Introduction

"The journey to absolute beauty is a “pathless path” because perfection always lies in the present."

Welcome to my personal journey with Ayurveda, the ancient Indian tradition of holistic healing practices and science of life. As I am learning and integrating the principles of this age-old medicine into my daily life, I have noted my thoughts, experiences, struggles and accomplishments related to my endeavors. This is my story.

I owe most of my research and knowledge of the practice to Dr. Pratima Raichur, author of Absolute Beauty: Radiant Skin and Inner Harmony Through the Ancient Secrets of Ayurveda. It is through this book that I was initially exposed to the practice of Ayurveda and gathered the necessary materials to begin my own practice. I also rely on much of Dr. Raichur’s original research, as well as the research of other world-renowned Ayurveda practitioners, for my own personal study and refer to their developed materials for structure of my own program. As well, I rely on these materials to communicate background information related to each discovery I make about my own self in order for readers to learn how to discover their own selves. I link to or credit these practitioners’ work within or at the end of each post.

Furthermore, it should be understood that these posts are a reflection of my experience only, and not an overall expression of every person’s experience with Ayurveda, or the Ayurveda practice in general, as each of our bodies reacts differently to new or foreign foods and substances.

Finally, I want to add that the majority of my personal documentation applies to the kapha dosha, only one of the three major life energies that make up prana, since that is the dosha with the most influence in my body. I begin my journey with looking at Ayurvedic skin care and overall, introducing each dosha and its relationship to the human body. I slowly move towards a more all-encompassing approach to the practice by incorporating other lifestyle changes in my diet and spiritual life and record my experiences. You can find more information about the influences of the other two doshas in many of the links to Ayurveda sources that I provide in-text, as well in some other articles I have written on various websites. To begin familiarizing yourself with Ayurveda as a medicinal practice, here are a few informative websites and articles:

http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/yoga-international-magazine/
http://www.chopra.com/ayurveda 
http://www.pratimaskincare.com/ 

I would also HIGHLY recommend following Dr. Raichur’s diet and skincare regimens in Absolute Beauty, if you want to begin your own Ayurveda journey or if you just want to learn more about the practice. I hope that recording my journey with Ayurveda will be a useful tool for anyone interested in pursuing the practice or in seeing simply how it can be integrated into daily life. My goal in this blog is to be positive and encouraging, but also honest in both my struggles and successes. My goal is also to learn more about myself in relation to my dosha as I record my experiences and informational findings. You can follow along in my journey by accessing the links to general information and develop your own Ayurveda skincare and diet journey. Thanks for joining me!