ayurvedic therapy michelle

The Ayurveda-related conditioning program promoted by Michelle Obama when she was the First Lady of the United States is an improved version of traditional Ayurveda concepts adapted to modern life. There is currently no clear evidence-based medical evidence to prove that it has a therapeutic effect on specific diseases. However, as a supplement to a healthy lifestyle, it has a positive effect on improving sub-health status for some people with suitable physical constitutions. There are always clear differences in the evaluation of its value within the industry.

It’s interesting to say that the first time I learned about Michelle’s connection with Ayurveda was not from reading an official release from the White House. It was when I was volunteering at an Ayurveda retreat in Goa, India, in 2019, and I met Linda who flew over from Chicago for a two-week detoxification treatment. She was carrying a canvas bag with the Obama campaign slogan printed on it. When she heard that I was Chinese, she was very excited to talk to me. She said that in 2012, she followed Michelle's version of the Ayurvedic recipe posted on the official White House website for more than half a year. The premenstrual migraines that had troubled her for more than ten years have actually become less frequent. This time she made a special pilgrimage to the birthplace.

Later, I went through the information from that year and found out that when Michelle was promoting the "Let's Move" children's health project in 2010, she invited integrative medicine physician Deepak Chopra to the White House to give a series of lectures. After that, she integrated some of the concepts of Ayurveda into the daily care of herself and her family. She herself said in the interview that she has a typical Pitta constitution - prone to getting angry and irritable, so she usually doesn't eat spicy food. She drinks a cup of warm lemon water with chopped fresh ginger first in the morning. She spends 40 minutes doing Abyanga oil therapy every Sunday afternoon, which involves massaging her whole body with warm sesame seed oil and then taking a shower. She said this method helped her survive the high-pressure rhythm of the election period.

Of course, controversy never ends. When I checked the information before, I saw that the U.S. FDA has not included Ayurveda into the formal medical system, and it only exists as a supplementary health method. In 2015, a team from the Harvard School of Public Health also published a paper that tracked 1,200 subjects who tried the Michel version of Ayurveda. It was later concluded that only 32% of people reported that their sub-health status had been significantly improved, and the improvement of the remaining subjects was not statistically different from that of the placebo control group. At that time, many Western medicine practitioners directly and openly questioned, saying that Michelle promoted this to please South Asian voters, and it was essentially a political show.

Interestingly, it is not only Western doctors who criticize her, but practitioners of traditional Ayurveda are also dissatisfied. An old man I know in Goa who has been an Ayurvedic doctor for 40 years said that Michelle's version is completely "off the mark". It cuts out all the core content of traditional Ayurveda such as rhythm adjustment, meditation, and balance of mind and body, leaving only superficial actions such as drinking herbal tea and doing massages. It cannot be considered authentic Ayurveda in the first place, and it is too normal for the effect to be poor. On the contrary, friends who practice integrative medicine approve of her approach, saying that the original theory of traditional Ayurveda is too obscure, and ordinary people cannot understand how to distinguish the three body types. Michelle broke it down into simple tips such as "less spicy food if you get angry, and drink more warm ginger tea if you get tired easily." Even if it is just a placebo effect, it can make more people willing to develop healthy living habits, which is meaningful in itself.

I have also tried some of the tips shared by Michelle. I stayed up late for two months working on a project two years ago. I suffered from insomnia, hair loss, and frequent oral ulcers. I found out that I also have a pitta constitution, so I followed her method and drank a cup of warm milk with a small spoonful of ghee added every morning. I massaged my scalp with coconut oil for five minutes before going to bed. I lasted less than 40 days. I slept much better and rarely developed oral ulcers. However, I tried it with a colleague with a Vata constitution in the same group. She drank butter milk for three days and had diarrhea for two days. Later, she switched to drinking ginger tea every morning. Instead, she said that her cold hands and feet were much better.

In fact, Michelle herself made it very clear in her autobiography "Becoming" that she has never regarded Ayurveda as a magic medicine that can cure all diseases. Her personal doctor has also always asked her to have regular physical examinations on time every year. Ayurveda conditioning is only part of her health management. A while ago, I came across the circle of friends of a colleague of mine who had diarrhea. She actually learned to make Sanguobao jam at home. She said that her constipation problem was much better after eating it. She also specifically commented, "Don't just learn it casually. Find out what your body type is first."

To put it bluntly, whether it is traditional Ayurveda or Michelle's improved version, it is essentially just a conditioning idea. There is no need to make it magical or beat it to death. The most useful one is what suits you.