what is maharishi ayurveda?

Ayurveda is the world’s oldest continuously practiced tradition of medicine and has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a valid and sophisticated system of natural health care. Maharishi Ayur-Veda is a modern revival of this ancient system, which offers comprehensive knowledge for the prevention and treatment of disease and slowing of the aging process.

Maharishi Ayur-Veda is a holistic system of health care that includes mental, physical, behavioral and environmental approaches. The goal of these approaches is to enliven the body’s inner intelligence, which is understood to be a unified organizing principle at the basis of all physiological self-repair and healing mechanisms.

This inner intelligence expresses itself in the body as three primary governing factors or doshas – called Vata, Pitta, and Kapha – which regulate the different functions of mind and body. When these three doshas are in balance, they promote good health and longevity; when they are out of balance, they produce disorder and disease. When examining a patient, the practitioner trained in Maharishi Ayur-Veda will first diagnose the underlying state of balance or imbalance of the three doshas and then, based on this assessment, prescribe therapeutic regimens to restore balance.

Over the past 30 years, several hundred scientific research studies have been published on the efficacy of treatment components of Maharishi Ayur-Veda, including the Transcendental Meditation technique, specific herbal preparations, and physiological purification procedures. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has funded over $24 million in grant support for research on the Transcendental Meditation technique and other Maharishi Ayur-Veda modalities in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.