Ayurveda , the science of life, prevention and longevity is the oldest and most holistic medical system available on the planet today. It was placed in written form over 5,000 years ago in India, it was said to be a world medicine dealing with both body and the spirit.
Below is a snippet of a thought-provoking article from John Douillard, Ph.D. of the Lifespa in Boulder, CO. Please follow the link to read the whole article.
In this article, he discusses depression and anxiety from an Ayurvedic perspective, with a focus on the koshas (which translates from Sanskrit as "sheaths") and which are described in the Vedic tradition as the layers of human consciousness that exist around the Self, like lampshades around a lightbulb.
In the beginning...
After we are born, we spend the first two years of our lives communicating heart-to-heart with our parents and loved ones. No words are said, but the communication is direct. We live in a heart-centered world, where we are safe, full, complete, and content. The heart is the home of the "bliss sheath" (anandamaya kosha), which lies closest to our core Self.
Then, one day in preschool, we get our feelings hurt--someone takes our seat or makes fun of us on the playground, and we are crushed. We quickly realize that this is not a safe world and that we have to protect our feelings. So we begin to employ our minds, the manomaya kosha, to protect ourselves. Unfortunately, the mind does too good of a job at protecting us, and over time, it creates a seemingly impenetrable barrier, doing everything it can to keep all invaders out of our delicate heart space, including ourselves. From an innocent and natural desire to create protection from hurt emerges an overlay of self-protection that cuts us off from who we truly are.
Simply put, depression occurs when a person loses access to the essential Self as a result of this barrier. For a sensitive person, who by definition has more innate access to the heart and soul than most people, to lose this deep access is quite tragic. Fatigue is the first physiological response to a mind that has driven the body into exhaustion in the name of control and self-protection. Anxiety is a result of this exhaustion because the body and mind need energy and reserves to calm themselves down, stabilize moods, and initiate sleep. As the exhaustion persists, the body and mind ultimately become depressed or physiologically exhausted.
The good news is that healing the cause of anxiety and depression is not a painful process of endurance and strain; it is a joyful discovery of your true, abiding nature.
John Douillard, Ph.D.
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