Ayurvedic Consultation
Understanding your body type
Treatment depends on your unique prakriti or constitution, your primary dosha, and the balance between all three of them. As Ayurveda covers a wide spectrum of cases, whether you are suffering from hair loss, vision related problems, ulcerative colitis, sports related injuries or are suffering from a degenerative disease like osteoarthritis, treatments are just as diverse and intricate.
During an initial consultation, I will assess your individual constitution or "prakriti" by various means which include:
- Pulse analysis
- Assessment of eyes, tongue, nails, skin and other physical characteristics
- Assessment of speech and voice
You will also be asked questions about:
1. Behaviors
2. Diet
3. lifestyle
4. medical history
Assessment of these attributes not only revel your prakriti or constitution, but also revels many aspects that are important variables to attaining health and wellbeing.
The treatments may include:
- Body Therapies with medicated oils
- Ayurvedic herbal medicine
- Dietary changes
- Lifestyle changes
- Meditation
- Yoga
The main goal of Ayurvedic medicine is not only healing from a certain condition whether chronic or temporary, but to maintain health and vitality. Ayurveda accomplishes this by attempting to cleanse the body of undigested food called "ama", which can lay stagnant inside of the body and cause illness. This cleansing process can be accomplished gradually through diet and lifestyle or can be treated more aggressively through certain therapeutic procedures. These various modalities are used to reduce any symptoms and ultimately reestablish harmony and balance.
Initial Assessment in Ithaca: $95 for a one hour session, $145 in New York City (You will be required to fill out a clinical intake form)
Follow up consultations in Ithaca: $75 for a one hour session, $125 in New York City
*I am also able to do consultations over the phone
Diagnosis By Pulse
The pulse is the beating of life. On a basic level, the beating of the heart, on a more subtle level - the movement of energy and information, which shows the internal circulation of prana or Energy within a given person. The nature of the pulse reflects the state of individual organs and the body as a whole, as well as the physical and mental constitution. Conditions that can lead to chronic disease manifest themselves in the pulse at the earliest stages, which makes it possible to identify and correct them before they begin to affect the quality of life. Why are some people more prone to colds, while others suffer more from indigestion and digestive disorders, others are constantly injured, and some suffer from seasonal allergies? So far modern medicine has not been able to fully explain this phenomenon. The body and its disposition for different types of diseases is explained by the interaction of special characteristics called DOSHAS.
The DOSHAS are Vata, Pitta and Kapha which are the three bodily humors.
Vata represents the qualities of air and ether elements. Pitta is the fire and water elements and Kapha is a mix of the earth and water elements. The doshas make up the constitution of a given person and are in different proportions within each individual, making every single one of us unique.
In Ayurveda, there are many ways to determine the proportion of doshas by using certain techniques. Ideally, the doshas should all be in equilibrium in each person, but usually one or two doshas are predominate. With the help of these techniques, it is possible to quickly and with a high degree of accuracy determine a person’s body type and "calculate" his or her propensity to certain diseases.
The specific analysis used includes characteristics of many physical and mental properties of a person, which together give the opportunity to identify its belonging to one of the doshas, or rather, its predominance in the body at the moment.
Why it Works
Today, caught as we are in the compulsions of a stress-inducing lifestyle, health very often connotes the existence or the lack of certain physical and mental conditions or diseases. It very often takes a breakdown in our physical and emotional health to make us seek intervention. But modern medicine, with its approach of dealing with specific ailments that have to do with specific body organs, can exclude the crucial totality and therefore miss the root cause of our condition. What is needed is an inclusive approach to healthy living and healing and this is where Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of healing and living, comes in. In effect, Ayurveda makes us pause to reflect on some crucial questions regarding our daily living habits which are connected to our overall mental and physical health
