Interesting that Ayurveda measures not one, but several different pulses.
The Amish would agree that the irises are a means of determining health. There are "iridologists" among them who are regarded as professionals within their community.
Very interesting that the breadth of their diagnostics includes conditions untreatable by allopathy.
Some parallels with chiropractice, with neurology being considered the root.
Very profound observation, that conventional medicine treats mental illness with sedation, while it might be more effective to wake patients up.
Interesting that for schizophrenia, an emetic was given, and that the patient appeared to vomit something up, whether solid or ethereal.
One wonders how far back prior to the present civilization this body of knowledge might extend?
The Ayurvedic physicians themselves were as remarkable as the treatments, for their lack of arrogance, willingness to get their hands dirty, their soothing effect on patients, and ability to read the whole person rather than just a piece of him. There would seem to be more gentle physical contact with Ayurveda than with allopathy, but maybe Westerners have more taboos against touching, perhaps due to a sub-conscious awareness of lack of respectful contact within our own culture?
So to take that to its logical extension, perhaps in a culture in which violence, sexual abuse, and promiscuity are prevalent, that society loses its fundamental understanding of the powerful purpose of touch both spiritually and medicinally? Then to extend it further: perhaps the constraints on conduct listed in holy books are not there to prevent a good time, but to conserve our native ability to interact electrically with our environment and with each other, for the well-being of the whole earth organism?
One thing that briefly bothered me in the film was the habit of throwing medicinal plants on the ground to process them. It seemed unnecessarily unsanitary from a Western viewpoint, but then I realized that contact between the ground and the plant might enhance its medicinal qualities, electrically? Mud is even mixed with with medicines in the film, detoxifying them as well.
Even the contact with human hands in producing a large batch of individual doses of medicine seems contrary to what we've been taught to expect in the West, where medicine is produced under sterile conditions in a factory, either by robotic arms or by gloved and masked humans who never come in contact with what will eventually be consumed. But maybe, again, there is something ethereal or electrical transmitted to the medicine when a human touches it first? Plasma comes to mind...
The use of cow dung in the process of cooking meds was also a bit off-putting...but then that culture has a different understanding and appreciation of cattle.
Interesting that the neurological aspect of Ayurveda can be used to awaken an unconscious person, or to kill a person; thus this field of medicine was suppressed by colonial powers...
Also interesting that there are areas of specialization within Ayurveda, each requiring a separate internship as in allopathy.
If science is only followed for money, it is wasted. Wealth earned from medical science is always contaminated, as it comes from the suffering of others. Thus it must be practiced with compassion and humility.
You should learn from people who are living in the forest.
Loved the humorous designation of "mud scan" for studying changes in skin color after a mud bath.
I meditated a bit on the psychology of being covered head-to-toe in earth for a while, and then washing it off again. That would seem to penetrate much further than skin deep.
Interesting that a brain tumor can be diagnosed without machinery.
Seems that Westerners might also benefit from an Ayurvedic practitioner, maybe once in a while, to address aspects of health that allopathy or even our own limited self-awareness might have missed?
