The Routine Way To Good Health

by Shubhra Krishan

Take a Daily Dose of good health from an Ayurvedic physician

You tossed and turned all night. The alarm didn’t go off. You’re late for work. There’s a deadline to meet, but your computer is acting up. Three cups of coffee later, your head still throbs. Your back hurts. Your eyes sting each time you blink.

Diagnosis: stress. Prescription: aspirin? "No way," smiles John Peterson of Muncie, Indiana. Sitting by the banks of the rippling Big Thompson river in Estes Park where he’s flown down on vacation, Peterson looks so relaxed you’d never guess his profession. But perhaps being an Ayurvedic physician takes away much of the stress of being an MD with a thriving practice. "I learned Transcendental Meditation in 1972 to help me cope with the stress and fatigue of medical school and have continued meditating twice a day ever since. I took the first Maharishi Ayur-Veda physicians training course in 1985 and found that it helped me understand myself, the patient, the world, and ever modern medicine in a richer, fuller way," says Dr John Peterson.

"Not just stress--Ayurveda has a terrific way of dealing with disease as a whole", he continues. "Because it treats the person as a whole, and not just that part which is affected. Every day, I see people who perceive their problems as purely physical.

Typically, they will say their head hurts or their kidney seems to be in trouble. But after an appointment with me, they realise it is all one: body and mind and heart. Once they understand that, getting rid of a physical problem becomes a blessing in disguise—it becomes a journey towards fuller health."

How easy is it for him to explain Ayurveda to his patients?

"It takes time, but it is not really tough," says Dr Peterson, "Because the Ayurvedic theory of disease and healing has a very solid scientific base. After all, it does make sense that human beings are matter-- and all matter is composed of the five elements—which are the building blocks of existence. Again, it logically follows that only living matter can have those three controlling forces we call doshas. Look at the properties of each Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Vata is what moves us, Pitta is the fire that burns within, Kapha stabilises us in body and mind. Notice how dynamic they are, these three doshas—how intimate with and vital to the sustenance of life. It is not difficult to understand that it's the interplay between these doshas that affects the general and specific condition of a living being."

But there are no stethoscopes or X-rays calibrated to measure the health of these doshas. So how exactly does he diagnose his patients?

"Through pulse diagnosis and observation of how you look, move, and talk—I first determine your individual constitution and the state of your doshas," says Dr Peterson. It is amazing, he says, what you can learn simply by placing three trained fingers on the wrist. " You might think all I can catch is the heart rate and rhythm," he smiles, "But invariably, I surprise my patients by telling them things their own spouses may not have known."

Like the lady who came to him with a complaint totally unrelated to her digestion. The doctor took her pulse, and immediately knew her Apana Vata , the sub-dosha that resides in the abdomen, was out of balance. When he told her that, she stared at him in total disbelief, and then revealed that she had indeed been suffering digestive problems for years, but had given up on them because nobody had been able to help her.

Dr Peterson says he gave the lady just one medicine. Plain warm water. He asked her to drink it as many times a day as she could. Within weeks, the lady was cured of her problem. "It’s a miracle," she enthused on the phone.

So how does pulse diagnosis really work?

"Each wave of your pulse conveys something important to me. I read the pulse at three different levels of pressure, each of which informs me about the state of your doshas" explains Dr Peterson. " Further, your pulse tells me about the health of your srtoas—or microcirculatory channels, which carry nutrients to the tissues. If one or more of these srotas are blocked or impeded, I’ll know at once."

Dr Peterson says most people who see him are new to these ideas, so he advises them to take their time getting used to these basic Ayurvedic concepts. "For I know that the more a person believes in treating himself/herself as a whole, the faster and better the healing process will be." Happily, says the doctor, people find these concepts so very logical they nearly always want to know more.

This lady, says Dr Peterson, had tried every remedy in the book before she discovered water. That, he says, is because the modern world is so totally conditioned to quick relief and suppressive treatments. In Ayurveda on the other hand, says Dr Peterson, you need never damage your body by ingesting side-effect-causing pills and potions. You give it just what it really needs. Some tender loving care, supplemented by totally natural and safe herbal formulations.

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