Ayurvedic Consultation
THE ART OF LONGEVITY
Bringing balance to our own constitution means aligning ourselves with the cycles of nature, of which we are all a part.
I had the opportunity to study Āyurveda, and I'm enormously grateful to Vaidya Atreya Smith and Sunil Joshi, men of great humanity, who opened my mind to a dimension of life that is lost in this modern life.
A consultation allows us to determine your constitution according to Ayurvedic medicine, to observe any imbalances, and to implement actions that will harmonize your constitution. This includes the traditional analysis of the three Doshas (Vata, Pitta, Kapha). Diet, lifestyle and environment are the tools used to bring the Doshas back into balance and avoid illness.
« Ayurveda views life as a complex interrelationship of forces - some chemical, some physical and some subtle, like mental functioning. It says that you have to try to understand life through understanding the totality. Trying to go through individual parts will not help you to understand the totality of life because it is limited to the parts. Each part cannot be seen outside of the totality to which it belongs and supports »
— Vaidya Atreya Smith
THE SCIENCE OF LIFE
Several thousand years before modern medicine, Indian sages developed Ayurveda, which has been passed down from generation to generation to the present day. The ancient Rishis who developed Āyurveda observed nature closely for hundreds of years. The result of their observations is that the physical universe is composed of four primary states of matter - a solid state of matter (Prithivi/Earth); a liquid state of matter (Āpas/Water); matter in a state of transformation (Agni/Fire); and matter in motion (Vāyu/Air or wind). These four states of matter exist within a fifth state, a field or space (Ākāśa/Ether). This is known as the Pancha Maha Bhutani, or the five great states of matter.
More than a system for treating disease, Āyurveda is a "science of life". A science that develops from the philosophy and cosmology of yoga, using its principles and philosophy extended to the body. It is rooted in Samkhya Darshana (way of perceiving reality), one of the six classical schools of Indian philosophy.
The word Āyurveda is a combination of two words: Ayusha, meaning life, i.e. harmony between the higher self (Atman), the mind (Manas), Prana (vital force), the senses and the body, and Veda, meaning science or knowledge. Thus, Āyurveda means the "science of life".
Āyurveda is rooted in the principles of nature, which reflect the principles of the universe. Its aim is to bring human beings into harmony with life as a whole.
Āyurveda is a complete system of yogic medicine in terms of understanding anatomy, physiology and psychology, understanding the disease process and diagnosis, treatment methods, lifestyle recommendations, philosophy and implementation of yoga practices for healing purposes. Yoga and Ayurveda naturally complement each other and have always been practised together. These sciences are based on the concept of the three Gunas: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.