If you live a healthy lifestyle from birth,
You might live hundred years or beyond,
Start from twenty years of age,
A century might still be around.
Alas! For every year after this,
You will lose a year and a half,
And starting beyond the fifties,
You start with a handicap, so pray God’
-An Old Polish Saying
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| Traditional Ayurvedic Wisdom is All About Healing Mind, Body & Spirit |
The above quotation, by and
large, sums up a fundamental principle- the earlier you start following a
healthy lifestyle, the longer and healthier you are likely to live. The term, ‘health’
can be very well defined as a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing!
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| Charaka |
Ayurveda goes a step further and includes a state of happiness in
addition to the aforesaid three aspects. It stresses close relationship between
body, mind and spirit. Charak Samhita, written thousands of
years ago, emphasizes a close relationship between physique and psyche, body
and mind for perfect health. Nearly five thousands years ago, Dhanvantri, Sushruta and Charak had
become world authorities on Ayurveda. Patanjali
propagated ‘Yoga’ with an eight-fold
way to manage the complete body. Charak had laid down fundamental concepts
regarding the importance of caring for our body.
(Leaving all other things, a person must protect and care for his body.
If the body gets sick or gets destroyed due to sickness, the man loses all his
desires, duties, ambitions and feelings. When the body is gone, everything else
is gone).
Why then, do most of us not give
that kind of care and protection that is required for living a long life and a
career backed by a high quality health? Why don’t we adopt a comprehensive
approach towards living with a view to having a body which can enable us to
perform our challenging tasks and duties? The answer lies in the fact that we
take our health for granted. Not only are we ignorant of the hidden dangers to
our health, most of us are also equally unaware of the high potentialities of
our body and mind, if developed along right lines.
To attain ‘Total health’ we must
adopt a lifestyle needed for a long and happy life. An appropriate lifestyle
would be the one which eliminates all the major risks (such as lack of physical
activity, unhealthy eating, stress and anxiety, absence of medicare, lack of
medical insurance) and promotes wellbeing and happiness of the individual. This
would involve care and control of the Body,
the Mind and Spirit, of the Relationships
as well as, the Career/ Professional growth, so as to achieve perfect health.
The traditional wisdom
given by our ancient seers stipulates a lifestyle that incorporates the
following factors:
- Aachar: Character, conduct, elimination of wrong habits and adoption of good values
- Vichar: Healthy Thoughts
- Aahar: Balanced diet
- Vyayam: Regular exercise
- Vyavahar: Interpersonal relationships
- Dhyan: Meditation
- Adhyatma: Spiritual outlook
The elements of an ideal
lifestyle described above, well complemented by preventive, curative and
rehabilitative medicare, would provide one the ideal platform to launch oneself
effectively in the world of action!
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| The Charaka Samhita : The Traditional Wisdom of Ayurveda! |
Wishing all a happy and healthy
living!
Source: R.S Shukla. Executive
Health, 2005. Publisher: Rupa and co.
