Ayurvedic Medicine
In Ayurveda, perfect health is defined as "a balance between body, mind, spirit, and social wellbeing." In fact, the twin concepts of balance and connectedness echo throughout Ayurvedic texts, thought, and practice.
Preventive medicine
This approach seeks to create and maintain health and longevity within the individual. It emphasizes defining each person's prakturi (or constitution) and creating daily and periodic regimens to support that prakturi and keep it in balance.
These health routines focus on everything from diet and exercise to herbal therapies, massage, meditation, and social behavior and positive relationships.
Curative medicine
These treatments seek to heal an illness, which may be achieved by one or more of the following approaches
- Internal measures, including shodhana (detoxification) and shamana (methods used to improve quality of life via palliative care).
- External measures, including snehana (oil treatments), svedana (steam therapy using herbal steam), and use of herbal pastes.
- Surgical methods, including removal of tissues, organs, and harmful growths
- Mental and spiritual therapies, called daivya chikitsa
- Herbal measures, including rasa shashtra (the use of various herbal and trace metal formulations)
