AS the field of alternative medicine gains immense popularity in the wake of COVID-19, the ancient practice of Ayurveda with India as its land of origin can don the role of a powerful force in the fight against the coronavirus, according to a seasoned Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.
Weill Cornell Medicine is the biomedical research unit and medical school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university and according to Dr Bhaswati Bhattacharya, practising Ayurveda is like approaching the disease from the perspective of air, water, land and time. “This is elaborated in a chapter on epidemics known as janapada-uddhvansa in ancient classic medical texts. The daily lifestyle of a survivor includes cleaning the air, using clean water properly, cleansing the land, and becoming aware of time,” Bhattacharya told IANS in an interview.
Alongside this pillar of lifestyle guidelines are a pillar of wisdom for food (ahara) and a pillar of medicines for epidemics. According to Bhattacharya who is Fulbright Specialist in Public Health-Integrative Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, Ayurveda does not focus on the virus. “It focuses on the person, the host. Every seed that can grow will not grow in every soil. Ayurvedic wisdom says to empower the soil of the body so that the virus cannot take hold. This is pure personalised medicine at its best,” she emphasised. Ayurveda also offers guidelines for food during epidemics, stressing that we should keep our guts clean. We should eat simple foods, healthy foods, and foods that do not disrespect the environment. “If you need extra help, try taking 1 tsp of triphala with hot water at night.
If you need more help, contact an ayurvedic physician. You can take 1 tsp of dashmul powder with 1 tsp of psyllium husk with hot water at night. The main goal is to have large bowel movements daily and get the gut clean,” she advised. To keep the prana-vaha-srotas (ENT+respiratory system) clean, make a bitter kada/kara/kwatha. Decoctions at sunrise and sunset are a ritual for cleaning the nasal passages by stimulating the bitter taste buds, which turns on the airway’s immune machinery.
“Guduchi/giloy (Tinospora cordifolia) is the best plant for boosting immunity during this pandemic and is found in many forms,” she said. For more specific symptoms, such as lower airway breathing difficulty, middle airway asthma, or upper airway, special formulations such as Soma Asava, Yashi Churna, Agasthya Haritaki Rasayan, Pushkarmoola asava, Vasa Avaleha, and Chitraka Haritaki Avaleha exist. According to her, Ayurveda is not a chemistry-based science. “It includes ecology, geology, biology, botany, and many other modern sciences which are disconnected. Trusting Ayurveda as an overall approach is trusting that all sciences are deeply connected,” said Bhattacharya who hold a Ph.D in Ayurveda from Banaras Hindu University and has been affiliated with Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.
Introducing
Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya,
MD, PhD, MPH
By Bharat Upadhyay,
Originally published on 28-Apr-2020 in The Hitavada, The people's paper.
‘Ayurved empowers body with better immunity’