Ayurvedic medicine & Deepak Chopra

If you can wiggle your toes with the mere flicker of an intention, why can't you reset your biological clock?

If you could live in the moment you would see the flavor of eternity and when you metabolize the experience of eternity your body doesn't age.

Ayurveda is the science of life and it has a very basic, simple kind of approach, which is that we are part of the universe and the universe is intelligent and the human body is part of the cosmic body, and the human mind is part of the cosmic mind, and the atom and the universe are exactly the same thing but with different form, and the more we are in touch with this deeper reality, from where everything comes, the more we will be able to heal ourselves and at the same time heal our planet. --Deepak Chopra

Ayurvedic medicine is an "alternative" medical practice that claims it is the traditional medicine of India. Ayurveda is based on two Sanskrit terms: ayu meaning life and veda meaning knowledge or science. Since the practice is said to be some 5,000 years old, what it considers to be knowledge or science may not coincide with the most updated information available to Western medicine. In any case, most of the ancient treatments are not recorded and what is called traditional Indian medicine is, for the most part, something developed in the 1980s by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (Barrett) who brought Transcendental Meditation to the western world. The St. Paul of this movement is Deepak Chopra, who has done more than anyone else to spread the good word about the wonders of Ayurveda.

Ayurvedic treatments are primarily dietary and herbal. Patients are classified by body types, or prakriti, which are determined by proportions of the three doshas. The doshas allegedly regulate mind-body harmony. Illness and disease are considered to be a matter of imbalance in the doshas. Treatment is aimed at restoring harmony or balance to the mind-body system. Vata, composed of air and space, allegedly governs all movement in the mind and body and must be kept in good balance. Too much vata leads to "worries, insomnia, cramps and constipation....Vata controls blood flow, elimination of wastes, breathing and the movement of thoughts across the mind." Vata also controls the other two principles, Pitta and Kapha. Pitta is said to be composed of fire and water; it allegedly governs "all heat, metabolism and transformation in the mind and body. It controls how we digest food, how we metabolize our sensory perceptions, and how we discriminate between right and wrong." Pitta must be kept in balance, too. "Too much [Pitta] can lead to anger, criticism, ulcers, rashes and thinning hair." Kapha consists of earth and water. "Kapha cements the elements in the body, providing the material for physical structure. This dosha maintains body resistance....Kapha lubricates the joints; provides moisture to the skin; helps to heal wounds; fills the spaces in the body; gives biological strength, vigor and stability; supports memory retention; gives energy to the heart and lungs and maintains immunity...Kapha is responsible for emotions of attachment, greed and long-standing envy; it is also expressed in tendencies toward calmness, forgiveness and love." Too much Kapha leads to lethargy and weight gain, as well as congestion and allergies.

On the basis of the above metaphysical physiology, Ayurveda recommends such things as: to pacify Kapha eat spicy foods and avoid sweet foods, except for honey but don't heat the honey. Avoid tomatoes and nuts. Turkey is fine but avoid rabbit and pheasant. If you've got too much Pitta then try this: eat sweet foods and avoid the spicy. Eat nuts. To reduce Vata: eat sweet, sour and salty foods; avoid spicy foods. Nuts are good and so are dairy products.

Meditation is also a significant therapy in Ayurveda. Except for the benefits of relaxation and meditation, there is no scientific evidence to support any of the many astounding claims made on behalf of Ayurvedic medicine. Even the claims made for the significant health benefits of Transcendental Meditation have been greatly exaggerated and distorted (Wheeler).

See also confirmation bias, Deepak Chopra, pragmatic fallacy, prana, self-deception, and transcendental meditation.


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further reading

reader comments

Ayurvedic Mumbo-Jumbo by Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Quantum Quackery by Victor J. Stenger
Deepak Chopra and Maharishi Ayurvedic Medicine by Thomas J. Wheeler, Ph.D.
The Maharhish Caper: Or How to Hoodwink Top Medical Journals by Andrew A. Skolnick
Shameless Mind
A letter from Heinz R. Pagels, Ph.D., Executive Director of The New York Academy of Sciences (July 1, 1986)
The Ayurvedic Center
Ayur.com
Ayurveda in India
Ankerberg, John and John Weldon. Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs (Harvest House Publishers, Inc., 1996).

Butler, Kurt. A Consumer's Guide to "Alternative Medicine": A Close Look at Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Faith-Healing, and Other Unconventional Treatments (Buffalo: Prometheus Books,1992).

Pagels, Heinz R. The Cosmic Code: Quantum Physics as the Language of Nature (Simon & Schuster, 1982).

Stalker, D. and Glymour, C. Examining Holistic Medicine (Buffalo: Prometheus Books,1989).