Health and Enlightenment

The Role of Maharishi Ayurveda in
Preventing and Reversing Chronic Disorders

An Interview with Dr. Steele Belok and Jagdish N. Vaidya

H&E: Why are chronic diseases so widespread today?

Dr. Belok: 1/3 of the US population age 18-44 and 2/3 of the population age 45-65 have at least one chronic disease. The majority of these illnesses are the direct result of unhealthy life styles. Only 3% of the US population have healthy patterns of diet, exercise and daily routine. This means two things – one is that most chronic diseases are predictable (what we call the life style syndrome) and second that they are preventable. Because modern medicine has focused on disease management, we have not paid adequate attention to primary prevention and health promotion, which are important in preventing the development of chronic diseases.

H&E: What can Maharishi Ayurveda (MAV) offer to those suffering from chronic illnesses?

Dr. Belok: The expertise of MAV is in enhancing the body’s own health maintenance mechanisms, rather than being preoccupied with the patient’s disease as we find in modern medicine. The patient’s strengths and weaknesses are addressed in MAV and the main goal of treatment is to optimize the patient’s own self repair capabilities. Because the body’s own restorative mechanisms are the principle mechanism of treatment, there is less possibility for side effects. This is especially important today when our technology-heavy medical interventions are the third most common cause of mortality. It is important for patients to understand, however, that this program is supplementary to modern medical care and should not be understood to exclude continued follow-up by the primary care physician. In general we want patients to follow all the recommendations of their own physicians, and add the MAV components to their health care program.

H&E: Can you tell us more about the Chronic Disorder Program at the MVHC Lancaster and the results one can expect?

J. Vaidya: The Chronic Disorder Program was formulated in 1994 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Maharishi Ayurveda. At that time, he met with many great vaidyas (Ayurvedic experts) from India to help formulate Ayurvedic guidelines for different chronic diseases. I find this program very effective in balancing and strengthening overall health.

Dr. Belok: As a physician who has practiced internal medicine for the last 35 years, I am continually impressed by the surprising improvement of patients who have long standing chronic diseases and come to the center for a different kind of treatment. By giving these patients, who have had everything that modern medicine can offer, the added dimension of health promotion, we find that most patients can significantly decrease the number of medications that they take while improving control of their disease process. In my experience, many patients with hypertension, diabetes, excess stomach acid, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety disorder among others can do better with less medicine. However if patients do taper their medicine, it is with consultation of their own physician and we do strongly advise that they follow-up with their primary care doctors and specialists when they leave the center.

H&E: What is the value of combining several different MAV approaches like MVVT, rejuvenation therapy, herbs, and purification procedures at the same time?

Dr. Belok: The individual technologies all bring wholeness and balance to mind and body, but each working from its own angle. What we find is that the different programs are synergistic, and the net effect of using them together is a more robust health program.

H&E: Mr. Vaidya, before moving to the U.S. you were in charge of several government-funded Ayurvedic hospitals in India. Can you tell us more about that?

J.Vaidya: Much like our modern hospitals, the Ayurvedic ones have different departments or specialties such as internal medicine, rejuvenation therapy, reproductive health, ear, nose and throat disorders, etc. People of all ages come to these hospitals to get help through Ayurvedic therapies, such as panchakarma (cleansing and rejuvenating body treatments), herbal preparations, and diet. We also did research studies on the effectiveness of these therapies.

In fact, there are many parallels between modern medicine and Ayurveda. For example, internal medicine deals with endocrine, digestive and metabolic functions. Western medicine describes these functions in terms of enzymes, hormones, ATP, etc., whereas Ayurveda speaks about 13 agnis, or metabolic “fires.” So it comes as no surprise that Ayurveda can offer help to people who suffer from some form of imbalance in those and other functions.

H&E: As part of the home maintenance program, the guests at Lancaster are also encouraged to practice TM. Can you explain why?

Dr. Belok: This program is about enlivening the most fundamental aspect of mind and body in order to treat disease from its deepest level, ultimately removing the cause of disease. TM takes the mind inward to experience the completely silent level of the self. This is the experience of yoga, which is the wholeness of all the parts functioning together. In the Vedic medicine literature, this experience of yoga is described as a unified field from which mind and matter arise. By enlivening this unified field, all of the expressions of that field (including mind and body), become stronger and more integrated. What we know from published research is that cognitive ability and emotional stability improve, allowing practitioners to make better choices for healthy behavior and less harmful choices.

At the same time, improvements in hypertension, cholesterol, angina, smoking, alcohol and drugs use, anxiety and post-traumatic stress syndrome in TM practitioners have been described in peer reviewed publications. These findings are especially interesting because they do not result from focusing on the individual problem, but by enhancing the person’s own self repair mechanisms. After leaving the MAV health center, practicing TM for 20 minutes twice a day enhances stabilization of the health improvements gained at the center.

Dr. Steele Belok is the Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Staff Physician at Mt. Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, MA

Jagdish N. Vaidya holds and M.D. in Ayurveda from Gujarat Ayurveda University. He is currently the in-residence Ayurvedic expert at Maharishi Vedic Health Center, Lancaster, MA