Everyday Ayurveda

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Back of The Book Do you sometimes feel tired, lethargic and spiritless? How can Ayurveda help in a simple, practicable manner?

Time is scarce and precious in today’s world, and we seek solutions that are quick. While allopathic medicine tends to focus on the management of disease, the ancient study of dinacharya provides us with holistic knowledge of preventing disease and eliminating its root cause.

Taking us through a day in the life of Ayurveda living, Dr Bhaswati Bhattacharya illustrates the core principles of Ayurveda and shows us how to incorporate these in our routine. She explains the logic behind the changes she recommends and how they benefit us. Informative and accessible, Everyday Ayurveda is the perfect lifestyle guide designed to maximize health, longevity and happiness the natural way.

About the Author Living between Manhattan and Kashi, Dr Bhaswati Bhattacharya is a licensed, board-certified physician, integrating 'Good Medicine' with Ayurveda for the past fifteen years. She is clinical assistant professor of Family Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and a PhD researcher in Ayurveda at Banaras Hindu University. She is a 2014 senior Fullbright-Nehru scholar, recipient of American Medical Association's Leadership Award and the first Indian to speak at Commencement Exercises at Harvard University. Her work is featured in the documentary Healers: Journey into Ayurveda, on the Discovery channel.

Preface Many moons ago, my mornings began in the usual modern, urban Western way: waking up to an alarm clock, a cup of coffee, a quick shower and a whirlwind of multitasking that included checking emails and patient lab reports, eating while organizing the apartment and packing my briefcase before rushing to a metro ride to the hospital. I was efficient, accomplished and pleased.

After a few years, when I began gaining weight, my hair became dry and began to fall, and my gut was bloated too often, I thought these were the inevitable symptoms of aging. A voice deep inside questioned how some people were healthy even in their eighties, while others got sick. Modern medicine had few answers, but lots of tests and drugs to suppress those inescapable symptoms.

Thus, I was provoked onto a journey of questioning whether depletion is unavoidable. I delved deeper into Ayurveda and found a road introducing me to the concepts of dinacharya (daily routine). Once I succumbed to that inner voice, I became more curious and more aware of many things. I consciously veered away from the usual path and chose to open a quiet solo private practice, wary to enter the limelight of celebrity physicians who tend to become blinded about their primary roles as healers.

Through the many granthas, or great scriptures, I learnt that from the time of the Vedas-around 10,000 BCE-until 500 Cr, wise men continuously used, perfected and refined the knowledge of life, longevity and well-being, known as the veda of avus, or Ayurveda.. This knowledge was hidden over the past 200 years, in the most. nefarious conquest India faced: the conquest over self-awareness.

But as I began to revisit India more regularly, I found that the wisdom still existed, in pockets and quiet corners of the country. handed down quietly from generation to generation, as traditions of healing and wholeness, known sometimes as Ayurveda and sometimes simply as tradition. They need no validation or approval; their observations and healthy patients are enough.

When I first started practising Ayurveda, I was told it was preventive, and that the best way to engage was with single herbs, some yoga poses, and some diet and lifestyle changes. Done authentically and aligned with the philosophical concepts of Ayurvedic dosha, guna, agni and srotas, my prescriptions began to include a section for lifestyle counselling specific to the patient. I began to prescribe fewer drugs, surgeries and tests, and more herbs, oils, routines and yoga asanas. Slowly, my practice transformed to include what I learnt from patients and old, wise physicians, what I read in medical journals and ancient texts, and what I gleaned from my heart.

Foreword My whole life, I have believed in Ayurveda. To use its principles in a practical way and to mould it to a crazy schedule like mine is what I have always sought. It is what many of us seek but do not find in easy, accessible ways. Bhaswati does exactly that. She makes Ayurveda practical while also preserving its authenticity. Her logic and stories, with her impressive background as a well-qualified medical doctor, scientist and public health specialist from some of the best schools (Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, Princeton, Rush, Cornell and BHU) make the book that much more valuable. Since I have met her in New York, Bhaswati has made it her mission to bring the wisdom of Ayurveda back to the people in a usable, everyday way.

As an eco-environmentalist and a thinking actor, I often explore good food and sound health choices to keep my skin and face healthy and my body fit, and consume a diet that both satisfies and nourishes.

Ayurveda rejects the stale, easy, ready-in-a-minute choices in the urban world of jets, trains and film sets, and encourages all things natural. Through this ideology. I have learnt how to understand what my body needs and make choices that allow me to do fun things and still be healthy.

Getting up early is one thing that feels really good. Though I often have late-night engagements that require sleeping in, I am finding that Brahma muhurta-rising with the sun-actually helps keep my body strong.

**Contents and Sample Pages**