Ayurvedic treatment focuses on rebalancing the body, mind and emotions. 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 balance (this plan is called 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. Pranayama balances the central nervous system, oxygenates the entire body and establishes a sense of calm.
- Therapeutic Treatments
- Meditation
- Yoga: combining breath control, movement and focus, yoga strengthens the connection between the body and the mind, thus establishing and deepening essential awareness of the self. Yoga has been shown to improve circulation and digestion and to reduce blood pressure, cholesterol levels, anxiety, and chronic pain.
- Pancha karma: an intense process of deep purification and rejuvenation. A mono-diet combined with therapeutic treatments and herbal medicines administered over a period of weeks mobilizes and expels waste, and rejuvenates the body. Toxins are removed, fat is burned and healthy flow throughout the system is re-established.
- Herbal medicines: herbs and essential oils work in natural synergy with the body, unraveling and resolving illness and imbalances.
- Lifestyle education: practices are recommended that allow the body to withstand stress, re-establish homeostasis and maintain immunity.
- Counseling: where necessary. Unresolved emotional issues and negative beliefs must be released and repatterned 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.