Ayurvedic Medicines: Alternative Treatments

The term “anti-aging” has developed a frivolous meaning. Almost all products and even foods, now tout the label “anti-aging”. The conventional understanding of this term is that if it has anti-oxidants, it will stop aging and give you beautiful and refreshed skin. Not entirely true. Ayurveda has remarkable success for treating the skin to provide ultimate anti-aging benefits.

Advancing Your Skin Health

Skin health is not something many often strive for. Just like people would rather lose weight than focus on actual health advances, people often look for a fast fix cream to make their skin show fewer signs of aging. The act of properly moisturizing your skin is a must for achieving a healthy glowing complexion.

Healthy skin will also effectively balance hormonal fluctuations so that you do not get breakouts or other blemishes on the skin. Circulation of blood is the third most important step for skin health. Blood circulation provides vital nutrients to the skin cells, which allows them to be healthy and defend your skin against free radicals.

Keep in mind that a huge portion of waste in the body is excreted through the surface of the skin. Sweat is the strongest example of waste. It is filled with salts as well as the by-product of fat melting and being eliminated through the skin surface. For this reason, you must do everything you can to keep your skin healthy and balanced.

Ayurvedic Anti-Aging Principles

Vayasthapana is the anti-aging effect. Herbal formulas are recommended for the ultimate anti-aging effect on skin. Vayasthapana means arresting age in a literal translation. With the proper balance of herbal treatments you can stop aging and regain youthful glowing skin.

Varnya is the act of bringing forth rejuvenation and clarity to the skin. Glowing skin and rosy cheeks are a prime example of youthfulness and beauty. Varnya can be achieved through the right herbs that promote radiance.

Sandhanya is the act of protecting your skin from free radicals and environmental stressors. Practicing Sandhanya will remove those toxins from the skin and promote a renewed skin cell structure that is stronger and healthier, as well as more resilient against aging. Repairing damage from climate is a struggle but it is not impossible.

Branropana is the deep healing process that targets problems far beneath the cells of the skin surface. The damages caused by a life of unhealthy choices can be treated by using Branropana practices. Scars, deeper wounds, and deeper wrinkles can be completely healed with practices using branropana herbs.

Twachya is the art of nurturing healed skin. Once you have gone through the other steps, it is time to continue enhancing and beautifying your skin on a daily basis. Your skin needs nourishment and vitamins delivered through the surface as well as internally. Nourished skin will be radiance, strong, soft, smooth, and hydrated.

Shothahara is reducing inflammation of the skin. Inflammation is caused by a number of things, including inner body health problems, stress, environmental factors, and lack of proper nutrients. Shothahara will reduce inflammation and redness that causes blemishes and unsightly bumps on the skin. Choosing the right herbal balance will make your skin calm and refreshed.

The skin surface is the barrier between the world and our inner workings. It makes sense that it needs the most protection, and inflammation is the bodies way of telling you that it needs special care.

Twachagnivardhani is when you strengthen your skins metabolic response to the world around you. This word means to enhance the health of your skin by changing how it responds to what you use on it and what it is exposed to daily. Warm skin is a sign of life as well as what it is going on inside your cells. Cold skin is a skin that your skin is lacking something. While it is ideal to have a fully warm body, some areas may be colder than others. You must pay full attention to all areas of your body and work to nurture them.

Aging naturally slows this process. It is your goal to reduce that from happening by boosting the metabolic process of your skin for your entire body. This decline causes dullness, lack luster skin, and dryness.

If your skin is unable to utilize the herbal creams you use for your skin, there is no point in trying. Applying something on top of sickly skin will not benefit you. Instead you must work to improve this metabolism so that your skin can respond to your treatments in a better manner.

Maintaining overall skin health is a dedication. Once you develop a system and get used to the ayurvedic practices, your skin will respond well to what you put into it and on top of it. If you are noticing signs of aging, act now with Ayurveda practices to improve the health and strength of your skin.

Part of holistic medicine for those not in it initially is that at some point you need to divorce yourself from what you thought you knew and be able to appreciate new approaches to old things. Part of this is involves initiation rituals.

Different cultures have different initiations. The concept is so ingrained that even corporate culture has some initiation rites and apprenticeship. For example, making coffee, being forced to miss deadlines, missing paperwork, even the internship program itself, where you need to serve without pay all have their beginnings in initiation rituals.

Some cultures are more interesting, however. For example, the Sioux Sun Dance, where four days of meditation are followed by three days of dancing, and then one of sacrifice, where either small patches of skin are offered, or eagle claws are stuck through skin on the chest. The basic point to any initiation is that your perspective must change, and a good initiation ritual will do just that.

In a way, I miss hazing. Although ostensibly a humiliating ritual fraught with risks, it allowed a young man on his first time on his own to really appreciate the difference, by forcing him to evaluate what he was willing to do to join an organization. It also forced a change in perspective, in that his parents could not protect him, and that he was now dependent on other people. It also provided a definite turning point, one that he could point to as the dividing line between childhood and adulthood, something that men nowadays don’t really have.

But that’s true of any initiation ritual. By defining a point in your life, you can build from that point. As you explore Ayurvedic approaches, be aware that you need that change in perspective. Although it does have some of the approaches of modern science, it also has certain elements of mysticism as well. Being aware of the differences is extremely important to your ability to deal with this type of holistic medicine, and that will allow you to find your path.

Find that point, that point at when you can say that you have stepped over, and your path will be easier; by defining a start, you define the finish, and without a start you can’t finish. In order to be on a path, it must have a start and a finish; you may not finish where you thought you would, but knowing where you started defines the path. Where did you start?

Ayurvedic Medicine is a holistic approach to well-being, and requires that you be in touch with yourself. One of the best ways to do this is to meditate; however, not everyone can easily achieve a meditative state. There are some ways to achieve a meditative state faster. The most basic way to achieve a meditative state is to establish a place and a time for it, as well as some ritual that mentally prepares you.

The place and time are easy enough to establish. The place should be one that is quiet, has a comfortable temperature, and is reasonably easy to get to. You can build your own, if needed, but as long as you feel comfortable there, it should be okay. The time should be set aside at the same time each day, so that your body learns that it will be in a slightly different state at the same time each day. Once place and time are established, you need to establish a ritual.

The ritual can be as simple or as complex as you want; I suggest simplicity as it’s not only cheaper (as you don’t require as many materials) and quicker, but simplicity is usually best. Decide what constitutes a ritual, and also allow for one at the conclusion of your meditation, even if it’s as simple as blowing out a candle.

Some things to consider when you are creating your ritual are things that can be open and closed; for example, lighting a candle or burning incense at the beginning of your meditation, and then extinguishing it when you are done. Changing clothes, flipping something over or otherwise changing its position, or other brief activities that a two parts to them allow you to separate your meditation from your daily life, and that disconnect can be beneficial.

Do not meditate in the nude. It may sound prudish, but when you deal with things mystical, the symbolism of even simple things becomes important. Nudity may represent freedom, but it also represents lack of sexual inhibitions and lust as well, and you want to avoid anything dealing with those issues just as much as you hunger and thirst. Some people do, but try to avoid it at the start.

By establishing these factors, you will find yourself slipping into a meditative state easier, and being to establish a link to yourself and thus you will be able to better affect your path much more effectively.

As within, as with out: This ultimately the basic reasoning behind any system of holistic medicine. The idea is that you are only as healthy as you believe you are. Ultimately, your mind has control over your body, and that control is what makes you healthy or ill. It’s not necessarily a conscious control; your emotions are just as powerful as your will. Ever notice that anger leads to headaches and stomach problems; depression leads to being tired and less appetite; happiness leads to more energy? The mind truly is a powerful thing, and that anything that affects the mind, affects the body. Thus, why meditation and visualization are so important to holistic health. By reaching a stillpoint, emotion no longer influences you, and your will becomes the arbiter of your health. You can then visual what you want to happen, and then it does. But first you need to reach the stillpoint. To attain a state of meditation, you must be able to shut out any outside interference, and calm any emotion. To do so, find a place with little stimulation, such as a temple or hillside. It may sound difficult to in a city, but that’s why some gyms are silenced. You can create a silenced room in your house, by finding a room that is easy to cover in some sort of silencer, such as egg cartons. You can also build a meditation chamber, which is actually better; by concentrating on the purpose of the room as you build it, it makes using the room that much easier. There’s nothing mystical about it; as you put it together, you visual its purpose, which allows you to do what you’re building the room for easier. Rituals work much the same way; since you have certain expectations when you enact one, it’s easy to believe that what you expect to happen will. One of the reasons that guys have so many rituals and superstitions is that “going with what works” is a ritual in and of itself that has an effect on the real world. It may not make logical sense, but it works more often than you would think. When you meditate, concentrate on something (your breathing and the Universal OM are the usual targets), and then allow yourself to stop concentrating on it, losing yourself in the moment. Once you’ve mastered that, then it becomes easier to accept that you really can change things. Visualize the change you wish, and what the effects of that change will be; that makes it real and allows it to happen. Once you’ve managed that, you have managed but the first of many steps. And I do mean many steps…

Martial Arts can be a funny thing. It seems that some martial arts were created to get better fighting, and then evolved to entertainment (wrestling). Others were created to relieve teen-age hormones (boxing). Others were created to allow self-defense in weird situations (capoiera). Others were created for self-defense, and then became meditation (kung fu).

One of these martial arts became linked to a group of healers. By using vital points, the martial artists were able to become very efficient warriors. Kalaripayattu combines the physical nature of martial arts with an almost scientific approach that allowed the practitioners to become incredible healers as well. In a way, the Ayurvedic healing arts gained a lot by association with those that, ironically, caused the pain as well.

In essence, yin and yang working together for the betterment of the human in question, as is the best way to do things. There a number of ways that healing works, some in weird ways that go beyond expectations, others where the expectations were in the wrong areas. Sometimes, not all of the best ways of healing are what you would expect; sometimes it takes looking down an unexpected path to find what you are looking for, and even then what you are find wasn’t what you were looking for.

Before I get too much into fortune cookie territory, healing is best looked at as a problem-solving process. It’s not always important what method was used, as long as the problem is solved. When it comes to curing a disease, a lot of things can work; sometimes it’s just a matter of bolstering the person’s belief that there is a solution that helps just as much as an antidote.

When we look at holistic healing, it’s easy to discard it for the weirdness. That’s fine; as with modern medicine, there will always be a lot its practitioners know that those that benefit from it aren’t aware of. But…it works nonetheless. On this blog, I will be exploring various ways to heal yourself and won’t be limited by modern science. So let’s have fun on this journey, and see where it leads us, eh?

[Caveat: Do not use this site as a way to heal yourself. I am not licensed in any medical way, and my advice should be should treated strictly as friendly advice, not as an actual opinion. Look into the medicines shown here yourself, and don’t trust me word, okay?]