Welcome to Ayurvedic
Wellness with Melanie
AYURVEDA (eye-your-vay-dah), means science or knowledge of life, originated in India and is an ancient practice that has been used over thousands of years. It has been called Yoga’s sister science. Yoga is a practice within ayurveda, but food as medicine is at the forefront. Ayurveda is a holistic system that addresses the whole person. In this way a person’s state of body and mind are assessed and from there we journey on the road to your optimal wellness.
To design an individualized treatment plan a person’s current conditions, lifetime history, past and current tendencies are looked at (along with pulse and tongue diagnosis and a detailed discussion). In this way we don’t just treat symptoms, but we heal at the root cause of illness and bring the body back into balance for long term health and longevity.
People seek out ayurveda for many reasons.
Some are attracted to Ayurveda because they want to better understand themselves and some come for specific ailments. Do you want to have better digestion, better eating habits, more energy, or just want to feel your best and improve your overall health? Ayurveda provides all of this.
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Ayurveda can help both acute and chronic conditions. Some seek ayurveda for specific ailments like allergies, asthma, sinus problems, skin conditions, weight management, stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, ulcers, acid indigestion, gastritis, auto immune disorders, arthritis, reproductive challenges, and so many other ailments, imbalances, or diseases.
Sometimes people have tried other medical care or other healing modalities and then come to Ayurveda when the other therapies didn’t help them. But Ayurvedic medicine is also complimentary to existing treatment plans and paths.
Although originally from India, many healing modalities derived from ayurveda. Hundreds of years ago it influenced the beginning of procedures that are part of modern medicine. There are three Great Ayurvedic texts that influenced medicine: Charaka Samhita (contains poetic prose of internal medicine), Sushruta Samhita (ayurvedic surgery), and Ashtanga Hridayam (physiology of the body and treatments). Furthermore marma therapy, an ayurvedic bodywork threrapy, is similar to acupressure and later spread to other parts of Asia. From there, it became what we know as acupunture today. There is an art of ayurvedic acupuncture, but it has been a lost art. It is however utilized in some extent through a practice called marma therapy.
This ancient science utilizes the wisdom of many paths all under the one umbrella of Ayurveda: the elemental theory to heal, food choices for body type, seasonal living and seasonal eating, daily activities for balance, digestive strengthening, stress reduction, yoga, mediation, pranayama, massage, gem therapy, color therapy, aromatherapy....
In Ayurveda we treat each patient individually. As your health practitioner and ayurvedic guide, I meet you where you are. Ayurveda offers a process of educating, self-awareness, self-knowledge and healing from the root cause of symptoms. Like how we treat a diseased tree by adressing issues in their roots, or we might deal with weeds in our yard but pulling them up from their roots, to not do this allows the symptoms to continue to manifest in all that ways that they are able to. By treating at the root cause of illness and addressing the body as a whole, an organic healing unfolds. When it's from this deep root of wellness place, it radiates out to the periphery.
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In other words, you have different elements and qualities that make you who you are. Some of us run cold or run warm, some of us need more or less sleep, some of use crave spicey food, or sweet food, or vegetales or meat. Exercise for one is not the same recipe for another. Running is for one but swimming for another, and so on and so on So there is as many imbalances as there are people. And there is as many ayurvedic rememdies as there are people. Certain practices and therapies will bring excess qualities in the body back to the place they originally became out of balance, the digestive tract.
The digestive system is a wise place that we start to work with in ayurveda. And each of us operates differently, the same in ways and different in ways. By focusing on your unique needs, through food choices and daily activities, the body can find it's way back into complete health.
Now this may sound unfamiliar to you now, but through the observation of nature’s cycles, aka seasonal cycles, we can begin to learn how to mimic those rhythms. When we do learn how, we eventually become in sync with nature. We can ride the waves of the seasons, rising and falling with each season's qualities. I
In this surrender to the rise and fall with the seasons and living in tune with seaonal wellness tips, deep healing can occur sometimes spontaneously. I've seen this first hand and it's miraculous. It takes a willingness and readiness to heal. It takes you saying "Yes" to feeling healthy and "Yes" to committing to your wellness.
(A note on Ayurveda and the elemental theory: All existence is made up of five elements and these elements have qualities that occur differently in each individual. The human body has three main body types called doshas (see dosha section for more info): Vata (made up of the qualities of air and space), Pitta (fire and water), and Kapha (water and earth). These doshas determine the personality, tendencies, and habits of an individual.)
Blessings.
Chant for Healing
Om bhur bhuva svaha
Tat savitur varenym
Bargo devasya dimahi
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayaat