Ayurveda Nature's Medicine

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About the Author DR. DAVID FRAWLEY (Pandit Vamadeva Shastri) is one of the few Westerners recognized in India as a Vedic teacher (Vedacharya). His many fields of expertise include Ayurvedic medicine, Vedic Astrology, Yoga, Vedanta and the Vedas themselves. He is the author of over twenty books on these subjects, including half a dozen books on Ayurveda. He has also written many articles for different newspapers, magazines and journals, and has taught and lectured throughout the world, including all over India.

Dr. Frawley is regarded as one of the 25 most influential Yoga teachers in America today according to the Yoga Journal. The Indian Express, one of India's largest English language newspapers, recently called him "a formidable scholar of Vedanta and easily the best known Western teacher of the Vedic wisdom." India Today, the Time Magazine of India, has called him, "Certainly America's most singular practicing Hindu." He also works closely with Dr. Deepak Chopra on various projects

. Currently Dr. Frawley is the director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies and the president of the American Council of Vedic Astrology (ACVA). He is on the editorial board for the magazine Yoga International The American Institute of Vedic Studies features his extensive correspondence courses on Ayurveda and on Vedic Astrology.

Preface Interest in Ayurvedic medicine, India's traditional natural healing system, continues to grow rapidly along with the worldwide return to traditional medicine. In recent years, Ayurveda has taken its place as one of the most important and innovative systems of mind-body healing available. Now many people are interested in learning and becoming practitioners of this profound science of life and establishing Ayurveda as a real medical profession in the West. This trend is bound to continue for decades to come as we enter a new era in which natural healing will supplement, if not begin to surmount, modern biochemical medicine.

This book is designed as an introduction to Ayurvedic medicine, both for interested students, and for informed lay people. It starts out at a basic level but goes thoroughly into its subject. It contains most of the information taught in two-year Ayurveda programs for foreign students in India, but specially oriented to a Western audience. Through it, the reader will gain a broad overview as well as specific views about this ancient science of life and longevity.

The book provides a detailed presentation of all the different branches of Ayurveda and their practical application in daily life. Most importantly, it deals with lifestyle disciplines, including daily, seasonal and yearly practices for optimal health which are the foundation for the Ayurvedic approach to right living.

In particular, we have added a special section on Ayurvedic diets by Dr. Marc Halpern, director of the California College of Ayurveda, who has also most kindly written the foreword.

Dr. Halpern is one of the main pioneers of Ayurvedic education in the West and has worked tirelessly for this cause for several years.

Both of us have been engaged extensively in Ayurvedic teaching programs throughout the world for the last two decades. We hope that this book will be of value both to current and prospective students as well as the general public. Our hope is that it will assist in the proper understanding and application of Ayurveda in the West, and that it will encourage people to take up its practice. May it serve to bring the wisdom of life to its readers!

Foreword I have had the good fortune to share the company of and work along side two of Ayurveda's most respected scholars and prolific authors, Dr. David Frawley and Dr. Subhash Ranade.

Dr. David Frawley stands in league with India's most respected historians, yogis and vaidyas. His insights into the knowledge of India's culture, her deep spirituality, and the sacred threads that have woven together thousands of years of mys tical tapestry is unparalleled. He has inspired a generation of Westerners to look toward the essence of India's ancient wisdom in the hopes of bringing healing to our own society and our own health care system. A member of the California College of Ayurveda's Board of Advisors, he has been integral in shaping the curriculum of our program and the future of Ayurveda in the West.

Dr. Subhash Ranade is one of India's most prolific ambassadors of Ayurvedic knowledge. His years of clinical practice, time spent teaching, and his many writings have educated physicians and practitioners around the world. I have been moved by his unselfish sharing of India's sacred healing science. Dr. Ranade has worked closely with the California College of Ayurveda to make the knowledge of Ayurveda, long shrouded in mystery, available to Western practitioners.

Here in the West, as the profession of Ayurveda is rapidly growing and formal Ayurvedic education is being made available, there is a need for books that bring to the public a clear and concise understanding of India's indigenous healing system. Ayurveda, Nature's Medicine will please both the beginner who is discovering Ayurveda for the first time, and the serious student who desires a clear interpretation of India's ancient knowledge.

Ayurveda has an important role to play in the West. At this time in our history, many people are asking questions about the future direction of our healthcare system. There is less trust and greater dissatisfaction with the existent healthcare system than at any other time in our short history. Paralleling the questioning of "modern medicine" is a burgeoning interest in alternatives that, through natural methods, support the body to reestablish a state of health and well being.

Ayurveda is unique among the many options consumers have today. Its body-mind-spirit approach is not only entirely holistic in its application, but also emphasizes personal empowerment. The great Ayurvedic sage Charaka said, "What the patient knows is more important than what the practitioner knows. The successful Ayurvedic practitioner is not the one who heals the most patients, but the one who teaches his patients to heal themselves."

As a system of self-healing, Ayurveda is unparalleled. Its concepts are profound within their simplicity. Its application, based on common sense, is easy to adapt. Once a person under- stands even the fundamentals of this great system, their view of the world is changed forever and, with this new perception, reality shifts and healing becomes possible.

Perceiving that the reality we live in is not static but is in fact freely dynamic, capable of change at any time, Ayurveda and its sister science of Yoga explore the nature of that reality and the physical and spiritual principles which shape it. Mastering these principles, a person begins to realize that they are responsible for molding their own reality. Health or disease becomes a conscious choice. On a gross level, it is the direct result of our actions. Most people take action based upon a lack of knowledge of the physical and spiritual laws that govern well-being. Ayurveda teaches us these laws and the actions that go with them so we can establish health within the body, and harmony within the mind, and thus pursue our deeper spiritual goals.

Each one of us has a great potential to live up to. Through our genes and our consciousness, karma sets the stage. What we do once we arrive is up to us. Whether we reach our potential or sabotage ourselves along our journey depends upon the road map that we have in hand. Ayurveda is a map that first helps us to understand who we are and where we have begun. It shows us, too, the end of the journey where we find the ultimate goals of perfect health and enlightenment. Looking at this map, we can see where we are. In front of us are many roads. Some bring us to our goal, others lead us down paths that appear attractive, but which in the end mire us in the web of illusion causing us to forget the inner journey that we are on. Let Ayurveda help you to remember. In the end, healing is remembering how to be healthy. Enlightenment is remembering how to be whole. Namaste.

**Contents and Sample