Ayurveda

"Ayurvedic wisdom says that our waking consciousness rests in the heart. Experiencing how your mind lives in your heart is central to understanding how your feelings and emotions affect your experience of wholeness."

"Charaka Samhita says that there are two very important concepts in Ayurveda: prana and agni, the life force and the digestive fire. Ayurveda weaves myriad insights into how we can nurture these vital energies and make our life full of health and wonder."

"In fact, Ayurveda considers diet to be the most important factor in health and uses food for medicinal purposes as well as for nutritional effects. Herbal remedies, massage, exercise, and spiritual practice can balance and repair the body, but its is a “good diet” that gives us an easy, everyday opportunity to take control of our health."

"Ayurveda has a theory that anything can be food, medicine, or a poison, depending on who is eating, what is eaten, and how much is eaten. A familiar usage in this context: “One man’s food is another man’s poison”."

"Ayurveda says that poor digestion leads to every disease, and many insights can be gained from this. Ayurveda thinks of digestion as a fire, which is known as agni in Sanskrit. A warm fire burns well with good-quality, dry wood that is put on the fire at the right time in the proper place, with plenty of air to fan the flames."

"In Ayurveda there are four types of agni that categorise people’s digestive tendencies. These are: Balanced (regular hunger), irregular (erratic appetite), intense (intense hunger), and weak (low appetite)."

"Ayurveda identifies six tastes, each of which has a different effect on the body and influence on the doshas."

"You have to be on your toes with Ayurveda: There is always an exception to the rule! The sour flavor is associated with Fire, together with a little Earth and Water, and creates both moisture and heat within us. Examples of sour foods are lemon, lime and vinegar."

"Salt is found in minerals and Ayurveda classifies different types: rock, sea, black, pink, and lake salt. Rock salt is considered the best as it is high in minerals and has fewer negative effects. Salty is the flavor most rarely found in food, but seaweeds and selery are good sources."

"Most important in all is a healthy diet. Ensuring that you get the best nutrition means that you start with best ingredients. Fresh, unprocessed, and organically grown. In Ayurveda there are some essentials that should be in every pantry, and a number that, depending on your individual constitution, should be limited."

"Generally speaking, Ayurveda considers the most beneficial foods to be rice, wheat, barley, mung beans, asparagus, grapes, pomegranates, ginger, ghee (clarified butter), unpasteurized milk, and honey. These are all thought to be rejuvenating to the tissues and digestion (provided the food is good quality and there are no intolerances). Ayurveda also recommends avoiding habitual use of “heavy” meats (e.g.beef), cheeses, yogurt, refined salt, processed foods, refined sugar, yeast, coffee, tomatoes, bananas, citrus fruits, and black lentils."

"Because Ayurveda developed in India, where the cow is worshipped as a sacred animal, high quality and properly prepared dairy products have a revered status and are central to its practice."

"Vegetarian foods also contain high amounts of various “super-nutrients," such as protective antioxidants, healingphytochemicals, and essential micronutrients, known to protect from a host of degenerative diseases."

"In keeping with its holistic view of life, Ayurveda extends the idea of digestion to our emotional as well as nutritional diet."

"To any one practicing natural medicine both the concept and reality of toxins is very clear....difference is because of the language and perspective of each tradition, for example “damp” and “heat” can be thought of as toxins in Ayurveda."

"Remember that Ayurveda is not just about taking appropriate remedies—it is a eat a simple, organic diet (avoid processed foods, sugar, yeast, nonorganic dairy, and reduce strenuous exercise; practice a gentle form of yoga instead have a massage."

"In the Ayurvedic view immunity is a strength within all of us that resists the causes of diseases and their aggressive tendencies."

"In Ayurveda immunity is literally known as “the self avoidance of disease. It considers immunity in terms of both quantity and quality; how much of it you have as well as how effective it is. Its holistic view includes an understanding ob both natural immunity and acquired immunity. This approach is like considering your immunity as a combination of the genetic bank balance you inherit from your ancestors, the savings deposit you make yourself and the interest on your account."

"From the Ayurvedic perspective, there are many components that build healthy immunity –ojas, the heart, the eyes, digestive strength and tissue health – and there are general princiles we can all follow everyday to achieve optimum health."

"Ayurveda recommends nourishing yoga practices such as the dynamic salutation (Surya namaskar). Regular relaxation and daily breathing practices can keep everyday stress at bay."

"As an Ayurvedic practitioner I firmly believe that the prevalence of cancer today is because we, as a society, are taking the wrong approach to managing the condition."

"The Ayurvedic formula triphala is known to be toxic to tumor cells but life-enhancing to healthy cells."

"The origins of chyavanaprasha - millions of spoons chyawanprasha are eaten every day beacuse of its revered rejuvenating powers. Its main ingredient is amla fruits which is blended with about thirty-five other ingredients and cooked into a paste with honey, sesame oil and jaggery (concentered sugar-cane juice which unique nutritional properties)."

"When the body is healthy and strong it is easier to gain insight into your mind. In Ayurveda this is achieved through diet, exercise, massage, and herbs, with particular attention paid to ideas of balance and the regulation of your own rhythms."

"One of the best systems for helping us to deal with stress and find a way back to inner peace is yoga, which has a long and interesting relationship with Ayurveda. From their Indian origins yoga and Ayurveda have flourished around the world. Ayurveda also includes lifestyle advice, along with massage, diet and herbal treatments. Its breadth ranges from simply daily routines to deep and sophisticated medical practice, all empowering the individual with greater potential for health."

"The seeds of yoga and Ayurveda appear to have their origins in ancient Indian Vedic culture, but the direct connection between them does not become clear until the sixteenth century. Around this time we can see that they began to adopt aspects of each others tradition."

"It is estimated that the Ayurvedic pharmacopoeia includes upwards of 1250 species, with approximately 300 of these in regular demand. Similar figures exist for Chinese, North American, and Western herbal medicine. In India and Sri Lanka most herbs come from the wild: in excess of 90 percent of herbal material used in Ayurveda comes from the forests, mountains, and plains of the Indian subcontinent and is sourced in an unregulated manner."