Our Founder

Mela Butcher

    

Los Angeles and Ojai, California

Serving  Community with  Safe and Natural Methods of Healing for over 20 Years           310-712-2660

  WHAT IS AYURVEDA

"Ayurveda", which means "Science of Life" in Sanskrit, is an ancient

healing system from India, based on the unchanging, immutable laws

that govern the universe.

Quite a claim for a first line of introduction into a medicine, isn't it?

Yet this beautiful, profound and extremely successful system of healing

and medicine is very much like that sentence. Simple, direct and universal.

Your understanding of Ayurveda begins the moment you look deeply at the

laws that guide all of manifested creation, and then seek to understand

how these laws are playing themselves out in your own life. You deepen

your understanding of Ayurveda even further when you begin to apply the

balancing recommendations that Ayurveda offers into gentle and loving

adjustments in your lifestyle choices.

Would it surprise you to know that Ayurveda is the oldest continually

practiced medicine on the planet? Did you know that Ayurveda is

recognized by the World Health Organization? Or that a great American

society of surgeons today is named after the ancient Ayurvedic surgical

teacher, Sushruta?

Like Yoga, Ayurveda comes to us through the rich and profound teachings

of the Upanishads and the four Vedas; The Rig Veda, The Yajur Veda, The

Sama Veda, and the Athara Veda. These texts are humankind's oldest

literature as well as our oldest spiritual teachings. The Vedas outline

in great detail how to live in harmony with universal law (dharma). All

aspects of right living are discussed, from physical health, to correct

business practices, from harmonizing yourself with society, to specific

practices for spiritual development.

Ayurveda sprang from the Sarasvati civilization of the Indus valley of

ancient India. By 3000 BCE, this civilization extended from the Ganges

in the east to Afghanistan in the west, and from the coast of Iran to

the region of Bombay. It was at this time, the world's largest urban

civilization. The formative period of Ayurveda as we know it today

occurred between 2000 and 300 BCE. The medical material that was found

throughout both the Vedas and the Upanishads was collected, tested and

systematically organized. These findings were compiled into collections called

Samhitas.

Of all of the Samhitas that once existed, only three original works remain.

They are the Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, and Ashtanga Hridaya.

These collections are known as Brihattrayi, and together they

constitute the oldest and longest medical texts in the world.

THE FIVE GREAT ELEMENTS

An important organizing principle of Ayurvedic medicine is the five

great elements (Pancha Mahabhutani). As we explore the five elements

here, allow your subtle mind to embrace their multi-dimensional

qualities. Think of the elements as principles of density, manifestations

of ideas, and fields of expression. The five elements are:

EARTH stability, resistance, form

WATER flow,transition

FIRE perception, heat, light

AIR subtle movement, direction, velocity, time

ETHER communication, exchange between medi