Ayurveda:The Right Way To Live

A comprehensive, accessible guide to Ayurvedic diets and lifestyles, which are based on the constitution of body and mind. Author is one of the most prominent figures in the promotion of Ayurvedic treatment outside India.

Ayurveda, writes Gopi Warrier, is an ancient therapy dating from 3500 BC and originating from the Indus Valley in India. It treats body, mind and spirit using yoga, meditation, diet, herbal medicine and massage and is used for ailments and illnesses ranging from back pain to diabetes. The most important elements of the therapy are the three vital energies, the doshas. If there is an imbalance of the doshas, ill health of one kind or another will follow; ayurveda aims to restore the imbalance and with it the health of the individual. Also important are the five elements: earth, water, fire, air and space (ether). Again, these need to be in balance with each other. One will try and dominate another - fire will burn air and vaporise water, water will extinguish fire, earth inhibits the cooling effect of water and so on. The five elements are also linked to aspects of our bodies (earth with nails, and bones, water with blood and fatty tissue, air with lungs and movement). Food also has a role with rice and wheat being prominent in the earth element and milk and fruit juices in the water element. Ayurveda recognizes the importance of everything on earth, including our thoughts and deeds, and as such must be one of the most all-encompassing of the many therapies practised today, as well as the oldest. Above all, ayurveda is very much a holistic therapy; no illness can be treated successfully without due regard for body, mind and spirit and environmental factors. It is also a complex discipline and, as Warrier makes clear, should be carried out by a qualified practitioner. This book is not a self-help manual (although, of course, there are aspects of self-help) but if you decided to embark on a course of ayurveda therapy, it will give you an excellent understanding of its background, philosophy and principles involved and what to expect during treatment. (Kirkus UK) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.