Ayurvedic Fragrance Oils For Stress And Uplifting Your Spirits

Fragrance plays an important role in our life right from the time of birth, when the new mother smells her new-born’s forehead for engraving her first special kiss for the much-awaited joy. Fragrance takes different names when it is in different forms and few such names include aroma, odor, tang, smell, scent, whiff, perfume, bouquet, relish, savor, fragrant and many others. Every type of fragrance instills a different feeling and brings back the special thoughts about your memorable moments during which you experienced the same eternity for the first time. Yes! This is the kind of impact that Ayurvedic fragrance oils and its divine aroma are about to spell on your life for uplifting your spirits and assuaging your stress.

Stress: This is a universal phenomenon that most of us experience in our day to day lives. Lack of awareness and the incapability to manage stress ends in tensed muscles, sleep apnea, increased blood pressure, slow digestive mechanism, amplified pulse rate, rapid breathing and your immune system becomes weak. Stress is the root cause for various mental disorders like depression, anxiety, irritability, tendency to forget things, unsecured feeling, anger, fatigue, lack of concentration, unhappiness and agitation.  Ayurveda has ample remedies to alleviate stress, uplift your spirits and help you regain your hale and heartiness.

Ayurvedic fragrance oils for balancing stress: Fragrance oils are extracted from plants and the natural essential oils with original odor extracted from plants are highly desirable than the ones blended with synthetic aroma compounds for instilling the extra flavors. Brain is a vital organ that controls and contributes the mental health, emotions and feeling of our senses. As these functional areas are correlated with each other, the aroma of fragrance oils transforms your emotions and nurses back to health. Natural fragrance oils like Neroli, Jasmine and Lavender have proven effects in treating stress and stress-related symptoms.

  • Neroli oil: Neroli has an energizing and flowery aroma that aids in treating stress along with depression, insomnia, nervous disorders, headache, digestive problems, irritable bowel syndrome and few other conditions associated to stress with its sedative, antidepressant, antispasmodic and relaxing properties.
  • Jasmine oil: With its antidepressant, expectorant, antispasmodic and antiseptic properties, Jasmine oil spreads a temperate and flower-patterned fragrance that rejuvenates your mind while gradually decreasing your stress levels. This spiritual oil treats tension, dry skin, sensitivity, headache, catarrh, stress, anxiety and boosts your confidence.
  • Lavender oil: Lavender is a splendid curative for stress and depression. The soothing, relaxing, revitalizing, therapeutic and calming effects of this oil help you to bounce back from your mental trauma with its proven anti-inflammatory, sedative, nervine, antidepressant, analgesic and antiseptic properties.

You can use these celebrated fragrance oils separately or as a heavenly blend in your bath tub, or your diffuser.

Ayurvedic fragrance oils for uplifting your spirits: When your stress is beautifully handled with the above stated fragrance oils, now try heartening and elevating your spirits with the lovely, passionate, worth-remembering, stirring and enriching fragrances of sandalwood oil, geranium oil, patchouli oil, peppermint oil, chamomile oil, lemon oil, mandarin oil, ylang ylang oil, rose oil and other citrus fragrance oils.

Try using these therapeutic oils for pampering your mind and body with a gentle massage and it’ll be a great experience to get massaged with the tender love of your near ones.

Reference links:

  1. What is stress? How to deal with stress by Medical News Today
  2. Fragrance oils by Wikipedia
  3. Scents for helping with relaxation and depression by Livestrong.Com

Ayurveda For Memory Loss: 3 Ways To Stimulate Your Brain Power

‘Wondering whether you have locked your home?’ after stepping into your office. Thinking whether you turned off the stove while you are half asleep? Made your little one wear his/her sports dress on a ‘strictly uniform’ demanding Monday morning? Trust me, then you are travelling on the not-so-smooth road of memory loss. It’s not only you but many of us suffer from memory loss. Pharmaceutical drugs can help you temporarily but very soon you may be affected by perilous side-effects. The best and the natural way to treat memory loss is by following the paths of our ancestors, who have gifted us with Ayurveda, the mother of all healing sciences.

What is memory loss? The best function of the human brain is the power of recollecting and retaining information and that is known as memory power. This is assisted by neurotransmitters or brain chemicals, the imbalance of which causes memory problems. Memory loss is the loss of ability to remember things or events that may be recent or from memories of the past or both together. It is also known as amnesia, loss of memory, forgetfulness, amnestic syndrome and impaired memory. Loss of memory can be permanent or transient depending upon an individual and his environment.

What causes loss of memory? Thousands of reasons could be attributed to this unusual forgetfulness but the predominant ones being aging, stress, depression and other psychological disorders. Few other causes of memory loss are alcoholism, drug addiction, weakened immunity, brain disorders, exposure to chemical or toxic substances, lack of nutrition or imbalanced diet, genetics, accidents or other traumatic disorders, cancer treatments like chemotherapy and brain radiation and certain other nervous disorders.

Ayurveda and memory loss: The Sanskrit term for memory loss in Ayurveda is Smriti Naasha. It generally occurs due to vitiation of vata dosha or kapha dosha. Increased vata can end up in “in one ear, out the other” syndrome. Balanced vata is imperative for all the functions vested with the nervous system, whereas pitta balance is responsible for sharp mind, focused thinking and clarity of mind. Balance in kapha dosha fosters movement and carries the information to the brain through nerve impulses and helps to save it on the brain tissue. The 3 trusted Ayurvedic remedies for treating loss of memory and enhancing brain power are:

Ayurvedic essential oils: Essential oils are natural extracts from plants. The immemorial essential oil to treat memory loss is Rosemary essential oil as it is said to have a positive effect on the cognitive function and boosts brain power. This is why the celebrated English Herbalist Nicholas Culpeper rightly said that Rosemary Helps a weak memory and quickens the senses. The chymical [essential] oil drawn from the leaves and flowers, is a sovereign help…touch the temples and nostrils with two or three drops.  This essential oil is also proved to sharpen the mental faculties while improving the cognitive performance.

Calamus essential oil contains terpenoids with sedative effect, trusted to empower the nervous system. Famous Botanist M. Daniel from the M.S. University strongly says that Calamus is effective in treating mental disorders, memory loss and augments memory power and intellect. The other effective essential oils for enhancing memory power are Basil essential oil, Thyme essential oil, Clary Sage essential oil, Roman Chamomile essential oil, Ginger essential oil, Lemon essential oil and Grapefruit essential oil.

Ayurvedic herbs: Intake of Ayurvedic herbs like Brahmi, Gotu Kola, Acorus Calamus, Ashwagandha, Celastrus paniculata, Nardostachys, Convolvus Pluricaulis and few other herbs have been proven effective in treating memory loss problems. Brahmi is known as an excellent brain and nerve tonic that is used to perk up the intellect, support learning and treat memory disorders and cognitive impairment. The famous ‘Phytotherapy Research’ of the A&M University, Texas has proved that Brahmi herb protects against Alzheimer’s disease.

Herbalist Penelope Ody says that Gotu Kola is an endurance tonic that reduces stress, anxiety, high blood pressure and enhances the memory power while invigorating the brain and central nervous system. In her popular book ‘The Holistic Herbal Directory’, she suggests the use of Acorus Calamus to augment mental awareness and memory power.

Ayurveda recommends the use of Convolvus Pluricaulis for memory problems as it is an exceptional tonic for revitalizing the functions of the brain and stimulate the nerves. Celastrus paniculata is also known as the intellect tree with its neuro-protective, anti-depressant, sedative and stimulant properties. The oil extracted from the seeds of this plant is used as a brain tonic for treating memory loss by Ayurvedic practitioners.

Yoga and Meditation: Regular meditation improves the power of concentration and aids in self-realization, paving way for mental wellness mainly due to the positive changes created in the brain wave patterns. Practicing Pranayama, the Yogic breathing method helps in attaining inner peace along with enhanced spiritual skills, high concentration and memory power. Other effective Yogasanas for treating memory loss problems are Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand), which revitalizes and invigorates the entire body, Balasana (Child pose) that helps in normalizing the circulation after performing the head stand, treats nervous irritability, anxiety and fatigue.

Along with these Ayurvedic remedies, light and cleansing diet including fresh fruits, organic vegetables, nuts, ghee etc, will boost your insight and aid in strengthening your memory power. No more worries and only sweet and strong memories, undoubtedly with Ayurveda.

Thought for the day:

[Memory is] a man’s real possession…In nothing else is he rich, in nothing else is he poor.                                                   –Alexander Smith

Suggested Reading:

  1. Ayurveda and the Mind: The Healing of Consciousness By Dr. David Frawley
  2. Yoga & Ayurveda: Self-Healing and Self-Realization By Dr. David Frawley
  3. Life’s a Smelling Success: Using Scent to Empower Your Memory and Learning By Alan Hirsch

Reference links:

  1. Memory loss by MedlinePlus (A Service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine)
  2. A Clear Mind and Good Memory With Ayurveda by Namaskarhealing
  3. Rosemary boosts brain power! By Robert Tisserand

The Exceptional Strategies of an Ayurvedic Treatment

Ayurveda, with the astounding and influencing meaning ‘the knowledge for long life’ is an ancient traditional methodology of aboriginal medicine in India. The entire wisdom of this spiritual healing system makes me awestruck and wonder about the stupendous knowledge of Rishis and Ayurvedic Practitioners who lived in the historical and primordial times, when even electricity was not known to the world and people lived in complete harmony with nature and invented numerous natural medications that heal humanity even during this technocratic eon. The incomparable strategies of an Ayurvedic treatment make Ayurveda unique as aims at guiding mankind through the right path in physical, mental, social, spiritual and environmental terms. The 4 predominant goals of an Ayurvedic life will clearly depict that simplicity wins basically without any other external efforts.

Strategies of an Ayurvedic treatment: Ayurveda is often a simple, practical and common-sense science that robustly states that ‘Nature is the gift of the Creator bestowed on Mankind for prolific wellness. Following an Ayurvedic routine can never let you down and would make your life complete without any flaws. In Ayurvedic contexts, there are about 8 comprehensive strategies. They are:

  1. Circumvent the causative aspects (Nidana parivarjana): As the name suggests ‘Nidana’ stands for ‘the contributing factors’ and ‘Parivarjana’ means ‘to give up’. The prime approach of an Ayurvedic treatment is analyzing the root cause of the disease and it is yet another celebrated trait of this divine science. Ayurveda always focuses on eliminating the illness from the scratch after analyzing the constitution of an individual and his predominant doshas. It is being practiced and said that evading the causal or the contributory aspects of a disease is the best way to get rid of it and preventing the same in the future as well.
  2. Boost up the energy (Swabhaavoparma): It concentrates in enhancing the strength of the human body to fight against sickness. Ayurvedic experts generally suggest a full-fledged fasting, enough rest and the use of warm water to grant the essential vigor from within.
  3. Treating imbalances in the tissues (Chikitsa dhatu satmyartha): Disparity in the tissues is yet another major reason for sickness. When there is a balance between the 3 predominant doshas, the tissues will be functioning properly contributing to a healthy body. There are 7 major elements or tissues in the human body and in Ayurveda it is known as Sapta dhatus, improper functioning of any one of these tissues will end up in health disorders. Thus this strategy intends in bringing perfect balance in the tissues.
  4. Treatment that is hostile to ailment (Chikitsa rukpratikriya): Ayurvedic remedies are absolutely natural and are always on the warfront against the disease that has affected an individual. At the same time, the Ayurvedic Physician will prescribe only those Ayurvedic medications that would suit your individual body type after analyzing it during your first Ayurvedic consultation.
  5. Treating the health disorder at the preliminary phase (Chayaeva jayeddosha): Ayurveda trusts that the treatment or the remedial measure of an illness should always be started in the initial stage of the disease. This helps in preventing the other parts of the body from being affected from the severity of existing disorder, especially when the illness is an autoimmune disorder (Rheumatoid Arthritis) that mistakenly affects all the healthy tissues of the body.
  6. Agitating pathogenesis (Samprapti vighatana): Ayurvedic experts even before thousands of years have known the fact the pathogenesis is highly dangerous, being the mechanism by which the illness is actually caused. Inflammation, infection due to microbes, breakdown of tissues, malignancy etc, fall under pathogenetical illness. By disrupting pathogenesis, Ayurvedic treatment stops the harmful microbes or malignant elements to spread and destroy the entire body.
  7. Controlling the mind and body (Aatmanigraha, Satvavajaya): Keeping the mind and body in control is the best way to lead a harmonious life. Yoga, meditation, simple physical exercises, nutritious diet and Ayurvedic massage with Ayurvedic essential oils can enrich your senses, help you retain your shape, proffer absolute peace to the mind and contribute to your well-being.
  8. Treatment through similarity and dissimilarity (Saamanya and Vishesha Siddhantha): Most of the diseases are treated by following the principle of similarity and dissimilarity based upon the medicine, food, body and few other aspects.

Ayurveda is a mighty ocean that had been sailed successfully by numerous skilled Ayurvedic practitioners, Gurus and Vaidyas. Each of these strategies involves attention for the individual rather than the disease which leads the contemporary medical science end up in vain many a times.

Thought for the day:

From the bitterness of disease man learns the sweetness of health.                                                                                        -Catalan Proverb

Suggested Reading:

  1. Textbook of Ayurveda, Volume One: Fundamental Principles by Vasant Lad
  2. Ayurvedic Medicine: The Principles of Traditional Practice, 1e by Sebastian Pole LicOHM AyurHC
  3. Basic Principles of Ayurveda by Dr. V.B. Athavale

Reference Links:

  1. Pathogenesis by Wikipedia
  2. Strategic Marketing Model For Practice of Ayurvedic Medicine by International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
  3. Ayurveda by Indian Medicinal Plants