Ayurvedic Healing for Women: Herbal Gynecology

"Ayurvedic Healing for Women" is not a book solely angled to aspiring Ayurvedic students but a book well worth reading by all natural medicine students, therapists and individuals interested in understanding and treating women's health issues. The book is presented in two parts. Part One - Ayurveda and You: This section gives an introduction into Ayurvedic concepts covering various subjects ranging from birth constitution in the chapter "You as an Individual Woman", the female reproductive system from an Ayurvedic perspective and the subsequent disease process when there is imbalance covered in chapters "The Female Anatomy According to Ayurveda", and "Imbalances and the Diseases Process." Part Two - Ayurvedic Treatments: This section as the title suggests is a detailed look at the numerous disorders that can affect women with treatment principles including detailed herbal formulas for all the diseases listed. The topics covered are vast and include chapters titled "Depression, Premenstrual and Menstrual Difficulties, Premenopause, Menopause and Postmenopause, Cyst, Fibroids, and Tumors." This section also presents information on "Nutrition as a Healing Power" which is a major treatment consideration when utilizing an Ayurvedic approach to re-establishing balance. Other topics discussed in the book as part of the appendix include "Getting off Pharmaceutical Medications, Pregnancy and childhood According to Ayurveda, and Aphrodisiacs and Fertility." The book is written to be accessible to persons with no prior exposure to Ayurveda, presenting basic Ayurvedic concepts and building upon them as the work progresses. The material in this book is also a valuable study companion for Ayurvedic students or practitioners as well, as the material that has been collected is in-depth without being textbook like. The book fills a vacant hole in modern Ayurvedic literature that is accessible to the main stream West in that it presents in-depth material regarding women's disorders where other books focus on the cosmetic aspect of women's health. The stand out feature that makes this book accessible to health practitioners practising in the West is that the herbal formulas listed in the book are made up of 99.9 % of Western herbs or herbs accessible in the West. This allows Western herbalists or naturopaths to directly assimilate the material from this book into their practice and expression. It also gives an example for Ayurvedic practitioners in the West for the potential to utilize western herbs as part of their expression using what is grown around us remaining true to Ayurveda. The book is insightful, informative and well written. The information given is also presented with responsibility referring the reader to seek professional advice and assistance on some of the more sensitive topics presented in book. Atreya presents the book with compassion and reverence for women and Ayurveda stating in his introduction, "I am clearly aware of the limitations o

Although I was new to the study of Ayurveda, with this book I found the right tool to cause a profound improvement in my health. The system seemed complex at first, but I soon realized one doesn't have to master it in order to begin applying its principles. Even without delving into the use of herbal formulas, I found much information here in terms of food choices and lifestyle that I could understand and implement immediately. The author explains that Ayurveda is an understanding of the nature of things, and the individual ". . . within the context of the whole or Mother Nature." Everything is unique yet interrelated, and ". . . Ayurveda strives to understand how your organism functions, how your metabolism functions, how your mind functions." He explains Ayurveda's many-faceted approach to understanding disease as a progression from prolonged imbalance, and then provides the knowledge for recognizing imbalances in your own body and positive approaches for correcting them . For me the most useful information came from the author's attention to diet and lifestyle as major contributing factors. Realizing the connection between certain foods and specific health issues in individual body types gave me the power to target my own areas of concern - and it works! I noticed changes right away and even more profoundly a few weeks down the road. Ayurveda is a wide system of study and there is a lot of information in this book. I often refer back to it. If you are looking for ways to help yourself to health, and have wondered how your lifestyle and dietary habits specifically affect your body, you will know yourself (and treat yourself !) much better after reading this book.