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Osteoarthritis, one of numerous types of arthritis, usually begins as a result of wear and tear on the joints during the latter part of life. Cartilage softens and erodes and the affected joints swell, becoming stiff and painful. Even though all of the joints of the body are vulnerable, the weight-bearing joints, such as the knee and elbow are most commonly involved. In the elderly, the disease frequently attacks the hip and shoulder joints.
Arthritis is a systemic disease. This means that it involves whole systems of the body, and is not just located where the symptoms appear in the joints. People with arthritis can also suffer from various disorders in different parts of the body and may complain of digestive disorders, constipation, fatigue, emotional stress, sleeplessness, nutritional deficiencies, etc.
For example my patient Marilyn, a 47-year-old high school teacher, came to me complaining of stiffness and pain in her upper back, neck and hands, digestive problems, and constipation among other complaints. Marilyn was told by her physician that she had an inflammation, but the treatment didn’t help much. When I evaluated her I saw that her hands and feet were hard and cracked, and she had cracking in her joint areas. In Ayurveda that is a sign of an imbalance in the Vata dosha. I asked her about her eating habits and found that the foods she ate were Vata aggravating.
Among other treatments, including Ayurveda herbal formulas, I prescribed a daily, oil self-massage, meditation, and a specific diet to eliminate the toxins that were built up in her physiology. In her followup she said that her neck pain was gone and that she had less anxiety and less joint pain. She’d also lost ten pounds of unwanted weight. After six more weeks she had little or no joint pain. Marilyn was happy that she didn’t have to take drugs.
Arthritis is a chronic disease. Its most common symptom is pain in the joints. At first, it may be slow or low-intensity pain, and the person may experience difficulty in climbing stairs and lifting weights. The pain may come and go and disappear in response to pain killers, or it may subside with just a little rest. Sometimes it disappears for months at a time and then reappears.
As with Marilyn there may be stiffness and numbness of the joints, the joints may crackle, and they often become swollen and inflamed. In the early stages, pain can be mild or acute, or largely appear in the morning and at night. The pain may be aggravated by exposure to cold, wind, or rain. In Ayurveda this is known as a Vata aggravation.
Because arthritis involves whole systems of the body (systemic), and is not just located where the symptoms appear in the joints, it is necessary to look into problems which at first don’t seem to be related to arthritis, such as digestive disorders, fatigue, constipation, etc. For arthritis to be successfully treated a holistic approach must be followed that will recognize the systemic nature of the disease and its abnormal conditions, as well as the disorders in other parts of the body that need to be corrected. This is the great benefit of Ayurveda in that it treats the whole person and not just the symptoms.
Conventional medicine treats arthritis by suppressing the pain and swelling with drugs. This, however, gives a false sense of relief to the patient and doesn’t address the underlying causes of the disease. This is dangerous because the disease continues to progress inside the body. Eventually the person cannot use her joints and the physician can no longer provide relief or reduce the swelling, let alone arrest the progress of the disease.
The appearance of pain or joint stiffness is not, in fact, the first stage of the disease. Ayurveda recognizes six distinct stages of disease: accumulation, aggravation, dissemination, localization, manifestation, and disruption. By the time pain or joint stiffness becomes evident then the disease has already progressed to the fourth stage, localization, where the doshas combine with ama (sticky toxins) in an organ or tissue and localize there. At this stage disease can be reversed with Ayurveda or, if not treated properly, will progress to the fifth and six stages. The true benefit of Ayurveda, however, is to catch the imbalance in it’s first stage before it becomes a disease.
Had Marilyn come to see me earlier Ayurveda would have caught the beginning of her disease instead of letting it grow to a chronic condition. In Ayurveda the key point in understanding the emergence of disease is the recognition that it is a long-term process, involving numerous changes in both body and mind. By using Ayurvedic diagnosis I can detect and detour a chronic disease from manifesting, while in western medicine a symptom such as joint pain has to manifest before it is recognized. Early detection of an imbalance is one of the greatest gifts of Ayurveda. I recommend seasonal checkups to all of my patients so that Ayurveda can detect any subtle imbalance before further disease manifests. If one needs conventional medicine then Ayurveda can be used as a complement.
Poor health is the end result of a process that has usually been going on for many years. An unhealthy diet and stressed life-style can lead to many problems including coronary artery disease, bowel disorders, diabetes, skin disorders, weight problems, chronic fatigue, or hypertension, just to name a few. Unfortunately, modern medicine has failed to make significant progress against many of these disorders.
Ayurveda is a system of prevention oriented, natural health care that focuses on restoring balance at the deepest level of the mind and body of the individual. The goal of Ayurvedic medicine is to get rid of the existing disease, to not create new disease, and to prevent further disease from happening.Ayurveda understands that each individual is different and is prone to different diseases and, at the same time, the same disease can manifest differently in each individual. Because of this each person is treated differently with Ayurveda even though she or he may have the same disease. Ayurveda treats the person and not the disease. Because Ayurveda is a holistic medicine there are many positive side-benefits instead of negative side-effects. The results of this personalized health care are astounding.
For example, my patient J.A., age 52, had problems with high blood pressure. High blood pressure may result in damage to the heart, eyes, kidneys, or brain and ultimately lead to congestive heart failure, heart attack, kidney failure, or stroke. Modern medicine often prescribes drugs to control it. Unfortunately, drugs often cause negative side-effects.
With Ayurveda, J.A. had a different experience. He said, “My blood pressure was up to 240 over 140. I’ve had high blood pressure for 20 years., taken every kind of medicine available. Always had severe reactions and none of them ever actually controlled my blood pressure. I felt there was no hope for me. Doctors had told me it was just a matter of time, and that I was probably going to have a severe stroke or a heart attack at any moment, and there was nothing they could do. Fortunately I read about Dr. Reddy in an alternative health newspaper. Everything she said about Ayurveda sounded like something I wanted to do. It was four years ago when I first went to see her and started following her recommendations. Now my blood pressure is in a normal range. I do anything I want now and I consider myself extremely healthy. I feel wonderful and I don’t take any medications at all.”
This is just one of hundreds of successful cases I’ve treated with Ayurveda. If patients are already on conventional medicine then I keep them on it and gradually, as they recover with Ayurveda, wean them off their medication. Those who can come off medicine are indeed fortunate because they don’t have to suffer from the negative side-effects of most conventional medicine and can live dynamic, happy and long lives with Ayurveda.
A woman whom I’ll call N.B. came to see me with a history of high blood pressure. She was 54 years old, 5 ft., and weighed 170 pounds. She had been diagnosed with high blood pressure about four years ago on a routine checkup for a life insurance policy. High blood pressure is elevated blood pressure resulting from an increase in the amount of blood pumped by the heart or from increased resistance to the flow of blood through the small arterial blood vessels. If not checked it may result in damage to the heart, eyes, kidneys, or brain and ultimately lead to congestive heart failure, heart attack, kidney failure, or stroke.
N.B. had progressively gained weight in the last ten years of 25 to 30 pounds and was currently in menopause. She was initially put on Norvasc by her regular physical for her high blood pressure but her blood pressure was totally out of control after a few months. Next her physician added Vasotek to her treatment but even with this the blood pressure did not remain stable.
In addition to the two drugs came Hydodiuril which is a diuretic. With three medicines her blood pressure was still not being controlled. In addition, she began experiencing the negative side-effects of anxiety, fatigue, and headaches, plus she did not feel well and enthusiastic about life. She was both afraid of going on more medication and also afraid of having a stroke like her mother.
This can be a typical scenario in conventional medicine where more than one medicine is needed to control the blood pressure and the side-effects of the medication itself make the patients non compliant. If patients are already on conventional medicine then I keep them on it and gradually, as they recover with Ayurveda, wean them off their medication. Those who can come off medicine are indeed fortunate because they don’t have to suffer from the negative side-effects of most conventional medicine. I put N.B. on an individualized program of meditation, wholesome diet, and easy stretching exercises along with specific herbal formulations.
Just after a month with the comprehensive approach of Maharishi Ayur-Veda I was able to take her off the diuretic, and a month later to take her off the Norvasc and just leave her on the Vasotek for the time being. Her blood pressure remains normal all the time and she has been experiencing a lot more energy, no anxiety, and has lost twelve pounds. This is all without experiencing any negative side effects. This and a lot more can be accomplished with Ayurveda when the problem is treated at the root cause and not just the outward symptoms.
Imbalances vary from person to person and so also the treatments vary from person to person. This is what makes Ayurveda unique, specific, and personalized.
As is often the case, Meena came to see me with multiple problems. As a 44-year-old executive assistant for a telephone company her major health concerns were high blood pressure and anxiety. Her blood pressure had not been controlled with the prescribed medication and her doctor wanted to double the dose. She also had other problems such as chronic indigestion with gas, bloating, and heartburn. She also had urinary frequency, constipation, and low back pain.
Meena had been to various specialists who put her on different medications for her various symptoms. But she did not tolerate her medication well and had negative side-effects, plus she didn’t want to be taking higher doses of something that wasn’t working. So she decided to try alternative medicine.
The first thing I did was improve her diet to one where she was eating foods that were right for her particular mind/body makeup. I also put her on a simple but regular routine of walking for twenty minutes a day. I also recommended that she add to her routine an oil, self-massage two to three times a week. The Ayurvedic oil massage strengthens and balances the whole physiology, improves circulation and vitality, and as a bonus, it’s great for the skin.
In order to balance her doshas (the body’s organizing principles) and correct her problems at the root and to stimulate her overall health, I also prescribed specific Ayurvedic herbs and herbal preparations called rasayanas. Rasayanas are food supplements that can be eaten and digested easily. They nourish the tissues of the body and have no harmful side-effects. Research has shown that rasayanas can also combat the negative effects of harmful free radicals. As Meena’s health improved I was also able to cut down on her blood pressure medicine.
When I saw Meena for a followup visit five weeks later her blood pressure was normal, her anxiety greatly lessened, her gas and bloating almost nonexistent, her heartburn was only occasional, her low back pain was completely gone, and her urinary symptoms greatly reduced. She said to me “I am really surprised how quickly I have seen the response. I’m truly sold out on this Ayurveda stuff.”
She also had much more energy, was more at peace and hopeful that she would be able to come off her blood pressure medicine completely. I said to her that if her blood pressure staid normal for another month then I would take her off it altogether and leave her on an Ayurveda lifestyle.
This is one of the examples of how a chronic disease can be conquered and how all the other associated manifestations of the disease can also be corrected and eliminated in due time. We have to allow the body to regain its own inner intelligence and heal from the source of the problem. This is the beginning of the true transformation of your health.
To gain more insight, one can read my book Conquering Chronic Disease, which describes how disease starts and how, by correcting ill health at the source, Vedic medicine can bring one back to a full and healthy life.
My patient J.S., age 39 years, is a healing practitioner. She had been breast feeding and was experiencing sleep disturbances. However, eight months after the birth of her baby she just could not fall asleep. Being a healing practitioner she tried several techniques of relaxing massages, and many over-the-counter herbal formulations to help herself. She came across my book For a Blissful Baby and then called me to set up a telephone consultation, as she lived fifteen hundred miles away from me.
She called me with complaints of postpartum depression. She also had insomnia, mood-swings, and fatigue, which can all occur after giving birth. She told me that her health started deteriorating six to eight weeks after giving birth when she started feeling exhausted along with depression and memory problems.
This is not an uncommon scenario. After the birth of a baby there are many women who experience postpartum fatigue and depression simply because conventional medicine does not know how to rejuvenate and balance a woman’s health after the delivery of a child. Many women who are not breast feeding are prescribed drugs to help with sleep or to relieve pain. This does not help put the physiology back into balance.
Giving birth is one of the greatest challenges that a woman will ever face. While the mother’s heart is totally enlivened with love for her new baby, her body is under demands never faced before. She needs to balance and strengthen her body and emotions so she can give her baby nourishment and love.
At the initial consultation I put J.S. on the comprehensive approach of Ayurveda which focuses on creating balance on three levels —
It accomplishes this through stress-reduction techniques, diet, special Vedic massage procedures, rejuvenation programs, and many other valuable recommendations. In just a few weeks all her symptoms improved and she started feeling more energetic and cheerful, while enjoying the baby and sleeping better.
The postpartum period is a delicate and important time in a mother’s life. So much has happened with the pregnancy and birth and she needs a careful and guided program that is given to her by an experienced Ayurvedic physician. There are always individual variations with each patient but with this comprehensive approach I can go to the root of the problem and can help the patients regain their health and lead a fulfilling life. During this time if the health is not rejuvenated the seeds for future disease are sown, the physiology becomes weaker, and many new symptoms and diseases are experienced by women in the coming years.
Tall, thin, Thomas, a computer programmer, had many health concerns ranging from lack of energy, dry skin, lower back pain, stiffness, lack of sexual energy, and poor digestion. His constant fatigue made it difficult for him to get through the day without constant caffeine. Because he sat at a computer all day, his lower back was always aching.
His chronic fatigue was also affecting his concentration and focus, which in turn caused him mental fatigue. He had to take frequent breaks to try and clear his head before he resumed work. He had been taking Saint John’s Wort and glucosemine and some over-the-counter pain pills. He was told by his doctor that he had depression and was put on Zoloft, but he could not take it for more than a month because it affected his sleep and his sexual energy.
I first saw him in July when the Washington, D.C. weather is hot and humid, so it was surprising to see his excessively dry skin, but it is was an indicator of a Vata imbalance. The weather was also making him irritable and impatient, which is a sign of aggravated Pitta. I put him on a diet to pacify his Vata and Pitta doshas, gave him a special oil to massage into his skin, and recommended yoga postures to help with the stiffness and back pain. I also recommended special Ayurveda herbal medicine to correct the doshic imbalance and nourish the tissues and organs.
I saw him again in August. He said that he felt better overall with more energy and improved digestion. He said he had, “Less episodes of fatigue, my skin is not so dry, and I have a much better state of mind. I have less anger and anxiety, and the lower back pain is better.” “Also,” he said much relieved, “the libido has improved.” His facial skin was still a little dry but less than before. I saw him again in October and he felt that he was even more improved. His energy was back to normal, his digestion greatly improved, and back pain almost nonexistent. He said “I feel less and less anger and impatient. My concentration has improved. My skin is still a little dry.”
I told him to continue doing the oil massage and take more oil and ghee in his food. “This dry skin is part of your inherent nature and you need to take care of it.” I saw him again in late December and he said, “I have improved so much in the last few months. I have worked a lot of hours in the last six weeks and I made a lot of money for my company. I sometimes got only four hours of sleep at night but my energy is up. I can concentrate better when working and studying. And my moods are stable. My goal is to maintain my health and continue with the progress I have made.”
Problems like chronic fatigue cannot be resolved with vitamins, minerals or protein shakes, which only aggravate digestion. Antidepressants or prescription medicine will only mask the underlying problems. Even if one gets relief temporarily the problem only gets bigger in the long run. One needs the comprehensive approach of holistic medicine like Ayurveda, whereby the person is treated as a whole and the disease is diagnosed and treated in its totality.
Both of little two-and-a-half-year-old Anju’s parents worked, so they had to take her to a day care center where she seemed to catch constant colds and infections. Since she was having constant upper respiratory infections resulting in colds, cough, sinus problems, and ear infections, she was on antibiotics. These only gave brief relief. The antibiotics caused loss of appetite, skin rashes, and made little Anju tired and cranky. Because her parents worked, Anju was back in day care before she fully recuperated and where she was once again susceptible to infections.
Her parents could not afford to take time off to keep Anju at home every time she got sick, and they were tired of running in and out of doctor’s offices and keeping up with her illness throughout the day and night. The treatment was getting complicated and the scenario hopeless.
Being educated, well-informed, and having experience with Ayurveda treatments themselves, they decided to bring their little daughter to me in hopes of some relief. Anju was cute with curly hair, rather thin and pale for her age, weighing only 28 pounds. I started her on a specific diet to improve her immunity and prevent congestion and mucus formation. Her digestion greatly improved with the diet and the Ayurveda herbal medicines.
I recommended that her mother do an oil massage on Anju. I said this would not only improve her immunity but would transfer the love from the mother’s hands to her little baby. “The bonding between you and Anju will be strong and loving.” Within a few weeks Anju got strong and was able to resist most of the infections.
It’s been four months since I saw her. She has been weathering this seasonal change and the onset of winter very well. She only had one episode of a cold which lasted for only two days. Her parents say she is more joyful, active, and enthusiastic about her food and her activities. She is indeed fortunate to be put on a healthy diet and routine early in life so that most of life’s ill health can be avoided and she can grow up strong and healthy.
There is no better thing we can do for our children than in providing this natural and holistic health care, letting them grow up happily to their full potential, without experiencing the negative side effects of chemical medicines. Of course, if one of my patient’s had an acute bacterial infection I would certainly not hesitate to put her or him on antibiotics. But the goal of a good physician is to never compromise a patient’s health under any circumstances.
Since life is precious we should not waste anymore time dwelling in sickness, unhappiness, and lack of Being. The ancient healing methods of Ayurveda have been proven to work over time and modern day problems can be handled as well.
To gain more insight in how disease becomes chronic and complicated, and how to divert it read Conquering Chronic Disease which can be purchased at lanternbooks.com.
Often my patients come to me after they have made the rounds of doctors of contemporary medicine. For example my patient John was suffering from severe pain, tightness and stiffness in his neck and back muscles. Associated symptoms of chronic fatigue and tension headaches, plus a thirty-year history of bronchial asthma, had forced him to cut down on his work. He had been sent to one doctor for his back, another for his fatigue and headaches, and yet another for his asthma.
Contemporary medicine, in its efforts to relieve symptoms and treat disease rather than patients, has lost the sense of the fundamental interconnectedness of life. Health is a state that permeates every cell, not simply isolated functions. Health describes a condition in which Nature’s intelligence drives the activity of each cell without restriction; in which each cell functions perfectly within itself and in relationship to every other cell in the mind-body; in which the total individual functions with integrity within him- or herself and in relationship to every other part of the universe.
The human physiology is an expression of consciousness, the totality of Natural Law. It is structured in and administered by the pure intelligence of Nature. The deepest source of disease is disconnection from that unlimited organizing power, the central operating system for the human physiology and the whole cosmos. When we re-enliven this critical operating intelligence in every cell, we eliminate the fundamental cause of chronic disease and chronic pain.
Someone with asthma has trouble breathing because of constricted bronchial passages. The airways are so small that he or she has trouble exhaling. It only takes a second to relax these tiny passages. The body already has the neurotransmitter built into its operating system, but a segment of an asthmatic person’s physiology has lost its link to Nature’s intelligence—the body’s hard disk or central computer—and the neurotransmitter doesn’t fire properly. If that segment can be linked up again with the wholeness of Nature’s intelligence in the body’s operating system, it will again function normally.
With the comprehensive approaches of Maharishi Ayurveda including specific and individualized dietary guidelines, herbal preparations, exercise plan, lifestyle recommendations and stress-reduction techniques, the mind-body is able to remember what health is.
After receiving a number of treatments with Maharishi Ayurveda, John improved dramatically. Within six weeks his backache had completely disappeared and the joint and shoulder pains were much milder. He experienced only one headache in the first six weeks and reported much less fatigue. His asthma improved so much that he used his inhaler only once a day, as compared to six puffs. The improvement was so profound that he was able to resume his full-time work and continues to make progress each week.
My patients tell me many stories which point out that modern medical doctors often look at the pain instead of the person. For example, Ananda went to the emergency room with complaints of pain in the chest area. Immediately a battery of tests were performed, drugs given, but no heart problems were found. She was sent home with a prescription that lessened, but did not take away, her pain. After several visits to her doctor, an adverse reaction to medication, and many tests it was discovered that she had a problem completely unrelated to her heart.
Sometimes pain does not point to the problem. It may indicate something else much deeper, which hit-or-miss tests don’t find. This is where pulse diagnosis (nadi vigyan) can be highly effective in finding the real underlying cause of the pain. By using pulse diagnosis I can find out detailed information about the internal functioning of the body and its organs through signals present in the radial pulse. The information involves not only the cardiovascular system, but the other bodily systems as well. The pulses tells me about the state of the doshas and relates early stages of imbalance the come before manifested symptoms.
This is another example of how Ayurveda considers the whole person, not just the disease. After all, when something is wrong with your arm, you don’t send just your arm to the doctor! Moreover, from this perspective, your body is not simply a solid, material mass of bone, muscle, and skin. Instead, your mind and body are expressions of Nature’s intelligence, power, bliss, wholeness, dynamism, energy, and balance.
If the human being that you call yourself is not just a body, but an expression of the infinite power of Nature, then you are also not just your disease. So many people, when they are faced with a chronic disease, become identified with it. Many times patients start to think of themselves as a heart attack patient, a cancer patient, a diabetic.
This is compounded by the fact that most conventional medical doctors are trained to focus on disease, and sometimes their patients become known only by their diseases. People tend to lose sight of the fact that their consciousness, or inner intelligence, rules the body, not the other way around. They start to think of disease as normal — disease becomes their reference point for judging health.
Any health care system based on partial knowledge will only yield partial health. If you want to have perfect health, you must base your health care on complete knowledge. Ayurveda helps you get past disease and back to wholeness.
When Laura came to me with her ovarian cysts, I suggested that as a complement to the treatments I gave her that she take a course in the Transcendental Meditation technique, because it is the most powerful method for enlivening consciousness — the source of the mind-body’s intelligence — and bringing the entire system back into balance.
Once Laura started to meditate, she was able to connect with her body’s own healing responses, making all of the treatment modalities more effective. The Transcendental Meditation technique is really the cornerstone of Maharishi
Ayurveda, and it has been shown in hundreds of scientific research studies to reduce stress and create better mental, emotional, and physical health, enhancing all areas of life.
Ayurveda is both deep and comprehensive in its effects, in part because it is based on a holistic model of health and offers a wide range of treatment modalities. A basic tenet of Ayurveda is that each person must be diagnosed to determine the specific imbalances producing his or her problem. In addition, it assesses each individual’s constitution and tendencies. Two people with the same symptoms will not necessarily have the same treatment.
The symptoms for a disease such as ovarian cysts could be caused by entirely different imbalances in different people. Therapy is highly personalized. As a physician I take into account each person’s mental, physical, and emotional tendencies as well as his or her environment. The treatment program is prescribed for the individual, not the disease.
For some conditions I might prescribe a treatment which includes herbal formulas, herbalized massage therapies, and internal cleansing or rejuvenation programs to detoxify the body and remove the blocks to the flow of Nature’s intelligence in the body.
Behavior is also part of Maharishi Ayurveda. The times when we wake up, go to bed, and eat can all affect our well-being and energy levels. The Vedic daily routine and seasonal routines help bring individual biorhythms into harmony with Nature’s rhythms, rather than fighting against or trying to ignore them.
Laura needed some specific remedies for her physical system, to stop the pain and the growth of the cysts. For this, she was given a special diet to recreate physiological balance. Herbal compounds also helped balance the mind-body system and reestablish the diseased area’s connection with Nature’s (and the body’s) underlying intelligence. Many other approaches to purify and balance the body can be used, including specific yoga postures.
When Mr. Singh told his doctor that he was “allergic to his environment,” his doctor just laughed. But when Mr. Singh came to see me with his severe allergies and asthma I did not laugh at his statement because one’s environment does indeed have major consequences on one’s health.
Environmental effects represent a fascinating area of health that is largely ignored by most medical doctors today. In truth, the environment constantly affects our physical and mental well-being, which is why Maharishi Ayurveda is not only concerned about the diet, exercise, and daily routine but is also concerned about the design of the buildings in which we live and work.
We have all heard of “sick building syndrome,” where the materials and design of modern buildings have actually caused allergies, asthma, and severe headaches. Inadequate light, ventilation and even poor design can cause depression, anxiety, chronic disease and block creativity and success among other obstacles.
One of the approaches of Vedic medicine, called Sthapatya Veda, goes deeply into the health effects of the orientation, design, proportion, and positioning of buildings. It explains how to build structures that are in harmony with the Laws of Nature and the land — structures that can actually improve health and happiness in those who occupy them.
Sthapatya Veda design is the knowledge that establishes everything in the most orderly way so that everything is completely nourished by everything else. People who work and live in offices or houses built under the guidelines of Sthapatya Veda architecture say that they think more clearly, are more creative, healthier and happier, have more energy, are less stressed, and have more peace of mind.
Along with my health recommendations, Mr. Singh made some changes in his immediate environment and is looking into building a home using the principles of Sthapatya Veda. In the meantime†he is paying more attention to eating organic produce, getting rid of toxic cleaning materials and synthetics in his home, getting fresh air and exercise, and strengthening his immune system with the recommended herbs.
I also recommended to Mr. Singh that he take a rejuvenation and detoxification program at one of Maharishi Vedic Health Centers that are listed on the internet. Maharishi Vedic Health Center programs help to reestablish balance between the body and its own inner intelligence through Vedic knowledge and its application. Based on this knowledge, Maharishi Vedic Health Centers offer comprehensive new programs for individuals with chronic disorders or programs for those who want to prevent disorders.
Paul, a psychotherapist, started having sinus problems in his late 20s. They became more severe, and eventually developed into a chronic inflammation of the nasal/sinus passages. Sinus polyps (growths) blocked his breathing and sense of smell. These had to be periodically removed by surgery. By the time he was 47, asthma set in, making his breathing so difficult that he had to take Prednisone and medicated sprays.
When he came to my office, he had already tried some alternative approaches without success. However, after Paul used a number of procedures from Maharishi Ayurveda — including dietary changes, herbal supplements, internal purification treatments, and purification therapies for the nasal passages — he was able to break the cycle of surgery. “The pattern had gotten to the point that every two years I was developing a new polyp,” he told me. “The two-year mark has come and gone and I’m not in a lot of trouble; I’m holding my own.”
Paul has his polyp tissue monitored closely, and although some tissue remains, it’s not out of control. In addition, Paul has greatly reduced his use of nasal sprays and decongestants, and the asthma has also improved dramatically. He only occasionally has bouts where he has to use the Prednisone and sprays for a few days. “I feel like I’m healing,” he related. “I’m a lot healthier now than I was three years ago. My goal is to not need any medication, and now I think that’s possible.”
I suggested he try meditation, he did, and said that the Transcendental Meditation technique helped him stay more grounded. “I’m emotionally more stable now. When you live with a chronic illness, it affects every aspect of your life. If you decrease your suffering, it frees up a lot of energy to expend in other ways. Rather than just trying to get through the day and deal with symptoms, now my relationships, my work, everything has improved.”
I recommend the TM technique because it allows the mind to transcend. As modern medicine is just beginning to understand, the mind can get into improper thinking based on false perceptions and disease can result. The mistake of the intellect — its identification with objects of perception rather than its source in consciousness — is the primary cause of disease. However, many secondary causes, which are the direct result of this fundamental error, can also be defined. When the mind-body loses access to its governing intelligence we may begin to think and act in ways that contradict or violate Natural Law in any area of life. These breaches may include improper diet; an unhealthy daily routine, etc., which have to be treated.
Alberta was only 42 when she started having irregular and delayed periods, which signaled the onset of perimenopause. When she did have a period, it was a heavy flow accompanied with pain. She also had been suffering with irritable bowel syndrome for several years. Chronic indigestion, heartburn, anxiety with disturbed sleep were also on Alberta’s list of problems. She had been an alcoholic. However, by the time she came to see me, she had been sober for four years.
Her major life-negating habit was smoking. Smoking is not only hazardous to the lungs, but is a major contributing factor to heart disease as well as osteoporosis. Alberta had been smoking two packs of cigarettes per day since her teens. She had started smoking to deal with the stress caused by “a broken heart” as a teenager and just never stopped. It was a habit she wanted to break but her body and mind were very addicted. Smoking is not a stress-reduction technique. It is a life-negating technique.
When Alberta came to see me she was wise enough to understand that she no longer needed smoking as an emotional crutch, but she was having a hard time stopping. She had also looked into her family’s health history and she was worried, rightfully, about the effects her bad habits were having on her heart. Intense emotional stress was coming to play in Alberta’s life at this time—a frequent occurrence in women when they begin perimenopause.
Your brain and your heart are intricately connected, and because of this, your thoughts and emotions have a powerful effect on the heart’s rhythm. Sudden cardiac death, which is caused by a fatal arrhythmia known as ventricular fibrillation is an electrical instability of the heart muscle, which results in a failure of the heart to pump blood. It is considered the number one medical disorder in the world. This sudden cardiac death is not associated with diet or exercise but with stress. This makes stress the number one medical disorder in the world.
Because your thoughts and emotions have a powerful effect on the heart’s rhythm, how you interpret events that happen to you can cause your own heart to “break” or be damaged in some way emotionally. Negative emotions like anger, hate, or fear release a rush of neurochemicals that strain and damage the organs. Worry especially weakens the heart. Positive emotions like love and laughter release health-promoting chemicals. This again is where practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique and participating in Maharishi Ayur-Veda rejuvenation therapies can help you unlock old emotions and get through and over stresses, thus helping restore your physiology to its proper inner wisdom.
Although Alyson is only in her twenties she is already worried about breast cancer. For her it is a legitimate concern because both her mother and maternal grandmother had it. Some cancers do appear to run in families so it was wise of Alyson to be cautious. A believer in alternative and preventative medicine, Alyson came to see me for suggestions on how to avoid it.
Because toxins tend to accumulate in fatty areas of the body, and the female hormone estrogen may promote tumor growth, breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer. A poor diet, smoking, alcohol, and pollution all promote cancer growth.
The good news is that sound nutrition and stress-reducing techniques are the basis of good health and of preventing disease. The earlier in life one develops these good habits the better. Eating organic, fresh fruits and vegetables can make things better because they are loaded with phytochemicals. Phytochemicals give plants their flavor and odor and protect them from fungal or bacterial infections. They are considered cancer fighters in humans because they prevent bad free radicals from starting cancer and protect DNA from free radical damage.
Some researchers suggest that phytochemicals found in the cabbage family (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, mustard greens, kale, Chinese bok choy and Brussels sprouts) offer protection against breast cancer because they contain indoles. Indoles work by blocking “bad” estrogen receptor sites in breast tissue and may suppress the secretion of the estrogen hormone. They also protect against uterine cancer. Indoles are also known as free radical scavengers. Other cancer-fighter chemicals are found in the cabbage family such as isothiocyanates (which fight carcinogens), beta-carotene, Vitamins C and E, selenium, antioxidants and more.
Leafy greens such as as Swiss chard, chicory, arugula, dandelion greens, kale, collard greens, mustard greens an spinach are bursting with Vitamin C, betacaroteen, lutein, folate, etc. Carrots, tomatoes, apples, garlic, fruits, and grains all help in protecting against breast and other cancers.
Research has also shown that the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique can raise the levels of DHEA-S in the body. DHEA-S is the most abundant hormone in the body, but the levels decline rapidly with age. Women with high levels of DHEA-S are known to have less breast cancer. Maharishi Amrit Kalash also protects the body against harmful, cancer causing free radicals which do harm in the body and breast area.
I also reminded Alyson that what you put your attention on grows. I told her to focus on health and not on disease. Alyson is making a concerted effort to eat fresh, organically grown foods, to use fresh herbs and spices and to take Ayurvedic supplements to, not only prevent breast cancer, but to prevent other diseases as well.
Sometimes I see people in my practice people who have what I call “fuzzy thinking.” Marilyn was just such a patient. Not only did she have some physical health problems but she could she not make a decision about anything. It was all she could do to decide to come to see me for her health problems. Her lack of mental clarity was not only affecting her work but it was blocking out the positive changes she wanted to make in her life.
Fuzzy thinking, which leads to poor decision making, seems to predominate in our society. Maharishi Ayurveda has many suggestions for enhancing brainpower so that one can think clearly. Clear thinking results in quick decision making, which is important at both work and at home. For mental health and balance Ayurveda recommends paying attention to diet, sleep and lifestyle.
The brain is especially susceptible to damage by free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules that eat away at other molecules in the body. They are caused by processed foods, industrial chemicals, cigarette smoke, alcohol and stress to name a few. When the mind/body is in balance then free radicals serve as part of our body’s defense against invading pathogens. But when free radicals go out of balance they can cause extensive damage to our own cells, including to our DNA. Scientists have discovered that free radicals can be neutralized by antioxidants such as vitamins A, C, and E and other nutrients. However, just taking the antioxidant vitamins as “insurance” against free radical damage won’t give full coverage because these vitamins have limited ability to neutralize the dangerous free radicals. You also have to reduce stress in your life, eat healthy foods, avoid cigarette smoke and alcohol.
Marilyn had to be food “wise” by eating fresh, organic foods. Processed, canned and refined foods are low on natural intelligence. She Included healthy proteins in her diet such as legumes, lentils, beans, and grains and added several helpings of fresh fruit and vegetables. Also I told her to get enough “good fat” such as healthy oils or ghee. Of course stress impacts mental performance, therefore it was essential for her to practice relaxation techniques to manage stress levels.
When Marilyn incorporated the changes that I suggested in her diet and sleep habits, and when she added stress reducing techniques, not only did her overall health improve but she was finally able to make clear decisions and get on with her life.
Many of my patient’s complain of being tired all the time and yet not being able to sleep. Mohan was just such a patient with both mental and physical fatigue. He had a demanding job which demanded his full-time attention. At night Mohan was so keyed up that he was unable to relax and his racing mind wouldn’t let him sleep. His skin also reflected his lack of sleep and poor diet. He was broken out in red, angry-looking acne and he had dark circles under his eyes.
As always, when Mohan first came to see me I had him answer questions about his lifestyle and habits. The answers to these questions along with simple observation and pulse diagnosis allowed me to determine the balance of the doshas in his body. The doshas are the three fundamental biological principles that control and regulate all physiological functions. A person’s Ayurvedic constitution is determined by the relative presence of the three doshas, Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Almost everyone has a predominance of two doshas. In Mohan’s case it was Pitta and Vata.
When the Pitta/Vata type of person is in balance he is very quick-moving, friendly and talkative with a focused intellect, energy, and stamina. This was Mohan on his good days. Unfortunately, when a Pitta/Vata type is out of balance he can become angry and emotional, have digestive problems, fatigue, skin breakouts and ulcers. Mohan had not gotten to the ulcer stage but he was on his way.
Mohan had the two types of fatigue, mental and physical — either one can cause the other one. When the mind is out of balance the body can be out of balance and vice-versa. The root cause of physical fatigue comes from the disturbance of the digestion. The root cause of mental fatigue is stress.
For Mohan to eliminate his fatigue he had to first strengthen his digestion with the diet that I recommended for him. I also sent him to learn the Transcendental Meditation technique and helped him change some bad patterns in his lifestyle. Although at first reluctant to put meditation into his busy schedule, Mohan had a sharp intellect and he made the connection that in order for the body to settle down the mind has to settle down. He quickly put my suggestions into practice. About three months later at a follow-up session he told me that his energy was through the roof, he was worrying less and sleeping well. His skin had cleared and he looked healthy. He was very happy about that.
At age 35 William suffered from joint stiffness, trouble with circulation, deterioration of the muscles, and weakening of vital organs. He was diagnosed with rheumatism, an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disease involves immune system reactions where something triggers the immune system to react against the body’s own tissues and to produce abnormal antibodies that attack these tissue.
Blood tests on William showed that antibodies were attacking the muscles around his heart, and his doctor prescribed high doses of Prednizone to prevent heart problems. The Prednizone had its own side effects: swelling in his face, mood swings, anger, and a sense of being emotionally and physically out of balance.
The age of 35 may seem young for someone to have such “old age” problems. But the fact is, I see more and more of these chronic conditions in younger people. It’s due to many factors but the main one is our poor diet and our rush and worry world. Without knowing it, William set himself up for his disease. He got very little sleep. The only exercise he did was running from one plane to another. His eating habits were fast food. His immune system was literally screaming at him “I need some help here to keep you healthy.”
Sometimes it’s unusual to get such a busy person into my office. Too busy people like William want a quick fix, such as a shot, and then back to the usual routine. It was really because of the negative side-effect of the medicine combine with an article he read about my practice that William made the effort to come and see me. I never scold nor lecture my patients. Why should I when they are having enough trouble already? Instead I gently and lovingly explain to them that they can feel better than ever with Maharishi Ayurveda. They don’t have to put all my recommendations into place at once, but can gradually add them in.
William started making changes in his diet and took the herbals supplements that recommended. He also really examined his life and found that he wasn’t really getting quality work done by staying up late. He changed his routine to going to bed early and then getting up early. He added some yoga stretches which can be done anywhere. Eventually he took some time out and went for purification and rejuvenation therapies at a Vedic Health spa where he also learned to meditate. He told me that his symptoms quickly began to lessen and them disappeared altogether. He was able to discontinue the use of Prednizone altogether. With the many holistic techniques used in Ayurveda, chronic disorders can be helped without using drugs.
Laurie, age 40, had always felt basically healthy. Then she hit her late 30s and started having repetitive ovarian cysts. Birth control pills didn’t help with the severe pain and a feeling of hormonal imbalance. When her gynecologist suggested surgery to remove her ovary, she decided to seek alternative treatments. She read about Maharishi Ayurveda in a book and was drawn to its broad approach to women’s health and hormonal cycles. She was pleasantly surprised to find a me, a physician trained in Maharishi Ayurveda, near her home. After discussing it with her gynecologist, who was open to the idea, she decided to come to see me in my practice.
When she started the Maharishi Ayurveda treatments, not only did her cysts disappear, but her overall health improved dramatically. “I’m not having the cysts, but even better, my body feels much more in balance emotionally and physically,” she said. “I feel better than I did at age eighteen. I’m usually a high-energy person, sometimes too high-energy, and it would sometimes get in the way. Now there are days when I feel like I could go forever, and I’m not driving myself crazy by running around and feeling frantic.”
“I liked the whole approach,” Laurie stated. “You don’t just go in there and say, ‘Hey, I have a pain in my right ovary, so let’s fix it.’ Instead, Dr. Reddy asked me what was going on with my life and my family, what was my lifestyle like. She looked at me as a whole person rather than a disease.”
When I see patients in my practice, I have come to feel that humankind has no greater enemy than chronic disease. Nothing else is as disruptive to normal life and causes so much suffering, not only for the person who has the heart attack or stroke, but also for the family and other caretakers. At the same time, I have found no greater conqueror than Maharishi Ayurveda.
Patients come to me with a wide range of chronic disorders, such as arthritis, chronic fatigue, sinusitis, persistent allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, hypertension, lower back pain, weight gain or loss, anxiety or depression, sleep disorder, substance abuse, migraine headaches, or menstrual or menopausal problems. Maharishi Ayurveda works on every disorder or multiple disorders all at once. You don’t have to run from one specialist after another nor to you have to submit to invasive procedures or unnecessary surgery. But neither is Maharishi Ayurveda a one-size-fits all approach. This holistic system of health care always looks at each individual’s wholeness and uses proven, recognized methods to keep you on tract and back to health.
My patient Freddie went to the hospital for a minor problem, had a reaction to medication, and almost died. It seems unbelievable but true, you can go to a doctor or hospital for help and come home with even more problems. Iatrogenic disease is the special name for disorders that are created as the result of medication or treatment; that is, by the harmful side effects of modern drugs, diagnostic procedures, and surgery. Such a great number of patients suffer injury from medical treatment in the United States that iatrogenic disease accounts for more deaths than all other accidents combined. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, 180,000 people die in the United States alone each year as a result of iatrogenic injury, which is the equivalent of three jumbo jet crashes every two days.
The growing need for stronger and stronger antibiotics represents another potentially significant health problem. Antibiotics have been used to eliminate microorganisms, but in the process, more resistant strains of bacteria have developed. Researchers around the world are concerned that we may have epidemics that cannot be restrained by drugs. In fact, this may have already started happening. As the microorganisms get stronger and more resistant, the drugs to kill them must be increasingly potent, posing a risk to the individuals receiving the drugs.
Antibiotics are frequently overused. For instance, they are regularly prescribed to treat problems such as urinary tract infections, even though antibiotics are completely useless if the problem is not caused by bacteria. Taking them only weakens the body’s immunity, making it more susceptible to disease in the future.
I have found that these diseases respond remarkably well to the natural treatments of Maharishi Ayurveda which helps the body cure itself without negative side-effects. What is most important is that these treatments get to the root cause of disease and eradicate it at its source, provided the disease is not too advanced. It’s very important to have a strong immune system during these times of unknown viruses and chronic diseases sweeping the world. Maharishi Ayurveda, with it’s holistic, natural remedies is the best way to protect yourself naturally.
My patient Freddy is now sold on Maharishi Ayurveda as a natural and safe way to get healthy and stay healthy. He told me, “I wish everyone knew about this way of living. I’ve never felt better in my life.”
At age 52, Mary’s blood pressure was at such a dangerous level, 240 over 140, that her doctors told her not to exert herself in any way. It was just a matter of time, they said, before a heart attack or stroke would strike her down. The worst thing was that no one could help her. At her urging, her doctor sent her to a special hospital in her area, where extensive diagnostic tests were conducted for four days. The diagnosis: They found no organic cause for Mary’s high blood pressure. The recommendation: Mary should take antidepressants to cope with her incurable condition.
At that time, Mary was taking blood pressure medicine which had no effect in lowering her blood pressure. However, it was creating extreme fatigue, aches in her body, dizziness, headaches, and dry mouth. When she asked her doctor to decrease the dosage, he told her that he could no longer help her and not to come back.
By the time Mary came to me, she was frightened and angry. “I felt like there was no hope for me,” she says. “I couldn’t believe that people were turning me away. I knew that I wasn’t ready to die.”
When I explained the natural therapies of Maharishi Ayurveda, she actually started to cry with relief. That was four years ago, and her blood pressure today is only 140/90. Even though that is still a moderately high level for most people, for Mary it is a dramatic improvement. Today Mary can do everything and anything she wants, including mountain hiking and enjoying a new relationship.
“The most wonderful thing is that now I don’t think about dying,” she says. “Instead I think about growing old gracefully.”
I have successfully treated many hundreds of patients like Mary in my private practice, as have many other physicians trained in Maharishi Ayurveda throughout the world. You may be wondering how the natural therapies of Maharishi Ayurveda cure such long-term, serious problems when Western medicine has had little or no effect.
Maharishi Ayurveda is so effective because it views health and disease in a completely different way than modern medicine. It constantly looks at the whole health of the individual while Western medicine looks only at the disease. And, through advertising on television, radio, billboards, etc. we are constantly bombarded with the message that it’s natural to get a disease. In fact, the mind/body is a marvelous creation that is meant to be healthy. Health is your natural state. Maharishi Ayurveda helps you maintain that healthy state for a life of enjoyment.