Ayurveda: Mind/Body Healing Unique to IHN, Ayurveda is the science by which life in its totality is understood – the traditional natural medicine of India, dating back over five thousand years as it describes the diet, medicines, and behaviors that are beneficial or harmful for life and consciousness. It classifies all the factors of our lives in an organic energetic language that reflects the entire living biosphere around us. According to this philosophy, there are three primary life forces, called doshas, in the body – Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, which are the manifestations of the Great Elements of air, fire, and water. When out of balance, they are the causative factors in the diseased process. If we eat and behave in ways that support both our constitution and our environment, we are likely to stay clean, clear, and healthy. Students will be taught and evaluated on constitutional balance through an in-depth assessment of body systems and dietary recommendations according to dosha (physical) and gunas (spiritual). Learning Outcomes: • Develop customized protocols using Ayurvedic assessment tools such as tongue analysis, tonification, purification, and detoxification • Explain the classifications of disease (innate, exogenous, and psychic) that arise when the body is not in balance • Describe how each of the six tastes of sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent are manifestations of 2 of the 5 elements – earth, air, water, fire, and ether – and have a symbiotic relationship with the foods we eat • Learn to properties of healing Ayurvedic herbs such as Triphala, Aloe Gel, and Trikatu • Assess how the accumulation of Ama when there is a disruption in the metabolic force of Agni Ayurveda teaches students how to embody the Ayurvedic lifestyle through the daily incorporation of meditation, yoga, and breathwork. Practitioners recommend general dietary plans to rebalance constitution based on dosha type and specific detoxification diets such as Palliation Therapy and Pancha Karma which stabilize digestion through deep tissue cleansings.