On this week's Tell Me Why podcast episode, Mahesh Natarajan, COO of Ananda, joins Maria Botros in the studio to discuss the benefits of Ayurveda and correct some misconceptions surrounding the ancient system.
Ayurveda is the manual for positive living, says Mahesh
Mahesh: At its very core, Ayurveda talks about how you live your daily life
It is about how to bring your mind, body, circadian rhythm and biological rhythm back into balance, says Mahesh
Mahesh: The physical aspect analyzed by an Ayurvedic doctor is just one fraction of the entire assessment process
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#UAEnews #podcast #Ayurveda
Ayurveda is the manual for positive living, says Mahesh
Mahesh: At its very core, Ayurveda talks about how you live your daily life
It is about how to bring your mind, body, circadian rhythm and biological rhythm back into balance, says Mahesh
Mahesh: The physical aspect analyzed by an Ayurvedic doctor is just one fraction of the entire assessment process
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
#UAEnews #podcast #Ayurveda
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NewsTranscript
00:00For the longest time, I think up to the time when I was eight or nine,
00:03we didn't even have manufactured soap in the house.
00:06It was herbal powders and scrubs and homemade loofahs and all of those things which are very natural.
00:14And today...
00:15Very expensive, I was just going to say.
00:17And each of these things would be considered Ayurvedic practices.
00:20On specific times of the year or months or on a festival,
00:26there used to be herbs which used to be steeped in the bath water.
00:31Like neem baths, for example, were very popular
00:34because it used to function like an antiseptic or an anti-inflammatory.
00:38So I think I just grew up with all of these things.
00:40And then we always used to get fed by...
00:43I remember my grandmom giving us like these specially made potions in a way.
00:50Maybe not very tasty, but it would just warm you up during winter times.
00:53And so I think I followed a lot of that practice already.
01:02With me in the studio is Mahesh Natarajan.
01:05He is the COO of Ananda, which is a retreat that is located in the Himalayas.
01:13Yeah.
01:13Is that correct?
01:14Yeah.
01:14We're going to get into that.
01:16But before we get into it, I think you're very interesting.
01:18And I was, you know, as we were speaking and as I read up on your bio,
01:24I found out that you are actually a yoga fanatic.
01:29Practitioner.
01:30Practitioner.
01:32You also, you have a passion for Ayurveda.
01:35And this is something that you've been passionate about for quite some time.
01:40And I know you've been in the field for quite some time.
01:42So my question is, did you get into it because of the field
01:45or did you get into the field because of your passion?
01:48So it's like the chicken or the egg kind of situation.
01:50Well, first of all, thank you for having me, Maria.
01:52It's great to be here.
01:52Lovely having you.
01:54And that's, yeah, I think I get asked that a lot of the time because of my
01:59really long association with Ananda.
02:01I've been working with and kind of leading now Ananda for almost 15 years.
02:08I think it's a bit of both.
02:10Definitely the knowledge that I've been getting at Ananda,
02:15diving deep into Ayurveda and yoga, not just these two,
02:17but a whole lot of other holistic practices.
02:20It's just kept kindling my interest in these.
02:24And then once you start scratching the surface,
02:26you realize that most people don't even know that there's such a wealth of
02:30knowledge and it kind of changes the way you, if you bring it into your life,
02:33it can change the way you live it.
02:35And as I've discovered that personally for me, it's definitely built that up.
02:38But I think the beginnings were already there from my childhood.
02:42I come from the southern part of India in Chennai and from quite a
02:48traditional family in terms of traditional practices,
02:50not traditional in terms of views, quite a progressive family,
02:53but a very traditional family in terms of the way we used to practice just
02:57things at home, home remedies, you know,
03:01things that we used to rituals that we used to do on important festivals and all
03:05of those. And I didn't know it at that time,
03:07but I think a lot of what I was doing even then,
03:10today would be considered Ayurvedic practices.
03:12Amazing.
03:14For the longest time, I think up to the time when I was eight or nine,
03:18we didn't even have a manufactured soap in the house.
03:21It was herbal powders and you know,
03:24scrubs and homemade loofahs and you know, all of those things,
03:27which are very natural. And today.
03:29Very expensive.
03:32And each of these things will be considered Ayurvedic practices on specific
03:37times of the year or months or on a festival. There used to be
03:42herbs, which used to be steeped in the bath water, like neem baths,
03:47for example,
03:47were very popular because it used to function like an antiseptic or an
03:51anti-inflammatory. So I think I just grew up with all of these things.
03:55And then we always used to get fed by,
03:58I remember my grandmom giving us like these specially made potions in a way,
04:04not maybe not very tasty, but it would just warm you up during winter times.
04:08And so I think I followed a lot of that practice already.
04:12I think my passion for Ayurveda just really started growing.
04:15The more I learned more about it the first time I came into Ananda and the first
04:19couple of years, I really feel I was more of an observer.
04:22And then when I started thinking about how logical it all is,
04:26how simple it is to actually understand it. And once you apply it,
04:30what a difference it can make. That point onwards,
04:33I think I've just dove right through and started building it into my own
04:38personal life. And I think that's probably brought me to this point.
04:41And I have to say similarly with yoga, again,
04:43my early background from my tradition,
04:47family tradition has been with a lot of music and classical music.
04:52And with that comes a lot of mantras and these recitations,
04:58which we always had at home.
04:59And that's always kind of connected me with that part of yoga,
05:03but learning what we do now at Ananda,
05:06which is a very traditional classical form of yoga,
05:09Hatha yoga and Raja yoga for meditation. It's kind of connected,
05:12but I think it just brought it up to the fore.
05:14So it's kind of a chicken and egg I would say,
05:17but definitely in my case both have worked hand in hand.
05:20It's quite a tandem situation.
05:22I feel like it was innate. I feel like you were just born into it.
05:26And it's like you're calling, it's like you've actually, you know,
05:29fulfilled your calling at a later stage in life,
05:31but you started at such an early age.
05:34So today one of the practices that I've really brought into my personal life in
05:37a big, big way is our mantras. And again,
05:40people across the world don't really understand or apply it that much,
05:44or they feel that it could be something which is just like Om chanting,
05:49for example, or something maybe a little religious, but it's actually not,
05:53it's just sound vibrations which connect with each of our chakras.
05:57And then when you're able to do that,
06:00it just balances and makes you whole and allows you to have a free flow of
06:03energy and consciousness. But I can,
06:05I can completely relate to that because I spent a whole lot of my childhood
06:09listening to people who are reciting and chanting these mantras.
06:13So today when I'm sitting at Ananda and I'm learning,
06:16I consider myself as a lifelong practitioner and seeker. You mentioned expert.
06:21I'm nowhere near that. I'm just a, I'm just a practitioner.
06:24It just feels natural. It doesn't feel like I'm doing something,
06:27which I wasn't kind of already set out to do.
06:29Right. Right. I mean, it's funny that you were mentioning chanting and you know,
06:33the mantras and, and how sound is part,
06:35like the vibrations and the sounds are part of the healing process.
06:39I was just telling you before the show that I did this sound bath healing class.
06:44And I remember like that day, it's, it's actually like, I think it's funny,
06:48but because at the time when the instructor was saying, you know,
06:51be very sensitive with yourself after the class, you know,
06:54you've released a lot of toxins.
06:56These vibrations allow you to release all these toxins and all these negative
07:00feelings that you might not be aware of.
07:02So be very sensitive with yourself. And I actually went home and I,
07:05and I sobbed and I, I didn't know why.
07:08And I just had no idea why that happened. But I, I mean,
07:12I truly believe that it was part of that class,
07:15that healing process that happened in the class. And it's beautiful.
07:19And it's beautiful because she also said,
07:21bring your water because these vibrations get transferred, you know,
07:24to your water, get your water bottle with you,
07:26drink from that water for the rest of the night.
07:28So it's absolutely beautiful. And I think,
07:31I think these are all, um, at some level,
07:33almost you can think of them as cosmic sounds. Um, and,
07:37and we don't fully understand why they vibrate the way they do. Um,
07:41but I, as a part of my personal practice, I, I do it early in the morning.
07:45And I'm telling you like the clarity that you get after you do that practice
07:50early morning for the rest of the day, it, it suddenly, it opens your mind.
07:54Everything is possible. It just, you know,
07:57gives you a set of a degree of clarity that you don't normally have otherwise.
08:01And I think that's, that's really powerful.
08:03So I encourage everybody to learn and hear more about it.
08:06Yeah. I mean, I, I'm glad that you said that.
08:08And I'm glad that you mentioned as well in the beginning that a lot of people
08:11have a misconception that it's religious when really it isn't.
08:16Yeah. So that's actually a good transition into what we're about to talk about.
08:19Maybe just to find what Ayurveda is like, what is it? I mean,
08:23how can it benefit a person mentally and physically actually?
08:27So Ayurveda, first of all, is a very, very ancient science.
08:30It's been written about and documented in the Vedas,
08:33which are the oldest literary texts in India,
08:37going all the way back about four to 5,000 years ago.
08:40It got codified and documented maybe about 3,500 years ago.
08:43So it's got a really ancient lineage. It's a very experiential science.
08:48It's been passed down through generations, through the millennia.
08:51The word Ayurveda comes,
08:53it's actually etymology of Ayurveda split into two parts, Ayur and Veda.
08:57So Ayur literally means life and Veda is the knowledge.
09:01So the very essence of life, the knowledge of life,
09:04that's actually what Ayurveda means.
09:07And think of it as a manual for positive living,
09:12something that you use, not just as a fix it,
09:14while there are specific Ayurvedic cures, 100%. Like, you know,
09:19today there are Ayurvedas being used to cure anything from chronic
09:24aspects like diabetes, to reducing cholesterol, to addressing weight,
09:27to managing stress,
09:29to a lot more clinical areas that people are struggling with even in allopathy.
09:34But the essence of Ayurveda is really to do with a lot of positive,
09:39proactive health. And that's why there's knowledge of life.
09:43So at its very core,
09:45Ayurveda talks about a process called Dhinacharya, which is,
09:49how do you live your daily life?
09:52And that by itself is so revealing in terms of the daily
09:58processes of how you balance your body,
10:00your mind to what is already the circadian rhythms and your biological rhythm,
10:05the circadian rhythm, and how to bring all of these back into balance.
10:09So in Ayurveda,
10:11the science is really around the fact that each of us consists of various
10:16different personalities, various body constitutions,
10:19various types of mental and emotional physicalities.
10:24And when you're able to get all of these in perfect balance,
10:29that is then defined in Ayurveda as good health. So for example,
10:34when you go to an Ayurvedic doctor,
10:36the physical side of what he's examining,
10:38he or she is examining is just one fraction of the entire assessment process.
10:43Because in Ayurveda, the way you are is very different from the way a medical
10:49doctor will examine you. Because in modern medicine,
10:51you look at organs and you look at defects and you look at ways to fix that
10:57defect in an organ. It's very problem solution on an observed basis.
11:01In Ayurveda, there are entire systems which make it what it is.
11:06The system is the mental system, the digestive system, the stress system,
11:11the sleep cycle, the level of toxins in your body,
11:14even the waste and the elimination system.
11:16We don't like to talk about it because it's a sensitive topic to talk about the
11:20way you eliminate waste from your system.
11:22It's icky, but still it's worth addressing.
11:24But in Ayurveda, the, you are what you eat,
11:28which is now a lot of people are talking about that,
11:31is progressed even more by talking about you are what you digest.
11:35It is the way you digest it, the way you eliminate your waste,
11:39the toxins which are still present in your body.
11:41That's the crux of everything which comes down to Ayurveda.
11:44Today there's so much talk about the gut brain and how the way you digest
11:47impacts your brain because you have a living brain in your gut.
11:51Ayurveda has always spoken about this. So in Ayurveda,
11:55you have to assess all of these different systems. Nidra, which is sleep,
11:59Mala, which is toxins, Koshta, which is elimination of waste.
12:03Even your urges,
12:05your mental and physical urges have an important aspect in Ayurveda.
12:08An Ayurvedic doctor has an ability to assess who you are,
12:13what you are, the way you will be, which is predictive health, right?
12:18You don't need gadgets to do this. You can actually,
12:20a skilled Ayurvedic doctor will be able to examine your pulse,
12:23look at your tongue, look at your face structures,
12:25look at everything that you are and ask you a whole lot of questions and be able
12:29to come to a conclusion that there is,
12:32this is what is out of balance and this is what we need to do.
12:35Once you understand that whole psyche and I'm really simplifying it a lot because
12:40it's such a vast topic and I'm trying to kind of get it into a nutshell,
12:43but essentially once we understand from an Ayurvedic perspective,
12:48what your unique body personality is,
12:50what your unique mental abilities or emotional aspect is,
12:54then all of Ayurveda is trying to make you come back into that state of balance
12:59through a couple of specific modalities.
13:02That could be through specific types of massage therapies or manipulation
13:08therapies, which are usually done with medicated herbal oils.
13:12That's one way. The other way, which is, and these are not exclusive,
13:15these are all happening together in Ayurveda.
13:17The other very important aspect in Ayurveda is cleansing.
13:20And when I'm talking about cleansing,
13:22I'm not just talking about colonics or irrigate like water irrigation.
13:26These are done with again,
13:27medicated oils and medicated decoctions to really cleanse the entire system
13:31before actually doing any of the Ayurvedic massage therapies.
13:35So that's another very important aspect of it.
13:37There's an entire program in Ayurveda called Panchakarma,
13:40which is a three week program that you need to invest in to be able to do this.
13:44But in ancient times, people used to do this not only every year,
13:47but with every change of season because our bodies are changing every time a
13:51season changes and you're accumulating toxins, your body is changing,
13:55your entire constitution is changing. So unless you reset your entire system,
13:59cleanse it and prepare for the next season,
14:01you're not in a state of good health.
14:03Today we might not be able to take that time out of 21 days,
14:07but at least once a year is highly recommended for you to cleanse yourself the
14:11way an Ayurvedic cleanse works.
14:13And then there is a whole set of herbal supplements and
14:18medicines which are used specifically based on what aspect of your physical
14:23constitution is out of balance.
14:25And there are certain supplements which are included in your food on a daily
14:29basis just to saturate and to satisfy what your basic body
14:33type or dosha, we'll get to that in a minute, I'm sure. But what that is,
14:38how to pacify that. So then there's a whole lot of supplements and medicines.
14:41And the final aspect is on diet.
14:44Ayurveda will change the entire way you eat, what you eat,
14:48the way you think when you are eating.
14:51It's a whole different way of addressing what is good for your body and
14:54eliminating what is not and moderating what could be potentially dangerous for
14:58your physical self. So there's a whole range of it.
15:02Ayurveda is not just one aspect. It's a whole range of connected areas.
15:06It's holistic.
15:06It's completely holistic. And then there is this aspect which I spoke about in
15:11the beginning, which is called Dhinacharya. Dhinacharya is action.
15:14So the actions of the day. What time do you get up? When you get up,
15:18what do you do depending on your personality? Should I be active when I get up?
15:21Should I meditate? Should I plan?
15:23What is the time of the day when I should be eating my most balanced meal?
15:27What time of the day should I be taking for myself to really focus on some kind
15:31of a mindful activity?
15:32Every single aspect of this has been prescribed in Ayurveda. Not now,
15:36not 10 years ago, 5,000 years ago.
15:39All we needed to do was actually follow it and guide ourselves,
15:43get that knowledge,
15:44use that framework to understand and appreciate who we are and apply it to daily
15:49lives. Because today we're bombarded with information about
15:54superfood this and super practice that on a minute to minute
15:58basis. How do you choose? You know,
16:01you can follow a herd or you can understand what is good for yourself.
16:05And I would say Ayurveda is one of those practices,
16:07which is probably the most, from a holistic point of view,
16:11it's the most comprehensive diagnostic framework that you can use for yourself.
16:16I, you know, I was just going to say,
16:18we people are not only bombarded with all this like misinformation.
16:23I don't want to say misinformation, but contradicting information.
16:25So you'll hear one thing on one website,
16:27hear another thing from someone on a podcast and you'll just sit there
16:32confused. And not only that,
16:33there's so much noise in your life that you no longer know how to listen to your
16:38body. You no longer know how to recognize what works for you and what doesn't.
16:43You've lost touch.
16:44You've lost connection with your body that you just feel like,
16:48I don't know how to make myself feel better anymore when really it's very basic.
16:53And it's something that our ancestors used to do, as you said,
16:56without gadgets, without a watch to tell me how, I mean,
17:01how fast my heart is beating or how many calories I'm burning. Or I mean,
17:04they did this naturally. And, um,
17:07and I find that interesting because it is an ancient medical system, Ayurveda,
17:12but it's still so foreign to so many people, especially outside of India.
17:17But I feel like you find the two extremes.
17:19You find someone that is passionate about Ayurveda and knows everything about
17:23it. Or you find someone that has never heard of it.
17:25There isn't that middle ground.
17:27And I think that's why I feel like it's fantastic having you here because A,
17:32we want to educate people on Ayurveda and B,
17:36we want to maybe fix misconceptions around Ayurveda as,
17:40as we mentioned at the beginning. Um, and C,
17:43we want to talk about what you have to offer.
17:45So these are things that we're going to cover.
17:47What you're saying is absolutely true.
17:48Because if you look at how Ayurveda has expanded across the world,
17:52there are of course different places offering Ayurveda in many different
17:55continents. Um,
17:57the misconception is that Ayurveda can be cherry picked and just
18:02applied, uh, almost like going to a spa,
18:05which is totally not the way it can be. Uh,
18:08you can't just have a, an Ayurvedic treatment,
18:12and then expect to feel something different.
18:13Ayurveda is very much of a knowledge process. It's a lived science.
18:17It takes time. It's organic, but it works from the root.
18:21So that's one very important thing that you just mentioned.
18:24The other thing you said is that there are two extremes in terms of how people
18:26react to Ayurveda. Absolutely spot on.
18:29I've known clients who've come into Ananda and the level of knowledge that they
18:33will have. For example, if you look at some of the European audiences, um, who,
18:38you know, maybe the Germanic audiences from, from East Germany,
18:41and those people have been actually getting very deep into the Vedas and the
18:45Upanishads, um,
18:47actually dedicating a large part of their lives to studying it.
18:50And because that's the level of depth that they have gone into in many,
18:53many things. And when they come in and interact at Ananda,
18:56it's incredible to see the level of knowledge that they have.
19:00But I have to say here, right here in the Middle East, in, in, uh,
19:03places like Dubai, uh, in the UAE, uh,
19:05we've had a explosion of people appreciating,
19:10understanding and increasing their knowledge and awareness of Ayurveda.
19:13Today, if I look at our key programs like Pancha Karma,
19:17which is that full length cleanse,
19:18or even a holistic detox using primarily Ayurvedic techniques,
19:23some of our,
19:24the biggest clients that we have and the most rapidly growing clients at Ananda
19:28are actually coming in from this part of the world. Uh, and I think that's,
19:32that's only shows how much of an impact that's, that's making. Um,
19:37most times they've gone into some, uh,
19:39another destination or another kind of a practice,
19:42which might be more rapid acting. But when they've come in for a program like this,
19:47usually when they go back, they're saying,
19:49people are stopping them where they are on the,
19:51on the streets or in their family and saying, what happened to you?
19:54Something's you look, you've changed, you've changed.
19:57And that's what happens when you really work from the inside out, right?
20:00The root cause. You can do everything that you can cosmetically for the skin,
20:04but there is no way you'll be able to replicate the glow that you get after
20:08doing a complete Ayurvedic cleanse.
20:10Oh, of course. Of course. Oh man, now I want to try it.
20:14Um, you mentioned that, you know,
20:15you see a lot of people coming in from this part of the world. Um,
20:19do you have any stats? Like, do you, can you tell us maybe like,
20:22I can say for example, that today, uh,
20:24of all our international clientele coming into one another around 15% or in that
20:29range is coming in specifically from GCC, uh, markets 15. Yeah.
20:3315% which is like a big jump. If you look at, if you look at, yeah. And,
20:38and I think the more interesting stat is how long are,
20:41what are people doing and how long they are staying. Okay.
20:44And I think that's completely changed for this region. Uh, I, like I mentioned,
20:47I've been here for 15 years, but in the past six, seven years,
20:49that has undergone a big shift.
20:52So the length of time, because I think people have realized that to real,
20:56to get real change,
20:57you need to invest that time and that commitment. It's not just time.
21:00It's about what you do at Ananda.
21:02So that's moved pretty dramatically from what used to be about five or six days,
21:05which is like within the week to almost like two weeks now.
21:09And that's the amount of time commitment that people are doing to the
21:12comprehensive programs, which are people are coming in for three weeks even.
21:15So that's a big shift already.
21:17I think the other thing which I see a lot of changes in how open people are
21:22into following something, which is very integrated.
21:24Ayurveda still forms the key, the window into what they're doing there.
21:28But for example, the, in the past two years,
21:31the number of people who've come in from the GCC markets who also want to
21:35address besides their physical health, the mental side of what they're going
21:38through, stress, anxiety, mental health.
21:41And all of these definitely are addressed by Ayurveda,
21:43but in tandem with that also through yoga, through meditation,
21:4710 years ago, I wasn't seeing that, you know,
21:49the openness towards actually following a complete holistic program was,
21:54wasn't really that much. That's one change.
21:57The third aspect I feel is also the amount of time people are
22:02spending post their stay in terms of sustaining and following a program.
22:06So we actually,
22:07we saw that and we started building that into the way our programs are designed.
22:11So now after you finish your program, three weeks later, we have a followup.
22:15Three months later, we have our second followup. So,
22:17and people are constantly writing back and communicating with our teams to
22:21actually understand how do they sustain it?
22:23Because you can go and do something miraculous anywhere for a week or two
22:27weeks. The magic is how do you sustain it?
22:30How do you build that into as a daily lifestyle practice?
22:33So I see all of these changing significantly.
22:36And also another interesting trend while we've been growing from strength to
22:40strength in terms of addressing women's health and working on many different
22:44aspects of women's health.
22:45I find it encouraging that we've had having a much better response also from men
22:50from the GCC markets who are coming into Ananda. So that's a very welcome sign.
22:53Yes.
22:54That amount of self care that men need to also address and take care of.
22:58I think men are usually neglected when it comes to their health,
23:02especially mental health and physical health. I mean,
23:04focus sometimes shifts, you know, towards the woman a bit more.
23:09But I think that's fantastic that you're seeing, you know,
23:11a rise in that as well.