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Health Begins at Home: Encouraging Echoes from the 4th WAC

When asked to participate as a thought leader at the the 4th World Ayurveda Congress, Vedika's Founder emphasized the need to revive the lived practice of Ayurveda in homes, not just in doctor's offices. Her perspectives were subsequently published in the current issue of Tathaastu magazine: “Ayurveda's Swasthavrtta Wisdom – Crafting a Paradigm Shift in Global Medicine.”

We were heartened that this no longer seemed like a message getting lost amongst other themes, but that a number of leaders in the field were also highlighting the importance of Ayurveda's lived practices, it's Swasthavrtta, public health for body, mind and spirit. The following are a few glimpses of what highly respected leaders said on this subject, including Padmabhushan Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, Dr. G. G. Gangadharan and Dr. Darshan Shankar of I-AIM-FRLHT Bengaluru, Dr. A. V. Balasubramanian, Director of the Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems in Chennai, and Prof. Gerard Bodeker of Oxford University and Columbia University's Public Health department. It was encouraging to see practitioners and students nodding in agreement.

  • Ayurveda is a people's movement, not just a movement of doctors.
  • Ayurvedic approach to public health is that healthcare begins at home and spreads to the community.
  • Ayurveda is not physician oriented. It must empower individuals. It can begin with a home remedy kit made of simple kitchen ingredients and using food as medicine. Then planting a herbal garden around the house with local medicinal plants.
  • There is a sea change in the effect of boiled water versus unboiled water, no matter how pure its source. This is home health knowledge people should have.
  • Ayurveda attends to the root causes of poverty in society.
  • We must mend the disconnect between what is taught and what is needed. Participatory systems are needed, such as students participating in cooking.
  • Ayurveda is a way of life. Dinacharya (daily regimens) and Ritucharya (seasonal regimens) are its cornerstones. This is what we need to bring back. People have stopped walking.
  • Focus should be renewed on Ayurveda's time-tested solutions for common conditions like anemia, geriatric care, prenatal and postnatal care, and problems that are common amongst school children, such as worms and malnutrition.
  • Home Remedies should be the basis of case studies in Swasthavritta.
  • Vriksha Ayurveda offers a powerful, low-cost, non-polluting and easily accessible alternative paradigm for agriculture. (Vriksha Ayurveda is for the care of plants and crops, including seed preservation and treatment, pest and disease control.)

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