Inside Ayurveda

Ayurveda is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the world’s oldest comprehensive health care system and is indigenious to India where it is widely practised. It is free of negative side effects and offers economical solutions to major current healthy problems worldwide. 

What is Ayurveda?

Sonja Breuer, an Ayurveda Consultant explains it this way: “Ayurveda is a medical system and is used to maintain health and prevent disease.

It has two distinct branches.

• medicine – chikitsa
• health maintenance – swasta rta

The medicine branch consists of:

1. Internal
2. Eyes, Ears, Nose, Throat
3. Surgery
4. Gynecology and Pediatrics
5. Psychiatry
6. Reproductive
7. Rejuvenation and Anti Aging
8. Toxicology

Ayurveda Products are natural and whole in the way that the whole plant is being used. No single component is extracted and given on its own never, this is non-ayurvedic. Medicines are made by processing the whole plant, this keeps side effects away. Side effects come when single components are extracted and given in large dosis. We even don’t extract vitamins, we give the whole plant, in the case of vitamin C for example, the Ayurveda Amla fruit is being used. The amla fruit increases in Vitamin C once it is dried. The benefit of naturally grown is that the vitamin C is fully bioavailable. You have to be able to replicate the products in our kitchen and your garden if you want to. It needs to be sustainable like this and recipes need to be passed down over generations. Technology can only be used if it is replicable in the kitchen and by the individual, if they need or want to.

That’s why growing conditions and nutrient dense foods is so important to ayurveda and as a practitioner I am also a farmer. Farmacy instead of Pharmacy.

Often wild growing plants are being used to make medicines and this has resulted in plants becoming extinct. So there is conservation to be done too.

So you see how grass root Ayurveda is.“

How is it used

Ayurveda is an alternative medicine system developed more than 3,000 years ago in India. It is one of the world’s oldest holistic (“whole-body”) healing systems and is based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and spirit. Its main goal is to promote good health, not fight disease.

Ayurveda’s belief is that each person is made up of five basic elements found in the universe: space, air, fire, water, and earth.  These elements are combined in the human body and form three life forces or energies, called doshas which in turn control how your body works. They are:

• Vata dosha (space and air)
• Pitta dosha (fire and water)
• Kapha dosha (water and earth)

Although everyone inherits a unique mix of the three doshas, one is usually stronger than the others. Each dosha controls a different body function so, the health issues you develop along with your chances of getting sick are linked to the balance of your doshas.

Vata Dosha
Those who practice Ayurveda believe this is the most powerful of all three doshas. It controls very basic body functions, like how cells divide. It also controls your mind, breathing, blood flow, heart function, and ability to get rid of waste through your intestines. Things that can disrupt it include eating again too soon after a meal, fear, grief, and staying up too late.

If vata dosha is your main life force, you’re thought to be more likely to develop conditions like anxiety, asthma, heart disease, skin problems, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Pitta Dosha
This energy controls your digestion, metabolism (how well you break down foods), and certain hormones that are linked to your appetite.

Things that can disrupt it are eating sour or spicy foods and spending too much time in the sun.

If it’s your main life force, you’re thought to be more likely to develop conditions like Crohn’s disease, heart disease, high blood pressure, and infections.

Kapha Dosha
This life force controls muscle growth, body strength and stability, weight, and your immune system.

You can disrupt it by sleeping during the day, eating too many sweet foods, and eating or drinking things that contain too much salt or water.

If it’s your main life energy, practitioners believe you may develop asthma and other breathing disorders, cancer, diabetes, nausea after eating, and obesity.

Ayurvedic Treatment

LOVE Yourself Project’s Conscious Mentor, Sonja Breuer, is an Ayurveda Consultant who creates a treatment plan specifically designed for you. She’ll take into account your unique physical and emotional makeup, your primary life force, and the balance between all three of these elements.

The goal of treatment is to cleanse your body of undigested food, which can stay in your body and lead to illness. The concept is to keep your body in balance – detox and tonification.

An interview with Sonja Breuer

Meet Your Mentor

Sonja Breuer

Ayurveda Consultant & Best Life Trainer

Help people live more naturally, so that healing and well-being can occur.

Sonja Breuer trained as an Ayurvedic consultant for seven years and obtained a master’s degree from Middlesex University, UK. She is a qualified Kundalini yoga and Hatha yoga teacher, as well as a Reiki practitioner, and a qualified life coach and mentor.