Edmonton Journal
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, November 7, 2004: Many Americans enthused with the yoga craze that has swept across North America are now turning to Ayurveda for more consolation and relief from their stressful lives. This news release quotes a website explanation of the Hindu form of medicine, “Ayurveda originated in India more than 5,000 years ago. Derived from the Hindu words for life (Ayur) and knowledge (Ved), it focuses on balancing body, mind and spirit through the use of herbs, diet, exercise, yoga, massage, aromas, tantras, mantras and meditation. The body is seen as a balance of four elements — air, earth, fire and water — and illness is an excess or deficiency in one of these elements.” Wendy Warburton describes her experience at the Holy Spa in Ottawa, “I’m lying on my back in a darkened room and Christine O’Grady is pouring hot sesame oil over my forehead. Back and forth, back and forth, the oil streams down in steady, soothing waves, feeling heavier and heavier until I think I might float away on a slick, warm sea. In a minute O’Grady switches to room-temperature oil, which feels cool, then warm; later she switches back to the warm oil, but I hardly notice. It’s all I can do to remain awake and try to remember what is happening so I can write about it later.” The news release adds, “This is Shirodhara, a 20-minute treatment to soothe the mind, ease stress and anxiety and reduce insomnia. It’s an Ayurvedic treatment, and Ayurveda is the latest thing to hit the spa world. Practised in India for millenniums, the natural method of healing has ridden on the public’s interest in yoga to become wildly popular in spas in Europe and Asia.” Warburton says, “Before my treatments, I take a test to determine my dhosha or person type. My dhosha will influence how my treatments will be administered. There are three dhoshas, and everyone falls into one of them or into a mix of two. After answering 18 multiple-choice questions ranging from ‘How would you describe your skin?’ to ‘How is your digestion?’ I determine I’m a Pitta. Pittas are typically fair-skinned (check) with a medium build (check). The other dhoshas are Kapha and Vata.” After the treatment Warburton comments, ” I really did have ‘resounding’ energy that lasted throughout the rest of that Friday evening — a time when I usually feel zonked after a busy week. Plus, this frequently awakening Pitta slept like a log.”