Influenza (commonly called "the flu") and the common cold are different illnesses that share some of the same symptoms and it is important to distinguish between them. The flu is of course more serious than a cold and can lead to extreme fatigue, high fever, and even death.
Read MoreBy now everyone knows that the COVID-19 pandemic began in December 2019 in Wuhan China and rapidly extended to become a global health and economic emergency. Its etiological agent (nidana) is the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 presents a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, which ranges from an asymptomatic infection to a severe pneumonia accompanied by multisystemic failure that can lead to death. The immune response to SARS-CoV-2 is known to involve all the components of the immune system that together appear responsible for viral elimination and recovery from the infection. However, these very same immune responses are implicated in the disease's progression from a mild infection to a more severe and lethal process. This wide clinical spectrum of COVID-19 is a consequence of the correspondingly variable spectrum of the immune responses to the virus. The critical point where progression of the disease (in the conventional medical paradigm) is triggered appears to center on loss of the immune regulation between controlled protective and uncontrolled destructive responses due to an over-exuberant production of various cytokines (pro-inflammatory chemicals). As logical as this sounds, as you will see the Āyurvedic paradigm understands this critical point of progression to be very different.
Read MoreThe ways of the Universal Spirit are beyond human comprehension. Things continually happen which we label as 'good' or 'bad' and we often wonder how the bad things—particularly the 'very bad' things—are allowed to happen in a world that is supposed to be good and compassionate. The key to life without stress is to disassociate ourselves from the events we observe and associate instead with the observer of everything, The Universal Spirit. The Universal Spirit is the source of everything and is everything. The world we see is an illusion (maya). The things that worry and upset us are only our collective dream. If we can awake nothing of that dream remains.
Read MoreAyurveda is a rational approach to total wholeness which insight-fully utilizes the everyday daily routines of our lives for creating and maintaining health. The classical texts of Ayurveda, some of which have survived to the present day, are encyclopedic in their detail and date back 3000 years, though the oral tradition is shrouded in the midst of an even more distant time. In these texts, insights are given regarding what a human being truly is, what defines health, how illness manifests, and how it can be reversed and prevented. The approach of ayurvedic medicine is strikingly more life and health-oriented than disease and treatment-oriented. It offers humanity a holistic and total view of life and delineates the place of the human race within the entire cosmos.
Read MoreAs COVID-19 is proving to the world, tiny viruses are powerful biological agents, capable of rapidly effecting massive damage and fatality. And yet, they’re so simple: a virus is merely comprised of pieces of genetic material—either RNA or DNA—wrapped in a protein envelope, which is known as a “capsid.” Yet this tiny organism carries with it a mortality rate (death rate) or about 10% for people over 70 years of age and 22% for those over 80.
Read MoreHolistic medicine has a much broader scope than most people understand. I’m not even referring to the all-important spiritual aspects of human health. Let’s just consider a much more mundane issue which insidiously assaults our well-being and longevity on a constant basis—our individual and environmental toxicity.
Read MoreA new coronavirus virus, likely first transmitted to people from animals at a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, is making international headlines as public health detectives work to uncover what it is, how it’s transmitted, and how deadly the virus actually is. I thought I would address these and other questions about this outbreak.
Read MoreWithin the last twenty years evidence has begun to accumulate which supports the specific health benefits of a vegetarian diet. For example in the late 1990’s, researchers found that the isothiocyanates in cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower) protect against and possibly treat prostate and other cancers. The blood glucose-lowering effect of raw onions has been known for some time and is generally attributed to the presence of several sulfur-containing sulfoxides.
Read MoreWithin the last twenty years evidence has begun to accumulate which supports the specific health benefits of a vegetarian diet. For example in the late 1990’s, researchers found that the isothiocyanates in cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower) protect against and possibly treat prostate and other cancers. The blood glucose-lowering effect of raw onions has been known for some time and is generally attributed to the presence of several sulfur-containing sulfoxides.
Read MoreWell, it’s the start of another new year and to celebrate this I’d like to riff a bit about the upcoming conjunction of Pluto and Saturn in Capricorn. I’m by no means a professional astrologer, but know just enough to be dangerous, as they say. I decided to write this piece because this rare conjunction really has my attention, and maybe it should have yours too. For those not familiar, a conjunction is when orbiting planets occupy the same degree in an astrological sign—as they fly through space on their separate orbital paths.
Read MoreIn Ayurveda, there is a useful method for promoting healthy thinking known as Pratipaksha Bhavana. The literal meaning of this term is “moving to the other side of the mansion” and it points to the mind’s ability to completely transfer its awareness from a negative object to another more positive one (prati-other, opposing; paksha-wing, half; bhavana-dwelling, home, mansion, being).
Read MoreMy small Ayurvedic office pharmacy is stocked with jars, bottles, and bins filled with herbal medicines from home and abroad. We could compare these plant-based medicines to distinguished ambassadors from around the world gathered together to work for world peace and harmony. The world, in this analogy, consists of my patient population. Each and every jar tells a story.
Read MoreThe mystic poet William Blake once said. “How sweet I roamed from field to field, and tasted all the summer's pride.” Certainly summer brings with it ample evidence of Nature’s wonders. During this period the earth tilts towards the sun which supplies abundant heat and light. It is a season characterized by heat and humidity and unbridled growth of flowers, grasses, trees and leaves. Children and adults alike emerge from their homes and naturally begin to engage in increased physical activities. Other important qualities of Pitta include softness, excitation, and joy. However, the seasons around the globe are undergoing extreme changes and it is thus becoming a major cause of concern for all nations.
Read MoreLet me be honest and clear. The illness we call “Lyme Disease” is a very complex and difficult condition to treat. Although I have had good success in many cases with the protocol described here, the disease’s repercussions sometimes persist long after treatment of any kind, including Ayurveda. But I have seen profound improvements in the health of the majority of my patients who have undergone these treatments.
Read MoreThe foregoing has focused on the failure of genetics to reveal the basis for disease. But Lyme disease has not been prominently thought of as a genetically-caused condition but rather as a microbial disease. Our society has completely bought the concept that we get sick because of the presence of microbes. This paradigm goes back to Pasteur and the persisting intellectual persuasive power of the Germ Theory of Disease. But is that the complete story, or even the true story?
Read MoreAyurveda places an enormous emphasis on the importance of caring for the mother before, during, and after pregnancy. 'It is the woman who procreates children and propagates the human species. Dharma (righteousness), artha (wealth), lakshmi (auspiciousness), and loka (the entire universe) are represented in every woman.' (CS, Cs 2/3) Ayurveda regards the woman and her ability to produce and care for children as the basis of family life which, in turn, is the very foundation of society. Therefore, only if the women of a society are safe, protected, and content can these qualities manifest in that society.
Read MoreThe practice of Yoga, or unification, re-establishes the connection between the individual and the universal field of pure consciousness. Yoga removes the attachment to external objects and false knowledge and corrects psychological trauma by merging the mind with the real, the virtuous, and the wellspring of harmony.
Read MoreCandida is the quintessential opportunistic pathogen. Normally its population is maintained at healthy levels by acid-producing bacteria that co-inhabit the same areas. When these normal bacteria populations are reduced or otherwise disturbed by any number of factors (discussed below) however, yeast populations can grow to abnormally high levels.
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