Ayurvedic treatment focuses on rebalancing the doshas. On your first visit, the practitioner will take a detailed medical history, check your pulse, feel your abdomen, examine your tongue, eyes, nails, and skin, and listen to the tone of your voice. The practitioner will also ask you questions about your general health, paying special attention to your lifestyle, diet, habits, and surroundings. The practitioner will then recommend how to restore your natural dosha balance (an Ayurvedic Protocol), which almost always includes changes in lifestyle, especially diet. Practitioners draw from more than 20 types of treatment, but the most commonly prescribed include:
- Pranayama: breathing exercises. Practicing pranayama helps you feel calm.
- Therapeutic Treatments
- Meditation
- Yoga: combining breath control and awareness, movement and focus. Yoga has been shown to improve circulation and digestion and to reduce blood pressure, cholesterol levels, anxiety, and chronic pain
- Pancha karma: cleansing the body to purify it and reduce cholesterol. Practitioners use methods that cause the body to cleanse itself of toxins
- Herbal medicines: prescribing plant medicines to restore dosha balance
- Lifestyle education: practices are recommended that allow the body to withstand stress and experience stability
- Counseling: where necessary. Unresolved emotional issues must be released to allow for greater health
During the process of implementing Ayurveda, it is not uncommon to meet weekly with a practitioner until a condition is resolved.