Our senses: the instruments of our perceived reality

I express my sense of gratitude to my teachers: Ann Revington, Elizabeth Jaeger, and Nayna Trehan at “The Art of Living,” ashram in Quebec, who embody the timeless teachings of Ayurveda and its most essential principle: truth. Ayurveda is a science of life that believes in the truth, which is reflected in each and every one of us. It is essentially a way of life that draws the body, mind, and spirit together by promoting health and preventing disease. Ayurveda is a deeply spiritual science because, at the essence of its principles, it works in accordance with nature and the universal laws. It has a deep respect for nature with its holistic and integrative principles rooted in the individual as a microcosm of the macrocosm—meaning as above, so below?. We are energy beings from the grossest to the subtlest levels, and Ayurveda understands how to work with this life energy, for health and healing. To work with the energy we need to understand, measure, and manage it, especially in times of illness.

Physics uses instruments to measure physical energy like infrared, ultraviolet light, and gamma rays, but their instruments cannot measure non-physical energy that physicists claim is an infinite continuum beyond gamma rays. However, non-physical energy can be measured with our senses. For this reason, Ayurveda directly draws from one’s experience and feelings in terms of what is relatively true, for that individual. Ayurveda focuses on not only harmonizing one’s energies for health and longevity but also activating and enlivening each cell with consciousness. Ayurveda Doctor, John Douillard in his book, The Encyclopedia of Ayurvedic Massage, acknowledges that “the anatomy of Ayurveda massage affects the physical and energetic bodies … the goal of [the massage] process is full human potential…The subtle body system and the physical body begin to function as one, resulting in perfect physical, mental, and spiritual health” (2).

I am grateful to Ayurveda and its living knowledge, and I feel blessed to be in service of such profound yet simple wisdom. It is interesting to note that physicists say the next breakthrough in science will be in the inner world, not the outer world. The inner philosophical world is at the heart of Ayurveda’s teachings.

"Everything that exists in the external universe has its counterpart in the internal universe of the human body-mind-spirit complex."  Svoboda on Ayurveda