Practical Ayurveda: Secrets for Physical, Sexual & Spiritual Health [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Atreya (Author) "To understand Ayurveda and its full implications on our life and health we must look at the spiritual roots from which it sprang and from..." (more)
Key Phrases: pranic congestion, vata humor, lowers pitta, The Supreme Yoga, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Showing how Ayurveda can correct ordinary ailments with changes in diet and exercise, Atreya explains why Ayurveda is the best overall method to promote health and long life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: Weiser Books; illustrated edition edition (July 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578630290
• ISBN-13: 978-1578630295
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #964,263 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A concise introduction to Ayurveda view of health and life, April 30, 2000

By	S.Venkatesan (Mumbai,India) - See all my reviews

Davia Frawley says in foreword: Practical Ayurveda is an excellent introduction to the system of Ayurveda and one that is concise, direct, and easy to understand. The book meets these observations. It is written to normal educated western audience. The author introduces the reader to the three humors ( three kind of bodies - Vata, Pitta, Kapha). He gives directions to identify one's body type. He explains how ayurveda views disease as imbalance of humors. Food is recognised as medicine. A chapter deals with herbs. ( Appendix gives the terms in latin, indian context). A separate chapter on weight loss and beauty care, which are concerns of modern human being. He has written a chapter on sexual rejuvenration methods. He points out from Ayurvedic point of view, sexual pleasure is postively viewed. The author is a spiritual seeker. He talks about his guru Poonjaji's a visionary trip to Himalayas where he observes that a sadhu cut off from all human contacts has a girlie magazine under his stone pillow. The author point outs that celibacy and brahmacharya are not one and the same. He also provides another woman seeker's personal observations in this context. Yet, the chapter is not balanced; A good bibliography is given, which referrences to scientific journals. A ideal book for marriage gift.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very interesting, August 19, 2005

By	Niels Kristian Troldborg (Aarhus, Denmark) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A bit hard to rate, this is the first and only book I've ever read on the subject.
I write this anyway, just to say that I think the book, or maybe rather "the subject of the book" is marvelous, and I find that most of these "health-ideas" or whatever one should call them, work extremely well and are easilly applied to my own daily life. In the past few weeks I have experienced a genuine "getting-better-both-mantally-and-physically"-feeling, that includes waking ealier, sleeping less (but deeper and feeling more relaxed and well-rested when I wake up), feeling less tired in my body, and genreally feeling much clearer in my mind and my thinking

I have been "studying" various indian/eastern thoughts for the past 3-4 years, just for fun and because I find them interesting (and mostly true)and this sort of feels like the logical extension to most of it.

Im not a fanatic, Im not a member of any weird cult or bizare comunity ... I did stop smoking and drinking to much though, now you are warned :-) ... but I think that this ayur-veda can really teach one how to better listen to the body, and get better at responding to some quite clear signals that tell us - all day long - whether we are living in a healthy way or not ...¨

This book is good at linking the ayur-veda-thoughts to the general "yoga-philosophies" ... if you don't like this, maybe the book is not for you ... my sister read it and called it "brainwashing propaganda" ... I think it works well, and have some really good explanations/insights on many things ... read it and find out ... I highly recommend it

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A concise introduction to Aryuvedic concepts, April 22, 2000

By	S.Venkatesan (Mumbai,India) - See all my reviews

The foreword by David Frawley says:` Practical Ayurveda' is an excellent introduction to the system of Ayurveda and one that is concise, direct, and easy to understand. The book fulfills the observation. It introduces the concept of differnet body types; how to recognise them,how to make the changes in food habits and life style. He explains also the method of Ayurvedic diagnosis. The section on sex from Ayurvedic point of view discusses about his guru's visionary trip in Himalayas and also one of his woman's friend's insights about relation of spirituality and sex. There is a good appendix relating terms in Latin, Indian and English ( herb names). Interestingly, referrences are given from journals also. It enhances the scientific nature of the book. ( I have referred to a Jaico publication, in India)