Backache, Natural Ayurvedic Treatments
Much like stress, backache has become something of a common thing most of us have experienced at some point or another. Some of the most common causes of backache include bad posture, extended periods of time sitting in the same position, lack of exercise, excess body weight, carrying heavy loads, constipation and stress. In women some additional causes include wearing high heels or irregular menstrual cycles. The reasons for back pain are many and varied and can even be a combination of causes. A backache starts as a sharp or dull pain in the mid to lower back area. If the causes do not get treated and the problem persists, chronic backache can result and pain that spreads to both hips and waist.
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Ayurveda recognizes 2 types of allergies -– one that are caused by genetic predisposition (which means an individual is born with it). It can be a sensitivity to allergens in the enviornment or it can be an allergy to a specific food. For anyone suffering from allergies from birth, the best approach would be to consult a legitimate Ayurvedic practitioner who will conduct an extensive exam and, based on the results, suggest possible treatments and lifestyle changes that will have to be implemented on the road to recovery. It is not recommended to try treating yourself or your loved ones without a consultation or examination.
Constipation is usually associated with vata imbalance. Vata dosha rules the large intestine. It makes sense, then, that when vata dosha becomes aggravated, it imparts a cold, dry, hard edge to the colon. Without some warmth and moisture, it becomes difficult to move waste out of the body.
Considered the world’s oldest fruit, the pomegranate is a long way from extinction. In fact, it’s making a major comeback as one of our healthiest and most versatile foods…and considered by many to be one of the Earth’s healthiest things. First, the delightful red juice of this timeless fruit is one of our best sources of antioxidants and many of the new anti-oxidant “red drinks” coming onto the market include pomegranate in their formulations. You can also find pomegranate juice with nothing but…pomegranate juice in it. One great source is 
Traveling well and arriving somewhere balanced and sane takes lots and lots of practice. There are so many unknown variables (weather, security issues, unknown places, faces, languages) and plenty of room for things to go wrong (ever forgotten your passport or ID?), not to mention the physical, mental and emotional stress that traveling can put on a person’s shoulders. It’s enough to throw Vata dosha completely out of whack, which in turn messes up all your other doshas. Sigh…
Back in the days of the caveman and cave woman, life was simple. Back then it was all about “fight or flight.” Now life is complex and we’ve traded the occasional brush with life or death, fight or flight for slow, daily accumulating stress. While we might be aware that stress is seriously affecting our health, stress means different thing to different people. The body is able to cope magnificently with daily stress –- up to a point.
The idea of cleansing and detoxifying the body has been around for thousands of years. References to colon cleanses appear in the Old Testament, the Vedas, and other spiritual texts and are part of just about every culture on the planet. Given that the digestive system and colon are two of the main entry and exit routes of the body — most cleansing systems focus on these areas. Plus, it’s now well known that years of poor eating habits can cause toxins and other matter to build up in the colon and intestines. So that’s where detox is primarily focused.
Just about any time you have a common cold, you’re dealing with an imbalance of Kapha dosha. Remember some of the attributes of Kapha: cold, wet, slow, heavy, sticky. Now think about the symptoms you have during a cold: runny and/or stuffy nose, lots of mucous, sneezing, coughing, low energy, etc. Can you feel the resemblance? If it still doesn’t make sense just think about mucous, the epitome of Kapha.
Here’s an antioxidant berry juice I want at my next dinner party. It’s a goji berry drink packaged in a light-bulb-shaped bottle and dubbed gloji. I personally gave this one the best design award at the 2008 Natural Products Expo West in Los Angeles. It’s about as bright an idea as you can get. The gloji web site is as design-rich as the product. Go to 
If you think that hemp plantations are just making excuses for growing marijuana, you couldn’t be farther from the truth. Although a relative of the marijuana plant, the hemp plant that used for nutritional products, paper and cloth fiber has almost no THC, the compound that makes the other plant a favorite smoke-able pastime for many. No, the hemp plant is poorly understood and vastly under-utilized, given its amazing qualities. It suffered from a negative PR campaign back in the days of George Washington, who was, in fact, a hemp farmer. According to history, the cotton growers ran the hemp farmers into the ground to put cotton on the top of the heap, as it were. As a result, our founding father died poor and the world suffered the loss of the hemp industry. But natural health and green living enthusiasts have gotten behind some of the more exciting products that come from hemp. And with more and more companies jumping on the trend…we’re benefiting from lower prices and more variety in the products available to us.
The coffee business is just too lucrative to let a thing like “increased awareness on health” take a bite out of it. So coffee makers have turned their resources to making healthier beans and enriching the coffee experience at the same time. The trend toward health-enhancing coffees is on the rise. Here are some of the early entries…
Been staring at your computer all day? Especially as we age, long periods of intense visual concentration can leave us with tired, bleary, bloodshot eyes and acute blurry vision. This excess of the fire element is generally considered an imbalance of pitta dosha. You can correct this with a balancing Ayurvedic treatment.
All of us have experienced a bout of insomnia at one time or another. Whether the insomnia is from a lack of sleep, or non-restorative sleep (i.e. sleep that leaves you feeling un-rested), if it persists it can lead to more serious emotional problems such as depression and anxiety. There are many sleep medications on the market today, but most medical doctors don’t recommend taking them for more than several days due to side effects and a risk of dependency. Ultimately, the goal with any sleep disorder is to restore a normal, natural sleeping pattern.
This is an American version of the popular and traditional Indian dish called palak paneer or “spinach with cheese.” The recipe is designed to be easy for anyone to follow, without requiring tedious and difficult traditional cooking methods (such as making ghee or clarified butter). You’ll find that it brings you quite within range of the age-old recipe, which, I’m told, is actually a Pakastani dish, not an Indian dish.
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Get the fundamental principals of this time-tested medical tradition from India. This summary article gives you a quick overview of Ayurveda and what it’s all about. 
The elements are the foundation of nature and of Ayurvedic medicine. All of the Doshas come from these and all healing comes from the Doshas. It’s all in nature. 
Ayurveda works with three primary human “types” and all healing comes from the balancing of these. This article explains how the types work and the characteristics of each. 
The message of this book is clear. You can improve your immune system in general with diet, lifestyle, and natural medicines. We need viral immunity in particular because of the dramatically increasing incidence of powerful new viral infections…
