by Nidhi Pandya, CAP
“I consume ashwagandha, thus I practice Ayurveda.”
“I follow Ayurveda. I have taken a dosha quiz online.”
“I like what Ayurveda has to offer, but I find it very restrictive and daunting.”
I have lost count of the number of times I have heard such statements. Given its vast scope and accessibility, it’s surprising how completely misunderstood and underutilized Ayurveda is here in the West. To put it into perspective, 36 million Americans practice or have tried yoga and 65 million have explored Traditional Chinese Medicine, while only 250,000 Americans have dabbled in Ayurveda. Given the potential that Ayurveda holds, this number boggles my mind.
Upon investigation and introspection, I found that Ayurveda is often presented in a very dogmatic and counterintuitive form. How did a health preserving and nurturing science that was meant to be intuitive, get so far removed from its original intent? This question led me to look back into my own childhood. My grandfather, being an Ayurvedic healer in Mumbai, introduced me to Ayurveda when I was still a baby. As a result, I was taught this natural healing science like one learns a first language, effortlessly through immersion. This approach eventually brought me to an epiphany: Ayurveda needs to be passed on as a science, not with a list of practices or prescriptions. Rather, it should be passed on as a complete set of principles that can be applied to all aspects of one’s life.