Ayurvedic Treatment and Self-Healing

Today I am happy to present part two of the very popular Ayurvedic Treatment for Healing and Addiction series.  You will find the much appreciated part 1 of this series here – Ayurvedic Treatment for Addiction – Part 1.  If you are not familiar with Ayurveda, this 2 part series is a must read as it is a great guide on how to use Ayurveda to live a healthy, energetic and long life.  This article is by Dr. Rajiv Parti, who combines both Eastern and Western medicine in his teaching and programs which he shares on his excellent website and blog www.DrRaj.com.  I highly recommend stopping by and checking out his site.

If you would like to be a guest author on Mastery of Meditation and Yoga, please email me at anmol@anmolmehta.com.

8 Steps Ayurvedic Treatment for Addiction and Healing – Part 2

by Rajiv Parti, MD (aka Dr. Raj )

You will find part 1 here – Ayurvedic Treatment for Healing and Addiction – Part 1

5. STEP FIVE: Healing and Revitalization – Prana

Prana is the vital energy brought to us through oxygenation and breath. It’s a known fact that where there is stress, breath is shallower and therefore oxygenation is limited. Where breathing is not happening optimally, oxygenation is limited and there is impaired cellular regeneration and mental functioning.

Learning how to breath, and how to move Prana – vital energy – around the body, especially to those parts that feel wounded or disturbed is a huge component of Ayurvedic care called Pranayama. There are several Pranayama exercises and practices – from Ujjain breath, Kapalabhatti and others.

Yoga is more than physical exercise: yoga is the art of moving Prana – vital life energy – through the body for healing. Yoga therefore becomes another essential instrument for healing in the Ayurvedic approach to addiction recovery.

What You Can Do At Home:

1. Learn about Pranayama and breathing exercises by enrolling at your local yoga studio or go online at www.anmolmehta.com to see a number of videos on different Pranayama exercises you can do at home.

6. STEP SIX Yoga – Replacing Old Bad Habits With New Good Habits

Yoga is the sister science of Ayurveda. It works in addiction because in yoga the body and the mind are simultaneously calmed, with the intentions of practicing acceptance and of changing unhealthy habits. The practice calms the nervous system, the endocrine system and activates the release of healing hormones in the body as well as stimulating the brain to produce alpha waves –which are known to support visualization without emotion: in this state we can see ourselves performing past actions without feeling the emotions attached. Over time this judgement free practice allows us to view images of the past neutrally, and dissolves triggers that may have stimulated an individual turning to a drug of choice.

What You Can Do At Home:

1. Learn about yoga by enrolling at your local yoga studio or go online at Free Online Yoga Classes to join beginner and advanced yoga classes you can do at home for free.

7. STEP 7 Yoga Nidra – Setting New Intentions

Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation that has properties that are uniquely helpful in treating addiction. Yoga Nidra is the practice of lying still on one’s back, with one’s eyes closed whilst following the instructions of a meditation teacher. The practice involves the gradual shutting down of all the body’s sensory channels except hearing, until ultimately the patient is brought to the state of consciousness we usually experience only in sleep – without being asleep. In this state, the body automatically activates rest and repair that is usually saved for sleep, whilst the patient is directed to envision a specific sequence of images with the desired effected that the mind is cleansed all negative subconscious associations usually processed only in dreams; finally, in a state of deep relaxation, usually associated only with sleep, the patient sets new intentions for their life. This process of unconscious cleansing and intentional suggestion in a state of deep rest, relaxation has powerful and lasting effects on reconditioning the addicted person’s mind in their every day functioning. 

What You Can Do At Home:

1. Learn about Yoga Nidra at www.irest.us or visit to listen to master Yogi, Manoj guide you through a Yoga Nidra exercise.

8. STEP 8: Meditation: An Every Day Medicine

Meditation as a practice has been shown to strengthen the pre frontal cortex in the brain – the part of the brain responsible for executive decision making and higher cognitive capacities. It has also been shown to relieve the stress networks of the brain (that activate stress) and to strengthen the GABA reward pathway of the brain.

In addiction, the brain needs all this work: the executive function and decision making faculties are impaired, the stress network is hyperactive, and the reward pathways have been distorted by the drug of choice.

If there’s one medicine that anyone facing addiction can take immediately at no cost: it’s meditation

Practicing meditation daily whilst simultaneously undergoing the kind of Ayurvedic treatment described in the previous six steps is absolutely going to offer daily insight, clarity and awareness – on what the root cause of the stress is; on what is driving a person with addiction to their drug of choice; on what the costs of their addiction are to them and their loved ones; on what they need to do to stop their negative behavior.

This is all essential insight. When it emerges as a patient is undergoing a treatment program as complex and as multisensory as the Ayurvedic treatment for addiction, this information can be integrated in the processes of detoxification, purification, creating new habits and setting new intentions.

Meditation will continue to play a daily critical role in life beyond treatment: knowing early on when stressors are (re) emerging is a key component to staying addiction free. A daily meditation practice delivers this. Mandalas, Mantra and mindfulness techniques concentrate the mind, and create a level of awareness that can direct our behavior: knowing when to step back from things that we know will hurt us and our loved ones; knowing when we want to step forward and celebrate relationships and situations that nurture our wellness.

What You Can Do At Home:

1. Inquire for a meditation class with TM in your area at www.tm.org or else look up a Chopra Center Priomordial Sound Meditation Instructor in your local area at http://www.chopra.com

Rajiv Parti, MD (aka Dr. Raj) is a world leading specialist in pain management with over 30 years practicing clinical experience. He was the Chief of Anesthesiology at Bakersfield Heart Hospital where he specialized in cardiac anesthesia for 15 years. Dr. Raj founded the Pain Management Institute of California, and under his direction it has served thousands of patients for acute and chronic pain relief. He now specializes in promoting spiritual wellness and personal growth with various non-traditional healing modalities.  His new book “The Soul of Wellness “ is being released by Select Books in October 2012.  www.DrRaj.com.