Ayurveda practices an integrative, holistic, and personalized healing approach hence it examines all aspects of human life when analyzing the root cause of the underlying health imbalances. As such, be prepared to talk about yourself with an Ayurvedic practitioner! Since Ayurveda emphasizes balance in all areas of your life, a practitioner will not only be paying attention to your body signs and symptoms but also will take an extensive medical and personal history. This would include your diet, your daily regimens, your professional occupation as well as mental and emotional aspects of your present and past experiences. Human body is an enigma and an Ayurvedic practitioner is an investigator who is undertaking to solve the riddles of Nature and restore the innate balance.
Initial Ayurvedic consultation includes 3 important tools a practitioner will use:
Observation: The practitioner first evaluates general physical health by looking at the person and observing his/her movements, body contour, color of the skin and eyes, facial lines and ridges, shape of the nose, and qualities of the lips, hair, and nails.
Touch: There is special focus on the patient’s pulse, tongue, nails, and speech. Laboratory testing is also included under this category.
Questions: The practitioner asks the patient about complaints and symptoms, as well as the duration of discomfort and dynamic progression of symptoms. The practitioner also inquires about mental and psychological conditions.
An Ayurvedic assessment and subsequent chikitsa protocol (i.e. protocol designed to help the body in restoring its natural balance), differ from a typical Western medical approach in a way that the assessment and conclusions are made not only on the health issues (called “roga” in Ayurveda) but also on the individual who suffers from health imbalances (called “rogi” in Ayurveda).
The Ayurvedic practitioner considers the whole human being, believing that people have the required energy within them to bring the body back to a healthy, or balanced, state.
The Ayurvedic practitioner considers the whole human being, believing that people have the required energy within them to bring the body back to a healthy, or balanced, state. The exhaustive examination and assessment help the Ayurvedic practitioner not only assess the state of health imbalance but also individualize and tailor chikitsa plan for each rogi. It is therefore called in Ayurveda “Roga-rogi pareeksha”, i.e. assessment of health imbalances with deep examination of an individual. So instead of focusing on a treatment or medicine to heal the illness, the Ayurvedic practitioner concentrates on the techniques that will strengthen the healthy elements inherent in every human body, which will in turn help the individual to recover.