"Ayurvedic Therapy"

Ayurveda is a traditional life science system that originated in ancient India and has been passed down for more than 5,000 years. Its core logic is to achieve physical and mental health by regulating the balance of individual physique, diet, work and rest, and natural rhythms. It is neither a metaphysical magic medicine that can cure all diseases, nor is it an unfounded feudal dross. It has a certain auxiliary regulating effect on chronic non-organic problems such as metabolic disorders, emotional anxiety, and sleep disorders, but it absolutely cannot replace the formal treatment of modern medicine. This is the most practical conclusion I have come to after having been exposed to Ayurveda for 6 years, trying offline treatments, doing my own treatments at home, and stepping through many IQ tax traps.

The first time I seriously came into contact with Ayurveda was at a Dai medical clinic in Xishuangbanna in 2021. The owner of the clinic is a girl from Yunnan who has studied Ayurveda for seven years in Kerala, southern India. At that time, because I was busy with projects for three consecutive months, my tongue was fat and full of tooth marks. She recommended a project to me before she came up. First, she asked me not to drink water or brush my teeth when I got up in the morning for three consecutive days. I slapped my tongue to her, and asked me casually, "Are you at least two glasses of iced Americano a day?" ”I had goosebumps at that time - at that time, I relied on iced American drinks to catch up on manuscripts, and I drank up to four drinks a day.

To be honest, many people think that the essence of Ayurveda is its "individual adaptation" logic, which is somewhat similar to the syndrome differentiation and treatment of traditional Chinese medicine, but it prefers to divide people into three basic constitutions: Vata of wind energy, Pitta of fire energy, and Kapha of earth and water energy. Most people have a mixed constitution of two or even three types, and few have pure single attributes. I am a typical person with excess Vata. I am naturally unable to sit still, my mind spins faster than my mouth, I am prone to anxiety, and I suffer from constipation and insomnia when I stay up late. The conditioning oil that the shop owner prepared for me at that time was sesame-based, with a small amount of peppercorns and cardamom added. I was dubious and persisted for half a month. The most obvious change was that the problem of always waking up at 3 a.m. for no reason was gone, and my mouth no longer felt bitter when I woke up in the morning.

Of course, I have also stepped on pitfalls. When Ayurveda first became popular in China two years ago, I bought a small bottle of "detox oil" worth more than 300 yuan. The merchant said that if you rub it on your stomach for 10 minutes, you can eliminate stool and lose 8 pounds. I rubbed it for a week, but I didn't lose any weight. Instead, I suffered from eczema. Later I learned that the bottle of oil was formulated according to Kapha constitution. If I have a Vata constitution, using it would only increase the moisture. There is a lot of controversy about Ayurveda on the Internet right now. One group exaggerates it, saying that applying oil can cure cancer and chanting mantras can cure depression. The other group directly calls it the "Indian dance god" and says it is all an IQ tax. In fact, both views are quite extreme.

There are indeed many things in traditional Ayurveda that need to be treated with caution. For example, the processing technology of mineral medicines is extremely complicated and requires several years or even more than ten years of processing time to remove the toxicity. Nowadays, many wild merchants do not have this technology at all, and the medicines they make out of the blue contain mercury and lead. There have been news reports before that some people used informal Ayurvedic ointments to treat skin diseases, and finally ended up in the ICU due to heavy metal poisoning. Modern evidence-based medicine has not completely denied its value. In 2023, the "Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine" published relevant research, confirming that Ayurveda dietary conditioning that meets the standards has a clear auxiliary effect on the control of blood sugar homeostasis in patients with type 2 diabetes, provided that conventional anti-diabetic drugs cannot be stopped.

Nowadays, Ayurveda is actually divided into two schools. The traditional school strictly abides by the requirements of ancient books. For example, it requires everyone not to drink ice all year round and must do full-body oil therapy when the seasons change. The modern reform school is much more flexible and will adjust the plan based on modern nutrition. For example, if you have a pitta constitution (people who are prone to getting angry, have a short temper, and like to get redness and acne), it is okay to occasionally eat a popsicle in the summer without having to carry it. I have a friend with a pitta constitution who listened to online tutorials and drank ginger water on an empty stomach every morning. After three days of drinking it, she suffered nose bleeds. Later, she found a professional therapist and changed it to drinking warm aloe vera water with half a spoon of ghee every morning. After drinking it for a week, the constipation that had troubled her for more than half a year was cured.

I still can't remember all the corresponding symptoms of the three constitutions, and I don't usually use Ayurveda as a cure. I just saved up a few small recipes that suit me: after staying up late, I boil some hot milk with cardamom and drink it, which is more comfortable than drinking black coffee. When I am on a business trip and can't sleep in a different place, I put two drops of sandalwood oil on the pillow, which has less side effects than melatonin. If you really want to try it, don't blindly buy Sanwu products online, and don't try it on yourself after listening to bloggers' blind science. First, find a regular therapist to check your physical fitness. If you are really uncomfortable, go to the hospital to take a picture to check the problem. After all, no matter what kind of therapy, it is useful if it suits you and makes you feel at ease and comfortable.