Have you ever heard of Ayurveda?
Ayurveda is one of the most ancient holistic healing systems that was developed thousands of years ago in India. It directly translates to the “knowledge of life”. It holds the belief that health and wellness depend on a balance between body, mind, and spirit. A disruption of this harmony can lead to poor health and sickness. Unlike Western medicine that treats disease, Ayurvedic medicine promotes good health and is used to prevent illness!
How does Ayurveda relate to New Hope Counseling and Wellness?
We are fascinated by holistic healing and we realize that in modern times, there are numerous medical treatments for those who are traumatized, injured, or ill. However, these modern treatments don’t offer much to help with the effects of trauma on the mind or the deeper levels of the body.
Ancient wisdom understood that the energetic disturbance of the traumatic event had to be acknowledged. People are not just suffering on a surface level, they also suffer on an emotional and spiritual level following trauma. Therefore, a pharmaceutical sedative isn’t enough to heal the deep wounds of trauma.
The mind-body and spirit need to also be addressed.
At New Hope Counseling and Wellness we treat a lot of trauma and believe that there is a lot to learn from ancient traditions about the proper healing process. Treatment should include a mixture of talk therapy, healing foods, yoga, breathwork, and herbs to encourage healing to all layers of our being.
Basics of Ayurveda
Ayurveda is an extremely complex and comprehensive ancient system similar to how complex Chinese Medicine is. These points won’t cover everything but they will give you a good baseline of knowledge and strategies to implement it into your life if you are new to the concept.
The basis of life and the entire universe is that there are five elements that makeup everything and make life possible. - These elements are space, air/wind, fire, water, and earth.
- The entire universe and we as humans are made up of a combination of these elements in different proportions.
- We become out of balance when we have too much of one element.
- In order to balance it out, we need to heal by increasing one of the other elements in our life.
The basis of life and the entire universe is that there are five elements that makeup everything and make life possible.
Are you still with me?
This concept might feel new and confusing at first so here is an example:
If you are overworking yourself, Ayurveda would call that having an excess of pitta energy which is the fire element. Overworking yourself causes many undesirable symptoms such as chronic fatigue, adrenal fatigue, mood swings, low appetite, heart disease, stress, ect.
To balance out an excess of pitta energy you would need to add elements of air and earth energy to heal. An example of vata or air healing would be walking or warm food. Kapha or earth energy is the most stable of the energy and an example of kapha healing would be grounding yoga pose.
Basic Ayurvedic Reccomendations
- Go to bed much earlier and waking up with the sun.
- Tongue scraping is a way to prevent toxin buildup in your mouth. This daily practice will remove bacteria and help digestion.
- Don’t under or overeat.
- Try dry skin brushing to aid in lymphatic drainage.
- Add more spice to food – spice is powerful medicine.
- Don’t just focus on what you are eating but focus on how you are eating it. Proper digestion is highly important to overall health.
The main reason we love Ayurvedic philosophy is that healthy means something different to everyone and doesn’t mean sticking to a low carb or Whole30 diet. The focus in Ayurveda is that everybody requires different habits and foods to stay in balance. When you are focused on health you aren’t following diet trends. You are instead focused on what is working for YOUR body and making YOU feel good.
Live a fuller and healthier life by implementing ancient wisdom in your life! All of the principles of Ayurveda make sense on an intuitive level and have gotten lost in our modern hectic world. Return to your body, breath, and what your soul intuitively needs from you. Your negative symptoms are just opportunities for healing.
For more articles about how other cultures view holistic health check out our articles on No Dieting Involved, How the Japanese stay Healthy and Healthy Eating Secrets from the French
