One week in Heaven
By Helen Weichman, yoga instructor and Brutal exponent.

I recently attended a seven-day Ayurveda and Yoga workshop. Before I start my story though, I want to give a brief introduction about the connection and interaction of Yoga and Ayurveda. Generally Yoga is well known, however it seems, that most people are unfamiliar with Ayurveda, which is the medical side of the yogic system.

From Dr David Frawley’s book “Ayurveda and the Mind”:

“Ayurveda is the five thousand year old Vedic “Science of Life”, the traditional natural healing system of India. It views the physical body as a crystallization of deep-seated mental tendencies carried over from previous lives. Ayurveda regards the mind as the reflection of the body and the storehouse of the impressions we access through the senses. It comprehends body, mind and spirit in a single view and has specific methods for working on each.”

“Ayurveda does not look upon the human being as a limited set of biochemical processes. It does not regard the mind as merely a function of the brain. It does not look upon the individual as a product of social circumstances, though all these factors can be important, but views the human soul as pure awareness, linked with but not limited to the mind-body complex, which is its instrument of manifestation. The body itself is a mental organism, a vehicle of perception designed to support the functions of the senses and to facilitate experience by the mind. Any breakdown in bodily function has its root in the perceptual process and results from wrong use of the senses. Too much, too little or wrong use of the senses results in wrong actions that cause us eventual pain. To understand how our body functions, we must also see how we use our minds.”

“Ayurveda is the healing branch of yogic science. Yoga is the spiritual aspect of Ayurveda, while Ayurveda is the therapeutic branch of Yoga. Yoga in its original intention is a science of spiritual development aiming at Self-realization, the discovery of our true nature beyond time and space. A mind and body free from disease aids this process. Yoga as a medical therapy is traditionally part of Ayurveda, which deals with the treatment of both physical and mental diseases. Ayurveda uses yogic methods, like Yoga postures and breathing exercises, to treat physical diseases. Ayurvedic treatment methods for the mind include yogic practices for spiritual growth, like mantra and meditation. The Ayurvedic view of the mind derives from Yoga philosophy and its understanding of the different levels of consciousness.”

The workshop took place at a plantation retreat up in the hills of Tweed Heads, in the hinterland of the Gold Coast. It is the most beautiful and peaceful spot, overlooking the valley and listening to nothing other than the wildlife, walking around on this vast property and picking bananas, mangos and avocados straight from the trees; you couldn’t ask for more serene surroundings.
Students came from different parts of Australia; they had different backgrounds, different levels of yoga practice and different expectations. There was a whole family including a 6-month-old baby and an incredible independent 89-year-old lady. All together we were 15 people; a coloured mix of people, who bonded really quickly. Some of them had serious medical problems, others had minor injuries and some came only to get a break and relax.

The most remarkable person in the group was the 89-year-old lady, who comes to therapy class at the St Kilda Yoga School every week. She commenced Yoga only in February of this year. She is fearless, when it comes to going into a pose, even advanced ones, like a shoulder stand or hanging upside down in ropes (hanging headstand). She was open to absolutely everything, like eating dessert before the main course; being massaged in the nude by a man, she had just met as well as dancing to techno music on the last night when we fare welled the two doctors with a party. Her spirit is absolutely admirable.

But there were two other women, who displayed the absolute opposite of this openness to experience. They both had medical problems and would have certainly benefited, if they had stayed, but they decided to leave after only three days. They had certain expectations of the workshop, which weren’t met and therefore rejected it all together. I find it quite remarkable, that they were the only ones of the group, who hadn’t done Yoga before and the only ones who couldn’t let go of their expectations and adjust to the situation they found themselves in. Could this mean flexible body = flexible mind, or in this case inflexible body = inflexible mind?

Our daily schedule consisted of two hours of Yoga in the morning, followed by breakfast, then consultation with the Ayurvedic doctor and Ayurvedic masseur. After the treatment we had lunch, then some time off to go to the beach, read or just hang around and then later in the afternoon we had another two hours of Yoga practice respectively pranayama, which is the yogic breathing technique and the preparation for meditation.

The two doctors arrived from Pune, India, just the night before the retreat started. Dr Dilip Gadgil, who is also a lecturer for Sanskrit, the ancient Indian language and who follows in his treatments the original Sanskrit texts only, did the medical examinations and Dr Ghanashyam Marda administered the massages. Dilip started with the consultation at 7am the next morning. Each person was examined and then passed on to Ghanashyam, who performed a one-hour massage using a blend of oils according to Dilip’s diagnosis.

The Ayurvedic massage is comparable to what we call a deep tissue massage and plays an important part in Ayurvedic therapy. The use of slightly warmed oils, mostly sesame, sandalwood and coconut oil, contribute to the calming and soothing effect this massage has on the nervous system and the entire body. There is a special focus on massaging the stomach and the intestines to aid proper digestion. Right after the massage we were told to take a hot shower, so the oil, through the steam of the water, could be fully absorbed by the skin.

At noon Dilip swapped his medical frock for his apron and started preparing the food for our Ayurvedic lunch. An introduction into Ayurvedic cooking was also part of the workshop, so we gathered in the kitchen and wrote down the recipes for the different dishes, that he prepared. The preparation of different meals ensured, that all of the six different tastes sweet, salty, sour, pungent, bitter and astringent were represented as intrinsic to a balanced (sattvic) diet.
During my consultation with Dilip he recommended, that for breakfast I have hot vegetable soup or warm milk with tumeric and ginger, because it is quickly digested. This is even more important as I teach Yoga classes in the morning. Despite that others drank litres of chai tea, which I quite liked, but will never be a replacement for my coffee, Dilip approved of my cup of coffee in the morning as long as I added 2 to 3 Cardamom seeds as this reduce the toxicity. Examining my pulse he concluded, that I had parasites and recommended, that I drink Aloe Vera juice daily before every meal. In addition I should eat lots of pineapple, mint, turmeric and cinnamon, because they act as an anti-parasitic. He stressed the point how important it is to give the digestive system time to do its work and that the snacking habits of western diets are counterproductive. Therefore it is better to keep 3 to 4 hours between meals. Here are some of the rules to keep the digestive process ideal:

• Eat only when you are hungry.
• Sit down, chew properly and don’t eat too slow or too fast.
• Eat regularly at the same times of the day.
• Prefer cooked food to raw. Digestive enzymes work more effectively at higher temperatures.
• Don’t read, work, watch TV or talk while you’re eating. Just eat.
• Fill one third of your stomach with solid food, one-third with liquid and keep one third empty.
• Don’t eat again before you have digested your previous meal. (3-4 hours)
• Drink warm water with or after your meals. Avoid cold drinks, because they compromise the digestive fire (agni).
• Always eat freshly cooked food. Don’t keep leftovers and reheat them.
• Don’t have hot showers after meals. It draws the blood away from the centre into the extremities.

 

Food specific rules:

• Eat sweet food first, then savory ones  (I am not talking about chocolate and ice cream though, rather about fruit). We had sweets like bananas with honey and crushed cardamom pods or a semolina-almond-banana paste. (Quite delicious, really!).
• Milk and fruit are incompatible. Don’t consume them together.
• Don’t dissolve honey into anything hot or heat it up.
• Avoid cheese and yoghurt (never have it for lunch or dinner). If you blend yoghurt with water, you turn it into buttermilk and that is fine to use. That’s how they make Lassis, too.
• Ghee and olive oil are the best fats to use.
• After lunch and dinner drink an infusion of fennel, anis, cumin and coriander seeds and fresh ginger.
• In general all the spices Dillip used in his cooking aid better digestion. They were ginger, garlic, onions, cumin, coriander, cardamom, turmeric, mustard seeds, curry leaves, black garam masala and asafoetida (or known as HING).

 

In Ayurveda food, spices and herbs are your medicine. They are used in a therapeutic way and can cure, according to Ayurveda, any kind of disease. In one of the lectures Dilip gave us, he spoke about a patient, who had cancer and tumors had already spread to various organs. He administered a mono-diet of hot milk with ginger and turmeric and special herbs for 9 month and nothing else, which cured him. The milk used though, is not comparable with the one we buy at the supermarket. It comes from specially fed cows and is used raw and not processed in any way. There is also a difference between cold and hot milk. As soon as you heat milk, it changes its properties. It is also used in treating asthma and other respiratory diseases. These medical views are quite the opposite of western medical cultures.

In another part of the lecture, Dilip talked about how emotions and thoughts have an impact on our health. If you can recall the film “What the bleep…” it is explained, that all bodily functions are under the influence of emotions and that a cell is the smallest unit of consciousness in the body. Furthermore it is said, that to any emotional state that we experience, there is a chemical that matches every emotional receptor on every single cell. Those chemicals are neuron peptides, which dock on to the receptor of a cell and send a signal into it. A cascade of those biochemical reactions can actually change the nucleus of a cell. This sums pretty much up, what has been written in the ancient Sanskrit texts, just a few thousand years earlier. The state of your mind and your emotions are a key factor in your overall health.

My conclusion after this workshop is that, despite the things I learned about my health and despite the massages my body needed and enjoyed, the most benefit comes from connecting with like minded people, having a good time and lots of laughs and that’s what will keep me healthy.