Creating a Disease Free Society
In the last fifty years, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (founder of Transcendental Meditation) and the world’s foremost Ayurvedic physicians have worked together to revive the most ancient knowledge of natural health care.
Maharishi Ayurveda (MAV) is a revival of one of the most ancient and complete systems of natural health care. It clarifies the central importance of the mind-body relationship for health and provides us with a wide range of time-honoured practical techniques to enliven powerful natural healing responses in both mind and body.
Many doctors around the world are now convinced of the power of Maharishi Ayurveda, which sees perfect health as man's natural state, and recognises no limits to the healing potential inherent in the human organism.
THE SCIENCE OF LIFE
'Ayurveda' - which means, roughly, the 'science of life' -comes from the ancient Vedic tradition of India, and has enjoyed a continuous tradition of clinical practice over more than 5000 years. Unfortunately, most Ayur-Vedic physicians today use only a very limited range of this system's complete and full riches. Over the past decade, however, Ayurveda has been restored to its former completeness in a global effort inspired and led by His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation (TM).
HOLISTIC APPROACH
Maharishi Ayurveda is prevention-oriented, free from harmful side-effects and capable of treating disease at its source. It can legitimately claim to be both scientific and truly holistic, employing 20 systematic approaches to health from the angles of mind, body, behaviour and environment. MAV therapies do not conflict with either conventional or complementary methods, so they can be successfully employed alongside other systems of healing, if desired.
INTELLIGENCE AND MATTER
The power of the MAV approach to health is that it looks beyond the changing physical structure of the human body to the value of intelligence that directs and orchestrates this continuous flow of matter.
The self-organising value of intelligence is the spark of life without which the body would be merely inert matter.
According to MAV, the origin of all aspects of existence -mental and physical - is the field of pure intelligence or pure consciousness. Although unusual at first sight, this view is remarkably parallel to the position that modem science has now reached. The latest theories of quantum physics locate the basis of the physical universe in a single unified field, the properties of which are identical to those of intelligence.
In biology, the package of intelligence we call genetic information is known to underlie and govern the development and maintenance of the entire physiology.
The mind-body interface is another very important example of how our intelligence becomes matter in the human body. Impulses of our own intelligence - our thinking and emotions -are constantly being translated into chemicals produced by our brains which, in turn, regulate all bodily processes. Thoughts and feelings - happy or depressed, harmonious or conflicting - are projected all over the body as our nervous systems produce the corresponding regulatory molecules. A familiar example is the way stress affects our health.
Foremost among the methods of MAV is the simple technique of Transcendental Meditation (TM) which allows the conscious mind - human intelligence - to identify itself with its source in nature's intelligence. This ensures that a nourishing, healing influence is always generated through the mind-body connection.
PHYSICAL PRINCIPLES - VATA, PITTA and KaPHA DOSHAS
On the physical level, MAV understands the body in terms of three basic principles or 'doshas' - Vata, Pitta, Kapha - that underlie all bodily processes. Balance of the doshas promotes health and well-being. When imbalances in the doshas go uncorrected, illnesses results. The dominant dosha in an individual determines that person's body type, which in turn determines which diseases they are susceptible to. The MAV physician uses systematic methods, including MAV pulse diagnosis, to evaluate the balance of the doshas and prescribe a health programme suited to the individual.
ROLLING BACK THE YEARS
One of the most important aspects of MAV is the special revitalization therapy, using the techniques traditionally known as Panchakarma. This therapy involves a combination of methods, including specific herb and oil massage techniques, heat therapies and gentle purification procedures. This deeply relaxing therapy acts by gently cleansing the body's tissues of accumulated impurities. These impurities prevent the free flow of intelligence in the body by obstructing channels of circulation and communication.
Research has shown that this procedure does actually reverse age-regulated deteriorations in physical functioning and has confirmed its value for both physical and mental health. Findings include improvements in:
- energy, vitality and stamina;
- appetite and digestion;
- musculo-skeletal health;
- sleep patterns and mood;
- memory, alertness and intelligence;
- also: reductions in anxiety and depression;
- plus: people feel much younger generally.
DEFEATING TOXIC BUILD-UP
Revitalization therapy through MAV holds great hope for the prevention of many serious illnesses of middle and later life. We often forget that conditions such as cancer, heart disease and various degenerative disorders do not crop up overnight. They are usually the result of years of gradually accumulating imbalances or toxic and waste materials in the body - accumulations that can be effectively and thoroughly prevented by regular Panchakarma treatments.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
MAV includes a complete and unique science of nutrition, recognising the importance of the individual's capacity for digesting and assimilating food and providing a valuable understanding of differences in dietary requirements according to age, constitutional type and individual health needs. The influence of the seasons and time of day are also taken into account in MAV nutrition.
The MAV approach to healthy eating teaches how to get in touch with the body's real needs regarding food intake and also how to achieve maximum satisfaction and enjoyment from the food we eat. The focus is not merely on what to eat, but rather on when and how to eat.
The body's powerful weight and appetite regulating mechanisms are able to function normally. The MAV approach to effortless weight-loss can help everyone achieve healthier, more enjoyable eating. For those who are too heavy, weight reduction is just an added albeit welcome advantage.
RESTORATIVE REMEDIES
MA herbal preparations make use of the balancing power of the whole plant or combination of plants in order to promote healing without side-effects. The classical Ayurvedic texts list many hundreds of Rasayanas -sophisticated herbal and mineral preparations for strengthening immunity and preventing ageing.
However, two of these are particularly effective; their formulas had been lost for centuries before being restored as Maharishi Amrit Kalash (MAK).
Recent laboratory research conducted by Dr H Sharma, Professor of Anatomic Pathology at the University of Ohio in the USA, found that MAK had preventive and therapeutic effects against cancer tissue. MAK was also found to enhance the efficiency of the immune system and to be effective in preventing platelet aggregation - potentially a very important effect for the prevention of heart attacks and strokes.
Other research has confirmed that MAK has wide-ranging benefits for well-being and leads to improvement in perceptual abilities that tend to deteriorate with age.
COMBATING CHRONIC PROBLEMS
MA is proving to be of great value in the treatment of many conditions, including chronic, long-standing or persistent -disorders that are often notoriously difficult to treat and for which orthodox medicine can usually offer, at best, only relief from symptoms. One study, conducted in col-laboration with the largest health insurance company in Holland, examined the benefits of Maharishi Ayurveda treatment in 126 patients with 10 common chronic disorders: rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, asthma, bronchitis, sinusitis, headaches, eczema, psoriasis, constipation and non-insulin dependent diabetes.
After three months of treatment, 79 per cent of the patients showed clear-cut improvements in their condition. These patients had suffered from their problems for an average period of 18 years, and had failed to find relief from other approaches, both orthodox and complementary.
