What happens when I visit an Ayurvedic practitioner?
People book appointments with Ayurvedic practitioners for a variety of health and wellness reasons, and this ancient Indian health system can offer plenty of benefits. But what happens when you arrive for your first consultation?
Firstly, you will need to be prepared to talk quite a bit about yourself and your history. Ayurveda seeks to support balance across all dimensions of your life. This means that the practitioner will look beyond your physical condition and seek to learn more about your medical history and personal life. They may ask you about your profession, diet, stress levels, exercise routines, mental health and relationships.
The practitioner will do this to build up a detailed picture of where you might have imbalances in your life that the Ayurvedic treatment system can help. He or she will look at symptoms and then identify possible causes of that imbalance, in order to assess treatments.
The sorts of techniques that the practitioner will use include a pulse check, touch – including any laboratory testing – and questioning.
Ayurvedic treatments are designed to battle specific pathogens. This is done differently from the western approach to diagnosis because Ayurveda considers both the disease itself (roga) and the patient (rogi.) This allows for tailored treatments, which are focused on helping the body to heal itself using its own energy. Medicines and treatments are used, but only to support the body in its own repair, rather than to generate it.
A key part of the process includes identifying the patient’s dosha – as Ayurveda believes that disease is caused when these doshas are imbalanced. There are three doshas; kapha, vata and pitta, and in a healthy individual they will be in balance. However, stress, fast living, illness and other conditions cause them to become imbalanced. Techniques such as nutrition, herbs, massage, oils and other methods will be applied expertly to regain the necessary balance.
Ayurvedic systems are ancient and complex and practitioners will study for many years to build up the necessary expertise in order to be able to treat patients in a reliable, safe and successful way. Ideally, find a practitioner who is a member of the British Association of Accredited Ayurvedic Practitioners so that you have confidence in their qualifications and readiness to treat. You can start looking for Ayurvedic Practitioners in our directory
