Ayurvedic healing is based on the Law of Least Effort, an idea that nature functions both effortlessly and easily and that working with nature you can bring about natural healing. It is the oldest form of healing in the world and still to this day is one of the most sophisticated and powerful types of mind-body health systems. It goes beyond just treating your illness to treating your whole body with the understanding that an illness is most often caused by an imbalance in the body. Ayurveda has two main principals, that the mind and body are connected and cannot be separated and that nothing has the ability to heal the body like the mind. Because of this, the number one treatment an Ayurvedic practitioner will prescribe is meditation.
How can I achieve healing?
Though ayurvedic healing is most often done on a case by case situation, there are some general ideas that a practitioner will suggest for better overall health. The first suggestion is that we eat a flavorful and colorful diet that includes the six tastes: sweet, salty, sour, pungent, bitter and astringent. Ayurvedic medicine says that including all six tastes in every meal will ensure that the major food groups and their valuable nutrients are fully represented every time you eat. This will help you feel fuller and more satisfied and that, in turn, will diminish the urge to snack or overeat. The idea of eating colorful food is one that everyone seems to be picking up with the ‘eat the rainbow’ campaigns. It is the understanding that the different colors in vegetables and fruits are caused by different nutrients and so making sure to eat the different colors ensures you are getting a full spectrum of nutrition. In ayurvedic medicine, nutritional eating is second only to breathing.
Ayurvedic Healing Diet Guidelines
Along with eating a flavorful and colorful diet, you will want to help improve your digestion. Ayurvedic healing provides some good guidelines for strengthening your digestion:
- Always sit down at a table to eat, not in front of a computer or television and not in the car
- Eat when you are calm and relaxed, not when you are upset
- Don’t eat until you are sure you are hungry
- Eat at a steady, moderate pace; avoid gulping food in a hurry or eating too slowly.
- Raw foods are good, but try to eat more cooked food than raw food because raw is hard to digest
- Engage in moderate exercise on a regular basis
- Drink ginger tea throughout the day
- Meditate every day
The next suggestion that an ayurvedic healer will make is to get abundant and restful sleep. The body heals itself while we are sleeping and when we don’t get enough rest our immune system is weakened and the balance in our body is disrupted. Restful sleep is sleep that doesn’t require medicinal aids and last through the night for between six and eight hours for most adults.
Tuning in to Nature
Lastly, you will be encouraged to live in-tune both with your body and with nature. Spend time in meditation connecting with the world around you. Set goals and desires that are in-line with who you are and are based on the law of least effort. Exercises, likewise, should be a gesture of love, not punishment, for your body. You should not pursue forms of exercise that cause pain or distress because these will simply unsettle and unbalance you.
