"Ayurveda and Salutogenesis - Using resources for health

Ayurveda and Salutogenesis - Using resources for health
Prof. Dr. Martin Mittwede
Ayurveda can be understood not only as a traditional medical system but also as a health system that wants to help people not to get sick in the first place. The Sanskrit term for health is "svasthya", literally translated this means "resting in the Self". In this sense, health is a functioning self-reference, a situation in which the person knows himself in harmony with himself. This includes a knowledge of one's own constitution with its strengths and weaknesses and the affirmation of this individual existence.

From an Ayurvedic point of view, using health resources in everyday life is an important criterion for maintaining health. In the centre of an ayurvedic health education is the conscious perception, the sensitivity for the various influences that promote or disturb the balance of life forces. No general rules can be set up for this, as there are always new combinations of influences. The basis of a conscious perception is the development of self-knowledge and openness for external and internal processes. For this purpose, many approaches have been developed which can be used in daily life. These will be discussed in the lecture.

All activities of life should have the right measure inherent, which in turn is not defined by Ayurvedic doctors in general, but always with regard to the individual person and his current situation. Thus, when eating, the right amount is that which one can consume without feeling heavy and burdened. This can change within a few hours for an individual person, e.g. due to stress and tension or emotional strain, the digestive capacity can be drastically reduced.

Salutogenesis according to Aaron Antonovsky analyses how health can be maintained. At the centre of this model is the sense of coherence, which captures the resistance resources of a person. Salutogenesis is a scientific approach to medicine that focuses on which resources can help a person maintain or even restore health - in contrast to the dominant physical-pathological approach. For this, the human being must be viewed as a whole - and not reduced to purely physical processes. In the context of Salutogenesis and also Ayurveda, health is a process that is influenced by dynamic interactions.