Ayurveda: A Comprehensive Guide to Traditional Indian Medicine for the West

by Frank John Ninivaggi

Overview

Derived from prehistoric sages living in ancient India some r c9730 years ago, Ayurveda denotes life wisdom. The medical system of India, it is arguably the oldest medical tradition that exists. This book translates the Eastern wisdom into terms and concepts Westerners can understand, and Ninivaggi presents the text with both scholarship and compassion. He explains how Ayurveda can promote physical and mental health by targeting threats from acute and chronic stress, to contemporary disorders such as pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, coronary artery disease, and diabetes. Practical, user-friendly nutritional guidelines for maintaining health and addressing health imbalances are given. The center of attention in Ayurveda is the person. The meaningfulness of a quality of life in the world is central. Living a quality life with others and in accord with nature - the environment at large -is emphasized.

Derived from prehistoric sages living in ancient India some 6,000 years ago, Ayurveda denotes life wisdom. The medical system of India, it is arguably the oldest medical tradition that exists. This book translates the Eastern wisdom into terms and concepts Westerners can understand. Ninivaggi presents the text with both scholarship and compassion. He explains how Ayurveda can promote physical and mental health by targeting threats ranging from acute and chronic stress, to pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, coronary artery disease, and diabetes. Practical, user-friendly nutritional guidelines for maintaining health and addressing health imbalances are given. The center of attention in Ayurveda is the person. The meaningfulness of a quality of life in the world is central. Living a quality life with others and in accord with nature—the environment at large—is emphasized.

Health strategies are suggested for specific individual constitutional types, to prevent emotional distress, to treat illness, and to enhance optimal living. Avyureda has been handed down across millennia, virtually intact to the present day. It is a comprehensive way of living whose scope includes proactive health measures as well as integrated healing strategies for body, mind, and spirit.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313348372
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/30/2007
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Frank John Ninivaggi, M.D. is an Associate Attending Physician at Yale-New Haven Hospital, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Child Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, Yale Child Study Center, and a member of the Yale-New Haven Community Medical Group. He is also Staff Psychiatrist at Hall-Brooke Hospital in Westport, Connecticut, and the Medical Director for the Devereux Glenholme School in Washington, Connecticut. He is Board Certified in Psychiatry and Neurology, and in 2004 was certified as a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He received his training at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He holds university and hospital appointments at the Yale Child Study Center, where he earlier received fellowship specialty training in child and adolescent psychiatry.

What People are Saying About This

Amala Guha

"Dr. Frank Ninivaggi brings a practical perspective to understanding Ayurveda to his western readers. His ability to package the eastern science with his western clinical training and teaching experiences into digestible information is well projected in this book. Ayurveda: A Comprehensive Guide to Tradition Indian Medicine for the West is a must read for western students of Ayurveda."

Andrew Stoll

"Psychiatrist Dr. Frank J. Ninivaggi has written a concise yet surprisingly comprehensive book for Western audiences on Ayurvedic medicine. This is a great resource. I highly recommend this book as a way to simply and quickly access the complex world of Ayurvedic medicine."

Rajendra Badgaiyan

"Dr. Frank Ninivaggi, MD is one of very few physicians who has knowledge and deep understanding of Ayurveda. I am particularly enthused by his ability to simplify complex concepts. Readers will see this ability throughout the book. Because of increasing emphasis on 'healthy life style', physicians all over the world are looking for an alternate approach. Ayurveda provides a very good alternative because of his unique approach to establishing harmony between the body and mind. This undoubtably is an important book that will make an essential reading not only for the physicians and health care workers but also for those who are interested in promoting a healthy life style."

—

Rajendra Badgaiyan, MD^LAssistant Professor, Harvard Medical School^LAssociate Neuroscientist, Massachusettes General Hospital^LHarvard University

Andrew Stoll

"Psychiatrist Dr. Frank J. Ninivaggi has written a concise yet surprisingly comprehensive book for Western audiences on Ayurvedic medicine. This is a great resource. I highly recommend this book as a way to simply and quickly access the complex world of Ayurvedic medicine."

—

Andrew Stoll, M.D.^LAssociate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School^LDirector, Psychopharamacology Research Laboratory, McLean Hospital

Andres Martin

"Frank Ninivaggis updated second edition of Ayurveda strikes me as an ambassadorial success. The volume introduces concepts of ancient Indian medicine in a tone readily grasped by the Western reader and easily incorporated into a traditional medical framework. As a practicing psychiatrist, I was especially pleased to learn of the riches that this ancient body of knowledge has to offer us on wellbeing: the books renewed entreaty to live well and meaningfully is welcome and timely indeed."

Robert Evans

"Dr. Ninivaggi has done us a great favor in providing this clear and scholarly presentation of Ayurveda. His text includes a welcome effort to make correlations among Ayurveda, neuroscience, and Western physiology. We in the West have much to learn from these ancient observations and procedures."

—

Robert Evans, MD^LClinical Professor, Child Study Center and Psychiatry^LYale University School of Medicine

Rajendra Badgaiyan

"Dr. Frank Ninivaggi, MD is one of very few physicians who has knowledge and deep understanding of Ayurveda. I am particularly enthused by his ability to simplify complex concepts. Readers will see this ability throughout the book. Because of increasing emphasis on 'healthy life style', physicians all over the world are looking for an alternate approach. Ayurveda provides a very good alternative because of his unique approach to establishing harmony between the body and mind. This undoubtably is an important book that will make an essential reading not only for the physicians and health care workers but also for those who are interested in promoting a healthy life style."

Andres Martin

"Frank Ninivaggis updated second edition of Ayurveda strikes me as an ambassadorial success. The volume introduces concepts of ancient Indian medicine in a tone readily grasped by the Western reader and easily incorporated into a traditional medical framework. As a practicing psychiatrist, I was especially pleased to learn of the riches that this ancient body of knowledge has to offer us on wellbeing: the books renewed entreaty to live well and meaningfully is welcome and timely indeed."

—

Andres Martin, MD, MPH Yale Child Study Center

Amala Guha

"Dr. Frank Ninivaggi brings a practical perspective to understanding Ayurveda to his western readers. His ability to package the eastern science with his western clinical training and teaching experiences into digestible information is well projected in this book. ^IAyurveda: A Comprehensive Guide to Tradition Indian Medicine for the West^R is a must read for western students of Ayurveda."

—

Amala Guha, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Immunology and Medicine, University of Connecticut School of Medicine.^LPresident, The International Society for Ayurveda & Health^R

Robert Evans

"Dr. Ninivaggi has done us a great favor in providing this clear and scholarly presentation of Ayurveda. His text includes a welcome effort to make correlations among Ayurveda, neuroscience, and Western physiology. We in the West have much to learn from these ancient observations and procedures."

Editorial Reviews

Written by a North American psychiatrist, this is a first-rate introduction to a set of traditional medical theories and practices from India that are represented as an organized system of healing principles and clinical interventions. In India, Ayurveda has enjoyed a postcolonial resurgence, and elsewhere it finds a place today among alternative and complementary forms of medicine. Healing as a process of restoring balance through exercise and physical manipulation, prescribed diet, and carefully selected herbal remedies is a key feature of Ayurveda. Ninivaggi gives these components full attention, but is particularly interested in Ayurveda's philosophical background as relevant to his own practice through an emphasis on cultivation of consciousness that inspires a biopsychospiritual perspective for clinical psychiatry, drawn from the ancient East and the modern West. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his former student Deepak Chopra earlier popularized Ayurveda in the West; Ninivaggi's book reflects the more nuanced consideration that Ayurveda is receiving now….Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.” —Choice

“Using a completely Ayurvedic perspective, this book takes the reader from the beginning and moves step-by-step through the historic origins of the universe, including all sentient matter within it, to the interrelationships these have to each other. It is clear that Ayurveda is a tradition that has evolved from antiquity and has endured through oral as well as literal translations. The text demands that Western readers peel off the sheaths of their way of thinking about the origins of matter and life….This book provides a comprehensive history of the development of Ayurveda, including its relationship to Buddhism, with occasional references to traditional Chinese medicine. The reader is quickly drawn into the conceptualization of the world from the Ayurvedic perspective.” —JAMA

“Although it is claimed that this volume can be used by any health-oriented layperson, it would seem to be most beneficial for those in a seminar or class with a qualified professional. It is very scholarly and should be a useful addition to any library having an alternative health collection.” —ARBA

From the Publisher

Written by a North American psychiatrist, this is a first-rate introduction to a set of traditional medical theories and practices from India that are represented as an organized system of healing principles and clinical interventions. In India, Ayurveda has enjoyed a postcolonial resurgence, and elsewhere it finds a place today among alternative and complementary forms of medicine. Healing as a process of restoring balance through exercise and physical manipulation, prescribed diet, and carefully selected herbal remedies is a key feature of Ayurveda. Ninivaggi gives these components full attention, but is particularly interested in Ayurveda's philosophical background as relevant to his own practice through an emphasis on cultivation of consciousness that inspires a biopsychospiritual perspective for clinical psychiatry, drawn from the ancient East and the modern West. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his former student Deepak Chopra earlier popularized Ayurveda in the West; Ninivaggi's book reflects the more nuanced consideration that Ayurveda is receiving now....Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.

Choice Reviews

On the road to a one-world medicine, this book is the most concise and comprehensive text on Ayurveda on the market. You must read it if you want an in-depth understanding of the functional concepts of Ayurveda. The definition of the technical terms from each chapter is summarized in helpful glossary at the end of the book, which serves as a practical help for students of Ayurveda.

Dr. Henry J. Greten

Dr. Frank Ninivaggi, MD is one of very few physicians who has knowledge and deep understanding of Ayurveda. I am particularly enthused by his ability to simplify complex concepts. Readers will see this ability throughout the book. Because of increasing emphasis on 'healthy lifestyle', physicians all over the world are looking for an alternate approach. Ayurveda provides a very good alternative because of his unique approach to establishing harmony between the body and mind. This undoubtedly is an important book that will make an essential reading not only for the physicians and health care workers but also for those who are interested in promoting a healthy life style.

Rajendra Badgaiyan

Frank Ninivaggi's updated second edition of Ayurveda strikes me as an ambassadorial success. The volume introduces concepts of ancient Indian medicine in a tone readily grasped by the Western reader and easily incorporated into a traditional medical framework. As a practicing psychiatrist, I was especially pleased to learn of the riches that this ancient body of knowledge has to offer us on wellbeing: the books renewed entreaty to live well and meaningfully is welcome and timely indeed.

Andres Martin

Using a completely Ayurvedic perspective, this book takes the reader from the beginning and moves step-by-step through the historic origins of the universe, including all sentient matter within it, to the interrelationships these have to each other. It is clear that Ayurveda is a tradition that has evolved from antiquity and has endured through oral as well as literal translations. The text demands that Western readers peel off the sheaths of their way of thinking about the origins of matter and life....This book provides a comprehensive history of the development of Ayurveda, including its relationship to Buddhism, with occasional references to traditional Chinese medicine. The reader is quickly drawn into the conceptualization of the world from the Ayurvedic perspective.

JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association

Dr. Ninivaggi has done us a great favor in providing this clear and scholarly presentation of Ayurveda. His text includes a welcome effort to make correlations among Ayurveda, neuroscience, and Western physiology. We in the West have much to learn from these ancient observations and procedures.

Robert Evans