Ayurveda - The Science of Life - My Pledge

I would like to share with you my studies and experiences in the realm of Ayurveda.  I beseech you to ask me questions so that I may better learn the answers myself and to be patient with me as I step along this path... this journey is to me a very blessed one and I am hoping that as we learn this science of life together we may in fact grow more closely together. 

In the many years that I have been practicing yoga and studying Ayurveda, I have repeatedly observed that lifestyle choices, such as diet, exercise, and daily routine, can be a potent source of healing as well as a cause of disease.  Many health problems seem intertwined with the stresses of daily life, family and relationship problems, and worries about job and money.  Others are directly connected to eating the wrong kinds of food or getting too much or too little exercise.  I have also grown more and more aware that illness provides us with an invitation for self-transformation, an opportunity to change our way of thinking, feeling, eating, and in general caring for ourselves and our lives.  It never ceases to amaze and delight me how quickly and powerfully life can be set on the right track and balance restored simply through a proper diet, herbal medicines, meditation, an appropriate exercise program, and other purely natural means. 

The remedies and notes in this blog come from my own personal experience and studies, based on principles and practices developed over centuries.  The tradition of Ayurveda extends back over more than five thousand years of continuous daily practice, from ancient times to the present day.  It is not a recently developed system of “alternative healing” but an enduring science of life that has never lost its integrity and essential nature.  You can imagine how much wisdom it contains and how much practical knowledge it has accumulated over a span of five millennia!
  
The great sage-physician Charaka, one of the founders of Ayurvedic medicine, said, “A physician, though well versed in the knowledge and treatment of disease, who does not enter into the heart of the patient with the virtue of light and love, will not be able to heal the patient.”  To the best of my ability, as I continue my own self-education and as I share with you what I have learned, I will follow this advice and I would urge you to follow it in using this knowledge to help others and to heal yourself. 

Love is the essence of our life.  I have written this blog with love, and I offer it to you, dear reader, with the hope that the suggestions offered here will become a vital part of your self-healing and continued well-being. 

    Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.  
                                                        ~~Ashley~~