Hello again Luna family, Ketu here. In a previous blog we spoke about Maharishi Science and the significance of the technologies of consciousness. Today I look to expound on Maharishi AyurVeda. This blog will include daily and seasonal routines, diet and herbal therapy, rejuvenation therapy, massage therapy and purification therapy
I was introduced to Ayurveda through the purification therapies, known as Panchakarma. In 2012 I heard about these 21-day meditations provided by Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra. There were many categories of these, but the one that stood out most to me was the Perfect Health Meditations. I later found out that you could experience such a program at the Chopra Center in Carlsbad. Only it was a $4,000 experience, not including flight and hotel. It took another 3 years before I could experience the therapy, but I always knew that one day I would go there.
How The Journey Evolved
My wife and I met in 2015 and on our first day of meeting, we both mentioned that we wanted to own a wellness center. Eight months later we arrived at the Chopra Center for our 10-day Perfect Health Retreat. It was such a divine and life changing experience for us both. While attending the retreat, we heard about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, one of Deepak’s teachers and we enjoyed all which was offered on the retreat.
We discovered that Maharishi founded a university in Iowa, Maharishi International University with degree programs on the same teachings. This truly felt like an amazing opportunity. A few months later, Arielle and I went to the university for a visitor’s weekend to check it out. Even though we weren’t able to sign up for that semester, I knew then that this was a part of my unfolding journey, especially after learning about Yogic Flying, which I’ll touch on in a future blog.
I continued to perform my Ayurvedic routine that I was given at the Chopra Center over the next couple of years, and finally enrolled at MIU in August 2018 for my BA Ayurveda Wellness & Integrative Health degree. After only one year in attendance, I felt confident in Maharishi’s Knowledge and set forth in opening Luna Float Spa & Salt Cave.
What is Maharishi AyurVeda?
Ayurveda translates into the “science of life.” It is a traditional system of medicine originating in ancient India, where it has been practiced for more than 5,000 years. It is a comprehensive, prevention-oriented system of natural health that addresses the body, mind and environment of the individual in order to provide a holistic cure.
Ayurveda is distinct in that it focuses on harmonizing the unique constitution of an individual with the natural rhythms of our world. Utilizing nutrition, lifestyle, herbal medicines and time-tested therapies, Ayurveda brings the elements back into balance within the body and the the body’s own inner intelligence is more fully activated to maintain health and prevent disease.
Maharishi AyurVeda is a unique form of ayurveda that has been re-evaluated from a scientific perspective for modern day use. It has its basis in consciousness and is integrated with the modern, scientific understanding of health to take an integrated approach to medicine. Centuries of neglect led to a decline in ayurveda until 1980, when Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation Program, gathered the foremost exponents of ayurveda to enliven this age-old knowledge in its completeness and original purity.
The Dosha Mind/Body Constitutions
In Ayurveda, there are three mind/body types that are based on the five (5) elements of creation; Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Each individual is a unique combination of the three. By discovering your mind/body constitution, one gains personalized insights to optimize your own health and wellbeing. Lifestyle, diet, exercise, herbal remedies and more, all based on recommendations to support your unique wellness needs. Discover Your Dosha https://mapi.com/pages/dosha-quiz-landing
Vata
Vata contains the elements of ether and air. It may be characterized as the “subtle energy” that governs biological movement, and gives rise to all subtle changes in the metabolism. Vata governs the pulsations in the heart, breathing, blinking, muscle and tissue movements and all expansion and contraction. It also governs such feelings and emotions as freshness, nervousness, fear, anxiety, pain, tremors and spasms. The large intestine, pelvic cavity, bones, skin, and ears are the seats of Vata. If the body develops an excess of Vata, it will accumulate in these areas.
Pitta
Pitta contains the elements of fire and water. It is the bodily heat-energy and manifests as metabolism. Pitta governs digestion, absorption, assimilation, nutrition, metabolism, body temperature, skin coloration, the luster of the eyes; and also intelligence and understanding. Psychologically, it arouses anger, hate and jealousy. The small intestine, stomach, sweat glands, blood, fat, eyes and skin are the seats of pitta.
Kapha
Kapha contains the elements of water and earth. It cements the elements in the body, providing the material for physical structure. Kapha maintains body resistance and water is the main constituent. The bodily water is responsible physiologically for biological strength and natural tissue resistance in the body. It lubricates the joints, provides moisture to the skin, helps to heal wounds, fills the spaces in the body, gives biological strength, vigor and stability and supports memory retention. Kapha also gives energy to the heart and lungs and maintains immunity. It is present in the chest, throat, head, sinuses, nose. Mouth, stomach, joints, cytoplasm, plasma and liquid secretions of the body such as mucus. Psychologically, it is responsible for emotions of attachment, greed and long-standing envy; it is also expressed in tendencies toward calmness, forgiveness and love. The chest is the seat of kapha.
Ama
Ama is another key component of Ayurveda. It is a specific type of impurity related to the clarity of the channels. When we have undigested food, one of the main results is that the channels get clogged and this is the cause of a great number of and balances. These blockages affect the mental, emotional and physiological states of an individual. As the food passes through the digestive system, ideally it would end up as a nutritional fluid that gets circulated through the body and the waste products get formed in the colon and eliminated. When this doesn’t happen ama is created. This tends to happen due to ones diet and nutrition and also ones daily and seasonal routines.
Ojas
Ojas is understood to be the most refined bodily substance which, when produced in abundance and functioning effectively, upholds immunity, long life, happiness, and the development of higher states of consciousness.
Diet, Digestion & Nutrition
Maharishi explains that “Diet is anything that is taken in from any field of perception, through any sense of perception, any mode of mind and any mode of intellect.” The classical Ayurvedic texts assert that a healthy, happy, successful life, including “worldly achievement, attainment of heavenly life, and enlightenment, all depend on food.”
Charaka Samhita
Ideal nutrition depends both on a wholesome and balanced diet, and also on the strength and efficiency of the processes of digestion and metabolism through which the body extracts and utilizes the nutrients contained in foods. Furthermore, the quality of the food we eat and the power of our digestion are equally important. Digestion occurs both through the mouth and digestive tract, and also through all our faculties, including sense organs and intellect.
Maharishi AyurVeda aims to optimize diet and digestion to favor production and function of Ojas and prevent the formation of Ama. Wholesome and balanced diet and strong digestion produce Ojas, which upholds immunity, long life, happiness, and higher states of consciousness. Less optimal food and digestion can produce Ama, toxic impurities, causing ill health and diminished mental wellbeing. Balance of the doshas is essential to optimize all bodily functions, including digestion.
Personal dietary choices to promote balance of the doshas is important for ideal nutrition. Practical knowledge of what to eat, but also when and how to eat to maintain or restore perfect balance of the three doshas is essential.
Below are a few general dietary guidelines:
- Favor fresh foods that are freshly prepared. Avoid packaged / highly processed foods, and leftovers or reheated foods (to the extent possible).
- Favor whole foods. Avoid highly refined foods-refined sugars, refined carbohydrates, refined oils.
- Avoid food preservatives, additives, pesticides, hormones, GMOs-favor organic when possible.
- Avoid cold foods and beverages
- Avoid large amounts of raw foods, such as raw vegetables. Naturally grown, ripened fruits are fine.
- Eat as low down on the food chain as possible. Lacto-vegetarian diet is preferable. Poultry and fish are preferred over red meats (better to have them at lunch than at supper).
- Eat your main meal around noon when the sun is most vibrant. The heat/energy of the sun assist with digestion.
- Regular mealtimes, around the same time each day: breakfast, lunch, supper and (optional) afternoon snack.
- Eat to about ¾ of capacity; satisfied but not feeling “full.”
- Avoid eating before the previous meal is digested (3 to 6 hours between meals)
- Take enough time to eat, avoid rushing meals:
- Eat in a quiet, settled atmosphere with settled mind
- Chew food well-digestion begins in the mouth
- Take a few minutes to sit quietly after eating
Successfully integrating these principles into one’s life are key to fulfilling the ultimate purpose of Diet, Digestion and Nutrition.
Daily & Seasonal Routines
The goal of this section is to establish a proper balance of deep rest and dynamic activity. To manage one’s daily, weekly and seasonal routine with the aim of greater enjoyment and success in activities. The use of this knowledge is for action, achievement and fulfillment, growing and thriving in all aspects of life. The ideal is to align oneself with natures intelligence, gaining support of all the laws of nature. We spoke of the doshas earlier in this blog.
Each of these qualities governs a certain period of each day and the seasons:
2am – 6am & 2pm – 6pm is Vata time
6am -10am & 6pm to 10pm is Kapha time
10am – 2pm & 10pm – 2am is Pitta time
The Most Ideal Daily Routine
6:45am: sharpest rise in blood pressure
7:30am: melatonin secretion stops
8:30am: Bowel movement more likely
9:00am: Highest testosterone secretion
10:00am: High alertness
12:00pm: Best digestion
2:30pm: Best Coordination
3:30pm: Fastest Reaction Time
5:00pm Greatest cardiovascular efficiency
6:30pm: Highest blood pressure
7:00pm: Highest body temperature
9:00pm: Melatonin secretion starts
10:30pm: Bowel movements suppressed
2:00am: Deepest Sleep
4:30am: Lowest body temperature
We measure out each year by its seasonal changes.
The fire element of summer (Pitta) is withdrawing, and the air element is beginning to predominate. Autumn has qualities very similar to Vata dosha. These qualities are rough, dry, windy, cool, light, subtle and clear. It tends to increase these qualities in our body so autumn is considered part of the Vata season, which lasts until the beginning of January. Cold weather increases digestive power, or Agni, which is usually stronger in winter (Kapha season) than in other seasons.
Therefore, you can eat a little more, and slightly richer food. If you eat too lightly, your strong Agni would begin to break down body tissue and put Vata out of balance. Kapha accumulated in winter is liquefied in the body by the heat of the Spring sun. This can affect the power of digestion and metabolism and result in a variety of complaints. When it gets hot in summer, heat rises in the environment, and the body reduces its inner fire because of its natural tendency to maintain balance. This reduces heat production, lowers metabolism and thus reduces digestive power.
Having the knowledge of the organizing power of natural law, with awareness one can tailor an optimal diet and lifestyle that would align with the daily and seasonal intelligence of nature to establish Utopian Health with the mind/body constitution.
Enlivening the Inner Intelligence of the Body with Herbs
Ayurvedic Herbology is a branch of Ayurveda that deals with medicinal herbs and their properties. Their special effect on the physical body enlivens the value of intelligences that may have been lost.
In Ayurvedic herbology, herbs are considered as “dravyas” (matter) and thus are examined in great detail. It says matter is nothing but a manifested expression of consciousness. Knowledge of these herbs is in fact, a vital tool to understand what matters most to health and consciousness. It enables one to understand the properties, actions, and uses of herbs to create balance in the physiology.
Herbs are not used to treat diseases. They enliven intelligence and promote balance. Any disease is an absence of intelligence. Through the synergy of herbal intelligence, inner intelligence of the individual can be restored. When the body is out of balance, herbs can act like tuning forks, reverberating intelligence to bring resonance back to that part of body. This will remove the ignorance from particular areas of the physiology.
There are beneficial herbal supplements for specific imbalances and organ systems. Below is a model:
- Ayurvedic Herbal Model
- Primary Herbs – Specific effect
- Supporting Herbs – Enhances the effect
- Bioavailability Herbs – Stimulates that herb to penetrate more deeply and is assimilated well.
- Herbal co-factors – Support in the delivery of the herbs to the location of the imbalance (milk, water, honey, etc..)
- Balancing Herbs – Example: primary herb is heating so you balance that out with a cooling herb. Now you can use longer with no side effects.
- Herbals are natural preparations to strengthen resistance to disease and restore balance to the physiology and purification procedures to eliminate deep-rooted impurities and imbalances. This leads us to purification therapy.
Panchakarma
Panchakarma is a time-honored technology to keep every aspect of the physiology in perfect health. Its full value is in prevention, in avoiding danger before it arises by removing minor imbalances through one or two seasonal purifications per year on a regular basis.
Panchakarma is a multi-day treatment program administered and overseen by a trained Ayurvedic Physician. It offers profound benefits for the body, the mind, and consciousness through a carefully selected and administered set of practices and treatments.
Panchakarma treatments rejuvenate and purify the body of toxins and impurities and enhances Ojas. It enlivens the body’s own inner intelligence to bring about good health and well-being. It is built around the Ayurvedic principle that every human is a unique manifestation of the five basic elements. There are three main components of the panchakarma process: preparation, the principal procedures or treatments and the post-therapy procedures. This series of procedures was first described in the ancient records of Ayurveda. (about 400 BC).
“In a person whose digestive system has been cleansed and purified the metabolism is stimulated, disease is reduced, and normal health is maintained. Sense organs, mind, intellect and complexion are improved; strength, good nourishment, healthy progeny and potency are the result. Symptoms of aging do not appear so easily and the person lives long and free from disorders. For this reason, elimination therapy should be carried out correctly and at the right time.”
Charaka Samhita
Preparing for Panchakarma
The preparation phase is designed to prepare the body for elimination of imbalances. It includes steps that are meant to soften and help encourage the release of stored toxicity in the tissues and organs. The first procedure is herbalized oil massage. Oil is applied to the entire body with a particular type of massage that helps the toxins to move towards the gastrointestinal tract. Thus, oil massage also makes the superficial and deep tissues soft and supple, thus helping to remove stress and nourish the nervous system; given daily for three to 10 days, as indicated.
Additionally, heat treatments or sweating are the second procedure of preparation and is given every day immediately following the oil massage. Heat liquefies the toxins and increases the movement of toxins into the gastrointestinal tract. After three to 10 days of oil massage and heat treatments, the principles of the panchakarma method is then given according to the individual’s disorders.
Five (Pancha) Basic Cleansing Methods (karmas)
- Vamana: therapeutic vomiting or emesis
- Virechan: purgation
- Basti: enema
- Nasya: elimination of toxins through the nose
- Rakta Moksha: detoxification of the blood
Basti and Nasya are most used in the US.
During any step of panchakarma therapy, traditional Ayurveda recommends certain lifestyle and diet guidelines. Generally, it is advised to get plenty of rest during the panchakarma experience and to avoid strenuous exercise, sexual activity, late nights, loud music, television and other such stimulating experiences. Also, it is advised to take particular care to keep warm and away from the wind and to observe one’s thoughts and experiences during this time.
Furthermore, a mono-diet of kitchari and ghee is recommended, as well as essential restrictions on cold drinks, cold food, caffeine, white sugar, recreational drugs or alcohol and dairy products—all substances which should not be resumed (if at all) until sometime after panchakarma is completed. Moreover, this diet is that during the cleansing process the digestive fire (agni) takes a rest. Also, as toxins move back into the gastrointestinal tract, the power of digestion is further slowed. Kitchari will provide adequate nourishment, is very easy to digest, nourishes all the tissues of the body, is excellent for de-aging of cells and assists in the detoxification and cleansing process.
Kitchari is a seasoned mixture of rice and mung dal, and is basic to the Ayurvedic way of life. Both basmati rice and mung dal both have the qualities of being sweet and cooling with a sweet aftertaste. Together they create a balanced food; an excellent protein combination that is tridoshic.
Panchakarma is a very special Ayurvedic operation requiring proper guidance from a highly trained and skillful Ayurvedic practitioner. This should not be undertaken with information from an article or a book. One should consult with an Ayurvedic physician, not just someone with a modest amount of training. Panchakarma is done individually for each person with their specific constitution and specific disorder in mind, thus it requires close observation and supervision.
Why We Need to Detox
- When people are constantly exposed to pollutants of all sorts and to a hectic, stressful lifestyle, this timeless knowledge is even more important.
- Even with a healthy lifestyle, the passing of the seasons introduces imbalances that can accumulate over the years and disturb normal functioning.
- Panchakarma rejuvenates mind, body and senses by removing impurities from our system.
- To bring many side benefits for health, relationships, creativity, increased energy, positivity of mind, and clarity of experience in Transcendental Meditation.
- Panchakarma treatments are conducted in relaxed and secure environments, where everything is carefully organized and well taken care of.
- These treatments are truly enjoyable, a royal experience. People come back for regular treatments because the experience itself is so refreshing.
Each human being is a unique combination of these doshas depending on genetics, place of birth, and other factors that are present at our conception.
Prevention-oriented Healthcare
In a world where medicine mostly revolves around the treatment of illness and disease, the ability to prevent illness in the first place is becoming increasingly valuable. Prevention is a core trait of Maharishi AyurVeda. Through a variety of healing modalities, it works to create total health in the individual, therefore stopping illness and disease before they even arise.
Prevention is the process of restoration of balance; it is an effective procedure for maintaining balance and for protecting the system from the growth of imbalance.
Approaching Health from Every Angle
Maharishi AyurVeda is pure knowledge pertaining to life. It helps bridge the gap between consciousness and the body and takes one from ignorance to enlightenment and is a comprehensive system that takes mind, body, behavior and environment into consideration when recommending treatments. Treatments often include diet and lifestyle recommendations that promote general wellness. For example, ayurvedic health tips include getting the right amount of sleep every night, eating lunch as the largest meal of the day, and using healthy spices (like turmeric) in cooking.
Other treatment modalities common in Maharishi AyurVeda include:
- Practice of the Transcendental Meditation® technique to bring balance and peace to the mind and body
- Use of yoga poses (asanas) to bring balance, flexibility, and coordination to the mind and body
- Reading the pulse to detect imbalances and conditions
- Preparing herbal formulas and specialized diets to promote and restore mental and physical balance
- Aligning one’s daily and seasonal routines with the cycles of nature
Self-Care and Student Health
Students at MIU learn to use many of the modalities of Maharishi AyurVeda to maintain their own health, including self-pulse assessment, yoga asanas, the Transcendental Meditation technique, individualized diet, and daily and seasonal routine. These unique tools prepare our students for a lifetime of healthy habits.
By introducing this comprehensive program of prevention-orientated health care and natural medicine we strive for is a disease-free society and problem free nation. Our knowledge is for both prevention and cure. Our knowledge and programs are holistic, time tested and free from harmful side effects and easily applied. We are simply re-establishing balance between the body and it’s own inner intelligence.
Consciousness is the most basic element of life; our body, behavior and environment are all expressions of consciousness. Consciousnesses is that which is conscious of itself. Specifically, it is the knower of itself and by being the knower of itself, it is both the knower and the known. Simultaneously, it is also the process of knowing. Thus, consciousness has 3 qualities within self referral singularity.
Seasonal Purification removes accumulated physiology toxins of the sense so that they do not carry over into the next season. Luna’s Vision to Establish a Global Presence (lunafloatspa.com)
AyurVeda is individual medicine which treats every individual separately
“Ayurveda is a very precious and practical aspect of the Veda. Its goal is Enlightenment. It restores balance so as to generate a very balanced state of intellect. In that state, activity and silence work together to make full value of life a living reality…The ability to metabolize all sensory experiences into the experience of bliss is the ability for prevention…All the 5 channels of perception—the 5 senses—must be so clear, that all experiences through any of the 5 senses always inspire bliss.”
AyurVeda is a complete, integrated program of healing. It includes education and individualized recommendations for the patient about diet, useful herbal remedies, lifestyle factors in daily routine, meditation, yoga, exercise, rejuvenative therapies and many other factors, including marma therapy.
After thorough investigation and diagnoses of the condition of the patient, therapy begins. AyurVedic therapy is a bride and brother that encompasses many branches and methods of treatment. Among them, marmot therapy is the understanding and therapeutic use of Marma energy points to balance body mind and spirit. Mormon therapy is a complete and highly sophisticated science that has been refined over many centuries. Like all AyurVedic therapies, it is rarely used alone, but rather in conjunction with others.
The Expertise of an Ayurvedic Practitioner
Undeniably, understanding of the disease process is vital for every health practitioner, in order to correctly diagnose the nature and stage of disease to the client or patient presents, and two accordingly prescribed treatment that will be maximally efficacious.
Western medicine’s forte is addressing this level of pathogenesis or symptoms are most severe and can be potentially life-threatening. AyurVeda strength is recognizing in balance at the beginning stages of pathogenesis and preventing it from progressing further.
And disease I was allowed to progress until stage four, they deposit into the deep tissues and in the fifth and six stages penetrate deeper into the vital organs like the heart and liver and kidney. This is beyond stage for her complicated and become difficult to cure. That is why are you it is so strongly emphasize this healthy lifestyle practices in order to prevent the development of disease and why AyurVedic practitioners are so thoroughly train in the subtle arts of diagnoses
What is A Consciousness Advisor?
The role of a Maharishi AyurVeda Wellness Consultant is to educate the client regarding self-health management and to encourage clients in taking a more proactive role in staying healthy or becoming healthy. Maharishi AyurVeda Wellness Consultants need to change the attitudes and the culture of wellness in the world to make it easy for people to do the right thing for their own health. Consultants need to engage, educate, empower, encourage and elevate their clients.
Maharishi AyurVeda Wellness Consultants are approachable, practical, meet their clients were they are, use the language clients understand, listen, listen, listen, and build trust so that they help their clients learn many health promoting techniques that are designed to enliven the body’s inner intelligence to create balance and remove imbalances in body and mind. Through proper education and guidance, the Maharishi AyurVeda Wellness Consultants enable each of their clients to take responsibility for their own healthb
AyurVeda describe these toxins as unresolved, “crystallized” Emotions that deposit into the deep connective tissue and consequently the marmani. Sensitivity at a marma diagnostically reflects either physical or mental disturbance. Stimulating marmani addresses the blockages by enhancing the flow of prana and bringing subconscious, hidden emotions to the surface. Deep bodywork as part of Panchakarma therapy effectively breaks these crystals of emotion and releases them.
Namaste,
Ketu