What In The World Is Ayurveda

What in the World is Ayurveda!?

I live in Kansas, and when I meet someone new and say I am an Ayurvedist the blank stares are a thing! So I thought my first entry ever on this fanastical new voyage could be a little Ayurveda 101.

Ayurveda may not be as well known in the mid-west, but Yoga, is. Yoga and Ayurveda both come from Ancient India’s books of wisdom called the Vedas. The Vedas were Ancient India’s version of “How to Take Care of Yourself for Dummies”. These books have ALL the knowledge; how to eat right for your constitution (dosha), what a dosha is, what herbs will help what symptoms, how to do yoga, why meditation rocks, spiritual philosophy, etc. Think of the Vedas as a WebMD for mind, body, and soul, only instead of being told you have the worst disease you can imagine… (or at least that is always what happens to me!) The Vedas give solid recommendations using all sorts of tools to help you out.

Tools that an Ayurvedist might use include: aromatherapy, food as medicine, herbs and spices, daily routine recommendations, oil massage, yoga, meditation, daily exercise, music therapy, mantra, etc. Honestly the list of what we don’t use might be shorter!

In Modern terms, Ayurveda works by prevention as medicine. Having a healthy digestive tract and balanced routine are some of the biggest balancers a person can use. Sometimes it can seem pretty “out there” to a Western mind, but the neat thing is that modern Science is starting to recognize and prove the techniques that Ayurveda has known for centuries. I will try to make sure to bring to the blog some of these awesome moments of Science and Ayurveda speaking the same language.  

This first entry is just the tip of the ice berg, keep checking back for more entries where I will talk about different home treatments, lifestyle recommendations, lessons learned from my own trial and errors, and wisdom about Ayurveda’s intricate workings.