Ayurveda Specialties » Ashtanga Ayurveda

Kaya Chikitsa – Ayurvedic General Medicine
Kaya chikitsa or kayachikitsa is the first branch of Astanga Ayurveda or eight-branched Ayurveda. Kaya means body and chikitsa means treatment.

Charaka Samhita by Acharya Charaka is the first script that gives elaborate knowledge about Kaya chikitsa or Ayurvedic general medicine.

The practitioner must identify first the nature of the person (rogi pareeksha), and then the nature of the disease (roga pareeksha). This is an elaborate process and goes through different stages of assessing the dosha type of the person, his/her physical and mental capabilities, the stage of disease etc are all taken into account before prescribing a medicine.

According to Charaka, the body has the power to cure any imbalances that occur to the body. The function of medicines is to revitalize the life force in our body system, thus enabling our body reach a healthy state.

Diseases according to Ayurveda are the imbalance caused to the tridosha system of body. imbalance in any one dosha can affect the balance of other doshas too. Thus, it is important to quickly assist the body reinstate the state of balance. The imbalances can sometimes be occurred due to the action of mind or due to irregularities in sapta dhatu system or due to deposit of malas (wastes or toxins).

Sodhan or purification of the body is the first thing about treating the body. Panchakarma is a method of full body cleansing to expel accumulated toxins from the system. Panchakarma is a deep cleansing method, which involves five karmas namely nasya, vaman, virechan, basti and rakthamoksha.

Shaman is treating the body with snehan and swedan. Snehan is oil therapy and swedan is forcing the body to sweat, after shaman.

Purva karma is the preparatory procedure for panchakarma and paschat-karma is the therapy that follows panchakarma.

The body naturally has a tendency to expels accumulated bodily wastes (ama). At times, this expelling of toxic wastes can become difficult for the body. The sodhan therapy is a way of assisting the body in expelling those toxins from the body, thereby facilitating healthy functioning of body tissues.

Balachikitsa, Pediatrics in Ayurveda
Balachikitsa (pediatrics) in Ayurveda is one among the eight branches of Ashtanga Ayurveda. Other name for Bala chikitsa is Kaumarbhritya or Kaumara bhritya. Caring of children follows two main methods - preventive and treating methods. Preventive methods start even before the birth of child. In fact, it begins even before the child is conceived within the womb of a woman. Fresh food, pleasant mind, good atmosphere, etc are necessary for the mother to give birth to a healthy child.

Balachikitsa covers special care to be given to the child in each and every stage of growth. Specially prepared ointment is applied to the whole body, excluding head, mainly to avoid future diseases caused due to vata. The room where the baby is kept is sterilized by smoking with medicinal herbs that have sterilizing and cleaning properties.

The best food for a new born baby is breast milk.

Bala (pronounced ba-lah) means children below the age of 16. Almost all diseases that affect adults attack children too. Diagnosis of the disease can be a bit difficult with children. Kids and children are also given much lower doses medicines than to adults.

Vagbhata in his classical writings, Ashtanga Samgraha and Ashtanga Hridaya, which are mostly descriptions and abstract of previously available books, Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita tells in detail about Balachikitsa including prenatal, natal and post natal care to be given to children. Healthy children are responsible for healthy society – this is the unquestionable view of Ayurveda. It not only deals with the physical care, but also the requirement of giving healthy food for the mind. Ayurveda believes that both healthy mind and healthy mind are inter-dependant.

Balachikitsa is the branch of Ayurveda that deals with health issues of children, from before conception to the age of sixteen.

Damshtra Chikitsa, Toxicology in Ayurveda
Damshtra Chikitsa (toxicology) is one among the eight branches (ashtanga) of Ayurveda. It comes in the section called Agata Tantra. The word ‘damshtra’ memorizes the teeth of a poisonous snake.

Visha is any substance that can cause illness or even death to man or any living thing.

Visha is the opposite of Amrit, which gives immortality to man. Anything can become toxic when taken in an excess amount. An accurate definition of toxin is really not possible. There are several plants that have highly toxic fruits or flowers. The same fruits or flowers or other parts can be used as a component for highly effective medicine to treat many serious diseases and conditions.

The substances that cause illness can generally be called toxins. The main divisions here are toxins from bites of snake, insects, etc and ingestion of toxin by eating, drinking or inhaling. Toxic plants and plant products absorb the prime priority here. Incompatible food too can act as toxin.

The much discussed topic, free radicals in medical circuits is an example of endo-toxin.

Snake Venom
Though viewed with terror, only a few species of snake actually has venom powerful enough to kill a human being. Snake venom can cause critical damage to blood structure – this later causes conditions like anemia, asthma, etc. Proper medication can prevent such situations from occurring.

Insect bites
Insect bites can cause pain, itching, boils, etc. Ayurveda suggests different medicines for specific species to use under given conditions. The medicines can give results only when administered in the desired manner.

Artificial Toxins
Insecticides, chemicals, food additives, vegetables and fruits grown with the help of fertilizers, pesticides etc are all artificial toxins. Autoimmune diseases develop due to the intake of artificial toxins for a long period. Medicines that depend solely on chemical combinations can push the person to an infinite cycle of killing a toxin with another one, and later falling prey to a toxin that is powerful in his body.