This week a friend texted me out of the blue - “What do you think of Ayurvedic cleanses?”
I asked if they wanted to talk on the phone, or if I ought to answer via text.
“So it’s not a short answer then…”
It is not. What follows is not a text thread, but a more curated reflection on the topic inspired by the text responses.
And? A note of context. I’m not an Ayurvedic practitioner. My experience with Ayurveda includes the reading of several books and seeing four separate practitioners trained in different lineages for support in healing.
These are my opinions on the matter.
And, CW: food. If you are someone for whom reading a reflection on food might cause irreparable harm, please only continue in the loving presence of your therapist.
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Ayurveda is often translated as the ‘science of life’ or the ‘wisdom of life.” I prefer the latter, as the Vedas are ancient tomes filled with ideas, and I believe those ideas to be bigger than the conversation of science. I say this as a person whose twitter profile includes “science is my love language.” Science is a tricky word to translate, as in the West, it means as derived from the scientific method.
Wisdom has no such methodology.
And?
Wisdom rarely grabs the mic.
Ayurveda is a nesting doll of curious ideas and methods that is rich with wisdom and complexity. Each human is comprised of both matter and energy, and the energy at the time of conception is an ideal balance for that individual. It is their moment of perfection. Each of us originated from a space of perfection, and life circumstances and conditions will forever change from that moment. This will pull us out of balance, and the practice of Ayurveda includes awareness of these forces and an attempt to balance them out, returning to our natal state of perfection.
It is not a practice that reaches completion, and it is entirely custom. No two humans (except possibly identical twins) would receive the same advice or direction at any given moment of their lives.
In the Vedas, it is said that the Universe creates these incarnations so that each individual will have a unique experience and the universe will know itself better by having these additional, novel experiences.
(How cool is that?!)
Literally all experiences tug on us. Seasons of life, weather, illness, nourishment, activity, interpersonal dynamics. We are wildly resilient and equally vulnerable, and so we may at a certain point notice we’ve migrated far from that state of balance into territory where life is painful and miserable. At this point, we may seek the wisdom of a healer.
Frequently in the West, we see a Western Medical doctor, who operates within their scope and training, guided by the wisdom of the scientific method. This is often the right thing.
And yet?
Sometimes after consulting the Western Healer, we find that they do not locate a treatable imbalance. Our sluggishness or fatigue may not be due to anemia or other treatable causes, and instead the Western practitioner may make a suggestion that is quite in line with Ayurveda, which we promptly ignore: maybe cut back on the caffeine, eliminate alcohol, stick to a regular bed time, and cease the doom scrolling
BLAH.
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