An ancient approach to modern healthcare
AS I walk into the Irish Writer's Centre to attend the launch of Ayurveda by Dr Donn Brennan, I spot the good doctor immediately. A slender, bright-eyed, vivacious chap in a traditional Indian Nehru suit, he is holding an animated conversation with the Indian Ambassador and gesticulating in a lively manner as he does so. Knowing a little about Ayurveda, which comes from India and is the oldest form of medicine in the world, I deduce that the Indian Ambassador is a Kapha-type character, while Dr Brennan may tend towards Pitta and Vata. If you are not familiar with Ayurveda, I should explain that the system characterises everything in our world into one of three types: Vata, the air element, Pitta, the fire element and Kapha, the earth and water elements combined.
In order to best diagnose what remedies a person needs to prevent or cure disease, the practitioner determines which element is predominant and which has become imbalanced. For instance, a predominantly Pitta person would not benefit from having too much sun or too many fiery curries or wearing too much red, as too much fire could cause them to have high blood pressure, ulcers or an extremely quick temper. The intricacies of the system are so subtle that even the time of day can have an influence on one's Pitta, Kapha and Vata balance. Indeed, as Dr Brennan explains when he gets up to make his speech, the system of Ayurveda is quite different to the medical-school approach in that, generally, medical practitioners only treat disease when it has become acute or dangerous and very little, if any, consideration is given in our health service to creating health, or even preventing disease.
"Any government that we get in this country will be competing to offer the most hospital beds," he says. "That is their idea of a health service. It has nothing to do with health and everything to do with trying to deal with the chaos that has resulted from people treating their bodies like machines."
Dr Brennan, who is originally from Co Kildare, may be over 60, but he has the slender, agile body of a teenager, and his eyes sparkle with enthusiasm. However, he is aware that Irish people do not expect to age well; in fact, statistics show we are more likely to suffer from cancer, heart disease, diabetes or some other debilitating condition than to be radiantly healthy in our old age. It is a terrifying prospect, but is not being addressed by governments and can only really be resolved if people are willing to take responsibility for their own health.
Dr Brennan has just relocated from England (where he is founder and president of the Ayurvedic Practitioners Association) to Dublin, where he already has a practice, and has just launched his first book about Ayurveda, subtitled Remedies and Inspirations for Well-Being. It is aimed at educating individuals and providing them with the tools to help themselves be well and stay well.
After his speech, Dr Brennan says he believes Ireland is ready for Ayurveda. "I genuinely think that happiness is coming on to people's agenda, as well as material wealth!"he laughs. "And in order tobe happy, one needs to be healthy. Happiness is anatural by-product of perfect health. In fact, in Ayurveda, we define health as astate of bliss, of joy,that is present all the time. When we deviate from joy, we know we are going out ofbalance, and we set aboutredressing the balance."I point out to him that in this country, one considers oneself healthy if one is able to go to work, and if one has symptoms of pain or stress or whatever, one simply takes a painkiller or a tranquilliser or, if it gets worse, an antibiotic. I tell him that I am considered a health freak just because I take vitamins and drink vegetable juice.
"In Ayurveda, we have six stages of disease," he tells me. "We can recognise the subtle ways in which we have gone out of balance - the slight pain in the tummy, the headache, the lack of energy - in stages one and two, and we can begin to correct them, up to stages three and four. But if we leave it until stages five and six, it is simply too late. Stage five is terminal illness, and stage six is death.
"As doctors, we train by studying disease, not by studying health. And our health service is geared upto operate mainly at stages five and six, which is why itis in chaos. Ayurveda is all about focusing on the individual and recognising ourown nature, so that we know what will affect our health and what will help us, long before there is a chronic problem."
By the end of the evening, I realise that the cold that I have had all week could easily have been prevented if I had gone to bed earlier, got up earlier, not eaten late at night, and perhaps made one or two other adjustments to my lifestyle. All of which I was aware of, but ignored. And all my friends think I am 'too healthy'!
"What I love about Ayurveda is that when people come for a consultation, they always know exactly what it is they should have changed!" he agrees. "And if there is something you find difficult to do, there are always plenty of other things you can do instead. For instance, if you really want to eat cheese, and you have a Kapha imbalance, I could suggest that you eat it at lunchtime instead of at night, and that you take turmeric with it to prevent mucus. We have thousands of simple remedies to choose from!"
So is he on a crusade to make Ireland into a nation of health freaks?
"Perhaps!" he says.
'Ayurveda: Remedies
and Inspirations for Well-Being' by Dr Donn Brennan is published by Duncan Baird, €8
- Victoria Mary Clarke
