, Ayurvedic medicine has intensely studied how different kinds of people react to medicines differently, and have documented the correlation between specific human types and optimum medicines for their type. They have also studied, in detail, how certain human types tend to have similar medical conditions or weaknesses. Thus, determining the characteristics of a patient will help lead to more effective treatment. I was speaking with a research doctor in Indianapolis last year, and this is the cutting edge research of present day western medicine (allopathy). They are only now researching the correlation between human types and how medicines effect them, with statistically significant results. The research in Indianapolis focuses on racial differences. Ayuveda focus more on temperaments and general physical types.
For our ease and understanding, the doctor compared the point of view of Ayurveda’s approach to health to a car. He explained that a car:
1. is made of specific elements, such as steel, rubber, plastic, leather
2. has specific parts
3. requires fuel
4. is designed for a specific use/need
5. requires routine service (oil change …) to keep it functioning optimally
6. occasionally requires repair

The correlation to medicine is as follows:
1. All things are made of 5 elements (panchmaha bhoota): earth, fire, water, air,
vacuum. These 5 elements combine to create 3 basic energies or
tendencies in all things. These basic tendencies or energies are
classified, for Ayurvedic purposes as vata, pitha, or kapha (to be
explained later).
2. The main parts of the human are 4: the body (sharida),the sense organs
(indriya), the mind (subtwa), and the soul which drives everything else
(atma). (Ayurveda does not separate these into different and autonomous
fields such as anatomy, psychology, and spirituality.)
3. The fuel is food, water, and oxygen – all three must be considered for well
being.
4. The use of the body is its ultimate aim and purpose in life. For this, the daily
and seasonal routines change and are determined by the person’s individual aims and tendencies.
5. Requires certain routine procedures for safety and comfort (cleansing,
movement…)
6. May need some treatments or surgery if it is out of balance (diseased).

Tied to Ayurveda is a strong belief in the soul’s eternity, and that the choices and habits of this life will directly affect what will happen in the next one. Thus, well being is not only for this life.
We then began a superficial study of the qualities of the 5 elements individually. Understanding the qualities of the elements will help one to understand what effect they will have on the body; different herbs and minerals have different elemental qualities. For example, cayenne is warming (very). So is ginger. Mint is stimulating. Cranesbill root is drying (very). (These are medicines from my herbal knowledge.)

Earth: heavy, rough, hard, slow acting, stable, has a definite shape, large.
The sense organ associated with earth is smell – earthy things have a distinct
(sometimes unpleasant) smell.
Water: liquid/flowing, oily, cold, slow acting, smooth, sticky, turbid (cloudy), heavy
The sense organ associated with water is taste.
Fire: Hot, stimulating effect (which is why Indian food is spicy, as hot things stimulate
the appetite), minute (small), not oily/dry, rough
The sense organ associated with fire is the eye/vision
Air: Light (not heavy), cold (usually), dry, rough, very minute (small), invisible
The sense asscociated with air is touch. One knows of the presence of air by
feeling its movement.
Vacuum: smooth, light (not heavy), minute (small), stimulant – and acts very rapidly. As
a medicine, it will begin to act in the mouth and does not require digestion to be
effective, clear/transparent, unknown taste (like water, tasteless).
The sense organ here is the ear, hearing. One could not hear with out the vacuum,

Then, there was the discussion of the three main energies:
Vata = air + water
Pitha = fire + water
Kapha = earth + water

Ideally, a person should be have a balance of all three energies, thus of all the elements. If something is out of balance, there is too much/too little of a certain energy or element.

The first task of an Ayurvedic doctor is to determine what elements/energies predominate in a patient, then to use daily routine, nutrition, exercise, habits, and, if necessary, treatment to restore perfect balance. Many people are a combination of two of these energies, with a low amount of a third. Some people are predominantly one energy – these are ones that are most out of balance and have the most illnesses and weaknesses.

We only went into the explanations of the 3 energies very generally so far.
Vata: the energy necessary for movement and the rhythms of the body,
both voluntary and involuntary, mental balance, neurology, the senses.
A person who is too strongly vata will be tall, thing, rough complexion,
doesn’t make good, consequential decisions, can be unstable, worries, has
concerns, nervous. Often, there is not a normal weight to length
proportion, are undernourished, veins show, have darker complexions, less
body hair, and sunken eyes. (action of air and vacuum). It is the energy
most associated with old age., though athletes are often strongly vata.
Vata types tend to understand things quickly, but also tend to forget them
quickly.
Pitha: the energy necessary for a lustrous complexion and color, for digestions,
And for a normal body temperature (fire and water). A person who is too
strongly pitha is always angry and volatile. They have excellent digestion and color, but tend to be violent in character. It is the energy most associated with youth (optimal conditions).
Kahpa: the energy necessary for anabolism and constructive work in the body.
A person who is too strongly kapha tends to be lethargic, choosing and
Extremely sedentary lifestyle. They tend to have good dexterity and
above average bodily strength/health. It is the energy most associated with babies (growing). Kapha types tend to take a long time learning something, but once they know it, they will always remember it.

The last point covered was Body Concepts in Ayurveda, which is a spiritual AND physical structure. Ayurveda considers the human to have 5 layers or sheaths, each becoming more subtle and one inside the other, like a series of concentric circles.
1. External structure – all that is visible. It is strongly associated with food. Food
builds these structures. It is built from what we take in and will disintegrate when
we die.

2. Vital air sheath – the air that gets inside and permeates the entire body
instantly. Without air, gangrene sets in.

3. Mental sheath – this is more the mental part that has doubts, likes, affinities

4. Intellectual sheath – decision making/objectivity

5. the Blissful sheath, described as a deep sleep state of consciousness. He also
compared it to hypnosis where one’s mind, in leaving the present moment, can remember minute things from one’s past. One is asleep, and yet, even more, awake. (I am black, but beautiful.)


ALSO ( and interestingly), the times of the days when vata is most present is between 2-6 AM and PM. In other words, if one is in a balanced state, this is the optimum time for mental activity, prayer, yoga ESPECIALLY the morning time.

The time when pitha is most strongly present is from 12-2 AM and PM, and for kapha is 6-10 AM and PM.

Which then brought up a conversation about sleep, especially if one rises at 3:00 AM.
If one is of a positive, light mind/temperament (sattva), the optimal amount of sleep each night is 4 hours (assuming you are a healthy/balanced person).

If one has a fiery temperament (rajas), one requires 6 hours sleep. If you have less, there will be a tendency to become less stable and hyperactive.

If one has a passive, possibly unstable temperament (tamas), one require 8 hours of sleep to maintain optimal health.

SO… one has a temperament with which one must live, but within that temperament, one can achieve a balance and achieve one’s Aim.

A student asked the teacher if he, personally, could adhere to the daily requirements that would allow a perfect balance, and his honest response was, “No”, because of his occupation. He said there is a sloka (verse) that tells Ayurvedic doctors to avoid treating public servants (in the days of kings) and priests. That is because their occupation requires them to be active at specific times, which may/will conflict with optimal health practices. Thus, the remedies will be less effective and the princes/priests will say it doesn’t work and give the doctor a bad reputation. He said this with a touch of humor … but in all seriousness.

Which makes me think how often people disregard the efficacy of some practices, medicines, and treatments when, in fact, they did not properly and completely follow the recommendations. This must be a frustration for all doctors (the patient who doesn’t take their medicine, etc.).

The conclusion I made from this lesson is that Ayurveda is a vast and detailed science and to truly be an Ayurvedic doctor requires much more that a study of herbs and body parts. If one is looking for an Ayurvedic doctor in America, one must truly consider the person’s background and experience. Otherwise, you will only be partially (and probably not very effectively) treated. However, because this science is so exact, detailing medicines to individual body types and natures, I can imagine that it would be extremely, even “miraculously” effective. This is something I have seen, both in this medical world as in Chinese and American Indian healing. Chinese medicine is also very, very thorough and exact, a science researched and documented under several dynasties. There was also recorded collaboration between Indian, Chinese, and ancient Greek doctors – much of which hasn’t been translated! (Wouldn’t that be a fun doctoral thesis!) American Indian wisdom was passed down orally and much has been lost, though the efficacy of the treatments I have seen have been astonishing, seemingly “impossible”.


At this point, our days will be much the same. I will be taking detailed notes on Ayurvedic medicine. I have just finished the second lecture and am increasingly impressed by the vastness and detail of our teacher’s knowledge. For those of you interested in Ayurveda, I will be happy to give you a copy of my notes – which are copious. If you would like the lectures “hot off the press”, send me a note through email and I can send you my copy of the lectures as they become available.

Eleanor and I are both enjoying the mix of study and the extremely engaging, interesting, varied, and intelligent students that are here. Already, the level of conversation and meeting of minds is stimulating, collaborative, and supportive. I’ll post again if there is an interesting topic to relate. We are also available through email!!