A BRIEF REVIEW OF AYURVEDIC CONCEPTS

with examples of essential Ayurvedic herbs and useful formulas

by Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, OR

Ayurvedic medicine is one of the major traditional medicine systems of the world, second only to Chinese medicine in terms of the extent to which it is used today. It has influenced Chinese medicine by virtue of the transfer of several herbs native to India to China for incorporation into the Chinese system. Much of that transfer was accomplished over a thousand years ago. Chinese medicine and India's medicine have been combined into Tibetan medicine to help produce yet another major traditional medical system. India's tradition has also combined with that of the Greeks to help form the modern Unani medicine as practiced in Pakistan and surrounding areas.

There is no licensing for the practice of Ayurvedic medicine in the United States (or most other countries outside those where it has been a central part of the healing tradition for centuries). It is provided by health professionals who have studied the subject independently (a few medical doctors, naturopathic physicians, acupuncturists, etc.), or interested persons may obtain herbs and formulas on their own by self-selection of remedies sold in stores or via the internet.

Ayurvedic medicine is of some interest to these practitioners and the general public for several reasons, aside from its long history of use, such as:

• Ayurvedic suppliers are becoming a strong force in the nutriceutical industry, providing concentrated extracts or isolated components from major Ayurvedic herbs. These are coming to the attention of the public at large as well as many practitioners.
• While all traditional medical systems emphasize the importance of diet in health and use of certain foods as medicines, the Ayurvedic system is especially known for this and offers some practical advice.
• The modern emphasis on scientific evaluation of traditional remedies means that there is increasing desire to use "proven" substances, regardless of which medical system they have been derived from. Thus, those who have studied Chinese medicine or Western herbs will still find any well-studied Ayurvedic herbs of value to know, understand, and possibly use.
• In trying to grasp the meaning and application of traditional and modern medicine concepts, it is helpful to see the differences between medical approaches around the world so that one does not become confined to a single cultural model.

In this document, there are a few pages devoted to depicting the basic Ayurvedic system, with focus on the dominant tridosha framework. This is followed by an exposition of 12 of the key Ayurvedic herbs, with examples of one formula each that have them as their primary ingredients. These formulas are available for use in convenient tablet form. Many other Ayurvedic formulas, both traditional and modern, also rely on these key herbs, so that the explanations provided here should be helpful in understanding other formulations that may be encountered.