Western Myth on Eastern Wisdom

My talk at Guardian Health Seminar in Malaysia this May and subsequent interview which appeared in New Sunday Times was the hot post on the Cardioblog, titled - A holistic approach to your heart that ends with a question "What do you think -- sound advice, or a load of new-age babble?"

West looks at the eastern knowledge always with skepticism and would like to raise the debate and to dominate with evidences to cast off these as imperfect, indistinct facts.

The view that US researchers have found as published in Vegetarian Times lends credit to the fact that emotions do affect heart.

When it comes to risks for heart disease, our emotional intelligence should be right up there with diet and exercise. Some of the latest research has found that avoiding emotional extremes and learning healthy ways to express feelings can make a dramatic difference to cardiac health.

Many researches in the recent past have shown that learning to cope with two of the most potentially damaging emotions--depression and anger--reduces not only the physical damage stress wreaks on the heart, but can also extend the life span.

The clinical studies on Arjuna (Terminalia arjuna) that showed significant decrease in ischemic mitral regurgitation, improvement in E/A ratio and considerable reduction in anginal frequency published in the recent issue of International Journal of Cardiology and many such reports prove the ancient wisdom of this plant as cardioprotective agent.

Is this a babble? Kindly comment.

Deja vu with Ayurveda

Ayurveda is indeed in the focus today. As an ancient saying that the truth exists somewhere but the wise perceive it in many ways. Like the story of The Blind Men and an Elephant, the giant Ayurveda is apperceived in a myopic way. The recent article published in Express Pharma under the column Forum brings out the attention and an attitude of the cross section in the pharma business today is worth browsing.

The debate between contemporary medicine and Ayurveda is believed to be 'Beyond comparison'. Read this from the article -

Allopathy and ayurveda are as different as day and night, and hence the two sets of opposing views. However, if one has to compare ayurveda and allopathy on one platform, then such comparison might be a tad difficult. "Allopathy treats individuals as an independent physical entity like a machine. It is further sub-divided into various organs and systems looked after by different specialities or super/sub-specialities, in which the individual loses one's identity. Whereas, ayurveda treats the individual as a whole, considering him to be a part of the universal whole" .

A positive aspect in the whole ayurveda vs allopathy issue, is the fact that, people are now open to know more about this ancient science. Also while there might not be prejudices or bias against the same, there are certain misconceptions, which can only be dispelled with knowledge and information dissemination. "There are no prejudices surrounding ayurveda. There may be misconceptions regarding its practice. If anything, the interest in this system of medicine has been growing rapidly both in the domestic and international market, attesting to its popularity and widespread acceptance".

A great trip to Malaysia

This was a full page and a half article that appeared on New Sunday Times under the column Focus dated June 17th written by the two journalists Chai Mei Ling and Yasothai from an interview which took over a lunch table in an Indian restaurant on the top floor of the world famous Petronas tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was indeed a fascinating two hours rendezvous with them that took to a new paradigm of understanding Ayurveda in the modern times. The myth they had about the lifestyle management being a stringent practise not acceptable by the binging Malaysians was turned out to be the most gratifying one. Indeed this article was ranked 4.9 out of 5 when this was posted.

What is Ayurveda?
The word Ayurveda derived from the Sanskrit, the most ancient Indian language and in use for the last 3600 years denotes Science of Life, akin to Biology (in use since 1766 CE) or Biosciences of the modern times. It deals with healthy and happy living, measures to improve the span of life and what is good and bad for life. It has two purposes – protecting and promoting the health in the healthy and healing the disease in the diseased. It is not only applicable to human life but also to other forms life viz., plant and animal lives.

The definition of health as made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, while Ayurveda defines health as the state of equilibrium of factors and functions controlling physical, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual well-being.

Let’s look at Healthy living. It’s about practicing good habits and giving up the harmful ones. The benefit of healthy living is, it's your key to getting the most out of your life. With a healthy lifestyle you will –

1) FEEL GOOD that you will have more energy sleep better and be more relaxed and confident.

2) LOOK GOOD that you will have a good figure, strong muscles, bright eyes, healthy skin and hair.

3) BE HAPPY that you will have a positive attitude towards life and achieve more.