Ayurveda & the family

By Dr. Ajit

I am sure that many of you have been as shocked as I to read about the sudden deaths of a number of children, including:

• the sudden death of a 14 year old boy in his sleep while at Boarding School
• the death of a 3 year old child from Asthma
• an 18 year old girl who died in her sleep after coming home from a party. 

These are just a few of the many incidents of death we hear about each day in our national media. We all feel sad for a moment and perhaps shed a few tears but after that we forget about these misfortunes and get on with our lives. I wonder if any of us stop to think, why is this happening so frequently these days?

If we paused to ask this question, I believe we would see that problems such as this arise from a lack of awareness. This lack of awareness dis-connects us from our own spirit, allows us to mask the symptoms of ailments rather than treating the root cause & prevents us from helping our children by giving them the right advice at the right time. It can even cause a shattering of the bond that holds a family together, which in turn leads to the further disintegration of our society.

Despite this period of darkness we can still see the light from one of the world’s oldest systems of healing. We all know that Ayurveda is not just a health modality but a complete philosophy of life. Ayurveda is known as the science of awareness as it gives us the tools to live in balance with ourselves, our society and our environment.

Ayurveda’s approach to wellness also gives us the opportunity to take responsibility for our own health in such a way that every family member can benefit.

For example, if you have a child who is suffering from asthma or even the common cold, rather than giving them antibiotics and putting them on an inhaler, you can easily incorporate Ayurvedic principles into their healing programme. The benefits will be immediate as you will be addressing the root cause of their problem by changes to their diet & lifestyle rather than masking the symptoms with antibiotics or inhalants, which can also compromise their immune system.

In the same way an elderly person who is suffering from joint pain is normally prescribed cortiozone or natural products with glucosamine or shark cartilage but they still seem to suffer from pain. By introducing them to Ayurveda, where minor changes in lifestyle & diet can help them to address the root problem, they can enjoy a higher quality of life.

Finally, you have seen your own life or those of our mothers, sisters, wives or female friends affected by hormonal imbalances or fertility issues. Most of the time we have seen them struggling with these problems using various hormonal treatments but they only serve to mask the symptoms so the problem persists.

If we can share with all these people how we have benefited from following an Ayurvedic programme and encourage them to do the same, we are able not only to help these children, elderly & women but society as a whole. By encouraging as many people as possible to embrace Ayurveda we can play a role in creating healthy families, a healthy society & healthy environment.

At the same time it gives us a great deal of satisfaction to know they have played a role in helping our loved ones on the path to health.

Become part of this effort and introduce others to Ayurveda by encouraging them to try our free online consultation or the Path to Health programme.