World Health Day; Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures

 

Today is World Health Day acknowledged by the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness of major global health concerns. The WHO was founded April 7, 1948, "To promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable. We work to ensure that all people, everywhere, have the opportunity to live healthy lives. Our goal is to achieve a world where everyone can live in dignity and well-being. We lead global efforts to respond to health emergencies, promote health and well-being, and prevent disease. We work with governments, partners, and communities to strengthen health systems and provide access to quality health care for all. Our vision is a world in which everyone can live healthy, productive lives, regardless of where they live or who they are."  

Every year, the WHO Assembly meets in Geneva, Switzerland to choose a major global health concern and promote it through World Health Day to increase it’s awareness and prevent more cases.

This year, their theme is “Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures,” beginning a yearlong campaign on maternal and newborn health. Current studies have shown 300,000 women lose their life due to pregnancy/childbirth each year and over 2 million babies die in their first month of life. These records indicate that 4 out of 5 countries are off track to meet global targets for improving maternal survival by 2030. 

Health systems need to evolve to better support women physically and emotionally at every stage of their lives to have good outcomes with childbirth and beyond, with their health care continuing beyond simply surviving childbirth. The postpartum period after birth lacks critical care from health providers, a significant and important stage of birth that goes unnoticed or ignored. Our families and communities are built on the foundation of mothers; therefore, it is crucial to provide effective care for these women. Without protecting our mothers, we lose our foundation, and our civility morality and equal rights and we must join them in advocating for improved and effective care from our health systems.

Ayurveda provides a holistic, natural and personal approach to women's health at all the stages and aspects of her life, including personalized food plans are recommended for women that are pregnant that include nutrient-dense, warm, and grounding foods, Ayurvedic massage and bodywork, such as the Abhyanga Massage, are beneficial during pregnancy as the warm oils and smooth and steady strokes promote deep relaxation and improve circulation, which can help calm areas of stress and anxiety that come with pregnancy and postpartum and are nourishing and rejuvenating, refreshing and revitalizing at any stage of life. 

For more information on how Ayurveda can help you, make an appointment with Chaya

https://chayaveda.com/services
For more information on the WHO campaign visit: https://www.paho.org/en/campaigns/world-health-day-2025  

Women Pioneers of Ayurveda

 

As we celebrate Women’s History this month, we look to pioneering women in Ayurveda, highlighting Yashoda Devi (1890-1942), who was a trailblazer, reshaping Women's Health in Ayurveda and improving women’s lives with Ayurvedic Medicine, at a time when as a woman, it was unprecedented.

Yashoda Devi took on a male dominated role in Ayurveda to reshape and improve women’s health in Ayurveda at a time where not many women were stepping up.

Beside Ayurveda being male dominated, India also had many restrictions on women at the time. The early 1900s had restrictions on women's access to education, political participation, property owning, and even workforce participation.

In 1917, the woman’s suffrage movement came about to advocate for independence from British rule to gain women’s rights. In 1921 the provinces of Bombay and Madra were the first two to give limited voting to women. This right began expanding through provinces through 1930. It wasn't until 1947 that India was independent from British control and every adult person was granted the right to vote. Considering the circumstances within India at the time and how Ayurveda was already a primarily male dominated field, it was extremely significant for Yashoda to speak out on women’s health when women had many restrictions on them and the men dominating the field were trying to silence her.

Yashoda lived in North India in the town of Dataganj in the Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh where she received Ayurvedic training from her father Pandit Dalchjand Mishra. She began her practice as a leading Ayurvedic Practitioner at the age of 16. She established her own Stri Aushadhalaya, a Female Ayurvedic Pharmacy in 1908, and her dispensaries grew in number to many other towns of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. She went on to be a prolific writer to reshape the view of women’s health in Ayurveda and touched on topics others hadn't gotten correctly for women. These topics encompassed a range of women, Ayurveda, and sexology. She exerted influence on women’s health, in particular, at a time when men were dominating Ayurvedic Medicine, she found them inadequate, and intrusive towards women thereby taking on that role. She became one of the most widely read women authors of her time, even editing important journals such as the Stri Chikitsak that was a journal on Ayurvedic treatment on women’s diseases. Although men at the time disagreed with her large role in Ayurveda, she was considered  “every woman’s friend.”  

Sources:

https://thewire.in/books/yashoda-devi-an-early-20th-century-pioneering-woman-ayurvedic-practitioner 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-43081429

https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1096&context=srhonors_theses

 

Ayurvedic Massage & Bodywork For The Treatment Of Hypertension

 

In looking at hypertension from the Ayurvedic perspective, massage and bodywork are useful tools in reducing blood pressure, heart rate, and promoting a relaxed state. In this blog, we’ll look at some of these treatment methods that have had success creating a relaxed state for patients and reducing hypertensive symptoms in hypertensive patients.  

Abhyanga Massage

Abhyanga is a rhythmic body massage done with warm Ayurvedic oils to help arterial and lymphatic circulation and drainage. Through direct mechanical effect (or reflex effect) on the blood vessels it can reduce hypertension. Along with arterial effects, it is prone to inducing deep relaxation and is a full body massage that also provides relief from pain and stiffness. Clinical studies conducted have proven the direct beneficial effects of Abhyanga Massage on patients with hypertension. 

A particular study looked at 12 patients presenting with hypertension and put them through a 30-minute Abhyanga session every day for 10 consecutive days. The seven traditional poses used were sitting, supine, right lateral, supine, left lateral, supine, and sitting. Blood pressure was measured before and 20 minutes after the massage, which showed significant decreases in systolic pressure almost every day and diastolic pressure on half of the days. The cause of this reduction was noted by the effect of Abhyanga on relaxation, blood vessels, vasoconstriction, and viscosity. 

Overall, Abhyanga Massage can reduce hypertension by addressing multiple parts of what creates hypertension and placing the body in a deeply relaxed state. Abhyanga can also be done on healthy individuals regularly to promote healthy heart activity and be at lower risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease. 

Hridaya Basti

Hridaya: heart region

Basti: something inside/container 

Hridaya Basti is an oil bath on the heart/chest region that helps to nourish and strengthen the heart. It nourishes cardiac muscles, improves circulation and respiration, relieves deep seated stress, anger and grief, and is deeply relaxing, providing a sense of peace and happiness. This treatment can be done before or after abhyanga or can be done by itself. Overall, it has a direct effect on promoting heart health. 

 Shirodhara 

Shiro means head and dhara means to pour, thereby Shirodhara is the pouring of a substance onto the head. This treatment balances the brain and the nervous system, typically using warm Ayurvedic herbalized oil, though other substances are sometimes used for specific imbalances. The oil is gently poured onto the forehead in a steady stream in a side to side pattern, to nourish and calm the nervous system. This calmness comes from integrating the hemispheres of the brain and nervous system, synchronizing brain waves, stilling the mind, enhancing blood circulation to the brain, nourishing the hair and scalp, and aiding in release of stress and tension. For hypertension, it can place the patient into a deep state of relaxation and minimize stress and tension, two leading causes of stimulating hypertension. 

In 2013, a study was conducted to determine if Shirodhara was able to create a deep relaxed state of mind by measuring respiratory rate, blood pressure, pulse rate, EEG, and rating of mood and stress levels. For this study, Shirodhara was preceded by an Abhyanga treatment. The full body massage (abhyanga) was given for 15 minutes using 50mL of sesame oil that was wiped off afterwards. Then the Shirodhara treatment with continuous dripping of oil was initiated and lasted for 45 minutes. The focus of the drip was between the eyebrows on the forehead. The drip was purposely positioned to drip onto the Ayna Chakra that when focused on during meditation leads to psychosomatic harmony. The stimulation at this point is crucial in eliciting the desired relaxed response. 

At the end of the session, patients reported feeling a relaxed state of alert awareness and occasional mild drowsiness. These effects continued into three days after the treatment as well. A significant reduction in respiratory rate, diastolic blood pressure, and mean pulse rate were also found. Lastly, the EEG showed an increase in alpha rhythm, which leads to an increase in relaxation and decrease of stress levels. 

Overall, this treatment was able to bring patients to a deep relaxed state of mind that helped control the variables of blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate, vital for patients with hypertension to control. 

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Sources:

Journal of Ayurveda - Dr. Pulak Kanti Kar’s Study on “Role of Abhyanga In Hypertension”

https://chayaveda.com/school-of-massage 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23741161/