Caribbean Beat — November/December 2018 (#154)

e well
Finding
the balance
Practised for millennia in the Indian
subcontinent, traditional ayurvedic medicine,
with its focus on achieving both physical and
spiritual balance, was brought to the Caribbean
in the nineteenth century — and recently
has been more widely adopted as a form of
“alternative medicine.” Cate Young learns
more, and talks to two practitioners who say
ayurveda has helped them bring their lives and
health into equilibrium
Photography by frank60/Shutterstock.com
West Indians have always had a taste for “bush medicine.”
Whether it’s orange peel tea for fever reduction and
sore throat relief, bush baths for cleansing “maljo” and
negative spirits, or ginger root for relieving gas pains,
the knowledge that medicinal plants can be used for
physical relief is not a foreign one. But a growing
number are turning further east for relief. Enter ayurvedic medicine.
Ayurveda — a Sanskrit word meaning “knowledge of longevity” — is a system
of medicine practised for many centuries in the Indian subcontinent, and brought
to the Caribbean in the nineteenth century by Indian immigrants. And over
recent decades, certain elements of ayurveda have been adopted more broadly
worldwide, often under the heading of “alternative medicine.” As its principles
and practices have become more mainstream, they’ve found a wider audience
and become integrated into more general wellness practices and medicinal use.
Ayurveda teaches that the body is made up of doshas, or elemental
substances — vata, pitta, and kapha — and that every person is a combination
of these three. The Ayurvedic Guidebook and Cookbook for Modern Living
describes the doshas as “biological energies found throughout the human
body and mind [that] govern all physical and
mental processes and provide every living being
with an individual blueprint for health and fulfillment.”
Each dosha represents a specific bodily
constitution around which diet and exercise plans
should be made. While there is as yet no scientific
evidence that supports ayurveda’s supposed
effectiveness, for many practitioners the proof is
in the pudding.
Dominique Samaroo, co-owner of Tobago’s
Namaste Café food truck, says she was drawn to
ayurvedic medicine as a means to heal her body.
As a teen, she suffered from polycystic ovarian
syndrome, and was often in debilitating pain for
several days of the month. The birth control pill she
was prescribed was masking her symptoms, but
caused her to suffer from additional undesirable
side effects like chronic fatigue and bad acne.
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