Ayurveda, the five thousand-year-old Indian science of health, is also known as the mother of all medicine as European, Arabic, and even Chinese medicinal traditions have been significantly influenced by it. The name Ayurveda is derived from the combination of the Sanskrit words Ayur (life) and Veda (wisdom). The “wisdom of life” is a holistic health system treating body, mind and soul as a single entity. All treatment is orientated towards the goal of establishing this unity, bringing personal balance and activating the capacity for self-healing.

Ayurveda is the sister science of yoga, focused on balancing the mind and body for radiant health. Though yoga and Ayurveda have different immediate goals, their overall purpose is the same: reaching samadhi, the ultimate state of inner peace. Samadhi is when you aren’t affected by outside conditions such as what other people think or say about you, external circumstances or your own limiting beliefs. You are completely present in the moment and in tune with your highest self.

Ayurveda now seems as relevant as ever since it promotes peace and understanding between different races, kindness towards animals and a care for the environment based on the belief that human destiny is inextricably linked with the destiny of our planet. I personally have come to associate it with a deep sense of awe and appreciation for the myriad gift of life.

Vedic philosophy promotes the following values:

• wisdom
• knowledge
• truth
• forbearance
• self-control
• peace
• mental alertness
• forgiveness
• integrity
• cleanliness
• health
• contentment
• material stability.

In this section of my blog, I’d like to share my experiences of Ayurveda with you with the goal of encouraging you to make more room for yourself in the midst of a hectic life, as well as helping to care in a very real way for our beleaguered planet.

“When we self-regulate well, we are better able to control the trajectory of our emotional lives and resulting actions based on our values and sense of purpose”. Amy Leigh Mercree

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

In August 2020, I fell off my bike by hitting a high curb on a bridge in Prenzlauer Berg and injured myself badly. A young Indian student was passing by and went to get lengths to help me. When I insisted on carrying on my journey to visit my daughter, he gave me his cell phone number and asked me to contact him in the next few days in order to let him know that I was alright. When I wrote to him a few days later, he invited me to visit his research centre in Berlin where he is writing his doctorate on the subject of DNA sequencing. It turned out to be a very impressive, central location and even the main staircase of the building was designed in the shape of the double helix (see the above photo).

Our conversation on the roof-top café led on to health in general, and it was on that warm, late summer evening that I first encountered Ayurveda. I subsequently read a few books on the subject and was particularly interested in the overlap with plant-based nutrition and veganism.

If you would like to know more, I can definitely recommend the following two introductions: “Ayurveda” by Sahara Rose Ketabi and, for German-speaking readers, “Wie neu geboren durch modernes Ayurveda” by Kulreet Chaudhary.

Since the beginning of February this year, I have tried to follow the 4 – stage detoxification process recommended in Chaudhary book and these have been the results so far:

• I have lost 7 kg in weight (I wanted to anyways)
• My previoulsy off-course LDL cholesterol has decreased to an acceptable level
• My pre-diabetic level of glucose has receded to a non-diabetic level
• My blood pressure has normalised and I have stopped taking my medication for high blood pressure (under my doctor’s scrutiny)
• I feel fitter and healthier and my VO2 level has increased to 47.8 (apparently very high for my age)
• I have generally gone off foods and drinks that are not good for me
• I feel calmer and more at peace with the world.

The down sides were a phase of unpleasant body odour, skin rashes, a boil on my leg and a nasty bout of gout in my right foot. I can’t prove that these were a result of detoxification, but I think so.

In spite of enthusiastic affirmations to the contrary from fans of Ayurveda, the scientific proof that it works is almost non-existent. Nonetheless, I can without a doubt say that it has worked for me, albeit in tandem with a fairly strict sports regime. Therefore, in the next few blog articles, I’d like to share some tips and experiences from Ayurveda that I have found especially helpful, even, or perhaps especially, during the restrictions caused by Covid-19. Maybe you’d like to give it a try?

“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” Aldous Huxley

AYURVEDA – DETOXIFICATION

The first thing I did once I had read up on the subject of Ayurveda (see book recommendations in my last post) was to detoxify my body. I was keen to see if the Ayurvedic principles would work and, if they did, whether I would actually feel physically and mentally healthier. I was convinced by the argument that we are constantly putting toxic substances into our body on a daily basis: animal fats, pesticides and antibiotics, genetically modified produce, alcohol, coffee along with unhealthy bacteria in our water and air. Our bodies are sophisticated enough to adapt to the absorption and partial excretion of all these poisons to the point where we often don’t even notice any obvious effects from them. In reality, however, they all affect every person in different ways, be it in our sleep patterns, digestive disorders, inflammation, infections, mental sluggishness, mood swings and as the nefarious root of diseases such as arthritis, diabetes and cancer.

So I began with an ayurvedan three-stage detoxification process that starts from the moment you wake up until the moment you fall asleep. The three stages build slowly so that you have time to adjust your lifestyle and to incorporate new rituals into your daily routine.

Phase One

So let’s begin by taking a look at the best way to start your day during your first attempt at the first stage of detoxification:

1. When you wake up, try to recall any significant dreams and begin your day with an attitude of gratitude for your sleep, health and the start of a new day. Stretching a litte is good too.
2. Then go into the bathroom, evacuate as necessary and splash some cold or lukewarm water on your face. Better still, gently wipe your eyes with some pure rose water.
3. From there you should go to your kitchen and drink 2-3 glasses of warm water, ideally with some freshly squeezed lemon juice, in order to activate your digestive system and re-hydrate your body after sleeping. You can at this point take any nutritional supplements you require and include the Ayurvedic herb TRIPHALA that can be bought in capsule form.
4. In addition to TRIPHALA, which really promotes the detoxification process in your body, you should also make some “CCF” tea that you can pour into a thermos flask and drink throughout the day. This tea has a wonderfully detoxifying effect on your system. “CCF” stands for coriander, cumin and fennel. You simply put a small tea spoon of each of these spices into 1 litre of water and allow it to simmer for about 10 minutes. I also add some slices of fresh ginger and a tea spoon of fenugreek because of their additional flavour and health benefits.
5. You should then pull oil. For me this took some getting used to, since I do not like the consistency of oil on my hands or in my mouth. But it is worth overcoming your issues. Pulling oil involves putting about a tablespoon of either sesame or coconut oil in your mouth and swilling it around, rather like you might do with a mouth wash, for 10 – 30 minutes. While you are doing this, you can be tidying up, preparing your breakfast, making your CCF tea, planning your day or whatever, so there is no time wasted. You should spit the oil out in the bin and not down the sink.
6. Next, it’s back to your bathroom in order to scrape your tongue with a tongue scraper and then your brush your teeth. Oil pulling, tongue-scraping and brushing your teeth will help to get rid of all the toxins that have built up during the night, leave your breath smelling sweet and your teeth feeling as if you have just had a professional teeth polishing by your dentist. (By the way, as any good dentist will tell you, you should not clean your teeth for at least half an hour after your breakfast or any meal, otherwise you are actually brushing any residual sugars and food stains into the enamel of your teeth!)
7. In Ayurveda, you get to enjoy two extremely healthy and detoxing breakfasts, if you have time. First, it is great to start with some fruit, for example, banana, kiwi, orange, mango, apple or berries. You should allow your body 20 – 30 minutes to digest these before eating your main breakfast. So this is the perfect time to have a shower and so on. Or you could use this time for meditation or yoga (more on these two subjects in a later blog).
8. Before you shower, if you have time, spoil your body with a dry brush massage before you shower. This not only feels fantastic, but it also exfoliates dead skin that includes some of the toxins that are being excreted by the largest organ of your body. It can also help against the formation of cellulite and it moves toxins that have gathered in your body by “pushing” them towards your lymph nodes that vitally support your immune system. Concluding your shower with cold water is also medically proven to strengthen your immune system.
9. After your shower, if you have time, massage your body with an appropriate oil, moisturising cream or body butter in order to feed and hydrate your clean skin.

To begin with, this whole process seems to take way too long, but after a few weeks, you will find ways to speed the process up and, as I said, to do two things at once. Furthermore, you will not only begin to feel so much better that your newfound wellness encourages you to invest the time, but you will also have more energy and be more efficient during your day, easily regaining the time you have invested in the morning.

For me, there were also several other very important consequences of incorporating these ayurvedic routines into my daily life, but more about those in a later blog.