Ayurveda is an ancient set of philosophical, spiritual and cultural principles for health and healing of body, mind and consciousness. In essence, it’s the art of daily living in harmony with the laws of nature.
‘Ayurveda is not a straightforward do this / do that lifestyle. It’s a philosophy that is ever moving and changing, like the Earth and like you and me. It’s transient in nature and relies on supreme knowledge on behalf of the individual to make decisions based on the present moment.’ Jay Dharma Mulder, Ayurvedic Herbalist-Nutritionist
This is the beauty of Ayurveda. Nothing is prohibited or set in stone and it’s not about rigid dogmatic concepts. The Western mind may try to adapt Ayurveda to it’s black and white clear-cut-mono-formulas, but this is not what it’s about. An easy way to explain Ayurveda is KNOW, NOT NO. The greatest disease on our planet right now is ignorance which equates to lack of knowledge. Sublime KNOWLEDGE manifests as GOOD HEALTH, IGNORANCE as DISEASE.
I’m not going to bombard you with pages and pages of Ayurvedic knowledge all in one post. That would be useless and even slightly harmful, as you can only absorb so much information in one hit. If I tried to give you even half of this supreme knowledge it would be like eating an entire lifetimes worth of meals in one sitting. It just wouldn’t go in. We need small knowledge meals and time for the information to be absorbed and integrated into daily life. For knowledge without implementation isn’t going to help on our path to perfect health. Furthermore if you want to really study Ayurveda you’ll need a physical teacher to expound the great philosophy. What I’m offering here is an introduction to this incredible all encompassing wisdom. I’ll start at the beginning and expound on the knowledge sequentially. I’ll be referencing great Ayurvedic teachers, scholars and students and give you links to helpful resources for further study. I’ll give weekly Ayurvedic tips and recipes and share my experience of getting to know and more importantly LIVE an Ayurvedic lifestyle.
I found that after learning to meditate, it was a natural progression to want to implement healthier choices in all aspects of my life. Change your mind-state and the rest follows. Ayurveda is a holistic way of living that complements the effortless and simple practice of Vedic Meditation.
As Mr Mulder so eloquently expresses ‘Ayurveda affords the wisdom of how to bend, move and dance to the flow and ebb of life, and how to weave a healthy, prosperous and meaningful life. It’s all about how to manage our strengths, nurture our faults and how to balance our life, for enjoyment, work, fulfilment and liberation.’
Stay tuned…
Saturday, 3 January 2015
