Ayurvedic Herbal Medicine -

Ayurvedic Herbal Medicine

Introduction

Ayurveda is the traditional medicine of India translated from the Sanskrit as the science of life, it is a collection of interrelated practices that over see every aspect of a person’s health and lifestyle. It emphasizes the science of longevity while focusing on promoting good health throughout that lengthened life. It is placed amongst the African traditional medicine, Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and Middle Eastern Unani Tibb medicine as one the oldest comprehensive herbal medicine systems still in existence. All systems notably evolved from diverse cultures and different regions but what is more interesting is the similarities they share like say all systems talk about energetic classification of diseases and herbs m use of cosmologic theories with terms such as hot, cold, damp, dry and wind . Focusing on Ayurveda however, it is an ancient system that hasn’t changed until today.

Ayurveda is written in Sanskrit (classical Ayurveda language) called Devanagari alphabet is different from the Roman in which English is written which has been a big problem. Ancient Ayurveda practitioners observed and experimented with how people could live happy and healthy (it boosts of thousands of years’ worth of written records in Sanskrit)

It is presumed the oldest continuing healing system on the planet. The belief is that it is of divine origin, from Lord Brahma, and it dates back to the origin of human race, all Asian systems are said to evolve from the core of Ayurveda including Acupuncture. The ancient Ayurvedic scholars are said to have been wanderers and traveled widely, sharing their knowledge of health and medicine. After Ayurvedic medicine was well developed they travelled to gain and share knowledge over the Himalayas to Mongolia, China, Tibet all the way to Japan and South East Asia and their ideas finally reached South Europe. There are written records dating back to 5000 years for Ayurveda and oral tradition going back to thousands of years previous although it is debatable. It lays a framework for understanding the body and how to best support its quest for balance

Energetics

Ancient people are believed to have experienced the natural world in which they lived and sought to develop away to systematically understand their relationship to it, as they reasoned that they were made if the same stuff as the rest of natural world and were subject to the effects of circumstances in their living environment surprisingly despite their differences they were able to come with same conclusions about how time, climate, ditto mention but a few affected the body .Ayurveda has an energetic model that uses collates the properties of food and herbs according to the taste ,temperature ,temperature, effect before and after digestion and similar factors . This allows the practioner to match actions and nature of medicine to the individual patient, this system is some texts is referred to as differential diagnosis.

Energetic Concept Of Ayurvedic

Terminology	Meanings
Temperature	Body temperature or mean metabolic rate Ranges from hot to cold
Weight	Body weight or general density of the tissues
Moisture	Lubricious nature of the body fluids and Degree of fluid retention
Taste	Measure of biochemical composition and there are 5 tastes Acid substances taste hot, Alkaline taste cold, Acid tastes sour, pungent and salty. Alkaline tastes are bitter and astringent. Sweet taste is caused from carbohydrates, proteins and fats, which will produce acid reactions in the body.

The Five Elements Of Ayurvedic

	Ether (Space)	Air (Gas)	Fire (Power)	Water (Liquid)	Earth (Solid)
NAME	Akash	Vayu	Tejas	Jala Or Apas	Prithvi Or Bhumy
NATURE	Vacuum(distance Without physical existence)	Mobile, dynamic (existence without form)	Transforming (Form without substance)	Flux(substance without stability)	Fixed, rigid (stable substance)
QUALITIES	Soft, light, subtle, smooth sound promo	Light, dry, cold, clear, subtle , soft,oily, touch promoting	Hot, intense, subtle,light,oily,sharp, vision promoting	Liquid, oily, cold, slow, soft, smooth, dull, slimy, strong taste.	Heavy,rough,hard, slow,stable,ggross,tough,dry, dense, smelly
PHARMACOLOGICAL EFFECTS	Softness, porosity, lightness	Roughness, dryness, lightness, aversion	Heat oxidation, metabolism, Luster, radiance color,	Stickiness oiliness, compactness, softness, moisturizing, contentment	Plumpness, heaviness, compactness , stability
SENSE AND ORGAN	Hearing (Ear)	Touching (Skin)	Seeing (Eye)	Taste (Tongue)	Smell (Nose)
ACTION AND ORGAN	Speech (Mouth)	Holding (Hand)	Walking (Feet)	Procreation (Genitals)	Excretion (Anus)
POSITIVE EFFECT	Illumination of silent mind	Vigor	Clarity	Juicy	Stability
NEGATIVE EFFECT	Ache of Hollowness	Exhaustion	Manipulation	Sticky	Petrify

The Three Dosha

	Vata	Pitta	Kapha
ELEMENTS	Air+Ether	Water+Fire	Earth+Water
FUNCTION	Movement, nerve regulation, respiration, circulation, excretion	Digestion, metabolism, metabolism, assimilation, body heat, glandular secretion	Solidity, Stablity,lubrication,tissue buildin

References

Khalsa, Karta Purkh Singh., and Michael Tierra. The way of ayurvedic herbs: the most complete guide to natural healing and health with traditional ayurvedic herbalism. Delhi: Motila Banarsidass Publishers, 2010. Print.