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New Veda Intensive Program at The Raj
BY LINDSAY OLIVER & SANDRA WILLBANKS
February 1997
Less than one-third of the U.S. population reaches old age without having contracted a major disease. Even more suffer from the discomforts of arthritis, insomnia, chronic fatigue, back pain, and more. Even with all of our modern methods of treatment, Western medicine knows little about how to cure these disorders or how to treat them without adverse side-effects.
In Maharishi Ayur-Veda, a natural Eastern system of preventative health care, diseases are considered primarily the result of imbalances that accumulate in the body over time. By understanding the evolution of disease in the system, it then becomes possible to remove the root causes.
The Evolution of Disease
According to Dr. Hemant Gupta, visiting Indian consultant at The Raj, Maharishi Ayur-Veda Health Center in Fairfield, there are four main contributors to the evolution of disease: aggravated doshas (biological principles), ama (impurities), weaknesses in the body, and lack of knowledge (of the connection of yourself to the universe, based on the laws of nature).
According to Maharishi Ayur-Veda, the body is governed by three fundamental biological principles--called doshas--that control all of the body's functions. The three doshas are Vata (regulates movement), Pitta (regulates metabolism) and Kapha (regulates structure). When all three doshas work together in a balanced manner, our system remains healthy. But many factors, including diet and life-style, can aggravate the various doshas.
In addition, when food is not properly digested--due to the quantity of food taken, the quality of food (such as heavy or processed foods), or due to a weakness in the digestive process--a sticky, toxic residue is created called ama. This ama can combine with aggravated doshas and circulate throughout the body until it comes to a weak spot in the physiology and begins to accumulate in that area.
Weak spots in the body come about due to heredity, stress, pollution, or mistakes in diet and life-style. Day after day, aggravated doshas and ama circulate in the body and get stuck or deposited in a weak area. Eventually, the ama can make its way deep into the tissues or cells, causing further obstruction and even structural changes.
"Where the obstruction is in the body, and which dosha gets accumulated in that area, determines what type of imbalance will occur in what particular system in the body," Dr. Gupta says. "These symptoms are the body's way of telling us that something is wrong."
If we are not aware of the language of our body or if we do not understand how our diet, behavior, and daily and seasonal routines effect our mind/body system, we will continue doing whatever is causing the problem. This is how the accumulation of ama keeps going to create a chronic disorder.
The Maharishi Ayur-Veda program identifies the ultimate cause of disease as the lack of connection with ourselves and our lack of knowledge of how to live in tune with our own nature.
The Veda Intensive Program
"The purpose of Maharishi Ayur-Veda and the Veda Intensive Program is to bring a person back to the experience of the state of perfect health," Dr. Gupta says. "The word for this is Swasth, which means 'to establish in self.' A person experiences bliss, happiness, and perfect health when one is in his own nature [self] because that is nature's perfect design."
The Veda Intensive Program at The Raj is for those with chronic disorders, such as hypertension, chronic fatigue, overweight, asthma, arthritis, depression, and many more. The program addresses all four components of disease and gives participants the tools to maintain health at the deepest level.
The Veda Intensive Program is divided into two stages. The first phase is designed to dissolve ama from the tissues and cells and eliminate it from the body. During this phase, which can vary in length from three weeks to two months, special herbs are given that target ama in specific systems of the body, address whatever particular disorder has occurred, and pacify whatever dosha is out of balance.
In the second stage, special rejuvenation therapies are given that purify the weakened systems in the body, strengthen the nervous system, and establish a new level of mind/body coordination.
The Veda Intensive Program is in-residence at The Raj, allowing the participant to put his or her entire attention on inner experience. "This is how the healing process comes from within: the patient realizes and experiences everything going on in his physiology," Dr. Gupta says. "His attention goes inward and he begins to understand the language of his own body."
Ideally, at the completion of the in-residence Veda Intensive Program, ama and imbalances have been eliminated through the herbs, diet, and purification therapies. To decrease the possibility of recurrence of disease, specialized herbs are taken at home for about two months to strengthen the particular system involved.
"These specifically tailored programs in relation to the individual's physiology and specific weaknesses are what help in re-establishing the proper functioning of that area," Dr. Gupta says. "The result is the restoration of wholeness in the individual, which is then maintained by following the guidelines of diet, routine, exercise, and herbs. By following this healthy routine, a person can fully enjoy nature's gift of perfect health."
