In a perfect world there would be no illness or disease, and
therefore, everyone would be healthy. But we don’t live in a
perfect world. In fact, health-care costs have skyrocketed,
which affects everyone-especially those who are unemployed and
have been bumped off their insurance plans. However, I have the
solution: It’s prevention, prevention, prevention!
There’s an old saying that “an once of prevention is worth a
pound of cure.” Why wait until you’re ill to apply a preventive
health regime to keep you healthy and in balance? If there were
a way to prevent disease, wouldn’t you be eager to find
out how
to do so?
Well, did you know that there is an effective preventive
health
system-proven for more than 5,000 years? It’s called Ayurveda,
which means “science of life,” and it comes from an ancient
Indian culture on the other side of the world. For thousands of
years it was passed down orally, until in this past century the
secrets of this system were finally written down in Sanskrit and
then translated into English.
This ancient system works by providing a framework for looking
at individuals in terms of their unique mind/body types, or
doshas. When we come to understand the fundamental
doshas, we
can see how nature affects our health and how important it is to
stay in a balance specifically and individually designed for our
own metabolism.
According to Shushruta, a Vedic scholar, “One whose physiology
is in balance and whose body, mind, and senses remain full of
Bliss is called a healthy person.”
When I first was introduced to Ayurveda, I had trouble
understanding how the system worked. I read countless books on
the subject and asked Ayurvedic practitioners many questions,
until one day I got the big “Aha!” I distilled the knowledge I
obtained and simplified the concepts to make them easy to apply.
Now I believe that Ayurveda is the most complete approach to
health I’ve ever come across, because it’s based on attaining
well-being by balancing the mind, body, and spirit.
I was first inspired to write my book, Seven Secrets to Raising a Happy and Healthy Child: The Ayurvedic Approach to Parenting,
after experiencing the birth of Shelby, my first grandchild. I
was in the labor room at the hospital with my son Marc; my
daughter-in-love (law), Alisa; and Alisa’s mother. We were
waiting for Alisa to dilate when the doctor came in, examined
her, and said, “The baby’s head is crowning.” To give them
privacy, I picked up my coat and purse and headed out the door.
Alisa, in all her pain, stopped me and said, “Mom, stay-I want
you to experience the birth of your first grandchild.” So I
turned around, and I had the opportunity to witness the entire
birth (the complete story is told in my book). That moment in
time was an epiphany for me-it transformed my life. Looking at
my perfect, pristine granddaughter, I wondered how I could
possibly help raise her and influence her life. After all, I
live in southern California and they live in eastern Michigan-
3,000 miles away.
Realizing that Ayurveda is a system that can be applied at the
beginning of life to help prevent disease, I thought, Why not
share what I’ve learned with Marc and Alisa? I knew that they
could apply the concepts of Ayurveda to keep Shelby in a healthy
balance.
So I searched for books on the subject of preventive health
care for children and the mind/body approach to parenting, but
found none. Frustrated, I began researching and faxing articles
from many sources to my son and daughter-in-love. Excited by
what I was sending them, they exclaimed, “Mom, you should write
a book for parents!”
At first I laughed, but when I mentioned the idea to an editor
I was working with, she pounced on it. “Why not write the first
book about the preventive care and feeding of children the
Ayurvedic way?” she asked. Since my background is in early
childhood education and I had already done so much research, I
knew I was qualified. So I put all my notes together and wrote
Seven Secrets to Raising a Happy and Healthy Child: The Ayurvedic Approach to Parenting.
If you look at the book, you’ll see that it has a darling
baby’s smiling face on the cover. But don’t be fooled-this book
isn’t just for new parents with babies and small children. The
majority of the information provided applies to children of all
ages-and even adults! This really is the only book on balancing
your health using the Ayurvedic approach to parenting, and in
addition to being easy to read and understand, it has been
recommended by notable experts, such as Dr. Daniel Einhorn and
Dr. Roslyn Baxter Jones.
I was recently the keynote speaker at the Swiss Indigo
Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. All over the world, people
are talking about a new generation of gifted children. Whether
you call them Indigo children, Crystal children, or psychic
children, they’re still kids living on earth with physical
needs. No matter what their mission is, they need to be well in
order to accomplish it. Why wait until your child is ill to
apply a proven, preventive health regime to keep her balanced
and happy? Prevention is the key to nipping disease in the bud,
and for 5,000 years, Ayurveda, the science of life, has provided
an effective system of maintaining health. Wisdom has no
expiration date.
