Maharishi Vedic Approach To Health - Components

Components

Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health seeks to reconnect physiological functioning with the body's inner intelligence by reducing and eliminating impurities and imbalances that are said to be the cause of disease. Proponents state that through MVAH, the Maharishi revived the ancient Vedic system of health care. Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health uses 40 approaches, each one based on one of the 40 branches of Vedic literature. According to MVAH, each of these 40 branches of Vedic literature has a direct correlation to various aspects of the human physiology. These 40 approaches are further reduced to three areas of practical application: mind, body, and environment.

In Alternative Medicine and Ethics, Stephen Barrett describes 20 components to Maharishi Ayurveda:

The full range of the Maharishi Ayur-Veda program 'for creating healthy individuals and a disease free society' has 20 components: development of higher states of consciousness through advanced meditation techniques, use of primordial sounds, correction of the "mistake of the intellect', strengthening of the emotions, Vedic structuring of language, music therapy, enlivening of the senses, pulse diagnosis, psychophysiological integration, neuromuscular integration, neurorespiratory integration, purification (to remove 'impurities due to faulty diet or behavioral patterns'), dietary measures, herbal food supplements, other herbal preparations, daily behavioral routines, prediction of future imbalances, religious ceremonies, nourishing the environment and promoting world health and peace. Most of these cost several hundred dollars but some cost thousands and require the service of an Ayurvedic practitioner.

An integrated approach, including meditation, herbal formulas, and other modalities, is a fundamental aspect of the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health. According to Kenneth Pelletier, "Insofar as Ayurveda constitutes an integrated orientation to healthy physical, mental, and spiritual practices, as it does in the Maharishi Ayur-Ved system, it would seem to be conducive to good health and spiritual well-being." He says that historically meditation was a part of Ayurveda but that in India and the West, practitioners tend to prescribe Ayurvedic treatments without meditation, which makes it more difficult to integrate Ayurveda into a comprehensive system of health care.

Andrew Weil writes that, in India, Ayurveda is an inexpensive alternative to allopathic medicine available to all people, while Maharishi Ayurveda is expensive. A traditional Vaidya treats patients individually, diagnosing them and then individually preparing or instructing the patient how to prepare treatments for the entire complexity of their individual symptoms, whereas Maharishi Ayur-Veda takes a mass-market approach.