Ayurveda: l'art de la longévité

The Ayurveda approach to health management is simple. It addresses the whole individual (the Rogi) at physical, mental, and spiritual levels and does not limit itself to the disease (the Roga). It provides a comprehensive model for conduct of your daily life. The basic paradigm is to live life in accordance with your innate, unvarying constitution or nature (Prakrti). Once you understand your prakrti, you have the power and knowledge of the path to attain and maintain your individual prakrti balance - a balance or samam that leads to physical, mental and spiritual health. Ayurveda offers individualized treatments customized to your needs, while healing safely, effectively and completely.

It's about time we see a movie that stays unbiased towards these old Indian traditions. At times it is clear how most of the 'doctors' are charlatans, even lying about how they don't charge their clients. While they are wearing their gold watches, the 'donation' box is mandatory. Notice that there are only a couple of people who get 'cured' while we see quite a few cases.

Keep in mind while watching that ingesting mercury is not toxic and that the smallest Indian bank note is 5 rupee, while the average salary in India is 1,700 ru/month.

The film is a subtle gem -it invites you to discover nature and human nature with poetic images of ancient healing system known as AYURVEDA.

I was curious when the film was running in cinema halls for more then a year in Spain; Then I could not hold back when I learnt that AYURVEDA completed record-breaking 20 month long continuous run in one cinema hall in Paris and while write this in September 2006 it still continues to play there...

Thus when I had opportunity in Canada I rushed to see AYURVEDA.

The film is very simple road movie, has no narration and shows straight forward encounter with healers/doctors/people across India, Greece & USA.

The music, original score by Cyril Morin, is soothing and relaxing.

The film is an eye-opener to health in general but also makes you think about the health of earth, water, fire, air... and the universe. Its all linked. What you pollute outside manifests inside your body and mind.

Do not miss this film and try and see it in Cinema hall if you can -it has a meditative quality about it.

Congratulation to the team behind AYURVEDA: ART OF BEING. We NEED more movies like that to make a world better place to live and let live.

I was very impressed by this movie. I thought the narration-free documentary style was charming and allowed us to look through the eyes of patients and practitioners directly. What makes me sad are that some of the reviews don't believe in the power of this medicine and label some of the practitioners "charlatans". Some of the people I know and I have personally been cured of some serious illnesses, including some of those mentioned, by traditional Ayurvedic practitioners. While not all Ayurvedic practitioners are that skilled, there are truly good ones like those shown in the movie who can provide incredible results through this thousands of years old art form as compared with 150 year old Western medicine. That the power of Ayurveda is not well-known may surprise some viewers, who may be skeptical that any of these cures are even possible. They might think that Ayurvedic doctors would be billionaires if it was really true, but the attitude towards the practice may be hard to believe in a capitalistic world. Brahmanand Swamigal summarized it best: "...the Gurus taught us that if science is only followed for money, it is wasted. Wealth earned from medical science is always contaminated as it comes from the suffering of others. Thus, it must be practiced with compassion and humility."

It has been awhile since I last watched this film, but I've watched it several times from a standpoint that includes quite a lot of knowledge and direct experience of Ayurveda. Ayus is life and Veda is Knowledge - so Ayurveda is Knowledge or science of life. So called "modern" or "western" medicine is a relative newcomer - having really only been around for the past 150 years or so, while Ayurveda is thousands of years old. Even in the US there is still a LOT of traditional folk medicine, and increasingly Ayurveda is making inroads and being recognized as holistic and preventative and truly a system of health care - as opposed to "modern" medicine's fragmented (just look at the specialties) and disease care approach.

Writer/director, Pan Nalin, did a masterful job of presenting India as the custodian of Ayurveda and covered a lot of ground - both literally and figuratively. Maybe the Indian Errol Morris, Pandya seems to have a good sense of letting the camera roll and his subjects explain what they are doing and why. Like a great shirodhara (warm oil dripped onto one's forehead - very relaxing), Nalin's film is like practical Ayurveda itself - simple, soothing, and economical. The tranquil score evokes another aspect of Vedic knowledge - Ghandharva Veda - the melodies of Nature - maybe the subject of a future Nalin documentary? With "western" medicine - disease care - becoming less affordable everyday, "western" drugs costing so much and having so many harmful side effects, and an epidemic of obesity in the US, this refreshing look at a simpler approach is quietly reassuring and shows us the path to integrating the best of western medicine with the time tested Knowledge of Life - Ayurveda, and hints that the time will come again when the local village doctor - the Vaidya - will be well paid by all the people in the village, but only for keeping them well. In ancient times this was the case. If the people became sick, the Vaidya would not even expect payment - much less ask for it.

Pan Nalin's film is a great introduction to a deep well of knowledge. Help yourself to a refreshing drink of cool, sweet water. - Jimi