Is now the right time to revisit Ayurvedic wisdom in light of the Coronavirus pandemic?

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There have been many global pandemics throughout history, whether it was the great plague that swept through the Roman Empire in the 4th century A.D. or the Bubonic Plague. The world is currently experiencing another pandemic in the form of COVID-19. The coronavirus strain that causes it is perplexing health professionals and this is prompting them to analyze alternative systems of medicine. Ayurveda is one of them.

The core of Ayurveda

The core of Ayurveda rests on some basic principles. These believe that all of the world’s energy is manifested in the universe itself and can be accessed by all humans through humans. There are three universal energies according to Ayurveda and these are called the Tridosa. This branch of medicine believes that human illnesses and diseases can be cured by balancing these energies in the human body.

Why Ayurveda is worth examining

Modern Western medicine is based on healing the areas of the body where a particular illness or disease is. Ayurveda is based on curing the body of a particular illness or disease by healing the entire body. Thus Ayurveda has a more holistic approach. Health professionals feel that this may be the best approach to take given the complex and ever-changing nature of COVID-19.

Why Ayurveda would help manage COVID-19

Since Ayurveda is concerned with healing the greater community suffering from a pandemic and not just the patients, it gives equal weight to the health and well-being of health care workers. But, the following are a few of the reasons why health professionals believe that it may help manage COVID-19 better.

• It emphasizes the health of ‘frontline workers’ - If these workers are sick, the chances of them spreading the disease to their healthy patients increases dramatically. Ayurveda requires its health care workers to follow many doctrines including Aahar, Vihar, and Nidra. This helps keep health care workers happy and healthy!
• See patients through telemedicine - some patients only need to be seen online. This is especially true if they have a cold or a toothache. Health care providers can easily teach their patients how to manage their ailments through online Ayurvedic sessions.

Treat the home office as the real office - doctors, nurses, and other health care workers have to be disciplined in terms of seeing patients. They have to stick to real deadlines as well. They need to have the same discipline when working at home. Indeed, now is not the time to be playing card games on the computer instead of seeing patients and doing research.

Ayurveda comes to the rescue again

Modern Western health professionals first started to analyze Ayurveda for possible answers and solutions to common and complex medical issues, problems, and ailments that western medicine simply couldn’t solve. Now, in light of COVID-19 Ayurveda with its emphasis on whole-body healing and healthy lifestyle changes may well be what can help contain the global pandemic.