The history of Ayurveda

What’s the meaning of Ayurveda?

In Sanskrit, Ayur means life, and Veda means knowledge or science; thus, Ayurveda translates to knowledge of life.

Ayurveda is Indian medicine, coming from Kerala in the south-west of India. This natural system of medicine can be traced to about 5000 years ago. Therefore, this medicine is one of the oldest systems of healthcare in the world.

Why Kerala? Well, it is said that Kerala is the place where there is an abundance of natural herbs and trees that are mainly used in Ayurvedic medicine and that the climate there is favourable for Ayurvedic treatments.

From that, the Ashtavaidya, a name given to the physicians who interpreted the scriptures of the Atharva Veda, collected and organised the information to create what we call Ayurveda.

The Ashtavaidya, the practitioners of Ayurveda, come from a group of families in Namboothiri, based in Kerala. Among the Ayurvedic healers of Kerala, the Ashtavaidyas are the physicians who are masters of the eight branches of Ayurveda mentioned in classical texts.

If you start to learn about Ayurveda, you will need to know about the Doshas.

Indeed, in Ayurveda, the main focus is on the balance of the doshas, the individual constitution.

What exactly are the doshas? (See article on the Doshas.)

The purpose of Ayurveda is not to cure a particular disease, but to bring each individual to his or her own natural self-harmony.

Therefore, Ayurveda focuses on one’s lifestyle and diet because those factors will have an impact on changing your individual constitution, or doshas.

That is why Ayurveda will not treat the “patient” as a group with the same drug to treat the same illness, but instead it will have a personalised approach.

Personal experience with an Ayurvedic practitioner in India

When I was in India, I went to see an Ayurvedic doctor without knowing what was going to happen.

I was at this time in the Himalaya in an ashram (temple) practicing intense yoga morning and evening.

The winter was about to come, and during the day it was still hot, but during the night it started to get very cold, sometimes freezing. I got the flu, and to practice Pranayama, this is not the best. In western medicine, I knew what I would get if I went to a doctor: basic pills, maybe some eucalyptus on my chest and under the nose to help. But this time I wanted to try something else.

I arrived at the doctor’s place, which looked like an abandoned shop with a hospital bed in it and some weird products on the shelf.

He asked me my name and my age. Then he started to stare closely at my nails, look into my eyes and tongue, and check my ears, but not with tools but only with his eyes. He started to press a few spots on my face, and I remember the pain when he pressed so strongly behind my earlobe. After all these checks, which took maybe 10 minutes, he left me in the room for a bit and came back 5 minutes later.

During that time, he was ripping pieces of paper to put inside a powder (plants only), then gave me some Ayurvedic honey and told me: “Every evening, you mix that powder with a bit of this honey, and you leak it”. “At 3 p.m. and after that, no more cold drinks; only hot water, tea, and no cold food like fruits”. "Put on a hat after 3 p.m.; you have to cover your extremities”(by the way, I’m bold). “Cold juice in the morning, fruits in the morning, but at 3 p.m., keep your body warm.”

He took paper and started to write on it everything he said, as well as which doshas were imbalanced.

That’s how different the practice of Ayurveda is from western medicine.

After his medicine, I was completely fine, and by the way, the taste of the powder mixed with honey was just so good.

This guy gave me information about my individual constitution so I could learn how and why I was imbalanced in it.

By understanding things like this, you start to understand more about what is good or not for you, and then you can start to take care of yourself. Being aware of yourself and understanding how your body and mind work is a gift.

Western medicine treats the disease, not the person, while Ayurveda treats the person to treat the disease.

Ayurveda could change your health

Namaste