Patients and making medicines

Today we again saw patients in follow ups. Sometimes a clear improvement can be seen. Today we also saw a patient who had had blood letting last week, for skin complaints, but his complaints got worse this week after eating fish and meat, together with some other heat promoting habits, all expressing through his skin complaints.

Another thing we did today was to explore some formulations which were prescribed several times during the last internship weeks. One of them was Gandharva Hasta Eranda Taila, based on castor oil. The actual production was started today in the pharmacy and we tasted all ingredients as well as observed the start of the cooking process. Here are some photographs from this event:

Seeing and assessing the patients

This week we have been busy so far with seeing dozens of patients for an indepth assessing of their Vata Vyadhi complaints and symptoms.Many of them were already put on medication in the pre-selection consultations: in almost any treatment some Langhana will be necessary, which can - amongst others - be done with Pacana. Also local treatment - for painful joints etc. - was given previously, in the form of tabs and oils or ointments, or even Lepanas. Now this week, deepre assessments are made and effect of the first line of treatment of last week, is being evaluated.

Many patients suffer as a result from various causative factors, one of them being stress from a hard working life, sometimes as a kuli, sometimes as a labourer in paddy fields. This is also due to the selective group of patients coming for the free medical camp. This stress in combination with some unhealthy food habits and subsequent long standing digestive problems, can lead to various complex manifestations, and in this case we are particularly interested in Vata Vyadhi. One often seen complication is the complication of above mixing with Rakta Dushti and bringing forth Vata Rakta group of signs and symptoms, especially in many older people. So we have seen many severe pain in the joints problems, mixed with dry skin on the legs, varicosity and swelling, often warm or hot.

Also today: Dr. Vijith was in an interview in one major magazine in Kerala, and his photo was on the front cover. In the magazine was also a picture of Dr. Vijith teaching in room 255 in the Academy of Ayurvedic Studies in Amsterdam!

One last picture in this post is from a special meal prepared every day - three times - for one patient here with a specific digestive problem, called Grahani: the treatment here is not always just massages and pnacha karma, but sometimes also very specific foods and meals as a medicine for a specific complaint.

 

 

 

 

 

Consultations going on.

Dr. Vijith making headlines....

Right above: room 255 in AAS, Amsterdam.

Customized treatment even in terms of food/meals.

Medical Camp in full swing

Today was the last day of intakes: selection takes place on the basis of a real Vata Vyadhi pathology, it has to be moderate to severe, and when the patient has a job earning the money for a family, some priority is given.

In the meantime the students are making forms to assess Doshas and Gunas:

And here are a few short movie impressions of the intakes, consults and making of medicines:

Back water boat tour with traditional teaching

Today we went on a boat tour on the beautiful Keralan backwaters. And it was a special boat tour: we were guided by two excellent Ayurveda teachers and all the junior doctors studying with Dr.Vijith at the moment. Dr. Ram Manohar was the visiting Ayurveda teacher and he taught a class - traditional style - to all of us, on a few slokas of one practical chapter in Ashtanga Hridayam.

Dr. Ram Manohar started the session with reciting the first few lines of Chapter 1 of Ashtanga Hridayam:

Ragadi rogan satatanu shaktan ashesha kaya prasritana sheshan

Autsukya moharati danjaghana yo’purva vaidhyaya namo’stu tasmai

Va. Su. 1

Just like Dr. Vijith always does with our AAS students. And then they all together recited the whole chapter, a part of which you will see in the little added movie in this blog:

Reciting from the Sanskrit texts has always been very important in this tradition. They actually discovered through MRI research that an even more profound effect on the brain takes place when one is reciting while reading the Devanagari text instead of transcription (Roman).

Dr. Ram Manohar also explained about the following aspects:

·      Reciting the text perfectly is very important – in the past no mistakes were allowed, which also safeguarded the texts

·      Singing and reciting needs to be comforting and inviting

·      The voice should be used wholeheartedly and there should be no inhibition

·      The listener should spontaneously go into meditation by hearing the recitation

 

Only pics today...

The stage is almost set and the quiz certificates signed

Today we are doing the last and final preparations for the openeing event, tomorrow 12th January 2013. I will copy, paste and post the questions from the quiz tomorrow, so that you can partake as well!

Participation Certificates for over 100 students

Seats for celebrities

Work going on in Sreekrishna by Academy of Ayurvedic Studies

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The day of the opening of the Medical Camp and Internship is slowly drawing nearer. The stage is being built, hundreds of plastic chairs are standing ready in the garden, and everywhere in Vaikom there are big posters with the announcement of the event. We will have a competition quiz with students from high schools, and we are preparing an official certificate for the participants.

In the meantime we have been filming chapter 12 and 13 of the Ashtanga Hridayam Video Class Lectures Series, and again so much information was to be found in those condensed 2 to 4 hour lectures. Still two chapters to go, and then we have the whole series of the first 15 chapters ready, including 2 introductory video lectures. Students and other interested people will get the full opportunity to go through this whole series of training through video classes soon, either through a classroom setting or online. Keep checking the AAS website.

We will also offer the series as a Theory and Practice Retreat in the Sreekrishna clinic somewhere in the next year. This will be a most superb way of diving into the core of this very authentic Ayurveda track. In the clinic a lot of practical implications of the theory presented in this Video Class series can be shown and demonstrated, or clarified by living examples.

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