Ayurveda is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population report using ayurveda. The theory and practice of ayurveda is pseudoscientific.
Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health (MVAH) is a form of alternative medicine founded in the mid-1980s by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who developed the Transcendental Meditation technique (TM). Distinct from traditional ayurveda, it emphasizes the role of consciousness, and gives importance to positive emotions. Maharishi Ayur-Veda has been variously characterized as emerging from, and consistently reflecting, the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, representing the entirety of the ayurvedic tradition.
Charaka was one of the principal contributors to Ayurveda, a system of medicine and lifestyle developed in ancient India. He is known as a physician who edited the medical treatise entitled Charaka Samhita, one of the foundational texts of classical Indian medicine and Ayurveda, included under Brhat-Trayi.
Deepak Chopra is an Indian-American author and alternative medicine advocate. A prominent figure in the New Age movement, his books and videos have made him one of the best-known and wealthiest figures in alternative medicine. His discussions of quantum healing have been characterised as technobabble – "incoherent babbling strewn with scientific terms" which drives those who actually understand physics "crazy" and as "redefining Wrong".
The history of alternative medicine refers to the history of a group of diverse medical practices that were collectively promoted as "alternative medicine" beginning in the 1970s, to the collection of individual histories of members of that group, or to the history of western medical practices that were labeled "irregular practices" by the western medical establishment. It includes the histories of complementary medicine and of integrative medicine. "Alternative medicine" is a loosely defined and very diverse set of products, practices, and theories that are perceived by its users to have the healing effects of medicine, but do not originate from evidence gathered using the scientific method, are not part of biomedicine, or are contradicted by scientific evidence or established science. "Biomedicine" is that part of medical science that applies principles of anatomy, physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, and other natural sciences to clinical practice, using scientific methods to establish the effectiveness of that practice.
Andrew Thomas Weil is an American medical doctor who advocates for integrative medicine including the 4-7-8 breathing technique.
Thai massage or Thai yoga massage is a traditional therapy combining acupressure, Indian Ayurvedic principles, and assisted yoga postures. In the Thai language, it is usually called nuat phaen thai or nuat phaen boran, though its formal name is nuat thai according to the Traditional Thai Medical Professions Act, BE 2556 (2013).
Dosha is a central term in Ayurveda originating from Sanskrit, which can be translated as "that which can cause problems", and which refers to three categories or types of substances that are believed to be present conceptually in a person's body and mind. These Dosha are assigned specific qualities and functions. These qualities and functions are affected by external and internal stimuli received by the body. Beginning with twentieth-century Ayurvedic literature, the "three-dosha theory" has described how the quantities and qualities of three fundamental types of substances called wind, bile, and phlegm fluctuate in the body according to the seasons, time of day, process of digestion, and several other factors and thereby determine changing conditions of growth, aging, health, and disease.
Sri Lanka has its own indigenous scheme of traditional medicine which is called "Hela wedakama". This system has been practised for thousands of years in the island nation. On the other hand, the Sri Lankan hela wedakama tradition is a mixture of the Sinhala traditional medicine, mainland āyurveda and Siddha systems of India, Unani medicine of Greece through the Arabs, and most importantly, the Desheeya Chikitsa, which is the indigenous medicine of Sri Lanka. College teaching of these systems began in 1929 at what is now the Institute of Indigenous Medicine of the University of Colombo. The Siddha Medicine Unit moved in 1984 to the University of Jaffna
Benedict Lust was a German-born American who was one of the founders of naturopathic medicine in the first decades of the twentieth century.
Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCU) is a private university located in Whittier, California and specializing in the health sciences. Academics are organized into four colleges and schools: the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic, the College of Eastern Medicine, and the College of Science & Integrative Health. The university is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission.
Brihaspati Dev Triguna (1920–2013) was a Vaidya or Ayurveda practitioner and an expert in Pulse diagnosis. He completed his formal ayurvedic studies under the guidance of Rajvaidya Pandit Gokul Chand ji in his Gurukul from Ludhiana.
Siddha medicine is a form of traditional medicine originating in southern India. It is one of the oldest systems of medicine in India.
Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (B.A.M.S.) is a professional degree focused on Ayurveda offered in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
The American Meditation Institute (AMI) was founded by Leonard Perlmutter and Jenness Cortez Perlmutter in 1996. The Perlmutters were influenced by Eknath Easwaran and Nisargadatta Maharaj; they were direct disciples of Swami Rama of the Himalaya Mountains, the man who, in laboratory conditions and under the observation of research scientists at the Menninger Clinic, demonstrated that blood pressure, heart rate, and the autonomic nervous system can be voluntarily controlled. These research demonstrations have been one of the major cornerstones of the mind-body movement since the 1970s.
Andrew A. Skolnick is an American science and medical journalist and photographer best known for his investigative reporting on health care issues, alternative medicine, and paranormal claims.
The Kaivalyadhama Health and Yoga Research Center, founded by Swami Kuvalayananda in 1924, is a spiritual, therapeutic, and research center with a specific aim to coordinate ancient yogic arts and tradition with modern science; he founded the journal Yoga Mimamsa at the same time. Kaivalyadhama is located in Lonavla, Maharashtra, India, with smaller branches elsewhere in India, France, and the United States.
Vaidya Balendu Prakash is an Indian Ayurveda practitioner. He is a former physician to the President of India and the founder of Paadav, a specialty Ayurvedic hospital in Dehradun. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri in 1999.
Paneenazhikath Narayana Vasudeva Kurup was an Indian Ayurvedic practitioner, researcher, writer and the founder director of the Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRIMH). He is a former vice chancellor of the Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar and a former advisor of the Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy (ISM&H) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. He has published several articles and a book, A Handbook on Indian Medicinal Plants, on the traditional Indian medicine system, The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2005, for his contributions to Indian medicine.
