What is Ayurveda, the science of life?

The word Ayurveda is a Sanskrit term that means "science of life"; Ayu means "life," and Veda means "knowledge."

Ayurvedic practices were first recorded in the Vedas, the oldest existing literature in the world. We then have great treatises on Ayurvedic medicine that arrange and organize the medical knowledge of the Vedic and post-Vedic era into a coherent whole.

I am clearly referring to the CHARAKA SAMHITA (which has a twin sister, the Susruta Samhita; the difference between the two is that the former describes more internal practices, while the latter deals with more surgical practices), that is, the collective manifesto of knowledge that was not written to educate and explain Ayurvedic philosophy but to fix its knowledge (the aspiring physician could not hope to learn medical science through the treatise, but for that purpose, he had to turn to a master; the text constituted and circumscribed the space within which the physician had to move and gave authority to what was learned from his Guru).

Ayurveda teaches us that man is a microcosm within a macrocosm and thus contains everything within himself. His individual essence is indivisible from the total cosmic manifestation, both in terms of the constitution of the elements, dynamism, and spirituality.

According to the teachings of Ayurveda, every human being has 4 biological and spiritual instincts: religious, economic, procreative, and the instinct toward freedom.

Balanced and good health is the basis for the realization of these instincts. Ayurveda helps the healthy person to remain in this state and the sick person to regain it.

With the proper balance of all the body's energies, the processes of physical deterioration and disease can be impressively reduced.

Ayurveda is a holistic system of medicine originating in India. I would like to clarify the term "HOLISTIC": (from the Greek "HOLON", meaning "ALL") in itself does not have a specific meaning but is used to identify a set of disciplines that operate with the aim of supporting, maintaining, and improving the person's psychophysical well-being through specific methods aimed at stimulating and strengthening the individual's natural resources.

In the Holistic approach, each subject is considered different from the other and is observed and treated in their entirety.

The disorder, therefore, is seen as an imbalance between social, personal, and economic factors on one side, and biological causes on the other, and in this way, an attempt is made to harmonize the emotional, social, physical, and spiritual dimensions of the person in order to stimulate the process of improvement.

To summarize, we can say that:

- The person is listened to, not simply the disorder

- The cause is "sought", not the symptom

- The person is observed in the environment around them

- Self-healing is stimulated through "Rebalancing"

In light of all this, we can define the Holistic/Ayurvedic Practitioner simply as a "facilitator" of global self-awareness.

References to doshas and energy belong to the Ayurvedic tradition. This content is for information and wellbeing and does not replace professional medical advice.