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| Ayurveda & Allergies |
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How
can Ayurveda Retreat help with Allergies?
 The Ayurveda Retreat allergy program is conducted under the supervision of our Ayurvedic Consultant and draws on knowledge from Ayurveda, the world's oldest and most complete system of natural health care.
Through its unique assessment of causal imbalances at the basis of a condition and its wide range of time-tested
recommendations, Ayurveda provides the most comprehensive approach for allergies available in natural health care today.
Understanding the Root Causes of Allergies
Unwanted allergy symptoms are due to an inappropriate activation of the body's natural defence mechanisms against foreign agents. When a foreign agent enters the body, the body develops a memory of the invading particle so it may activate a defence against it. This defence often includes vasodilatation of blood vessels with resulting fluid accumulation and inflammation.
This response is an attempt to protect the body from harmful agents by:
1. Creating an easy entry for immune cells into the area to protect the
affected tissues.
2. Diluting the concentration of the invading agent.
3. Helping wash away the toxins.
Unfortunately the redness, swelling, irritation, and disruption of tissue function that accompany this process are often much worse than any effect the invading agent (allergen) could have on the body. When the body creates an excessive and inappropriate response to an allergen, a person can suffer from the unwanted symptoms of an allergic response.
Modern medicine understands the physiological changes involved in allergic reactions. Ayurveda expands this understanding by:
1. Describing the mental, physical and behavioural factors that predispose the physiology to inappropriate allergic response.
2. Providing natural methods to help prevent and reverse these changes. Ayurveda describes the following types of imbalances that are major contributing factors to the physiology of the allergic response.
3. Poor digestion and elimination lead to the build up of toxins and impurities in tissues, which predisposes them to an excessive allergic response
When impurities accumulate in tissues they contribute to many chronic conditions, including allergies. Ayurveda has treatment plans to reduce the most common sources of impurities in the body including those from:
1. impure or toxic food sources
2. poor digestion
3. poor elimination
4. improper metabolism
5. mental and physical stress
According to Ayurveda, accumulation of impurities helps create allergies through the following mechanisms:
1. Ayurvedic theory says the cause of allergies is in the stomach. Improperly digested food is carried through channels into various tissues in the body. The resulting toxin accumulation imbalances the tissues through several mechanisms.
First, the toxins themselves become irritants and are perceived as foreign bodies by the immune system. The result is an allergic response initiated by the accumulating toxins.
2. Impurities also start to clog the channels of circulation to the tissues and the channels that take nutrients into cells and waste out of cells. The end result is that the tissues are not nourished properly and toxic waste starts to accumulate.
3. When accumulation of impurities reaches a critical level, the tissue often becomes hyper-responsive to other foreign particles and the person is now "allergic" to environmental substances that are not harmful, and should not be initiating a strong allergic response. The person now "has allergies."
Ayurveda can offer many recommendations to improve digestion, eliminate the build up of impurities and reduce blockage of circulation to tissues.
2) Imbalance and deterioration of nervous system strength and stability
Nervous system stability and activation play a major role in allergic conditions. Nervous system function becomes involved in the many neuro-chemical changes that lead to heightened inflammation and immune response.According to Ayurvedic theory, the functioning mode in the body called Vata controls the overall level of balance and activation of the nervous system. From this perspective, Vata imbalance can play a major role in allergy symptoms and therefore needs to be reversed. Because Vata is the principle most often disturbed in people, there are many Ayurvedic recommendations to help restore balance to Vata and aid the natural healing process.
3) Accumulation of physical and mental stress
Experiences of high mental and physical stress are often associated with a relapse of the condition and worsening of allergy symptoms. Stress reduction therapies are an important component of the Ayurvedic approach to managing allergies.
4) Decrease in the body's natural balancing and self-repair ability
Every healing modality must ultimately depend on the body's natural healing, balancing and self-repair ability in order to cure disorders. The main approach of Ayurveda is to enliven the natural healing ability of the body. Since the real problem in allergies is not the external allergen but the internal imbalance, any increase in the balancing ability of the body could potentially help alleviate symptoms of allergies.
A Natural Treatment Approach to Allergies
The following section describes the classic Ayurvedic approaches used at Ayurveda Retreat to eliminate toxin build up, stabilise the nervous system, enliven the healing ability of the body and manage stress.
a) Diet, Nutrition and Digestion
Allergies can be aggravated through improper diet. For example, some foods can make Vata highly active or clog the hysiology thereby worsening many of the symptoms of allergies.
Our Ayurvedic Consultant will help you understand which foods are the most clogging and obstructing to circulation and which are the hardest to digest. These foods have the potential to create toxins. Foods that can be easily digested, creating nutrients that are then assimilated into the tissues to rebuild their strength, will be recommended. Our Ayurvedic Consultant will also provide programs to improve digestion, an important component in overcoming allergies.
You will also be advised as to how to prepare foods in ways that create maximum nourishment for the body and that prevent incomplete digestion and clogged circulation.
In summary, improper nutrition can create and aggravate allergies, but proper nutrition can go a long way to curing and preventing it.
b) Stress Management and Improved Mental and Emotional Function
Many individuals experience that allergies are often worsened by heightened stress, anxiety and mental fatigue. This is due to hormonal changes and other biochemical responses to stress that can aggravate the nervous system, create pain and depress the immune response. The sleep disturbance that is often created by symptoms of allergies increases fatigue, which in turn increases one's susceptibility to stress, which in turn aggravates the allergy condition. A
downward spiral is created.
You will have the option of learning meditation, which has a wealth of scientific research verifying its effect on reducing many of the mental and stress factors influencing allergies. Research shows it creates virtually the opposite physiological response that stress does and helps the body recover more quickly from stressful stimuli.
c) Lifestyle and Daily Routine
One of the most important factors for balancing Vata and keeping the natural cleansing processes strong is to have a lifestyle that does not disturb natural bodily rhythms. When we eat, sleep and exercise in constantly fluctuating and disturbing patterns, the body loses its natural balancing cycles and cannot cleanse or heal itself as effectively.
Therefore, regularity in our daily routine can be extremely effective in reducing allergy symptoms.Improper lifestyle can create the Vata imbalance at the basis of allergies and disrupts the body's natural cleansingcycles. Our Ayurvedic Consultant will review your daily routine and provide the information you need to help create a daily schedule that will actually increase balance in your nervous system and aid in healing your body.
d) Ayurvedic Herbs and Reduction in Free Radicals
During your consultation, our Ayurvedic Consultant will select the appropriate herbal formulas for aiding the healing process, strengthening digestion and helping the body purify itself.
Free radicals are highly irritating to the physiology and their presence creates and worsens many disorders, including allergies. When appropriate, our Ayurvedic Consultant can recommend Ayurvedic herbs that research has shown to be powerful anti-oxidants and free radical scavengers. These herbs can also have a holistic influence of balancing and nourishing the entire physiology.
e) Herbalised Oil Massage
Our Ayurvedic Consultant will choose a special herbalised massage oil that is individually prepared for your condition.
You will also be instructed in the technique of Ayurvedic massage that involves using specific strokes over different parts of the body as daily self-massage for as little as 5 minutes can be very beneficial.
Daily herbalised oil massage provides a deeply soothing and balancing effect to the entire nervous system. The motion of massage creates heat and friction which enhance circulation and help cleanse the areas of chemical impurities that could be causing symptoms of allergies. The oil and herbs cleanse and nourish the tissues so that tissue development and repair is hastened.
The various herbs that have been boiled into a base oil, and the oil itself, are specifically chosen for their Vata balancing and cleansing influence. The oil allows the herbs to deeply penetrate the tissue beds, thereby balancing the nerve and other tissues in the affected areas.
f) Cleansing therapies: Rejuvenation Therapy
Our Ayurvedic Consultant may advise you that the optimum solution would be to embark on a total body cleansing program (Panchkarma). This will entail daily treatments at Ayurveda Retreat for a period of 7-14 days. Your treatment regimen will consist of daily three-hour program of massage, application of herbalised preparations and mild internal cleansing. The combination of these three treatments creates the ideal internal physical environment for healing.
g) Exercise and Flexibility Education
Ayurveda considers proper stretching and flexibility exercises to have a very positive effect on the body's healing response and the treatment of many chronic conditions. We offer Yoga classes every day and teach you a simple but profound set of postures that can be practised daily to create a healthy flexibility throughout the body. We also instruct you in individualised Yoga breathing practices that create a state of restful alertness in mind and body.
Summary
Ayurveda can help with both the prevention, and symptoms of
Allergies. The Ayurveda Retreat chronic disorder program is
conducted under the supervision of our Ayurvedic Consultant
and draws on knowledge from the world's oldest and most complete
system of natural health care. The program provides the mostcomprehensive
approach in natural health care to remove the imbalances at
the basis of allergies. |
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Opening hours : Monday – Friday 9.00am – 8.00pm | Saturday 9.00am – 6.00pm | Sunday 10.30am – 4.30pm.
32 Friar Street, Reading, RG1 1DX, England. Email: info@ayurveda-retreat.co.uk |
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