Irritable Bowel Syndrome & Ayurveda

                                     

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional GI disorder characterized by abdominal pain and altered bowel habits in the absence of specific and unique organic pathology. In ayurveda the disease is called Grahini as it occurs due to dysfunction of Grahini kala. The main function of the grahini kala is to retain food until digestion. Due to improper dietary habits and lifestyle, over anxiety, depression and other psychological behaviours digestive fire decreases leading to indigestion. The undigested food leads to toxin formation which disturbs the function of grahini kala. Thus leading to passage of digested as well as undigested faecal matter. The feacal matter may be loose or constipated.

                          According to Ayurveda, psyche and physical fitness are interdependent. Stress causes GI disturbance or vice versa or it coexists, breaking the vicious cycle Stressà GI disturbanceàStressà GI disturbance is the treatment

Symptoms of IBS

1. alternative constipation and diarrhea

2. thirst, anorexia, excessive salivation,

3. joint pain , heaviness in body

4. fever, vomiting

5. eructations with metallic and foul smell

6. burning sensations during defeacation

Four bowel patterns may be seen with irritable bowel syndrome. These patterns include the following:

• IBS-D (diarrhea predominant)
• IBS-A(alternative diarrhea and constipation)
• IBS-C (constipation predominant)
• IBS-M (mixed diarrhea and constipation)

Management of IBS at SukhAyurveda

1) Detoxify

IBS starts when accumulated toxins begin to disrupt functions of digestive system. We at SukhAyurveda provide natural recommendations to remove and help prevent toxin accumulation from:

• Hard-to-digest food
• Poor digestion
• Poor elimination
• Mental and physical stress

SukhAyurveda Detox Therapies for IBS

The most powerful treatments for removing toxins are the SukhAyurveda Detox Therapies. These treatment programs may include Abhyangam massage, Herbal bun (pottali) massage, purgation and mild herbal enema. These treatments are given in combination according to the patients’ constitution and disease. These create the ideal internal physical environment for healing.

SukhAyurveda Detox Therapies address the problem of toxin accumulation by systematically:

• Loosening impurities that have become embedded in tissues and helping liquiefy them for easy absorption into the circulation and eventual elimination.
• Softening and opening the channels of circulation and elimination so proper nourishment can reach the tissues and impurities can be more easily eliminated from them.
• Activating the elimination process for the most thorough cleansing of the entire physiology.

2) Proper Nutrition

SukhAyurveda Consultant provides detailed understanding of which foods to favor and avoid for your condition. Avoid foods that are hard-to-digest (like milk, caffeine, pulses like kidney bean, etc) clogging to the physiology and aggravating to the doshas(functioning modes) that are already imbalanced in you. Favor foods that are easy-to-digest, nourishing, cleanse the physiology, strengthen digestion and balance your body's inner intelligence. Buttermilk should be used instead of milk with added salt, black pepper, and roasted cumin seeds to improve digestion.

3) Creating Strong Digestion

Our ability to properly digest food is as important as what specific food we eat. Incompletely digested foods create toxins and impurities that are eventually absorbed, travel throughout the physiology, localize in tissues and disrupt their functioning. This process plays a major role in IBS

SukhAyurveda Consultant provides recommendations for strengthening digestion including information in the following areas:

• Proper use of spices and cooking oils.
• Herbal preparations for improving digestion.
• Important differences between breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• A simple system to determine a balanced diet.
• Digestion-enhancing foods to favor.
• Digestion-depressing foods to reduce.
• Eating behavior for maximum digestion.
• Proper food combinations to avoid indigestion.
• Non-dietary regiments to improve digestive strength including exercise, specific Yoga asanas and breathing techniques.

Ayurveda herbs

Their purpose is to restore balance to the doshas(specific functioning modes) whose malfunctioning is causing your condition. SukhAyurveda Consultant selects the appropriate herbal formulas for improving the function of grahini kala, strengthening digestion and helping the body purify itself of toxins.

Traditional Ayurveda theory says that herbs are most effective after a person completes a Detox program. The cleansing and rejuvenation treatments are the main focus at SukhAyurveda. Once cleansing program is finished, maximum benefits are achieved from herbal program.

5) Stress Management

Excessive mental, emotional and physical stress can worsen the symptoms of IBS. This is due to hormonal changes and other biochemical responses to stress that can imbalance the nervous system and depress the healing ability of the body.

Enhancing the body's ability to recover from stress is an integral part of our approach to health and well-being. The following programs help reverse the body's response to stress:

• Destress Ayurvedic Massges like shirodhara, takardhara, Ksheeradhara, Abhyangam or pizhichil
• Yoga asana, Pranayam, Meditation

6) Lifestyle and Daily Routine

One of the most important factors for maintaining healthy functioning is to have a lifestyle that does not disturb natural bodily rhythms. When we eat, sleep and exercise in constantly fluctuating and disturbing patterns, the body loses its natural balancing cycles and cannot cleanse or heal itself as effectively. Therefore, regularity in our daily routine can be extremely effective in reducing physiological imbalance at the basis of IBS.

SukhAyurveda Consultants reviews daily routine and creates a daily schedule that will increase balance in physiology and aid in healing of the body.

7) Yoga

SukhAyurveda considers Yoga as a non-dietary regiment to improve digestive strength, circulation, nervous system function, the body's healing response.

We offer Yoga classes every day and teach simple but profound set of postures that you can practice daily. For IBS we recommend

1.     Vajarasana

2.     Supta-veerasana

3.     Pitta-vardhak mudra

Pranayam & Meditation are also advised for their psychosomatic benefits of restful alertness in mind and body.

8) Strengthening the Body's Natural Healing and Self-Repair Mechanisms

Ultimately every treatment approach must depend on the body's natural healing ability for a real cure of the condition. SukhAyurveda approach is not to attack the disorder with something from the outside, like drugs or surgery, but to attempt to enliven the innate healing response of the body.

The healing response is one of the most complex and coordinated activities within the human physiology and often cannot be strengthened significantly without a comprehensive natural approach.

Taken together, all the SukhAyurveda programs described above aim to create the ideal mental, physical and behavioral environment for healing.

Happy Ayurveda!

Beat the Heat with Ayurveda

Summers make it tough for both mind and body to cope up with day to day activities. Some of the steps for helping us remain cool and healthy in these times are:

Cooling Diet

·        Pitta pacifying food which is sweet in taste like rice, curd. ·        Fruits with fluid such as melon, watermelon, coconut water, cucumber. ·        Lots of fluids like mango panna, lemon water, barley sattoo, squahes made with phalsa, khas, lemon, almond. ·        Use the cooler spices in food like Licorice, fennel, cumin seeds etc ·        Avoid alcohol or dilute it for consumption. Instead use Beer. ·        Avoid having pungent, sour and salty food. ·        Avoid anti-perspirants which are there in Deodorants and talcum powders, rather keep your body detoxified to keep yourself odour free

Lifestyle

·        Exercise Light –quantity restricted to ardh bala(half Strength) ·        Clothings Light colours, cotton, exposed areas to be covered when exposed to sunlight ·        Use sunglasses, don’t splash water to eyes after exposure to sun till body cools down as it can harm eye sight. Take baths with cool water. ·        Avoid direct exposure to sun from 10 am to 2 pm , or take lots of liquid before going out. ·        Use the fragrances like sandal, lavender, kevra and rose.

Ayurvedic Therapies

·        Use of cooler oils like coconut oil is good for daily body massage ·        Go for pitta pacifying treatments like Ksheerdhara, Takradhara(buttermilk),Jaldhara(water),mud bath etc.

Dehydration

·        Water boiled in spices like coriander, fennel and cumin seeds helps in hydration as well as cleansing the toxins out of the body. ·        Avoid caffeinated beverages which dehydrate the body. ·        The research shows that for every 1% of water weight that we lose, our capacity to do work goes down by 10%.

Protection from Prickly Heat

·        Avoid bathing when sweating. Bathe when sweat has evaporated and body is at the room temperature. Use cool water for bathing. ·        Drink Grape juice, lemon juice, sattu, buttermilk and other fluids in higher quantities. ·        Wear loose cotton clothing to encourage the evaporation from skin and avoid further skin irritation. ·        Keep the skin clean and avoid the use of harsh soaps, Powder of Sandalwood dusted all over the body gives effective relief in prickly heat. Multani mitti paste can also be applied on the affected part. ·        Application of aloe vera gel is effective in relieving itching.

Protection from Sun Burn and Sun Tan

·        Pitta constitution people having fair, sensitive, warm and soft skin are more likely to have suntan and sunburn due to the aggravation of Bhrajak Pitta in skin. ·        Clothe exposed parts using long gloves, socks, hats to avoid direct exposure. ·        Keep yourself hydrated. Use cooling fluids to drink like fresh lime ·        Use natural sunscreens like papaya, cucumber, apple, aloe, red lentile, sandalwood, multani mitti etc. ·        Application of gels like aloe vera is effective in relieving sun burns

Protection from Heat Stroke

·        Keep yourself nourished & hydrated. Empty stomach increase heat stroke probability. ·        Use lots of onion, raw mangoes, tamarind beverages in daily diet ·        Reduce salty food as it disturbs the normal sweat production and increase the chances of heat stroke. ·        Don’t drink ice cold water as it will shock your body, drink cool water.

Free Ayurveda Consultation Day

Step-by-Step & How-To Guidelines

for Great Health

Free Ayurvedic Consultation Day

Vaidya Ruchi Gulati, B.A.M.S., M.D. (Ayurveda)

On Sunday 26^th of June

Find Beauty tips and More at Femina.in - Expert Beauty Tip

Find Beauty tips and More at Femina.in - Expert Beauty Tip

KIDS YOGA

Why kids yoga?

Children today are under a lot of stress. Homework, pressure to compete with other children, endless after-school activities, over-scheduling -- it all adds up. And just like their parents, kids today are turning to Yoga to help them relax.
Yoga helps kids develop better body awareness, self-control, flexibility and coordination. They can carry these skills beyond class and into their daily routines.
Yoga has also been shown to help the hyperactive and attention-deficit child. These children crave movement and sensory/motor stimulus. Yoga helps channel these impulses in a positive way. Yoga poses that seem to work especially well are the warrior pose and tree pose. They help instill calm, confidence and balance. The trick is to get beyond just "doing" the posture. We try to get them to think about what the postures mean, to become like the postures -- strong and confident like a warrior.
We use partner poses to develop trust. Working with each other on poses, the children develop team skills. It also fosters bonding.
When it comes to relaxation, some children have a difficult time closing their eyes while others can't get enough. One technique that encourages relaxation is visualization.

About our KIDS YOGA
Our yoga classes are quite different from the typical meditative adult yoga class, in our classes children are animated, noisy and free–spirited!Adults often have to work at yoga, but kids play yoga!While "playing" yoga, children move about the room, play breathing games, make noises, act out stories, and pretend to be animals. They hiss like snakes in the Cobra pose, bark like dogs in the Downward Facing Dog pose and learn to balance on one foot while standing tall like trees.

Outcomes

• Emphasizes proper body alignment so children avoid injury.
• Develops flexibility, strength, stamina, agility, balance, coordination and cardiovascular fitness.
• Promotes mental and physical health and a positive attitude toward exercise.
• Promotes concentration, self-discipline and develops inner strength and clarity. Breath control is an integral part of yoga and meditation. Children learn to value their breath. Breath meditation teaches children to deepen and slow down their breath and be calm and inward focused. It is a valuable skill that they can utilize their entire lives.
• Builds cooperative skills and good social behavior by working with a partner or in a group.
• Promotes positive communication and good listening skills which foster self- respect, compassion and respect for others.
• Builds self-confidence.
• Encourages children’s creative imagination and self-expression

KidsYoga teaches children of all ages and abilities from toddlers to teens in public & private schools, health clubs, daycare centers, yoga centers, dance studios and summer camps. New classes are being added all the time so, please check back on a regular basis.

Why Disease - Answers Ayurveda

Why Disease- Answers Ayurveda
Ayurveda describes the following types of imbalances that are major contributing factors to the production of disease.
1) Poor digestion leading to the buildup of toxins and impurities in the tissues
When impurities accumulate in tissues they contribute to many chronic conditions, including asthma. Ayurveda has ways to reduce the most common sources of impurities in the body including those from:
Impure or toxic food sources
Poor digestion
Poor elimination
Improper metabolism
Mental and physical stress
According to Ayurveda, accumulation of impurities leads to the debilitating changes at the basis of disease through the following mechanisms:
Ayurveda theory says the cause of all disorders is in the stomach. It describes how toxins created by improperly digested food are carried through channels directly into the various tissues and organs resulting into toxin accumulation and the disease.
Impurities start to clog the channels of circulation to the tissues and the channels that take nutrients into cells and waste out of cells. The end result is that the cells are not nourished properly and waste starts to accumulate in them.
When toxins accumulate in tissues, and circulation becomes blocked, often the body's natural defenses against foreign material become activated against the accumulating impurities.
When natural defense mechanisms become over-activated the result can create the conditions of asthma. For example, inflammation and excess fluid secretion is really a natural body defense mechanism to help dilute and wash away impurities in tissues. When impurity buildup becomes so great as to make this process hyperactive, then the lungs fill up with fluid, airwaves are constricted and asthma results.
Ayurveda contains many recommendations to improve digestion, eliminate the buildup of impurities and reduce blockage of circulation to tissues.
2) Imbalance and deterioration of nervous system strength and stability
According to Ayurveda theory, the functioning mode in the physiology called Vata controls the overall level of balance and activation of the nervous system. From this perspective, Vata imbalance can play a major role in diseases and therefore needs to be addressed. Because Vata is the most easily disturbed physiological principle in the body, there are a wide variety of time-tested Ayurveda recommendations available to help balance Vata and remove the symptoms caused by its aggravation.
3) Accumulation of physical and mental stress
Experiences of high mental and physical stress are often associated with a relapse of the condition and worsening of asthma symptoms. Stress reduction therapies are an important component of the Ayurveda approach to managing diseases. Reversing the body's response to stress is aided through:
Ayurveda massage and heat treatments
Yoga asana postures and breathing exercises
Meditation
4) Decrease in the body's natural balancing and self-repair ability
Every health professional must ultimately depend on the body's natural healing, balancing and self-repair ability in order to cure disease. The main approach of Ayurveda is to enliven the natural healing ability of the body. Since the real problem is not the external allergen but the internal imbalance, any increase in the balancing ability of the body could potentially help alleviate symptoms.
A Natural Treatments Approach
The following section describes the classic Ayurveda approaches used to eliminate toxin buildup, stabilize the nervous system, enliven the healing ability of the body and manage stress.
a) Diet, Nutrition and Digestion
Disease can be aggravated through improper diet. For example, some foods can make Vata highly active or clog the physiology, thereby worsening many of the symptoms of disease.
Consultations with Ayurveda Health Consultants will help you understand which foods are the most clogging and obstructing to circulation and which are the hardest to digest. These foods have the potential to create toxins (undigested food not only clogs the channels in the body but actually becomes toxic). Foods that are easily digested create nutrients that are then assimilated into the tissues to rebuild their strength, are recommended. Ayurveda Health Consultants also provide programs to improve digestion, an important step in overcoming disease.
In summary, improper nutrition can create and aggravate disease, but proper nutrition can go a long way toward curing and preventing it.
b) Stress Management and Improved Mental and Emotional Function
Many individuals experience that disease is often worsened by heightened stress, anxiety and mental fatigue. This is due to hormonal changes and other biochemical responses to stress that can aggravate the nervous system, create pain and depress the immune response. The sleep disturbance that is often created by symptoms of disease increases fatigue, which increases one's susceptibility to stress, which in turn aggravates the disease condition. A downward spiral is created.
c) Lifestyle and Daily Routine
One of the most important factors for balancing Vata and keeping the natural cleansing processes strong is to have a lifestyle that does not disturb natural bodily rhythms. When we eat, sleep and exercise in constantly fluctuating and disturbing patterns, the body loses its natural balancing cycles and cannot cleanse or heal itself as effectively. Therefore, regularity in our daily routine can be extremely effective in reducing Vata imbalances.
Improper lifestyle can create the Vata imbalance at the basis of disease and disrupt the body's natural cleansing cycles. Ayurveda Health Consultants review your daily routine and provide the information you need to help create a daily schedule that will actually increase balance in your nervous system and aid in healing your body.
d) Ayurveda Herbs and Reduction in Free Radicals
During your consultation, Ayurveda Health Consultants select the appropriate herbal formulas for aiding the healing process, strengthening digestion and helping the body purify itself.
Free radicals are highly irritating to the physiology and their presence creates and worsens many disorders, including asthma. When appropriate, our Ayurveda Health Consultants can recommend Ayurveda herbs that research has shown to be powerful anti-oxidants and free radical scavengers.
Traditional Ayurveda theory says that herbs are most effective after a person completes an internal cleansing program. We offer cleansing and rejuvenation treatments that you will receive here Once this program is finished, you are ready to gain maximum benefits from the herbal program.
e) Herbalized Oil Massage:
Ayurveda Health Consultants choose a specific herbalized massage oil that is individually prepared for your condition. Ayurveda massage, involves use of specific strokes over different parts of the body.
Daily herbalized oil massage provides a deeply soothing and balancing effect to the entire nervous system. The motion of massage creates heat and friction which enhance circulation and help cleanse the areas of chemical impurities that could be causing symptoms. The oil and herbs cleanse and nourish the tissues, hastening tissue development and repair.
The various herbs that have been boiled into a base oil, and the oil itself, are specifically chosen for their Vata balancing and cleansing influence. The oil allows the herbs to deeply penetrate the tissue beds, thereby balancing the nerve and other tissues in the affected areas.
detox cleansing process
Our offers following types of Ayurveda herbalized massage and therapies

Abhyanga
Abhyanga massage is a gentle yet firm body massage from head to toe using warm blended oils chosen according to your dosha. The oils gently applied over the body as two therapists perform synchronized massage movements to give you a deeply relaxing and rejuvenating experience.


Hot Herbal Poultice Massage
This centuries-old treatment consists of a therapeutic massage using warm poultices filled with healing, fragrant herbs and spices from India. Warm oils are applied over your body. Then, utilizing the poultice, your therapist massages your body in slow rhythmic movements. Indian massage techniques are used to trace the energy pathways, pressure points, and lymphatic drainage. Every touch induces a new level of relaxation and healing. The fragrant therapeutic nature of the oils, poultice, and massage making this a heavenly, sumptuous experience that will leave you feeling rejuvenated, refreshed and wonderfully relaxed.
Shirodhara Therapy
Shirodhara is a significant therapy working through the deepest levels of one's being. "Shiro"; means head and "Dhara" is translated as flow. This flow of warm medicated oil is poured continuously on the forehead, which helps to connect and energize the various streams (nada's) that sustain our life, from the circulation of fluids on the physical to the subtle currents running through the meridians, Chakras and auras. Shirodhara is one of Ayurveda's specialized therapies that involve the use of skilful hands. Excellent for helping to improve blood circulation, thus increasing supply of nutrients and oxygen, which promotes unblocking of nerve impulses to help relieve tension and headaches.
g) Exercise and Flexibility Education
Ayurveda considers proper stretching and flexibility exercises to have a very positive effect on the body's healing response and the treatment of many chronic conditions. We also offer Yoga classes every day and teach a simple but profound set of postures that can be practiced daily to create a healthy flexibility throughout the body. We also instruct you in individualized Yoga breathing practices that create a state of restful alertness in mind and body.
Our courses give you knowledge you can continue to apply after you leave The to maintain your progress in alleviating the symptoms of disease.