Vedaṁ jñānasādhanaṁ prāptisādhanaṁ ca| We live in the age of the information superhighway and knowledge of the world is available at our fingertips. Yet, we are unable to use much of it effectively, especially when it comes to health. People often tell me how lost or confused they are because there simply is so much out there, and it all conflicts: Eat or do this is often followed shortly by don’t eat or don’t do this! We know it is the logical structure of Western scientific research to contradict earlier affirmations as it progresses towards new findings, and that’s probably why we are looking for an alternative. We may not know it, but many of us are already familiar with some form of alternative healing wisdom through our grandma’s kitchen -‐ her spice cabinet was not just used to flavor meals but to make soothing herbal teas and homemade balms. If we were to bring together all the grandmas of the world and gather all the fragments of ancient healing traditions to rebuild one system, what would it look like? It would probably amount to a practical science of life very similar to an ancient Indian tradition called Ayurveda. Ayurveda literally translates into science/knowledge of life. Ayurveda is that body of science and knowledge that originated in the East thousands of years ago, when India was still not India as we know it today. However, Ayurveda is also perennial and global in that it stops at no geographical, racial, or temporal boundaries. It embraces and addresses all in its healing scope. Its foundation is solid, and it can even converse with modern science. But perhaps best of all, Ayurveda suppplies knowledge that one can experience personally. That’s why I chose the verse above. It says: Vedic science is that body of knowledge that can give us wisdom (gyan) to enhance the quality our lives, as well as practical tools (prapti) for living. In this sense, Ayurveda is a lifestyle. When your grandmother told you to drink that warm soup and get some rest after massaging your stomach with the herbal oil she made especially for your pain—that is also Ayurveda, the knowledge and practical tools to create healing on a daily mundane level. On the other hand, Ayurveda also makes available highly sophisticated treatment protocols and regimens. But it steers clear of turning into a
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pill-‐popping science. To the extent that its healing or medicinal protocols are grounded in the daily practical details of our lives, Ayurveda is a lifestyle medicine. This is what this book is about. Last year, in August 2011, I finally launched our weekly SVA newsletter (SVA stands for the name of my lineage Shaka Vansiya Ayurveda – read more in Chapter 1). My aim was to supply answers to questions. As an Ayurvedic practitioner, I receive daily queries addressing all kinds of ailments and issues. Some questions repeat themselves, so I realized it would be helpful to address concerns through a public medium where I could post answers and compose articles to help others with similar issues. These newsletters are meant to give a fuller understanding of the factors that can support, or disrupt, peace and health in our lives. The knowledge they contain is rooted in the ancient science of Ayurveda as I studied it formally in college, but it is also augmented by the training I received from my father after graduating from Ayurvedic college. Issuing from a long line of Ayurvedic practitioners, my father passed down to me a refined manner of adapting and using the ancient Ayurvedic sutras, or canonical texts, as well as the oral knowledge of our lineage. There is, however, an even more important aspect to this volume. The SVA newsletters establish a dialogue with modern science for your convenience. It’s a dialogue that goes both ways: from sutra to science and from science to sutra. That is, I bring out the ancient knowledge embedded in the sutra or verses of Ayurveda, and show how the ancient findings are confirmed with what science has observed today. Vice versa, I gather scientific findings that have reached similar conclusions to what the Vedic sutras had already proclaimed thousands of years ago. We do not discard the findings of modern science, but it is important to sift through them to find the studies that confirm time-‐tested wisdom. The perennial Vedic philosophy that upholds Ayurveda is all-‐ inclusive. Ayurveda can explain and help treat or correct imbalances arising out of contemporary cultural conditions that were not present at the time the tradition came together. In this sense, Ayurveda is as modern as it is ancient.
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Its understanding of the human physiology is holistic, integrally complete. Ayurveda shows us, in practical and concrete terms, the relationship between the macro (universe) and micro (human physiology) worlds. It explains on what level and how it is that we are part and parcel of our environment, and what factors are common between us and our environment and all the other creatures inhabiting it. This opens up new heretofore-‐unsuspected avenues for restoring balance and bliss in the physiology. A Sequential Unfolding of Knowledge In order to do this, Ayurveda uses many terms and concepts that may be unfamiliar to you. The terms are in Sanskrit, the ancient language of the Vedic seers that are known to have gifted us the Vedic sciences. The concepts themselves may be unfamiliar but are simple and easy to grasp. I introduce the most basic yet central ones in this first volume, and take you step by step, building on these concepts your new understanding of who you are and what makes you go and how Shaka Vansiya Ayurveda can help you towards the fullest you! In this sense, after briefly introducing the story of my lineage in the first issue, I move to talk about prana—usually translated as the “life force.” In my SVA lineage, we have a very specific practical understanding of prana that is substantiated by the Vedic sutras. Once you understand the components of prana and find them operating in your own physiology as well as the universe around you, your entire perception shifts! Remember: This is the primary quality of Vedic science, in that it interacts with you and guides you to experience the knowledge personally on your own skin, as it were! The first few chapters discuss life in its connection to prana per the SVA lineage. Related to the understanding of prana are the nadis, or micro-‐ and macro-‐circulatory channels, sandhis or gaps in the synapses, and marmas or energy trigger points. These are introduced and discussed to explain how they support each other for the optimal flow of prana, and how, in turn, we need to support them in our day-‐to-‐day life. Whenever I introduce Vedic concepts that explain different aspects of the body, I also give modern scientific analogies when possible, to support the article’s conclusions. Per SVA precepts, knowledge should always have practical applications, so whenever any herbs or spices or specific regimens are called for, you will find special recipes or formulations. For example, we know that the nadis and the physical
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channels communicate with each other and other organs via nerves, and minerals such as zinc support nerve conduction and communication. So we feature SVA Zinc Herbal Memory Nectar in that chapter. In addition, for those of you who would much prefer to hear me speak rather than read the knowledge, we have recorded specific thematic video clips. These are always available on our YouTube channel: SVA Health, or for your convenience, we have enclosed a DVD in the book. The knowledge detailed in the articles is supported by the YouTube videos. In the video clips, I chant the sutras and elaborate on them in relation to science. The next topic I discuss in the book is exposure to vibrational toxins! All the wonderful technological devices that have transformed our lives have also infiltrated our physiologies through the electric frequencies they emit—EMF and EMR. When it comes to determining the hetu or etiological factors causing dis-‐ease, SVA stops at nothing. My ancestors have been adding to the wisdom of the lineage based on their experience and isolation of hetus pertinent to their day and age. Along similar lines, I personally had to understand and interpret the possible options given by the ancient texts for taking care of EMF and how to address problems arising from too much EMF and EMR through overuse of electronic devices in our age. As a result, I came to develop what I call the Transdermal Marma System™. I have trained numerous medical professionals in the practical tools of the Transdermal Marma System™.You can read more about this modern ailment in Chapter 4. Another important topic we have broached in Chapter 5 is spices. The wisdom of spices is getting lost in the maelstrom of packaged fast foods, synthetic colors and flavors, and lab-‐produced toxic salts and fats that have more side effects than health benefits. Spices are medicinal. They have a glorious ancient past, and their usage was known to support physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. The chapter on spices is meant to remind you that spices are not just for flavor, but they can be used to restore your original healthy mental, emotional, and physical balance. In line with SVA practicality, and knowing well that so many of my patients and followers do not have time to prepare food or mix their own spices, I put together some spice mixtures that are made available through www.chandika.com. These are spice mixtures that were used in our own kitchen by my own mother when I was growing up. Spices play a very big role in health particularly in relation to digestion. In Chapter 6, we take a look at how digestion occurs from the
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Ayurvedic perspective, and how important is its role for total health. This chapter is also helpful for learning how to correct imbalances resulting from improper digestion. Keep in mind that stress can be a major factor. I give practical tips on the mind–stomach connection and how to help manage stress so as not to disturb digestion. Relating to digestion is the matter of healthy skin. Our skin needs proper care through pre-‐ and probiotics. The new Lalita’s Pre-‐ and Probiotic Skin-‐Care Line is unlike anything I have formulated before. It comes after years of research and experimentation. Through the gift of my SVA lineage, I was able to put together live creams that contain living bacteria to nourish and replenish your skin. Conferences are being held in metropolitan centers across the world, gathering researchers and scientists discussing the possible means of bottling friendly bacteria in a bottle of cream, but the wisdom of the SVA lineage has enabled me to do so already. I have been researching for almost twenty years the possibility of making paraben-‐free, synthetic color and fragrance-‐free, all-‐intelligent skin-‐ and hair-‐care products. I was able to put together a best-‐selling anti-‐aging or age-‐defying cream called Youthful Skin sixteen years ago. It was my first skin-‐care formulation without parabens. Since then, I had the great desire to make skin creams that contained actual live friendly bacteria. It was a dream then. But last year that dream became reality, and finally I was able to give you Lalita’s Pre-‐ and Probiotic Skin-‐Care Line. This chapter’s discussion covers the yoginis, or probiotic bacteria, and their relationship to the health of your skin explained from sutra to science. Dr. Marianne Teitelbaum, a long-‐time disciple of the SVA lineage and my colleague, has been using this wisdom of yoginis or probiotics with great success. When I first discussed this topic with her about nine years ago, knowledge about the importance of probiotics was still in is infancy in the Western world. She reminded me the other day how fascinated she the first time she heard me discuss my father’s words: The brain of the brain resides in the gut! My father, Vaidya Kameshwar Mishra, was big on this 35-‐plus years ago. Nowadays, you can Google articles that confirm his statement through scientific findings! Next, Chapter 7 touches a very important fad! When I came to this country in 1994, turmeric was still unknown and mislabeled as curry powder, stacked on the shelves of obscure Asian grocery stores. But
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now you can find turmeric capsules next to the cash register in convenience stores! What happened between then and now were scientific research findings connecting the healing potency of the agent curcumin, the active ingredient of turmeric, for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and more. You will read in chapter 7 why turmeric has been such an important spice in the Vedic tradition, and how it has been used in a myriad of ways. I have recorded three videos on turmeric, available on YouTube, that have been already viewed by more than twenty thousand people worldwide. The highlight here is the use of turmeric without suffering from the side effects, but reaping all the side benefits! Based on the ancient cultural usage of turmeric in India, I have introduced new ways of using/ingesting turmeric either orally or transdermally. In Chapters 8 and 9, I discuss Ayurveda as lifestyle medicine. This, I believe, is Ayurveda’s most powerful contribution to our daily living. Ayurveda talks extensively about all aspects of our lives and has specialized knowledge based on different time periods, whether seasonally or daily. It has sections called dinacharya, for daily rituals, ritucharya for seasonal rituals, ratricharya for night-‐time rituals, and so on. In this chapters, you understand how and why following these charyas can give you optimum health and keep you blissful, easing your life into a disease-‐free condition. In this context, I remind our readers of the subtle power or prabhava of flowers, the power of floral fragrances and how they can help. There is also a delicious savory breakfast recipe, a modern twist on an ancient classic: quinoa-‐flake upma! It is tridoshic, light yet nourishing but always delicious. In Chapters 10 and 11, Dr. Teitelbaum and I delve deeper into the topic of pre-‐ and probiotics for your skin. The understanding of beauty in SVA is unique. You will read about the definition of beauty based on the three pillars of beauty—a theme I popularized 15 years ago here in the West. You will also find a brand-‐new recipe and method for ingesting friendly bacteria without experiencing the associated gas or bloating! Learn how to make coconut yogurt with Malvika Takvorian-‐ Mishra, my lovely wife. Then watch her discuss “living sutras” in her YouTube recording. But more than that, in these chapters, you also discover the SVA wisdom of marmas in relation to beauty. I have developed a unique Marma Face-‐Lift™ program that has been helping thousands of beauty lovers. It takes only nine minutes. You can do your own instant facial makeover, increasing not only the glow and luster on
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your face but also experiencing bliss -‐ this results from connecting mind and consciousness through marma points, enhancing the reception of waves of pranic flow. In Chapter 12, I revisit beauty with an elaborated understanding of beauty-‐enhancing herbs. This chapter is rich with feedback from SVA practitioner Dr. Douglas Beech, questions from your testimonials and appreciation notes, and our green protein recipe, a perfect meat substitute with high protein and iron for lacto-‐vegetarians. Chapter 13 concludes the article on beauty with detailed daily morning and night cream regimens. This chapter also guides you through making the most of your Thanksgiving meal, and carries an important YouYube video explaining the science behind the green protein recipe. Chapter 14 carries a very important article authored by Dr. Teitelbaum. For the past 50 years, there have been dramatic controversies about cholesterol. SVA practitioner Dr. Teitelbaum has written a very powerful article on this topic, elucidating the science between SVA and SVA-‐behind-‐the-‐science. In addition, she gives practical tips based on her own extensive clinical experience. In this issue, I make available a recording on SatwaVijay, something many of you keep asking me about. Malvika shares with us an instant dressing recipe with Mum’s Masala—both delicious and versatile. Chapter 15 focuses on the understanding of sugar, or madhur rasa, via the SVA perspective, exploring why and how we crave sugar and what to do about it. You will find a detailed table of guidelines. This article also contains a special section on soma-‐balancing herbs and spices that blend in with the sweet content of any recipe to help metabolize sugar and can give satiation from sugar and stop uncontrollable sugar cravings. In this issue, we also highlight Dr. Beech’s practical, easy cooking tips developed to address his clients’ needs. The final chapter of the first volume covers the Ayurvedic understanding of holidays. Holidays and social gathering rituals are significant on many levels. Ayurveda discusses their importance for our psycho-‐spiritual health. Ayurveda’s teachings embrace all creeds, because they are focused on enhancing total health for total enjoyment of all aspects of life, whether religious or mundane. Finally, we conclude this chapter and this volume with Malvika’s karela tapenade recipe. In this recipe, she attempts to give a more palatable twist to the oh-‐so-‐
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bitter karela, or bitter gourd vegetable, without losing the prabhava of the ingredients. From the get-‐go, my desire was and remains to convey one primary message to my world-‐wide audience through these weekly newsletters: you can practice SV Ayurveda easily and practically to enhance your health and improve your life. May you always remain grounded in bliss. Vaidya RK Mishra Guru Purnima – July 3, 2011 Los Angeles, USA
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