Graduation day and subsequent group photo

Small group but fine work:

Thank you all for your interest, and up to another and next internship!

Next year january:

Medical Camp on Prameha (diabeter-like conditions), combined with our planned Video Class Retreat; with morning video lectures on the first fifteen chapters of Ashtanga Hridayam and afternoon practicals and demonstrations on all those topics - a steep learning curve guaranteed!

For more info, see: http://www.ayurvedicstudies.nl/courses/retreat/index.html

Tremendous work to make oils!

After days of hard work and a lot of attention to the cooking process, there is 2 liters of fine Gandharva Hastadi Eranda oil, a super castor oil product with even milk cooked into it.

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...