East Meets West: Learning From Yoga and Ayurveda plus
Benefits for People with Multiple Sclerosis
by: Chaya Li Sharon, BA, IYT, AYC

The Caraka Samhita stands at the top of the ancient texts representing the School of Medicine in Ayurveda and defines Ayurveda as the knowledge of life. This science originated in India over 6,000 years ago, making it the oldest known medical system still in use and is practical knowledge of self-healing that everyone can learn. The basis of Ayurveda is to unlock the human potential by understanding the four types of life: useful or wholesome, harmful or unwholesome, happy and unhappy and by raising our awareness of the human condition, the essence of who we each uniquely are at all layers of our being, and living according to the natural rhythms of nature, which includes understanding the symptoms of change. This can be done through the practice of yoga, meditation, lifestyle modifications including appropriate diet, body treatments, massage, and purification.

The Caraka also states that at the core of these ancient principles is “generic concomitance”, the consideration of our relationship to ourselves and the environment, and the process of getting in touch with one’s true nature at all levels: physical, energetic, emotional, intuitively and spiritually. To be focused in any one means the exclusion of another, and vice versa, to leave any one out, is incomplete and not a holistic system. When someone is stuck in any one part of themselves, it is a sign that their prana or bio energetic life force is not fully flowing, causing fragmentation and disease. As Yogi Amrit Desai mentioned in his article, a skilled Yoga and Ayurvedic Practitioner can evaluate the prana vitiation and how to bring it into balance in order to create wholeness and a harmonious balance between body, senses, mind and soul, which brings wellness, and is also stated in Caraka as the Ayurvedic definition of health, preventing the body from decay.

A qualified Ayurvedic Practitioner will also be able to offer an assessment of the client’s dosha (elemental composition) and condition, utilizing skilled questioning and observation, pulse diagnosis, and tongue analysis and make the appropriate suggestions.

Ayurveda and Yoga can empower people to heal themselves with the practice of stillness and deep relaxation, and the resulting accessibility of energy, clarity, flexibility, strength, and confidence.

There have been studies, and it is also written in the ancient literature, about the beneficial effects of yoga, meditation, and lifestyle modifications including appropriate diet, body treatments, massage, and purification for people with MS in reducing symptoms, alleviating anxiety, depression and pain and overall improving their quality of life. I also found that for people with MS as well as other conditions, it helps them differentiate what is them and what is their MS, since they can get this confused and begin to identify with the disease rather than the essence of their true nature. This is probably the most important aspect, which leads them to find the faith to continue to take the appropriate steps to taking care of themselves, and this is the essence of the differences between eastern and western approaches to health care.

East verses West:

Herbal supplementation is occasionally recommended, and yet this is the most widely misunderstood aspect of eastern medicine that western medical doctors seem to focus on. Clients should consult with a qualified Ayurvedic Practitioner before taking any Ayurvedic Herbal Supplements, since they could then be provided with the ones that are appropriate for them, in addition to lifestyle modifications already mentioned. Yogi Desai uses the analogy of referring to disease as “unwanted weeds” and describes western medicine as “fighting weeds with herbicides, where as Ayurvedic treatments cleanse and rejuvenate the body, mind and consciousness, thus keeping the soil inhospitable for weeds to grow in.”

In the east value is placed on knowing, intuition, stillness, and identifies different people with the key to understanding being acceptance, observation, and experiences.

Eastern concepts of acceptance, observation and experiences are different than ours and that is what needs to be more clearly investigated. Through the practice of Yoga, Ayurveda, and meditation which refine the mind, we can have acceptance or surrender when appropriate to free up our energy for healing, we can observe more clearly and digest our experiences into useful information rather than undigested emotions, resulting in uncontrolled, habitual, unwholesome and conditioned thoughts and patterns that lead to imbalances in the body, senses and mind.

The east teaches that our beliefs and disciplines should be conducive towards a state of being in which our doors of perception, which are our senses, are purified and open to all aspects of life, and that all of life’s journey is considered sacred.

The philosophy of Ayurveda is of love and truth. Truth being pure existence, void of conditioning and obstacles to the clarity of perception, verses the west which is based on scientific research and conditioned patterns.

Ayurveda teaches that each individual has the power to heal by understanding themselves and their unique and individual needs, and as one gets more balanced life gets easier as you make choices more in line with ones true nature.

Yoga and Ayurveda are holistic and harmonious practices that can offer a person with MS and other conditions, an opportunity to balance themselves, resulting in a life of freedom as well as control of their own lives.

• Learn more about Chaya's program,
  Holistic Lifestyle & Adaptive Yoga for People with MS & Similar Conditions.
• Read about easing MS through Yoga…
• Read articles written about Chaya's Adaptive Yoga Program in the Berkshire Eagle and Disaboom.
• Read Chaya's article "Adaptive Yoga for people with MS and Similar Conditions."
• Read Adaptive Yoga participant testimonials and writings.
• Read Chaya's case study on Yoga and Ayurveda for People with Multiple Sclerosis. [Downloadable PDF]
  

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Spring & Ayurveda
by: Chaya~Sharon Heller

Ayurveda is the science of life and wisdom of daily living, and promotes healing by understanding and living in harmony with the flow of nature within and around us.

By understanding the changes that occur in ourselves and our environment we can tap into the awareness of who we are and our relationship to all that is. Ayurveda sees one cause of disease as not living according to these rhythms of nature and according to who we are, our stage of life and our condition.

Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition period between winter and summer. In spring, the axis of the Earth is increasing its tilt toward the Sun and the length of daylight rapidly increases for the relevant hemisphere, with its days becoming close to twelve hours long,  with increasing day length, as it occurs near the time of an equinox .The hemisphere begins to warm significantly causing new plant growth to "spring forth," giving the season its name. Snow, if a normal part of winter, begins to melt, and streams swell with runoff. Frosts, if a normal part of winter, become less severe. Temperate climates have no snow and rare frosts, the air and ground temperature increases more rapidly. Many flowering plants bloom this time of year, in a long succession sometimes beginning even if snow is still on the ground, continuing into early summer. Spring brings increase of water and earth elements, which contain the qualities of heavy, slow, cool, oily, slimy, dense, soft and static, which provide stability, energy, lubrication, forgiveness, greed, attachment, accumulation and possessiveness. During spring it is good to focus on energizing, and purifying our body and mind through the practice of Yoga and Ayurveda, which includes appropriate diet, yoga, which includes postures, pranayama, and mediation, as well as massage and bodywork.

In the Northern Hemisphere, spring runs from March into June, and in the Southern Hemisphere it runs from September into November. Spring is also the tropical cyclone season in both hemispheres, although it is delayed longer in the north Atlantic Ocean than the other ocean basins.

The phenological definition of spring relates to indicators, the blossoming of a range of plant species, and the activities of animals, or the special smell of soil that has reached the temperature for micro flora to flourish. It therefore varies according to the climate and according to the specific weather of a particular year.

Spring is seen as a time of growth, renewal, of new life (both plant and animal) being born. The term is also used more generally as a metaphor for the start of better times.

Celebrate Spring at The Chaya For Life Center and learn how to live according to the rhythms of the universe and unlock your healing potential, and live a life according to your truest potential. Experience wholeness, meet like minded people and share the gift of a life of balance with those around you.

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  Truth and Prana Inspired Spirit vs. Me and Ego Inspired Spirit
by: Chaya~Sharon Heller

I have been inspired by J. Krishnamurti and Patanjali, today, as I am every day, and today as I wake up to knowing truth and freedom in a new way, I find solace in their words and wisdom. Since I have moved to the south, I am finding new meaning of truth, compassion, and relationship and these lessons have given new "juice", inspiration to my practice (Sradha Patanjali, 1-20).

K says today in "The Book Of Life", One who possess no worldly things, still may not be free, they may be attached to other sorts of possessions like knowledge, ideas, virtue, experience, name and fame, relationships, family, and their past, and so on. Without possessions the "me" is not and in its fear of not being, the mind is attached to these things, name and fame, etc... and it will drop integrity, being honest and real to manipulate in order to be at a "higher" level, this "higher" level being more gratifying, and seemingly more permanent. The fear of uncertainty, of not being, makes for this greedy and violent behavior that includes attachment, and possession. When the possession is unsatisfactory or painful, we renounce it for a more pleasurable attachment, moving from one illusion to another that we have created in our minds.

So long as you are willing to be nothing, which in fact you are, you must inevitably breed sorrow and antagonism. The willingness to be nothing is not a matter of renunciation, of enforcement, inner or outer, but of seeing the truth of what is. Seeing the truth of what is brings freedom from the fear of insecurity, the fear which breeds attachment and leads to the illusion of detachment or renunciation. The love of what is, is the beginning of wisdom, love alone shares, it alone can commune, but renunciation and self-sacrifice are the ways of isolation and illusion. You say you want love, but, are you really loving, or are you lying, manipulating and chasing an image?

To live with lying as a lifestyle or to be in the company of a liar is a toxic waste ground that breeds violence, chaos, and destruction. Only truth purifies our hearts and minds and sets us free. It begins with letting go of concepts, cultivating awareness and acceptance of what truly is, and knowing what does it mean to live in truth, what does it mean to love, and what does it mean to be free. This is not some rigid protocol, or dogma, but the awakening of awareness of truth. The practice of Yoga and Ayurveda is a lover of truth and about discovering exactly that, awakening through the coordination of living according to the natural laws of the universe and understanding what that means by paying attention to ourselves at the subtle level of breath and sensation, we can develop and purify our hearts and minds to live a life of true love, love of the infinite possibilities that we all are. No One is entitled to that more than each person who awakens to their own energy as a vehicle for spirit... ultimate truth and awakened consciousness that we all are. 

Om Shanti~Peace~Chaya Li

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Ayurveda’s Intelligence of Nutrition and Digestion
by: Chaya~Sharon Heller

Nutrition is a big issue in all countries, and particularly in ours. We are consumed with conflicting evidence and opinions that are continually changing. Many of us are not only informed, but obsessed by it, and yet still suffer, with many illnesses, mostly from over nutrition and a misuse and inappropriate relationships to food since how, when and why we eat is still not aligned with our natural rhythms and the rhythms of the world, due to our improper digestion of the information, a mistake of intelligence.

Ayurveda is the ancient science and wisdom of how to live a healthy and harmonious life by living in accordance with out true nature and the natural rhythms of the universe. It’s approach is thousands of years old and is therefore been time tested. It is an individualistic approach, and teaches each person to “read their own book” written based upon their unique ayurvedic constitution, current imbalances, lifestyle, stage of life and condition.

Ayurveda is a physical and metaphysical science. On the physical level we use food and herbs to heal the body, and on the mental level we use yoga, mantra and mediation to heal the mind. To do this we must take into consideration the total lifestyle and constitution of each person, including their body, mind and spirit, to support health and wellness and by learning to live again in the most natural way possible, according to nature, to access our highest intuition and truth, liberating the spirit, thereby unlocking the human healing potential.

To understand it, one can begin to study the five elements of ether, air, fire, water, and earth of which everything is composed of, and in particularly our senses, which allow us to perceive the world. The combination of the elements into their respective doshas, forms the senses, and govern our functioning. When polluted they become dull and are obstacles to true perceptions, intelligence and pure awareness. Through purification of the senses, we develop this pure intelligence or awareness to empower us, in order to find inner balance and ultimate joy.

Intelligence is associated with pitta and the digestive fire, agni. It considers what, and how we eat, as well as our daily patterns, routines, and consciousness, as the way to health and our innate ability to heal, through their impact on our digestion. The intelligence of ayurvedic nutrition incorporates balancing the doshas by using the 6 tastes which balance the elements and harmonize the senses, improving digestion, balancing agni, and eliminating ama, metabolic waste, or toxins, to restore proper intelligence and nutrition to the individual.

The 6 tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. Each has the qualities of the elements and is used to balance the doshas. For example, sweet and sour tastes balance vata dosha (composed of ether and air), due to their tonifying, heavy, and warming qualities. Bitter and sweet tastes are balancing for pitta dosha (composed of fire and water), due to their cooling and calming qualities and pungent and astringent tastes are pacifying for kapha dosha (composed of water and earth), due to their reducing, light, drying and warming qualities.

The 4 states of agni (digestive fire) are:
1. Vata – irregular, 2. Pitta – sharp, 3. Kapha – mild or dull and 4. Balanced.

Agni is vitiated by improper diet and lifestyle and then creates ama, or metabolic wastes or toxins. When agni is disturbed, incompletely digested food forms an internal, toxic, morbid, substance known as ama. This undigested, glue-like, sticky substance may accumulate, putrify and ferment, and lodge anywhere in the body, with a tendency to begin at it’s weakest place. It is the end product of poorly digested food and forms due to weak, dull agni. Ama clogs the channels, such as the blood and lymph, giving rise to diseases, such as arthritis, high cholesterol, coronary artery disease, thyroid conditions, diabetes, etc. Reducing already existing ama and not creating more of it is the aim of proper digestion.

Signs and symptoms of ama are:
Abdominal distention, blocked channels, body aches, constipation, diarrhea or dysentery, dullness, excessive salivation, mental and physical fatigue, feeling of weakness, fever, flatulence, giddiness, headache, heaviness, improper movement of gases, indigestion, laziness, lethargy, loss of appetite, numbness, pain in the abdomen, profuse urination, restlessness, sinus congestion, stiffness in the back and hops, tastelessness of food, excessive thirst, vomiting, and yawning.

Signs and symptoms of proper digestion are:
Lightness of the body, appropriate appetite, and conditions of balanced agni. Doshas will be in balance, dhatus (tissues) will be well formed, malas (waste products) eliminate properly, and one will have enthusiasm and a bright and shining soul.

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