It’s been approximately 2 years since the world spiraled into a whorl of 50 nm size! Yes, that’s roughly the size of the famous coronavirus! The so-called covid era has demoted our world, our body, and our mind into times of uncertainty and certainly fear! The fact that an aforementioned microorganism was on the other side made the whole scenario a complete gimmick! Covid era
certainly was a door to many realizations, the primary attraction of one such realization was our body’s own defense, which we lovingly call the immunity!
The brevity of our immunity.
Immunity, is a term not so alien to us, in fact, we’ve been immunized right from our womb! The womb prepares us for the bigger fight by imparting defense through a mother’s placenta in the form of immunoglobulins! Yes, that’s right, we are made to fight right from our origin!
The world is not just composed of us, the human beings, there are several other organisms, and it’s certainly the coexistence of each organism that makes life complete!
Regarding microorganism, which is a cause of disorders among human beings, they make the human body a host and live on their own terms, which if our body’s immunity is in the right senses, may be kind enough to disregard them, but the kindness depends on the kindness and care we partake in order to build our body’s immunity! The foreign bodies are rightly termed antigens
and our body produces antibodies in order to combat them. The white blood cells of our body must be appreciated owing to their predominant role in maintaining our immunity! They are on the constant lookout by traveling through our circulatory system and lymph nodes for that “antigen”. The covid era saw our class driving their attention to building amass immunity and actually lived through the famous proverb, ‘prevention is better than cure’.
Let’s protect our ability to fight
Our body, as mentioned, is made to fight. You may not even be aware of what and how and when our body elicits an immune response and renders us healthy!
Most of us are immunized in the terms of vaccines, and in this fast-paced world comes to a conclusion that just vaccination and gobbling some ‘preventive medicines’ in the market is all you’ve got to do, and then go on subjecting our body to unfavorable situations which are faulty! The lifestyle we’ve been accustomed to, driven by the rush has been slowed down by a single minute coronavirus. Imagine if you could take that two or three steps back in order to enhance your body by building a super friendly immune system!
Let’s applaud the science of life!
The science that dates 5000 years back, the science of life, Ayurveda advocates immunity, thereby prevention as one of its major principles. Hence Ayurvedic classical texts preach us a comprehensive routine on maintaining a healthy and happy body!
According to Ayurveda, a healthy body (swasthya) lies in a person whose mind, body, and circulating doshas are in equilibrium. For this Ayurveda takes a person through regimens and routines he/she needs to bind by with regards to a day, season, climates what even, in the unprecedented times such as epidemics, wherein Charaka Samhita enlightens the importance of immunity and is known as ‘Bala in Sanskrit. Bala is the cogwheel of our body through which nourishment of our body via dhatus takes place, in fact, even the the complexion, effective working of the mind, sense
organs etc, and alleviates any discomfort therein – ‘immunity is the arresting of progression of the disease by our body in order to achieve swasthya’. Ayurveda has sorted immunity into sahaja,kalaja and yuktikrita-the natural, chronobiological and acquired!
In fact, the same science reveals how psychosomatic, social conditions are a declarative factor when it comes to immunity, and we are well aware of how covid has followed us through moments of distress, agony and concern!
That coupled with a virus on the loose certainly has posed a challenge to our immunity, and we were made an easier catch to the simple virus!
Let’s not encompass our discussion about immunity just to a covid virus. Immunity is demanded even by dust surrounding us, we need a better immunity to take our body out happily and for that, it’s imperative for us to work towards it.
Keep a check on your regimen, just like consuming those preventive medicines!
That’s right, gorging on multivitamins and preventive tablets don’t mean you are well and fit, guaranteed immunity, immunity is definitely not something like insulin, which today’s world needs to realize. As said before, immunity is imparted through a well-maintained regime- which certainly involves your diet and even your sleeping patterns!
We can’t complain that we’ve taken chyavanprash and still caught a fever! While looking into it, if you find yourself going on about the day very tired, and without any rest attending a party by which you might have had contact with people-those is certainly the factor that contribute to lowering your immunity.
Let’s dive a little deeper.
A combination of the right medications, a complete regime married to a good dietary regimen is your key to a good immunity. Ayurveda draws parallel to a healthy body to that of barren land, just like a barren land cannot be survived by healthy vegetation, the same way diseases wouldn’t thrive in a healthy body! Ayurveda has shrewdly included its wondrous charya(habits) and
recommended dietary modifications in order to adapt our body to the ever-changing seasonal, climatic enforcements!
Swasthya rakshakaram is the prime focus of Ayurveda in surviving any infections, which is our flight through modern pathogens and infections!
Some important points drawn from this science are –
● You are what you eat – that’s right, Ayurveda concurs to the fact and even preaches that any diseases stem from the gut, hence it’s crucial to maintain your ‘Agni’ (digestive fire) for a healthy body.
● Vega Dharana should be evaded – vegas are your body’s natural urges such as flatus, yawning, sneezing, etc., and a simple act of suppressing such urges could slowly make you prone
to diseases!
● Gain control over dharaneeya vegas – Just like non-suppression of natural urges, its important to keep a check over manasik factors like raga(desire), greed, envy, etc.!
● Knowledge of trayopasthamba – trayopasthamba are the three pillars of life which help you win over – they are aahara(balanced diet), sleep(Nidra) and abrahmacarya( good sexual life)! Isn’t it beautiful? how modulation of such simple acts helps you gain a healthy life?
● The habit of following sadvritta and acharya Rasayana – The classical scriptures of Ayurveda have beautifully laid down the code of conduct and habits to be followed leading to a healthy life.
● Kaale samshodhanam – Ayurveda advice each individual to perform purificatory procedures adhering to the Kala(time), Bala(immunity) and seasons accordingly in order to cleanse your body!
● Avoid incompatible foods – Ayurveda’s beautiful concept of viruddha ahara(incompatible foods) is one of the major faulty habits that have been gone along by the people of
today!
Did you know that the barbecue you’ve been consuming is slowly killing your body?
Treat your body heavenly!
This is not merely a nutshell of the gem that our very own traditional medicine, i.e. Ayurveda has elaborately expounded on. It’s for us to dig deeper, find the gem and utilize it the right way to keep our body and mind healthy!