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As a lifetime sufferer of eczema, I searched everywhere for a cure. Years of going to doctors and dermatologist for my eczema left me feeling utterly hopeless. They could only offer temporary relief. The drugs they prescribed had insanely detrimental side effects, like bone brittleness, necrotizing angiitis, pulmonary edema AND depression. What was I to do… …

During the festive season we find ourselves often on the move and out of our normal routine, causing us to feel imbalanced, fatigued or “out of sorts”. Traveling has been a big part of my life, visiting over twenty countries living and working abroad. Travel, especially via air, can be very strenuous on the body. …

Ayurveda is the Indian system of medicine. Ayurveda principles and practices have been recorded in written documents for more than 3000 years. The spiritual sages of ancient times gathered in the Himalayas and prayed for the health and longevity of all human beings. Ayurveda dawned on earth, as a result of such prayer.

Ayurveda is God’s own medicine, which the ancient Indian sages received in their elevated consciousness during intuitive meditation. Ayurveda, as a system of knowledge and method of healing, is considered as eternal, and as such has no start date. Historically speaking, Ayurveda’s transformative presence and capacity to influence mind, body, and spirit can be traced …

Ayurveda is not just medicine, Ayurveda is a way of life. Over time, human experiment and observation and influence that started becoming a practise – is called reproducibility. Reproducibility itself has been accepted by the modern science to be the hallmark of its scientific phenomenon. Everything which gets repeated again and again over time is …

The flu has increased significantly over recent weeks with influenza A (H3N2) viruses predominating so far this season. In the past, A (H3N2) virus-predominant influenza seasons have been associated with more hospitalizations and deaths in persons aged 65 years and older and young children compared to other age groups.1 So how can you protect yourself …

Old school vs. Avant Garde. Living foods vs. cooked foods. Which side of the fence are you on, or are you straddled? There is an evolution gaining momentum in the Ayurvedic community. It’s called Living Foods Ayurveda. Most schools aren’t teaching it yet. Most practitioners aren’t practicing it yet. The leaders in the community are …

Hrudayam: Ayurveda and Yoga for the Heart I know it’s not a ‘Heart Health Month’, but really, every month should be a ‘ Heart Month’. Our heart beats every second of every month, doesn’t it? The Sanskrit word for Heart is ‘Hrudayam’ I recently had the good fortune of listening to Dr. Vasant Lad, the …

From the Scarsdale diet to the Beverly Hills diet, to Atkins, South Beach, Low Fat, Raw Food and Paleo, women today are confused about what to eat. We’ve been bombarded with enough exercise and food models that just don’t last and also don’t address our individual needs. When I began practicing yoga 30 years ago, before …

By Vedika Global 2-Month Ayurveda Self-Care Course Graduate Kate Aughenbaugh

I have always wanted to get off of my chemical beauty products and although I’ve tried in the past, I was never successful until I came to Vedika Global.

During the Two-Month Ayurveda Health Immersion Course, we had beauty demos in which we were shown how to use easily available products from the kitchen to treat common beauty issues and maintain wellness. 

It is essential that we understand the digestive fire or ‘Agni’ in AYURVEDA. After the Doshas, you’ll hear Agni referred to most often in the Ayurvedic Texts. Many ayurvedic doctors say that the treatment of diseases of the body is in fact the treatment of AGNI. This Agni is responsible for transforming food into substrates/ …

The post AYURVEDA: Four States of Agni appeared first on The Ayurveda Experience Blog.

How did you find and fall in love with Ayurveda? When and where did it all make sense to you? These are the questions we ask each other when we meet like-minded Ayurveda lovers from around the world. We know how deeply meaningful and individual the Ayurveda Experience is, because it’s been just that for …

Ayurveda has been in existence for 5,000 years (give or take) and now is seeing a huge uprise in popularity. Ayurveda is not just in India and Sri Lanka anymore. It’s all around Europe in Portugal, Spain, Germany and Poland. It’s steadily growing in the United States, Canada and South America. So why is this going on now? …

Hitāhitam sukham duhkham āyustasya hitāhitam mānam ca tacca yatroktam āyurvedaḥ sa ucyate “That is said to be Ayurveda which measures the beneficial and harmful, the happy and unhappy, the wholesome and unwholesome factors of life and the lifespan.” Caraka Samhita I/41 Although certainly not for the first time in its history, Ayurveda has again arrived at …

No one really wants to talk about overcoming grief and loss unless you’re in bereavement group or saying “kaddish” (Jewish prayer said for the dead) in a temple or sitting “shiva”; which is another Jewish ritual where you sit on a bench in mourning for seven days after someone’s death. I only went to one ” …

To be in tune with nature, you also need to be in tune with your unique individual constitution or Prakriti, which comprises the three doshas - Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. As such, Ritucharya or the changing season is discussed at length in the Vedic chapters of the Samhitas of Ayurveda. Read along to know Ayurveda's take on winter wellness!

So many children fall ill during the winter, and so many parents desperately try anything they can to keep them healthy. But most children get at least several colds or belly troubles a year. Let’s be real, sick children most likely mean time off from school, daycare, and work for their parents. Bundling them up …

The ancient healing system of Ayurveda provides us with the opportunity to take responsibility for our own healing. One method is by allowing us to recognize when imbalances manifest, catch them early in the disease process, and then take the necessary steps to prevent future spread of the illness. We can notice these imbalances (vikruti) by …

Ayurveda is an ancient medicine and the mother of so many healing modalities. It has been gaining popularity in the west with people like Deepak Chopra, Dr. Oz and Oprah talking about it! I am so happy that it is becoming more popular. As a holistic health practitioner who has studied everything from aromatherapy to …

Vata-Type people are generally thin and find it hard to gain weight. Because of this, Vatas have very little energy reserve and can tire easily and get themselves out of balance. Vatas need to get sufficient rest and not overdo things, stay warm, and keep a regular lifestyle routine. Vatas are creative, and get bored …

Feelin’ the Heat? Time to cool your jets with some Ayurvedic wisdom. Summer, pitta season is here.  Most of my friends are feelin’ the heat.   I tend to hang with Pitta peeps:  Men and women who have a lot pitta in their prakruti.  Pitta, Pitta-Kapha and Pitta-Vata are the combinations most affected by the coming …

Genetics in Ayurveda Modern science is now exploring circumstances that change how genes are regulated and expressed. A stressed, depleted individual will transfer different gene tendencies than a healthy and happy parent. Āyurvedic teachings take new depth within the science of epigenetics. The modern understanding of genetics started in 1866 by Gregor Mendel. His research …

By Vedika Global Founder & Acharya Shunya

According to Ayurveda, our biological, material, and spiritual instincts play out over a canvas that is larger than one single lifetime, and rather extends over several births, even as the spirit weaves its course by entering several bodies and living out many lives that dot this self-chosen voyage of evolution of consciousness. We also see all three instincts erupting and expressing themselves in full passion and color, all within the few decades of one short lifetime. 

Ayurvedic Line of Treatment: To Stop Causes To Treat the imbalance of Vata Dosha To break pathology of Osteoporosis To increase life span of bone tissue If Osteoporosis is along with fracture, first aim is to heal fractures Internal Medicine: We use some specific herbal medicine in the form of dried powder, tablet or capsules …

Self-care begins with what we call these three pillars of health. They are food and sleep and how we spend our vital energies. So let’s think of food first. We can think of these pillars in light of those causes of disease. Think about how babies react to things. Babies are pulling everything in their mouth – …

I was a smoker for more than half my life. That is until 298 days ago when I quit smoking and became a non-smoker. My decision to start learning about Ayurveda gave me the push to quit. I knew that smoking wasn’t in line with this life change. I would feel this dichotomy regularly, yet …

Sexual health can be a confusing subject. While study of television programming found that in an average day, 70% of programs had sexual content;[1] up to 48% of teenager are engaging in intercourse[2]; sexuality among older adults is marginalized and even denied to some degree. Dr. Caroline Roberston describes that “the frenetic pre-occupation with sex …

AYURVEDA says that the human body is unctuous by Nature. So when dryness sets in it leads to tissue damage and disturbance in physiology of our body. The reason is simply that dryness aggravates Vata Dosha, which in turn being the most powerful of all the doshas have a damaging effect on the functions of …

I have always asked myself why is Ayurveda sacred medicine. Here’s what I’ve found. In Ayurveda medicine, one size prescription does not fit all.  This means that Ayurvedic treatments are tailored to each person’s unique constitution or prakriti. In other words, the type of Ayurveda Medicine you receive will depend on your Dosha or energetic imbalance. …

When people are just beginning to try to figure out Ayurveda, they’ll often say to me that it can be confusing. My response is that it’s not that Ayurveda is confusing. Modern society has pushed us so far away from what is natural that Ayurveda feels like learning a new language. But Ayurveda can feel like learning …

Before I launch into the top 5 Ayurveda detox foods, know that foods don’t actually detox the body. The intelligence of our life force detoxes the body. Each organism’s body has an innate intelligence. This intelligence enables health. When this innate intelligence is impeded by diet or lifestyle the organism’s health suffers. By diet and lifestyle, …

By Vedika Global 2-Month Ayurveda Self-Care Course Graduate Kate Aughenbaugh

I recently went on a sabbatical from my career when I felt my health going downhill. My doctor confirmed my suspicions by diagnosing me with high blood pressure.

In response to this, I attended Vedika Global’s 2-Month Ayurveda Self-Care Course with a Sankalpa, or intention, to restore and maintain balance in my life – a concept I consider to be one of my core values. The course took me a step further and revealed a more profound skill. Through foundational theory, practice, and reflection, I learned how to compassionately embrace the fluctuations and imbalances I experience in my life and within the external world. I have also learned simple, yet powerful, ways to bring myself into balance.

The pomegranate is hailed as a kind of wonder fruit – and this is something Ayurveda has been aware of for centuries. There is a very famous saying in India. “One pomegranate for a hundred diseases.” In Indian culture, this fruit has been prized as a balancing, tridoshic healthy fruit. That means, it’s good for every body …

By Vedika Global 2-Month Living Ayurveda Course Graduate Kate Aughenbaugh

In 2011, I experienced a Yoga class that incorporated Ayurveda and it rocked my world because I felt so amazing afterwards. Once I was introduced to this, I started narrowing down most of my classes to ones that weaved in Ayurveda because I could feel the sophistication of the practice in comparison to other classes. Now that I am an aspiring Yoga teacher, I feel an obligation to build a fundamental understanding of Ayurveda so that I can eventually create customized practices for students. This drive helped land me at Vedika Global, where I have secured an Ayurvedic framework for my personal practice and lifestyle.

Although I intuited many Ayurvedic principles through my yoga practice, Vedika expanded this knowledge by putting it into a clear framework and laid out ways of how the Ayurvedic lifestyle supports the yoga practice and vice versa. My two favorite takeaways are: 

Kerala, “God’s own country”, is one of the most beautiful south Indian states. It’s filled with numerous temples and an abundance of natural beauty, defined in hues of green and gold. Kerala is also famous for numerous Ayurveda centers, visited by thousands of travelers from around the world during their south Indian tours. What is Ayurveda? …

Ayurveda is India’s traditional system of health care. Conceived and developed by the seers (Rishis) and natural scientists through centuries of observations, experiments, discussions, and meditations, Ayurveda is a natural system of medicine that has been practiced for more than 5,000 years. The word Ayurveda is Sanskrit for “Science of Life” or “Practices of Longevity.” …

(Stay tuned tomorrow for the second half of this two-part series…) At our most recent Mudita Health Retreat, we had a lot of women come along who were concerned about their weight. They didn’t necessarily want to lose weight but they obviously didn’t want to gain any. They were power-walking every morning, didn’t miss a …

The Sanskrit language has so many words for the mind. Ayurveda is a science that recognizes so many layers of the self. This science has taught me that illness may live in the mind, the emotions and in the ancestral layers as well. One of my favorite layers of the five layers of self is …