Why Ayurveda Is So Important During The COVID-19 Outbreak
Cover Photo By AndriyKo Podlinyk
By Victor Briere (Ayurvedic Doctor at Pacific Coast Ayurveda)
There is one word that is spreading as quickly as the virus through the global population - “immunocompromised.” Countless news articles inform us that the corona virus is contagious, but carries a relatively low threat to life. UNLESS of course you are already IMMUNOCOMPROMIED. At which point it becomes a very deadly virus.
It is natural to then ask ourselves, “Am I immunocompromised?” Most of us will answer “no,” and some of us, who are already suffering from some other severe ailment will answer, “yes.” But those who answered “yes” would have surely checked the “no” column just a few short years before.
How does one really become immunocompromised in the first place? How can we prevent that from happening? As the pressure of a pandemic like covid-19 grows it is vital that we answer these questions for ourselves.
It doesn’t just happen. And it has a lot less to do with genetics than you think. Without getting into the extreme intricacies of the immune system and its functions, it happens day by day, little by little, stress after stress, and unhealthy choice after unhealthy choice. We CREATE our immune system with our food choices, lifestyle choices and mental choices.
“Regardless of our history of abuses or kindness, opportunity or challenge, it is within you to direct your mind.” - Yogi Bhajan
If we go all the way down to the very root of it, we become immunocompromised because we either do not know how or we actively choose not to direct our mind to take care of our bodies. Of course, there are the cases in which we do not have access to the resources we need to keep ourselves healthy. Those must be handled, but not in this article.
In the cases where we do not know how, Ayurveda provides the light of awareness. The way to maintain a healthy immune system is laid out very clearly and is predicated primarily on two things. The first is on our willingness and ability to eat proper foods according to our constitution, and at the proper times. The second is on our willingness to follow certain lifestyle regimens. This means upholding the three pillars of life. Proper sleep, proper nutrition, and proper discipline around sexual activity.
Proper sleep means seven to eight hours of restful sleep (except in some rare cases). Proper nutrition means eating the appropriate foods and drinking the appropriate amount of water at the appropriate times to keep our unique constitution in balance. Proper discipline around sexual activity means many different things for men and women during different phases of life. It is one of the pillars of life because Ayurveda acknowledged how dramatic of an impact the sexual act has on our bodies. It can build us up or drain us completely if performed too much or at improper times (like just after a meal).
Every day we practice directing our minds to give the body what it needs is a day we enhance the activity of our immune system. The opposite is true on the days we let our minds direct us to give the body what temporarily “makes it happy.”
As we are experiencing now, creating a sophisticated, robust immune system PRIOR to an environmental pressure bearing down on an entire society gives us a much smoother ride through the storm. This is shallow dive into an important topic for our time. To know more about how you can bolster your unique immune system contact an Ayurvedic professional.
